Page 23 of Same Difference
“All of your reactions are normal. Break-ups are fucking hard, and yours was bigger than just a break up. You were paired. You thought you were in it for life. You could burn down a building, and I would tell you it was valid. None of this is fair.”
God, Nory was so awesome. She made Delta feel seen.
“What if I’m still a mess in a year?” she whispered feeling the weight of the world on her weary shoulders.
“You won’t be. In a year, you will be settled in a home. The Rogue Pack will hopefully be freaking friends by then. I won’t be camping in a tent just to stay near the woods where Liam canChange. You won’t be crying. You and Nate will be settled into a friendship, whatever that looks like. He’ll be dating or Arranged. You’ll be dating or Arranged, or maybe just killing it still at the single life. Everything will steady out. It’s just the volatile part where everything is up in the air right now.”
But Delta hadn’t like her talking about Nate dating or being Arranged to someone else.
“What if I can’t stand him moving on?” Delta whispered.
Nory grabbed her hands again and squeezed. “There is going to be someone who falls for you, Delta. Someone who doesn’t fumble you. Someone who figures out what you are.”
“What am I?”
“You’re the one a man builds a life with. Nate wasn’t ready. Someone else will be.”
But she didn’t like hearing that either. She couldn’t imagine building a life with anyone else. She’d imagined it with Nate too much.
Her attention drifted to the road where Nate had disappeared. Maybe she should’ve given Brian her number and forced herself to move forward. Maybe he would’ve helped.
No. She frowned at her thoughts. That wouldn’t be fair, not to her, and not to any man who paid attention to her right now. She wasn’t ready for a relationship.
She would never admit it out loud, but she’d fallen in love with Nate, even as distant as he had been. She’d tethered her wolf and her heart to him. She couldn’t go all in with another man until she got over her failed pairing.
She felt like all her life she would pine for him, and that was the hardest part of this.
He would move on, and she would be stuck in this purgatory for always.
Chapter Seven
Nate’s phone dinged with a message on the chopping block where he’d left it on accident. Shit. He needed it in his pocket so he didn’t have to get off this roof unless he had to.
It was probably Nory giving him an update on where they were. She’d been trying to stall and keep Delta in town as long as possible. The more he got to know Nory, the more he was glad Liam had brought her into this Pack. Did he love that she was human? No. Did he love that her pairing with Liam had dissolved their pack and taken their homes away from them? Absolutely not. But he did appreciate that she’d bought this land and was trying to make up for the losses they’d suffered. Sure.
He wouldn’t have done as much. He knew that about himself now. He’d been in his head about all of his downfalls for the last day, and it wasn’t going to ease up anytime soon.
He secured the tarp over the plywood and hopped easily off the framed-out roof. He would shingle it the next time Delta was out.
His boots crunched in the snow as he pulled his gloves off and made his way to the phone. There were a few messages.
Bridger texting,It’s all going to be okay, like he was some kind of fuckin’ future-teller. Nate responded with a middle finger emoji. Next was a text from Nory.Heading back. Twenty minutes out.
Crap.
Nate shoved his tools under the tarp he’d secured beside the house with stacks of firewood he’d chopped for Delta.
It was ten below zero, but he was overheated with the rush to get as much done as he could. Lunch with Bridger had jammed up his pace a bit.
He pulled the headphones off his ears and turned the music off, shoved it with his tools, and then unloaded the heavy shingles from the back of his truck as fast as he could. He’d gone and picked these up after she’d told Bridger she didn’t need anything from Nate. Not ever. Fuck, that was going to play on repeat in his head forever. He could hear it in her voice.I don’t need anything else from you. Not ever.
He shook his head hard to stop the snarl in his throat. He didn’t have time for a Change.
Nate slammed the tailgate closed and jogged to get into his rig. He had everything, right? Keys, check. Cell phone, check. Pride, double-not-fucking-check.
He gritted his teeth as he threw his truck into gear and hit the gas, tires spinning a little on the snow before they caught traction.
He made it all the way to the main road before he got caught.
