Page 3 of Puck My Life

Raynor stands to the side of me and pulls me into him. I lean against his stomach and let a couple of those tears I’m holding go.

“I’m really sorry, love. Are you sure you don’t want to go toilet paper his house?”

I snort a laugh and shake my head against him. I inhale the vanilla scent of him and find the peace I’ve been longing for.

“It doesn’t matter. What have you been making? What’s for dinner?”

Raynor makes a humming sound. It’s his guilty tell, and I try to swallow the hurt as I pull away from him.

“It’s okay, I can make my own.”

“Mal and Indy cooked. Indy wanted to give a house warming dish to her friends,” Raynor says softly. “Then we decided to go out for dinner, so there’s nothing left.”

“It’s all right, Raynor. Truly, it’s fine. You have a girlfriend now. You are like a real-” I can’t finish that sentence.

Like a real pack. How she managed to fool all three of them is beyond me. And the way they are with her is opposite of how they are with me. We said we were a pack forever, but then when I fell for them, they just saw me as a sister. Just part of the furniture.

“I’ll clean up when I get home,” Raynor says and massages my shoulder.

I shake my head and pull away from him. “You guys won’t be back tonight. I’ll just do it.”

Raynor steps back as I stand up. My body aches, but I force myself to turn and look at him. It’s getting more painful to look them in the eyes. I heard them talking about bonding the other day. I don’t think I was supposed to overhear it. If they bond Indy, I’ll be on my own. How selfish is it that I don’t want them to?

Raynor has the sexy indie musician look down pat. With messy brown hair and green eyes, there’s a smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. He’s my dreamer, my intense artist who creates songs that break my heart and sings them in a crooning voice that I adore. I’d be his number one fan forever. Why is he so beautiful?

Raynor shuffles closer and tilts my chin up with a single finger and inspects my face. “You look tired, Vae. You need to sleep.”

“Can’t. I have to cook, clean, laundry. Get Deacon and Mal’s stuff ready for the game. Practice. Work.” Just saying it makes me want to weep.

His beautiful green eyes crinkle as he frowns. He’s taller than the other two and wider at the shoulders, and he used to be the one to check on me. He doesn’t do it very often these days.

They really are moving on.

So, maybe I should as well. That bitter thought lingers, echoing in my mind.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he says in a low, intimate voice that sends my imagination wild. What would he taste like? What would he do if I leaned forward and licked that spot where his collarbone leaves a little divot of shadow?

A warm pain stabs my stomach, and I clench my teeth together, mortified by my thoughts.

The normally placid Raynor turns alert in a heartbeat, sniffing the air. “What is that?”

“What?” I ask and pretend I have no idea what he’s talking about.

He frowns and looks around but shakes his head, distracted by his girlfriend giggling. “Must’ve been…hmm, never mind.”

“Sure,” I agree and turn to the dishes. I just hope he never notices how often I fall into fantasies of them. I’m surprised they haven’t noticed how fast my heart starts racing or how sweaty I get.

Oh, the secrets we keep.

Deacon comes barreling into the kitchen, looking incredible with his dark blue eyes that see far too deeply. Only when he’s looking, though. It’s been a long time since Deacon looked at me.

“Vae, can you wash our gear? We need it tomorrow?”

I scowl, my temper flaring and spilling over. “When are you going to do it yourself? You need to grow up, Deacon!”

He stops and scowls at me, and he’s right. I’m not normally so rude, but today has been hard.

“Sure, I’ll grow up when you stop being our very own grumpy ass, Hook.”