Chapter 22 Too Little Too Late.
GINGER:
“So what happened between you two then?” I ask. “Just casual flings and the occasional date night get together?”
It's rich coming from me.
She doesn't deserve all this venom and hostility on my part, especially not when it feels like that's what I've been dishing out all day, but I know if I don't let all my anger and frustration out this way, I'm going to combust under all that weight. And the end result won't be pretty.
“Yes, basically,” she says. “We were constantly in the same space. Went to the same school. He was the notoriously bad boy with a reputation for trouble, I was the criminally confused nerd with an OCD problem and a secret.”
“Hmm. Meaning the secrets thing didn't start today. Good to know.”
She gives me a sharp look.
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, we clicked and things got…well, interesting for a little while. I was wrapped up in him. In the danger and allure he promised, that I almost missed the warning signs hanging above his head in bright red.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I don't know about now, but back then the Riveras were known as an unusual bunch. They were the only ones in the town who lived so far out on the outskirts despite being its founders. Like all small-town gossip, everyone had their speculations on what was really going on behind closed doors, and that put a mean target on my back.”
“I was treated like an enemy of some sort just for being with him. Of course I didn't mind that. Not until I discovered his father's obsession later on.”
“It was after school. Start of summer break. We’d been fooling around in his father's study when we got a little too carried away. My back met the bulletin board, and I accidentally ended up unveiling a curated kill-list of werewolf settlements and pack movements within the last five years.”
“What was his reaction when you found out?”
“To cover it back up like it didn't exist. Claimed his father was just acting psychotic and needed a hobby to match his brand of crazy.” “I didn't push it of course, but I also never went back there, and I never spoke to him again. A year after graduation, your father came along.”
I want to ask her more about him, learn how she instantly knew he was her fated mate, but there are more pressing issues on ground.
My gaze
“How can you tell if someone's a werewolf or is soon to become one?”
She frowns in suspicion. Voice slow, eyes searching. “There would be a sign.”
“What sign?”
“Is this about someone in particular? A friend of yours, maybe?”
Confirming would only mean explaining Jayden's not his bio child, and that, my friend, is not my story to tell.
“Please just answer the question mom.”
She sighs. “Fine. A tiny, ring-shaped, birthmark. At the back of their right arm.”
“Okay, that settles it. We don't have a werewolf on our hands. Thank goodness.”
My mom's still watching me intently, waiting to see if I'll crack.
“Thank you for dropping by and for clearing the air, mom, but I really must get going,” I say. “Talk later?”
“If
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“I was beginning to think you had bailed on me.” “Not that I'd blame you though.”
“I acted like a douchebag back there. I'm sorry.”
I inhale, letting the fact that he actually just apologized, to me, for the first time ever, register. It should feel exhilarating as it would've if he'd done that the previous night but I simply can't find it in myself to care.
Too little too late.
“Hey.”
“Ginny.”
“Fuck, I said I'm sorry okay? What more do you want?”
I turn too fast. Palm cracking across his cheekbone with a smack that echoes through the night.
We stand there in stunned silence for a second or two. My eyes wide, shoulders heaving. His gaze dark and violent.
Pain blooms in my right hand, and the shock of what I've just done registers.
“Oh my—I didn't mean to.. I'm sorry. You just made me so mad that I—”
“Do it again.”
“W…what?”
“Strike me.” “Right here.”
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“No. That was a mistake. I'm not repeating that.” “As a matter of fact, I'm not doing this with you.”
“This back and forth. Yay or nay.” “It's exhausting.”
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“I don't even know where we stand. Or what we're doing in the first place. One second you're kind and sweet, the next you’re acting out of spite, going out of your way to rile me up. It's giving me whiplash.” “And then there's Katelyn.”
“What about her?”
“Don't even get me started.”
"All that exists between us is an arrangement.”
“One that involves you getting down and dirty whenever you want?”
“That was a mistake.” “I only kissed her because I was mad at you.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
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“What do you want me to do, Ginny?” “I already feel like shit. How can I make this right?”
“You don't.”
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“Ah… Alpha heir. We've been expecting you,” “Norvan’s already standing guard at the post by the river banks if you want to talk to him.”
“I'm good. Thanks.”
“Ginger. Right?”
“Yes…sir.”
“I would have suggested you take the front line mark, but then Cleara’s watching it. The rogue and human sightings around there have been crazy lately.”
“Did they harm anyone?”
“No, not yet, thankfully. But Roman thinks they might be gearing up for something big.” “Come with me for a second, son.”