The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas) (40 page)

“And
he’s coming your way,” she muttered. Shoot, shoot, shoot. She quickly looked
around as if she could command people to fill the empty bar stools on either
side of her so he wouldn’t sit next to her. But the place was empty because it
was noon on a weekday.

He
filled the barstool to her right, his elbows leaning on the bar as he ordered a
beer.

Just
like in the car that day he pulled her over, she kept silent with her eyes
trained forward. Maybe if she just pretended he wasn’t there…

“Hanna,
what the hell’s going’ on?” he snapped.

Her
eyes flew to his, wide and a bit scared. Darn, he looked handsome. He always
looked good. He smelled of sawdust like he’d been working. His hair looked
windblown, clothes worn and fitting him so well. He wore a faded, baggy T-shirt
of some band she didn’t recognize, and carpenter’s pants paired with steel-toe
work boots.

“Um,
nothing. I mean, what are you talking about? The Alicia thing or the Will
thing?”

Shaking
his head, he reached for his beer and tossed back a gulp. She couldn’t help but
notice how tan his arms were from working outside. Tan, a little hairy, and
strong. He had those thick veins and big biceps. The kind of arms that made a
woman wonder if he could bench press her. Eyeing him, she suspected he probably
could.

“Did
you hear a word I just said?”

Blinking
rapidly she met his almost amused stare. “What?”

“God
damn,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I said what the hell’s going’
on with
you
?”

“With
me?” Her eyes darted around as she quickly wondered how she could escape this
situation. Maybe she could feign needing to vomit from overindulgence of booze
or pretend her phone vibrated and Gavin needed her. Anything, because she did
not want to have this conversation with him. At all. Ever.

“I’m
fine. What do you mean?” She knew exactly what he meant.

“You
know exactly what I’m talkin’ about, Hanna. The last time we talked I asked you
out and you went from hot to cold. What the hell?”

The
blush that appeared couldn’t be stopped. So she ignored it and sipped at her
drink. “Well how do you know whether I was hot or cold to begin with? After
all, we were talking through text messages.”

His
jaw rolled and crack. Then he got in her face and whispered, “Baby, I know.”
Their gazes held.

She
looked away fast. And the blush went wild. “Yes, well, something came up and I
can’t go. Couldn’t go. Can’t. Right.” Deep breath, in and out, she coached
herself.

“Mind
tellin’ me why?”

She
bit her lip—hard. “No.”

He
glared. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I
mean, I don’t want to tell you. It’s none of your business.” She added a hint
of snootiness to her voice to make her point. Maybe she could distance herself
from him because she desperately needed it. He made her all wonky.

“Hanna,
I went with you to end it with that cheating bastard. I have some say in this
shit. Now, I want to take you out, dammit. I swear to you I am not a man who
pursues a woman to the end of the earth and you’re nearing the end of your
rope, baby. Now tell me, you wanna go have a good time with me or what?”

Her
heart beat wildly. Have a good time with him? Oh…that could mean so many
things.
Yes, yes, yes!
a part of her screamed. The other part, the
bigger, louder part new this wasn’t an option. She wasn’t even sure why he was
asking her to begin with. She wasn’t his type. She knew that. Everyone in that
pack knew that. Why didn’t he?

“I’m
not your type and---”

“What
the fuck did you just say?”

Don’t
look at him, Hanna.

Shit,
you looked!

He
was glaring all right, spitting mad and shocked. She gulped. “You’ve always had
a taste that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the pack. That’s all I’m saying. Surely
you know this since you’re the one who has…dated those kinds of ladies.” Ladies
might be a stretch for the kind of chicks he hung out with.

His
face went through an array of emotions before finally falling on incredulous. “You
got some nerve, Hanna. You better be worth my time, that’s all I’m sayin’,” he
mumbled under his breath and took a long pull from his beer.

She
ignored what he said because…she had no idea what to make of it. Did he like
her? Did he want to have sex with her? She had no idea what guys like him did
when they wanted either of those things and it confused the hell out of her
because no one like him had ever expressed interest in doing those things with
her. Ever.

“Tom
came over.” Damn. The words just came from her. She hadn’t meant to say it, at
all. But there it was. Her dirty laundry up for air.

Slowly,
he craned his neck to look at her. His sexy chocolate brown eyes were angry. “Let
me guess. He wants you back?”

“How’d
you know?”

“Wow,”
he shook his head, laughing. “I know his type. That’s his MO. I’m tellin’ you,
men like that never change. See, whatever security or comfort he has with you,
he craves it. So, once it’s gone, he starts to miss it and then he’ll say any
old shit to try to get back into your arms. He’ll promise to give up the women
and every bad habit he has so long as you take him back. Only thing is, it
doesn’t last. He loses motivation, the cravings get to him again. And within a
month, hell, maybe even a week, he’s back in her bed banging her.”

Everything
he said hurt, but the ring of truth around them couldn’t be ignored. “You seem
to know a lot about it.”

“I
understand addiction.”

She
didn’t have Alex’s friendship to ask such a personal question about it, so she
didn’t. Apparently, he didn’t feel the same why.

“Fuck,
don’t do it.”

She
looked up at him with innocent eyes. “Do what?”

“You
know exactly what I’m talkin’ about.”

She
did. “Listen, we’re mates and that isn’t something that should just be thrown
away so easily. It’s not like we’ve been together a few months. It’s been
years. Maybe---”

He
slammed his fist down on the bar making their drinks clink. She actually
yelped. “Fuck…you’re as good as screwed with that thinkin’.” His eyes traveled
over her face, scrutinizing every inch. “This is the end of the rope, Hanna. I’d
like to take you out. I know you can do it. It’ll be hard, but you’ll be better
for it. So this is it. Are you gonna come out with me or make the worst
decision of your life?”

