Chapter 136 Enjoying Your Company

Chapter 136 Enjoying Your Company
AVERY

Avery was positively giddy as she entered her motel room.

He’d agreed to meet with her for breakfast! For seven days! She couldn’t believe it’d worked!

It had taken all her self control to keep calm when he’d entered the bakery and confronted her; he’d even sat at the table and had a conversation. Sort of. It was a work in progress but there’d been progress and she couldn’t be happier.

Unable to contain herself another second, Avery let out a squeal as she allowed herself to fall face first on the bed. Beatrice’s plan had worked far better than expected.

‘He’ll come to you,’ the human had said. ‘If you’re in his space enough, he’ll confront you about it; let him do it on his own time. He’s the one with the problem — he needs to dictate how slow or fast things go.’

That left Avery playing tourist in the quaint little town while waiting for Cooper to make his move.

She wanted to call Beatrice and tell her the good news, and almost did, before realizing it was still morning and the human would be sleeping. Waking her up would be a bad idea.

Sure, Avery could call her other friends — she had plenty in the Mchezaji pack — but she’d held off telling anyone other than Beatrice about having found her mate. Why? Why indeed… It might be because they would all celebrate and expect everything to go smoothly when in reality that wasn’t the case.

Cooper Malone had snubbed her once and that was bad enough, but it was obvious he wasn’t interested in the bond — at least not consciously. Her friends would push for Avery to remind him what the mate bond meant and then they’d reassure her it would all work out.

Normally, she would have believed them but, after what had happened between Beatrice and Hendricks, Avery’s faith in the mate bond’s ability to make any problem go away no longer existed. It wasn’t infallible, it wasn’t all powerful… It wouldn’t magically fix anything. It would shift priorities, yes, but a true mate bond would require work, would require understanding and patience; especially when her mate appeared to be against completing it.

There was only one person she trusted to give decent advice in this scenario and that was the person who’d fought — and won — against a mate bond she hadn’t wanted. Who else would know what Avery could do to, hopefully, change her mate’s mind on accepting her and the bond? Of what might have changed her own mind had Hendricks had half a brain.

After a few minutes of letting out her excess excitement on breakfast dates with her mate — because that’s kind of what they were — Avery settled down and let out a slow breath.

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. In fact, it felt like it took an eternity for it to finally be time to meet Cooper.

Nervous, Avery made sure she arrived exactly on time. Not early, not late. It felt manipulative, to purposefully engineer things so she appeared nonchalant about the entire thing when her mate was obviously unhappy but what else could she do? Acting like this meant everything to her would only push him away; that much she knew. She even made sure to apply some of the perfume Claire used to hide the scent of whatever emotion she might feel while in his presence.

Cooper was already sitting at the table she’d used the day before, leg bouncing and an air of impatience surrounding him. The moment she stepped inside he looked her way, eyes narrowing. Avery did her best to show none of what she felt as she walked to the counter and ordered a coffee and muffin. Once she’d grabbed her things and paid, she finally turned and made her way to the table.

The silence between them was awkward as she settled in and took a sip of her coffee. Breaking the silence would be on Cooper, she reminded herself. She had to let him dictate how things moved along — at least until she had a better grasp on why he was against her as a mate.

“Well?,” he finally grunted as he looked everywhere but in her direction.

“Good morning,” she replied, trying to sound pleasant despite the hurt his curtness caused.

Cooper finally looked at her, frowning. Avery pretended to be more interested in her muffin than the wolf across the table. “Don’t you have something to talk about or whatever?”

Avery hummed a little. “No, not really.”

A beat of silence. “Then why am I here?”

Eyebrows arching upwards, she gave him her best ‘don’t you know’ look. “I’m not allowed to enjoy your company?” The moment the words left her mouth Avery regretted them. It gave away that him being there meant something. Shit.

To her surprise, his cheeks began to darken as he hastily looked away. “That’s dumb,” she heard him mutter.

Was he… embarrassed by what she’d said? That was not what she’d expected. Not in the least.

“Would you rather I lie?,” she ventured after a moment.

“No…”

“Good,” Avery said with a single nod. “Because I’m bad at it.”

Cooper turned his face to look at her again, this time with an expression somewhere between confusion and curiosity. “You’re bad at lying? I don’t believe that.”

Shrugging, she bit into her walnut muffin and debated her response as she chewed. “Why not?”

“Well… because…” he trailed off, looking unsure. “Never mind.”

“Okay.”

More awkward silence followed.

There were so many questions Avery wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to learn about her mate; forcing herself to stay quiet was torture but she would endure it. He was worth the sacrifice — worth the discomfort.

At the end of the half hour, nearly all of which was spent in awkward silence, Cooper stood up and turned to leave before stopping mid step. “… I forgot to ask your name,” he mumbled without looking back.

“Avery,” she replied, finding it difficult to hold back the smile that wanted to spread over her face. She’d begun to think he’d never ask — that he really didn’t care. It made her heart race to think today had seen some progress, no matter how minute it’d been. He’d actually asked her something personal; sure it was just her name but it was hers and he’d asked all on his own.

Cooper gave a curt nod and left without another word. For her part, Avery decided to stay a little while longer as she mulled over the last half hour.

“You done there, sweetheart?”

The voice was warm, friendly, and gave Avery a start as she’d been so lost in thought she hadn’t heard them approach. It was the woman who ran the bakery — middle aged, fine boned and always smiling.

“I am, thank you,” Avery replied with a smile.

The woman gathered up the empty mug and napkin before pausing. “Do you know Coop well?”

Avery’s smile turned sheepish as she said, “Not very, I’m afraid.”

“Ah, well,” the woman began before taking a breath and letting out a laugh. “Just give him time. He’s always grumpy at first but he’s got a good heart. It’d be nice to see him find someone nice, you know? And you seem like a nice young lady.”

“Oh… it’s not…” Avery stumbled over her words, not wanting this woman to think there was something between her and Cooper — if it got back to him it would ruin everything — while not wanting to lie when the truth was the exact opposite.

“He’s rough around the edges but just give him a chance, love. I promise if you’re patient he’s worth it,” the woman assured the she-wolf with a knowing wink before walking off.

Why did it sound like the woman was trying to talk Avery into staying because Cooper was chasing her and not the other way around?