Red Ridge Pack 1 Pack of Lies (16 page)

On my way to Starbucks, I saw Teagan, in a Sephora apron, taking a break at the scattered tables outside the coffee shop. I wandered up and as cheerfully as I could stand, said, “Hey girl! I didn’t know you worked at the mall.”

She jumped like I had startled her, then smiled and replied, “Lucky me, huh. It kind of sucks, but I do get a 25 percent discount. What are you up to? You want to sit? You look… tired.”

Lovely, I must have looked as bad as I felt.

“Yeah, I don’t feel so great, but my brother dragged me out here. Can you believe that my big, bad brother is afraid to drive in the snow?”

I sat down and we chatted for a few minutes before Teagan brought up the last thing in the world that I wanted to talk about.

“So what’s up with your mystery man?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s over between us,” I said.

“Ahhh, that sucks. What happened?” Teagan asked.

“It turns out that he is not as available as I had previously thought. He has a girlfriend, a mean one, and he has no plans of leaving her.” I felt myself beginning to sulk and suggested, “Can we just talk about something else?” Suddenly, I felt even worse as my stomach cramped like someone was twisting my insides into a giant pretzel knot.

Teagan shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Okay, but if you change your mind…”

I felt bad for not confiding in Teagan. She was the closest friend I had, but what in the world would I say? I couldn’t tell her about the psycho-werewolf who accosted me in the woods the other night, or about falling for my were-pack’s soon-to-be-alpha who is “promised” to the horrible girl she told me about on the first day of school, or about how that horrible girl humiliated me in front of the entire pack, or about how I feel like I have the flu or something, yet I’m not even supposed to be able to get sick. Yeah, there wasn’t much I
could
confide in my new human friend.

So, instead, I opted to change the subject entirely. “Hey, Thanksgiving break is coming up, so if you are staying in town, maybe we can hang out? Catch a movie or something. Maybe do some Christmas shopping.”

“Umm…I don’t know. I have a lot of studying to do, you know to get ready for finals and all, but maybe,” she said politely, but somehow it kind of felt like she was blowing me off. I mean, I’m no perfect student, but not even Aiden, who is Mr. Honor Roll, spends Thanksgiving break studying. Though I didn’t expect to hear from her, we exchanged numbers anyway before I went to get my black tea latte and find Aiden.

I found him in the denim section at Macy’s looking at a pair of way-too-expensive jeans.

“Dude, you are such a girl! What is taking you so long?” I asked, hoping to annoy him. I really was feeling awful and wanted desperately to go home.

“Stop rushing me. Go find yourself something decent to wear. I’m not the only one who’s been wearing the same thing over and over. No wonder you haven’t had a date yet.”

If he only knew the truth. Thinking about Cade again made the pain in my gut intensify. Unable to stop myself, I doubled-over in pain, clutching my middle, and trying to keep tears from pouring out of my eyes. I looked up and saw that Aiden had dropped the jeans he was looking at and was approaching me quickly.

“Alli? What’s wrong? Talk to me!”

“I think we need to go, okay? I’m sorry,” I said weakly.

“Come on. I’ll drive.”

As Aiden drove us home, I closed my eyes and tried to wish the pain away.

Chapter 35

Kendall

I was checking my make-up in the mirror one last time before Cade arrived. It had to be flawless, now that I was back in his good graces. Mom walked up behind me and commented, “You need more lipstick. Maybe a bit more blush. You’re looking a little pale.”

I stared back at her in the mirror and fought back the urge to tell her that she was looking a bit old, and maybe she could use a bit of Botox. Instead, I said nothing and adjusted my makeup to her liking, knowing that it was the best way to get her off my back.

“Better,” she said as she walked away, thankfully leaving me alone to finish getting ready.

Cade called last night and asked if he could drive me to school today. He said, and I quote, “I think we need some alone time.” Alone time! It’s been forever since we had any of that. Applying a final coat of lip gloss, I heard Cade pull into the driveway. I practically ran downstairs and into his arms.

“Hey, I’ve missed you,” Cade admitted as he pulled me in for a tight hug.

He pulled back and smiled before he kissed my perfectly-glossed lips.

I gently rubbed the proof of our kiss off his lips before responding, “I missed you too, baby.”

“So, how about we take your new car to school and I’ll leave my bike here? I’ve never been in an X5 before.”

Could he be any sweeter? I was actually totally bummed about not getting to drive my new Beamer today, but I wasn’t going to pass up riding to school with Cade, especially since he finally seemed to be over the little mishap that happened with Allison.

Cade opened my door to let me inside, and as he walked around the back of the car, I pulled down the rear-view mirror to make sure I still looked great.

