Page 84 of Puck My Life

I stand up, furious with her. “Indy, what are you doing here?”

“I know we had a fight, but I’m ready to forgive you now.”

I stare at her, trying to understand where the fuck she came up with the idea that I’d need forgiveness.

“Go away, Indy. I’m busy, and I don’t have time for your bullshit today, and the next time you kiss anyone while they are that drunk, I’ll have you charged. I told you earlier that day I wanted nothing to do with you!”

She puts a hand on her hip, the go-to drama stance. She’s here to make waves. Great, just what we need.

“My bullshit? After everything I put up with? You three owe me.”

“We owe you nothing. We dated, we fucked, and now you’re dumped. Get it through your head, you psycho bitch,” Deacon spits the words furiously, standing up and planting his hands on his hips.

Indy narrows her eyes but never looks away from Deacon. I can feel his temper rising through the bond, turning cold and dangerous.

“Leave, now!” I snap.

Indy simply tosses her hair and makes a mocking sound. “I’m not done with you.”

Deacon stands up, his face a cold mask of rage. “I’m done with you. You’re nothing. You follow the team around; you don’t even know our stats; you just sit there and look cute, but, at the end of the day, it's for your followers. But, Indy, having a conversation with you is less fun than a trip to the dentist, and I can’t stand the scent of you. So, yeah, Indy. We are done. Find some other idiot to get your five minutes of fame from because it’s not going to be us.”

She stares, but when she opens her mouth, Raynor steps onto the porch. I’m not sure why, but Indy has always been scared of Raynor.

She holds her ground for a few minutes and then turns and stalks away.

“Do you think she got the message?”

I shake my head. “Not a chance in hell. She won’t give up until she can replace us with someone better.”

Raynor sits down beside Deacon, and I sit down on the other side of him.

“Do we have a plan?For Vae, I mean?”

Deacon snorts. “I’m going to kill anyone who touches her. I’m not a good person. I can’t be the grown-up she wants me to be and let her have a heat with alphas that aren’t us.”

“She doesn’t want us.”

“Bullshit,” Deacon snaps. “She would do it with us in a heartbeat; she was protecting us again. I should have known that’s what she was doing. This self-sacrificing thing she does isn’t new. We missed it.” He rubs his forehead.

“Okay, so say she does secretly want us, what makes you think she’s going to forgive us?”

Deacon sighs. “We’ll work on it, sort it out. Figure out how to make things better.”

We sit there for hours. She doesn’t come back, but I don’t think it’s a surprise to any of us.

Vae

PAST

They lost again.

Deacon slams out of the arena, gets in his car, and drives off, leaving the rest of us to squeeze into Raynor’s car.

“Can I come home with you tonight, booboo?”

Booboo? Really?

Mal cups the cheek of their latest girlfriend. The string of which seems endless. I dragged them all in to get STD checks the other day and keep the house supplied in condoms. The last thing I want is to raise their kids.