Wolves at the Door (19 page)

“Autumn. Why are you just standing there?”

I looked up at Zack, my mind blank.

“You were supposed to meet me at your car.”

Should I spill it and burden him with my problems? Between his job, werewolf scouts and a dying mother, he had enough to worry about without piling my crap on his plate. Besides, I wasn’t even sure if we were still together.

“Um… Mr. Collins wanted to go over last Friday’s test with me. No big deal.”

He scrutinize
d my face. “Not sure if I believe that’s all there is to it, but okay. C’mon.”

Zack walked me in silence down the corridor, through the double doors of the school building and along the path to my car, stopping at the driver’s side. “So…”

“Yeah?”

“Did you break up with me?” he asked.

“Well… that’s the story we’ve been telling everyone,” I answered.

“No.” He leaned on the side of my car. “I meant did you break up with me for real?”

“Uh…” I stared at him, unsure how to answer. I hadn’t broken up with him, of course, but if I said no, would he be relieved or disappointed? “Is that what you want?”

“You’re not answering my question.” He studied me, eyes narrowed.

“I… thought maybe
you
broke up with
me
.”

His brows drew together. “Why would you think that?”

“You were annoyed earlier.”

He rolled his eyes. “You were… weird. Distant. And it kinda freaked me out how good you are at lying. It still does, actually.”

“So you
do
want to break up with me?” I asked, hoping and praying his answer was no. After my awful day, being dumped might start me bawling like a baby.

“No.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Are you coming over tonight?”

Much to my horrification, my eyes blurred with tears. “I’m sorry. It’s been a very stressful day.”

He growled deep in his throat. “I can’t touch you right now. Someone might see.”

I nodded and wiped my eyes.

He inched toward me, but kept his arms at his sides. “This morning, I told my mom about our breakup.”

“Oh.” I wished to God I could come up with a more intelligent response, but I was too wasted from my day to manage it.

“She was pretty upset. When I told her we were still friends, she insisted you come over for dinner. Are you up for it?”

“I guess so.”

“So… meet you at my house at 5:30?”

“Um, okay.”

“And maybe later, after Gina’s gone, you can go to the coffee house and we can accidentally run into each other.” He smiled.

I laughed, but it came out embarrassingly like a sob. “That sounds good.”

“Autumn?”

“Yeah?”

“Today was hard for me too,” he said softly.

I nodded, afraid to speak.

“You know what else?”

I shook my head. “What?”

“Trevor took Maya home in my Jeep.” He grinned. “I need a ride to work.”

I gave a watery chuckle. “Get in.”

† † †

After dropping Zack off at work, I stopped at the grocery store so I wouldn’t starve during the week. I did my homework in record time, finished my laundry from the day before, then headed to Zack’s house for dinner.

Cara answered the door and smiled, swinging it open. “Trevor’s not back yet from picking up Zack, but they should be here any minute. Come on in.”

When I went inside, I found Favianne sitting on the couch playing a video game with Patrick. The boy scowled, but she looked like she was having a blast. She was probably slaughtering him.

She saw me and held out her arms. I went to her, reaching out to take her hands. She swatted mine away, stood and drew me into a hug. “Let’s go talk in private.”

For a split second, I mentally flinched. I’d easily handled everyone at school, but Zack’s mom? He’d complained I could be very convincing, but would she see through the lies?

I followed Favianne to her room and got comfortable in the chair. She sat on her bed, bringing up her legs and leaning on her pillows against the wall. Her lungs wheezed and her heart rate went up, but not nearly as bad as before. She sounded great considering her activity the last couple minutes. Her skin looked good too. More color.

“You look great. I guess you’re feeling better?” I asked.

“Yes.” She smiled. “But we’re not here to talk about me.”

“The weather?” I teased.

She chuckled. “Nope. What happened with you and Zack?”

Knowing she’d corner me at some point, I’d already given my answer some thought. I’d treat her the same way as I had my over-protective parents — give her selective truths. “Zack and I… we like each other and we get along, but we’re so different.” I rolled my eyes for effect. “We’re practically different species.”

She nodded and folded her arms over her chest. “So far, you haven’t told me a thing.”

Fortunately, I’d prepared for that reaction too — I needed to lead her away and throw in a half-truth or two. If that didn’t work, I’d flat-out lie, which I
really
didn’t want to do.

“We want different things. Sometimes enjoying each other isn’t enough, you know?” I shrugged and glanced at Favianne, feeling suddenly thirsty. I licked my lips with what little moisture my mouth had left. What else had I been about to tell her?
Oh yeah. “We realized we got along better when we were just friends.”

Favianne took a deep breath, staring at me.

Sweat tickled the palms of my hands. I was in big hairy trouble.

“Although I appreciate the effort, I’m not buying it.”

Uh-oh. “Why not?”

“You’re trying too hard, for one thing.” She lifted one brow. “I want the truth. No
w. And don’t try to feed me anymore
merda
. It’s not on my diet.”

“We didn’t really break up.” The words rushed out of my mouth. But, hell, how could I explain why we were pretending to break up without telling her about our werewolf problems?  If she knew our lives were in danger, she’d worry and stress. She could get sick again.

