Page 3 of Same Thing
Her thoughts swirled around him as she mixed up the batter for cornbread. He had made Jackson leave her alone, and she really appreciated that.
Be bold.
Her mother’s words often played in her mind when it came to situations that made her nervous. They echoed through her mind now because she had just had an insane thought.
For one psychotic moment, she’d imagined herself bringing him a container of soup and cornbread as a thank you for giving her an out on the Jackson conversation, and as a little welcome to the complex present.
Now, she, Nory Hunter, had never in her life even considered doing something so daring, and so she didn’t know what had possessed her to even think of doing something like that now. Maybe it was her genuine gratefulness for him prying her out of that uncomfortable moment with Jackson downstairs, or perhaps it was her excitement about going to Shipwrecks with Alese tonight, or maybe it was that school-is-out sensation swirling inside of her chest because she had two days off of work, but the thought had come, the thought had shocked her, and she’d put the thought in its place.
Heck no, she couldn’t do that. She would’ve chickened out before she even made it down the stairs with the stew.
Plus, she argued with herself, she didn’t even know which apartment was his. There were four doors per flight of stairs, and three flights of stairs, so twelve apartments in his building, and she was not the type to go knocking on random doors trying to find some hot guy that was nice to her for a second.
Although…she did know three of the people in the building and where they lived, so really, it was only nine apartments left. Or she could go ask Layla. Or she could walk outside nonchalantly like she was going to go to the community room near the office, and try to see where he was unloading boxes…
“Stop,” she murmured to herself, appalled at her train of thought.
This was not her. She did not do things like this. Thinking about it was a waste of her time, and frankly embarrassing.
That man was ten levels outside of her league, and clearly a dominant personality, which she was not.
It would’ve been so fun to tell Alese about it at Shipwrecks tonight though. She and Nory’s mother were constantly telling Nory to put herself out there more.
It was easy for extrovert personalities to say though, and very difficult for introverted personalities to actually do.
Nory would never in a million years build her courage up to bring a stranger she thought was handsome food.
She simply wasn’t built like that.
Chapter Two
“Well, she’s going to have to make adjustments,” Liam Northman gritted out. “We can’t all get exactly what we want.”
“She’s not wanting to move the meeting place—”
“Nate!” Liam barked out. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my life is a little upside down at the moment. I’m dealing with a hundred things at once. If the Arrangement is still wanting to meet tonight, she will have to travel out closer to me. I’m in the middle of moving in.”
“You found a place?” Nate asked quietly. “Where?”
“Up by that big car shop on Brighton.”
“Oh shit. That’s a human-only area. How’d you swing that?”
“I wore sunglasses, man, I don’t know. I toured three places and got the boot immediately. This place does one-month leases. They charge an arm and a leg, but I’m in a spot right now.”
“I told you, you could’ve just crashed with me and Delta,” Nate, his Second, said.
“I need my own space, and so do you two of you. You’re newly paired. You don’t need me crammed in your place. The contractor says it’ll be months before they can get the house rebuilt, and that’s after insurance stops dicking me around. I just need to get through this and then I can get us all back to normal.”
“Normal, where you’re hosting arranged pairings.”
“That isn’t my idea, Nate. It’s just my responsibility. Anything else?”
“I’m worried.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” Liam gritted out.
“Not about you. I’m worried about the Pack. The mate you choose will affect the dynamics here.”