Page 9 of Same Thing
Nory huffed a nervous laugh and agreed. “Yeah, that would be the worst.”
She’d lied. She never lied to Alese, but she had just lied. He hadn’t said he wore contacts. She’d suspected him earlier when he reached for the falling food that fast, but now? As she saw his glowing blue eyes? She thought the same thing Alese had suspected.
So why had she lied?
He had looked up from his conversation with the goddess, and confusion was etched onto his face.
He’d heard her, hadn’t he? Werewolves could do that. They could hear a heartbeat from across the street, so she’d heard.
That thought had Nory dropping her gaze and trying to slow her pounding heartbeat. “I’m going to the bathroom. Will you watch my food?” she asked Alese, who had struck up a conversation with the couple beside them.
“Yep, I’ve got you.”
Nory excused herself and made her way down a short hallway to the women’s restroom, where she stared at herself in the mirror for a full minute just trying to settle down her nervous system. He was a werewolf. She hadn’t been imagining it earlier. A werewolf with a girlfriend, and Nory had stupidly dressed up like this because she had been motivated by talking to a nice man, and everything was awful.
“No,” she murmured, standing up straight. Nory pointed to herself in the mirror. “You are awesome, and you look nice, and you didn’t do this for a man. You did it for yourself.”
The door swung open, and in strode the goddess herself, Liam’s girlfriend. She looked at the mirror, and to Nory, and back at the mirror. “Talking to yourself?”
“Pep-talking myself, more like it,” she said, feeling very short all of a sudden.
The woman pulled a tube of lipstick from her purse and began applying it in the other mirror while Nory washed her hands. “Who are you?” the woman asked.
“Me?” Nory asked.
“Yes,” the woman said, leaning against the wall beside the sinks.
“Um, you shouldn’t lean on that wall. It’s dirty and your clothes are way too nice to have bathroom germs on them.”
The woman narrowed her too-bright green eyes. “My date keeps looking at you, so I’m wondering what is happening here.”
“Oh, I’m no one. I met Liam earlier today at my…” She frowned. Wait, she didn’t have to tell this woman anything. “You look very pretty,” she said, changing the subject. “Have a good night.”
The woman watched her walk out, and when Nory aimed for her seat at the end of the bar, she noticed someone was sitting in it. Jackson.
Her heart sank to the floor. He was even eating her food, and Alese was nowhere to be seen. Wait. There she was, hanging out across the bar with a trio of regulars that they’d met before.
“That’s my food,” she said softly to Jackson as she approached.
“Our food now,” Jackson said easily. He pulled out Alese’s chair for her. “You sure were in the bathroom for a long time.”
“That’s my food,” she repeated, clenching her fists at her sides.
Jackson shrugged. “I like sharing. It builds a bond—”
“I don’t want a bond.” She glanced up and Liam was standing up from his table, and striding closer, his steely gaze on Jackson. “I don’t want anything with you, and you keep showing up wherever I am.”
“Because I like being around you.”
“I’m going to go,” she said, pulling out her wallet so she could pay Hannah for her drink and food.
“Oh, come on. The night is young. Look, this place has a great atmosphere. Great music, great food. Just hang out with me. Get to know me and you’ll like me. I swear.”
She didn’t answer, just pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to Hannah.
Liam’s words repeated in her mind. No is a complete sentence.
“Come on, Nory—”