Instantly
her back straightened. “I’d hardly call it the worst decision of my life.”

He
retorted, “Yeah, I guess that’d be when you mated with him.”

Her
mouth snapped shut. “Listen, you have no right to---”

“I’m
gettin’ out of here.” He swigged back the last of his beer and tossed a wad of
bills on the bar. He stood and looked down at her with something close to
sadness in his eyes.

What
right did he have invading her personal life like this? None. He had none.

“You
decide to change your mind any time soon, emphasis on the soon, give me a call
or text. I’d like to hear from you, Hanna.” With those parting words, he turned
and left.

Hanna
grimaced over her drink and pushed it away. The sweetness tasted bitter on her
tongue. She struggled through her emotions. How he managed to come into her
life in such quick bursts and shake her all up just dumbfounded her. He had no
right judging her. He didn’t get it. She and Tom have been together for almost
five years.
Five years.
He’s never cried and begged like that—ever!
Especially not like that. This was different. Maybe now, he could come back and
it’d be good again, like it’d been in the very beginning.

Suddenly,
the door to the bar burst open and hard footsteps came toward her. Confused at
the aggressive sound, she swung on her seat and found Alex zeroing in on her,
those beautiful eyes searing her in place.

“What—?”
she began, breathless.

And
then he grabbed her. One hand threading into her hair, the other pulling her up
against him. His mouth slanted and then he kissed her.

Alex
Thompson was kissing her. In full view of whoever was in the bar. He had smooth
lips and a firm kiss. He licked at her bottom lip then delved inside and she
let him. So much warmth invaded her body filling her mind with a foggy haze.
His tasted her, impressed his strength upon her letting her know what she could
have. A taste of what she could have if she went with him.

And
then it was over.

“I
had to do that ’cause I know you’re gonna make the second worst decision of
your life. And I wouldn’t get another chance.” His thumb lingered on her chin.

Then
he spun around and left her breathless and hot and entirely uncomfortable with
what just happened.

Worst
of all, she knew just as she knew at the hotel when he told her she could do
anything that he was right.

It
was also the best damn kiss she ever had.

CHAPTER 26

Alicia
pushed herself to a sitting position and smiled as Gavin reached for her in his
sleep.

“Little
cutie,” she teased, running her fingers through his hair. His eyes slowly
started fluttering as he came to. “Go back to sleep, I’m just going to take a
shower.”

That
had his eyes flying open, clear as day. “All right, I’ll help you.”

He
tried to help her up but she slapped his hands away. “Stop this.”

He
arched a brow. “What?”

Frustration
at…everything since she was rescued reared its ugly head. “You keep coddling
me. I’m not going to break. I don’t need you to help me shower again.”

His
jaw flexed and something dark crossed his eyes, like a bad memory. “Your ribs
are still wrapped; you’ll need help getting it off and rewrapping it.”

“Heather
said she’ll be by today to check my ribs but she said I probably wouldn’t need
the wraps anymore. I’m getting better, Gavin.”

He
looked away and she knew she upset him, but it couldn’t be helped. She had to
learn to stand up again by herself. She couldn’t use him as a crutch no matter
how badly she wanted to.

“Fine,
I’ll go make breakfast.” He pulled on some heavy sweats and left.

Just
like that tears welled in her eyes. Her lips trembled and the tears started
falling before she could stop it. Bracing herself on the bed, she pushed up to
a stand, hunching over. The pain in her ribs still hurt worse than she let on.
She didn’t want him to know. He’d been so worried and guilt ate at her. Like
this was all her fault. The stress she was putting him under just made her want
to curl up into a ball and bawl her eyes out.

She
took slow steps into the bathroom and started the shower. It hurt. Her whole
body hurt, but not because of what Will did. But because her heart ached. She’d
never been in a situation like this before and she had no idea how to continue
forward.

A
part of her wanted to ask Gavin to come back up here and shower with her
because she actually didn’t want to be alone. The other part of her craved
having independence again. Sniffling, she closed the bathroom door and stared
at the lock. She wanted to lock it. Surely she was safe with Gavin here, but
Will had gotten in before. What if he did while Gavin was downstairs making
breakfast? Her lips trembled at the possibility.

A
sob tore from her followed by another and another. She couldn’t do this.
Whatever strength she’d once had had vanished. She couldn’t even stand the
thought of showering without locking the door.

She
started undressing. She needed something to occupy her mind while she tried to
figure out what to do. Ever since the rescue she’d felt like a crippled woman.
Even with Gavin wrapped around her, she struggled to fall asleep each night.
She just lay there staring at the darkened doorway with wide eyes, waiting for
a masked man to come at her again. Eventually sleep would claim her but not
until pure exhaustion took her.

She
kicked her underwear away and that’s when the bathroom door swung open. She
screamed at the sudden action, her heart pounding like a stampede. But it was
only Gavin.

His
brow furrowed. “You’ve been crying.” In a matter of seconds he had his own
clothes pulled off and her in his arms. “I’ve got you, sweetheart. Nothing’s
gonna happen to you. I’ll kill anyone who tries.”

She
was bawling against his chest, unabashedly. Her fingers dug into him, holding
on tight. “I’m s-sorry.”

His
arms tightened around her. “Nothin’ to be sorry about. This isn’t your fault.”
He didn’t say the words but she knew he was thinking it.

“It’s
not your fault either, Gavin.”

He
ignored her words. “Come on, let’s get you freshened up.” Ever so gently he
unwrapped the gauze from her ribs. The bruising still looked nasty; in fact, it
looked nastier than it had the first day but it didn’t hurt as bad. Her face
was healing up fast thanks to her lykaen blood, but it’d still be at least one
more day before all the hideous bruising faded.