Page 56 of Same Difference
Chapter Thirteen
One week.
Seven days.
One hundred and sixty-eight eternal hours. Technically one hundred and sixty-nine hours and eighteen minutes.
Why was she so nervous?
Delta hovered her finger over the unblock button. This was so stupid. She’d blocked and unblocked Nathan about fifty times this week and he hadn’t even known. If he’d tried to text, she had no idea. She had a feeling not.
As the days had dragged on, it had felt stupider and stupider that she’d even asked for this. Stupid, but in times of absolute clarity, necessary.
She’d had seven days to realize she had it bad for Nathan. This was not a normal amount of missing a man. She thought about him constantly and inside of her, the wolf pined for him.
Unblock. There. He’d probably found it easier each day to focus on himself and take the focus off her. He was probably in love with someone else by now. He’d probably been on seven dates by now, one for each night he hadn’t had to be ‘responsible’ for her. Yuck. She still hated that word.
She wasn’t anyone’s responsibility.
Nope, she had big plans to sit back and have a crush on Nathan from afar as they friend-zoned. Nory didn’t believe her, but she was going to see. Delta was going to be awesome at this.
The Pack meeting would start any minute now. So far, it was just Liam and Nory, and Delta. Nory was cooking a big spread for the Pack for the first ever Rogue Pack dinner. It was also a housewarming party and celebration for Liam being out of jail. That part was thanks to Nathan and the lawyer he’d hired. Theirhouse had been delivered a few days ago, and although they were still unpacking a bit, they’d cleaned up the living and dining area and kitchen for tonight.
Delta was Nory’s kitchen helper. She was learning! She’d been working at the flower shop for three days, and for the last two days, Nory had invited her over after work and taught her how to cook the dishes she was making for Liam. They got quality friend-time before Liam finished his shifts at the sawmill, and honestly? It had done Delta good to get that girl-time. Nory was very understanding of her roller coaster feelings about Nathan. She’d provided an intelligent and mature sounding board for Delta.
“Nervous?” Nory asked as she hauled the silver pan of fettuccini alfredo to the dining table.
Liam glanced at her from where he was stoking the fire in the fireplace.
“Not nervous, but I do have a lot of excited energy. I don’t know. Maybe it’s nerves.”
“You’ll get used to being around him,” Liam promised. “He’s a good guy. He won’t make it harder than it has to be.”
“I know,” she said quietly. What she hadn’t told Liam was that she knew he was a good guy, and she missed his thoughtfulness. She missed everything about him.
A knock sounded at the door, but Delta already knew it wasn’t Nathan. She’d heard Vic’s truck pull up. Dodger, Tabian, and Bridger were just pulling up to park too.
She wondered if Nathan was even coming. Maybe he didn’t want to be around her at all.
Something about that thought dragged the smile from her lips. She looked down at herself and straightened out her shirt. She’d totally dressed up for Nathan tonight, but she would die before she ever admitted that aloud.
She made her way to the door with Nory to greet the other Pack members and forced a smile at them as they made small talk. She glanced out the door and checked the entrance to the clearing, but Nathan wasn’t coming up the road that she could hear.
“Hey, has anyone heard from Nathan?” she asked nonchalantly.
“Oh, yeah,” Dodger said, “He’s not coming tonight.”
“Oh.” She lowered her gaze so no one would see the disappointment etched onto her face.
“I saw that,” Dodger said, sitting at the table next to her. “And I was just kidding. He messaged the loop that he’s running late at work.”
“Work,” she uttered. “He got a job?”
Dodger shrugged. “Same job. They took him back and gave the prick a promotion and a raise. Some guys have all the luck.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Liam said, scooping out a heaping portion of pasta onto a plate. “He worked his way up for years and they didn’t want to let him go when the Elders broke up our Pack. They gave him an offer that will make him want to stick around. It’s good business. Nate practically runs the company there.”
“Yeah yeah, he’s lucky for other reasons too,” Dodger said, staring at Delta.