“My ex-best friend has been pretty awful. She’s holding a grudge against me because Daniel and Zack both rejected her for me. Rather than dealing with all that drama, we figured if we broke up, it’d be less likely she’d be weird and stalkerish like Daniel was. There’s only a few more weeks of school, then we probably won’t see her again.”

Whew! I gave her the truth… just not all of it.

The door opened and my guilty eyes flew to Zack.

“What’s going on here?” His eyes narrowed. “Autumn?”

“She was just filling me in on the status of your relationship.” Favianne’s mouth tightened.

“Really?” His eyes returned to me, cautious as he approached us. “What did she say?”

“That we staged the breakup, so Gina won’t get any worse. I’m sorry, Zack, but it’s your fault for not getting here in time to rescue me.” I suppressed a giggle, happy that I wouldn’t have to lie to Favianne. “Don’t you think you should’ve warned me that your mom uses guerrilla tactics?”

Favianne motioned him over, took his hand and held it between hers. “I’m so happy you two are still together. But don’t you dare lie to me ever again.”

“Sorry, Mom.” Zack gave her hands a squeeze, then walked around the bed and stood behind me, dropping a kiss on the top of my head. “It seemed easier to give the same story to everyone.”

“Dinner’s ready,” Cara called out from somewhere beyond Favianne’s room.

“Mom, please don’t tell anyone,” he whispered. “The more people that know, the more confusing it’ll get. Trevor and Maya could give it away at school or at the coffee house or whatever. I don’t want them in the line of fire. Gina can get pretty nasty. It’s just until the last day of school.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “You two be careful.”

I can’t believe you got us out of that
. Zack said silently.
You’re brilliant
.

Yes, I am.
I grinned.
It comes from lots of practice with my parents
.

† † †

Feeling antsy all alone in my house, I left for Bill’s Bean and Brew early. I entered through the side door, got my coffee, then carried it through the front door and onto the patio where we always sat. Just as the door closed behind me, my legs locked into place.

Werewolf. Damn.

Anxious to
accidentally
run into Zack, I’d forgotten that Renzo and Alura came here, too.

“Hey, Autumn.” Alura beamed up at me. “Are you alone?”

“Yes.” I returned her smile and waved to Renzo.

“Come join us.” She glanced at him and he shrugged.

“Sure.” After making her feel bad for breaking up Zack and me, I couldn’t refuse. But sitting next to her uncle was the last thing I wanted to do. On the other hand, avoiding eye contact with him seemed like a pretty good idea. I grabbed the nearest chair to his and plopped down. I leaned back in my seat, though, which put distance between us. I didn’t want him to catch my scent and figure out I was a shape-shifter.

“Did you and Zack make up yet? I feel terrible about what happened.”

“None of that was your fault. I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.” I gave her an apologetic smile. “And anyway, now that Zack and I are back to being friends, we get along great.”

“How long have you known him?” Renzo asked.

Instinct told me he was fishing for information. I’d have to be careful. I didn’t think I could handle any more stressful situations today. “Just a few weeks and we weren’t dating all that time. It was never that serious.”

“Zack!” Alura’s pretty face broke into a huge smile.

Crap. If they invited him to join us, things could get even more awkward.

“When you get your coffee, come back and sit with us,” she said.

I glanced over my shoulder and smiled at Zack. That’s what a friend might do, right? “Yeah, Zack, you should sit with us.” Oh, hell. He disappeared inside the café and I spun to face Alura. “So have you guys done anything touristy since you’ve been here? Disneyland?”

“Not as much as I’d like.” She wrinkled her nose. “Uncle Renzo claims to be on vacation, but he spends most of the day taking work calls. I spend mine at the mall.”

“The perfect vacation.” I grinned.

“Yep.” Alura giggled, her gaze moving behind me.

But I had already sensed Zack.

“Autumn, what are you doing here?” He sat between Alura and me, sipping from his cup.

“I got bored home alone. You?”

“Same.” He lifted the paper cup to his mouth again.

My eyes darted to Renzo who discreetly watched Zack at every possible opportunity. Just then, his gaze captured mine and I squirmed in my seat. “So what do you do?”

“I run a few businesses,” Renzo replied.

“My uncle is modest. He owns them and it’s more than a few.”

My extreme discomfort at sitting with two werewolves pretty much killed any interest I had in his business affairs. I tried to look impressed anyway, maintaining eye contact with him. Once again, I was struck with how familiar Renzo seemed. He didn’t look like anyone I knew but there was something about him… what was it?

Seen Charles yet?
he asked Zack, glancing toward the parking lot as though he wasn’t carrying on a silent conversation.

I hadn’t realized Zack’s knee was touching mine under the table.

Not since Friday
, Zack answered.

“Alura, where are you guys from?” I asked.

She smiled. “San Diego.”

“I’ve passed through there. Beautiful,” I said.

“Um, I didn’t plan on staying.” Zack stood. “Was just stopping for coffee on my way home. Nice seeing you again, Renzo. Alura. See you tomorrow in English Lit, Autumn.”

“See you later.” Alura waved to Zack, then turned to me. “Do you have to go
, too?”

That would look suspicious, wouldn’t it? My only regret was that Zack had thought to leave before I had. He was free and I wasn’t. “I have a few more minutes.”

And that’s all the time I could afford. My gut told me that any more would only give Renzo more opportunity to figure out what Zack and I were hiding.

~~~

Chapter Seventeen