Page 26 of Same Difference
“I just have a lot on my mind.”
Tabian leaned his elbows onto the table and narrowed his eyes at her. “Why don’t you just invite him out here?”
“That would solve exactly nothing,” she muttered, but already, she was opening up the text thread to read Nate’s message again.
I should’ve kissed you.
What the hell was this man’s game?
She wished she could be one of those tough girls who blocked a man and never thought of him again, but here she sat, imagining how different everything could’ve been if he would’ve seen her that way.
“It’s best if we get some space so I can just move on,” she told Tabian.
Tabian glanced at the door and grinned. “That’s a good plan. I bet it’ll totally work.” He stood up and did a little salute to her, and nodded at someone behind her, then made his way over to the Rogue Pack.
Delta twisted around in her seat just in time to see one of the spotlights from the dance floor illuminate Nate as he strode in. Time slowed. He made his way through the crowd with long, confident strides, and reached up, moved the bill of his baseball cap to the back of his head, slowly blinked and then leveled her with those glowing gold eyes.
She’d never seen this kind of smile on his lips before. It wasn’t polite, or empty. It was wicked. That smile was of a predator with his prey in his sights.
Behind her, she could hear the Pack calling out greetings, and he nodded his chin at them, but didn’t take his gaze from her.
Holy hell, her stomach felt like it had dropped to the floor.
This was like a movie.
Nate was the hottest man on the planet. Nate was also her ex.
He gripped the arms of her chair and yanked her around to face him, then locked his arms on either side of her and stared her down. He didn’t say a word.
“Um, I told you I needed space.”
“Yeah, I thought about it, and no.”
“No?”
His dark eyebrows arched up. “No. We’re going to be friends, you and I.”
“Friends,” she repeated dumbly, feeling light-headed at how close he was. His lips were no more than one foot away from hers.
“Yep. Do you want to have the talk here, or somewhere more private?” he asked, sitting down in the chair in front or her.
Being alone with him felt dangerous to her heart right now. “Here is fine,” she said, lifting her chin higher into the air. Stupid boy felt like he had all this power to ignore her request and show up here unannounced. As if she would—
Nate yanked her chair closer, and her knees settled right between his legs, and all coherent thought left her brain.
“I considered it, Delta. I was going to eat this fucked up feeling inside of my chest and give you all the space to teach yourself to hate me, but that’s the me I pretended to be.”
“You were pretending?”
“Yep,” he said without hesitation. “I fed you so much bullshit on the type of person I am. I pretended to be patient and understanding and logical, and I’m not any of those things.”
“Why…why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don’t think we can be friends if you don’t see me for what I am. And clearly I misunderstood who you are,” he said, gesturing up and down her body. “Nice tits.”
Delta gasped and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re being gross.”
“No, I’m being me. I have kept myself so fucking quiet because I knew I wasn’t a good match for anyone, and I’m not. Truly. You’re right to cut your heart off from me. Your life will be happier in the long run. But…” He arched his eyebrows again and cracked his knuckles just over her knees. “I’m still Second of this Pack, and I still have to spend time with our people. I don’t want to be on the outside just because you want to hate me. I fucked up and I tried to take you back when I didn’t know we had other options, but the second you said you wanted to come back here? I said yes. I tried to get us out of there.”