Of course, when he got in, he ooohed and ahhhed just like everyone else had. Just knowing I had the hottest car on the estate made me feel a little better about how the last few weeks had turned out. But none of that mattered, now that Cade was back with me and had officially dumped the hussy he’d been screwing around with. I hope he realizes just how lucky he is that I’m so forgiving!

“So, what do you think of my new baby?” I asked.

“I love it,” he said as he messed with the satellite radio.

He leaned over and gave me one more quick peck before we took off. We were making our way onto the main road when I saw the only other new car on the estate. Knowing exactly who was driving the silver Jetta, I sped up and honked my horn.

I couldn’t stop myself. I smiled at Alli, gave her a little wave, and sped past her new piece of shit.

I looked over at Cade and surprisingly, he didn’t seem fazed. I half-expected him to scold me, but he didn’t. He just kept messing with the radio like nothing had happened.

After a minute or so of silence, he looked up and said, “How about we stop and grab some coffee? We have some time to spare.”

I gladly pulled into the Starbucks down the street from our school and since the drive thru was backed up, Cade offered to run in and grab us two mochas. I was sitting back listening to John Mayer when I got that strange sensation of being watched. I’m no stranger to being stared at, but I didn’t like it when I didn’t know who was doing the staring, so I sat up and glanced around expecting to find some creepy perv gawking at me.

It didn’t take long to spot him. He must have come out of the donut shop down the road and was now standing about thirty feet from my car looking right at me. As soon as our eyes met, he winked at me, then immediately got in his car and drove off. Watching his car exit the parking lot, I realized who he was. Somehow I knew, without a doubt, he was the wolf from the woods. I’d remember those piercing blue eyes anywhere.

***

When Cade and I walked into the school together hand-in-hand, everything felt back to normal. Just the way things should be. Cade was mine again, and I wasn’t letting him go without a fight ever again. I gave Cade a kiss before heading off to first period and said, “Bye baby! Save me a seat at lunch.”

There was one thing that I needed to do before going to class. I needed to track down the little bimbo, Alli. We needed to come to an understanding. Luckily I didn’t have to hunt long. Halfway down the main hallway, I saw Alli push her way into the girls’ bathroom near the west wing.

When I pushed the door open, I caught Alli staring at herself. Our eyes met through the mirror for a quick moment before she leaned over and splashed some water on her face. To say that she looked like shit would be an understatement, but that didn’t stop me from laying out some ground rules.

“God, Alli, at least put some bronzer on. You look dead,” I said mostly just to be mean, but it was the truth.

“Go away, Kendall.”

“Not yet. We need to talk. No, let me rephrase. I need to talk, and you need to listen and obey. Cade is off limits,” I said.

That got the little slut-puppy’s attention. She picked her head up out of the sink and just stood there staring at my reflection in the mirror.

“He has made his decision. If I see you looking at Cade, talking to Cade, or hell, if I even suspect that you are thinking about Cade, I will rip your ass apart. Do we understand each other?”

Alli reached over and grabbed some paper towels, wiped her face dry, and walked toward the door. She threw away her trash, opened the door, and turned to finally face me.

“I got it,” was all she said before she walked out.

Chapter 36

Cade

Ever thought of jumping out of a moving vehicle? Yeah, me neither until this very moment. My fake smile and oh-yes-I’m-so-interested nods weren’t going to last much longer if Kendall didn’t shut the hell up about the stupid winter ball. We had been in the car for twenty-two minutes and thirty-nine seconds, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.

“So for real, should I wear red or winter white? And don’t say whichever! I mean it, Cade. This is super important,” Kendall stressed.

Jesus Christ! Seriously?

I made sure my loving smile was intact and said, “I’ve always thought you looked sexy in red,” knowing she would eat that up.

Kendall playfully slapped me on the arm, responding, “Oh babe, you’re so sweet. That settles it then. Red it is.”

Could she be any more self-absorbed? How did I ever put up with her? I could have killed her this morning when she waved at Alli. What a crazy bitch! Did she think that wouldn’t bother me? That I would be all,
Hey Alli, look at me and Kendall riding to school together
.

All her blabbing wasn’t helping my headache either. And why the hell did I have a headache anyway? I never had one before. Werewolves are not supposed to get sick, but I felt like crap since I woke up this morning. Hopefully, this was a one-day thing because I don’t know how humans deal with this. Trying to block out Kendall’s incessant blabbing, I found myself wondering if Excedrin would work on me.

“Cade! Are you listening to me?”

Ooops!

“Of course I’m listening.”

“Then what did I just say?” Kendall demanded.

I had no idea what the hell she was going on and on about for the last five minutes. I tuned her out after she was pleased with my wear-the-red-dress answer.

I had to pull out the big guns on this one, so I smiled, winked, and said, “Did I mention how pretty you look today?”

“Oh Cade. I love you.”

I swallowed the vomit coming up in my throat and rubbed her thigh.

“Say it Cade. I want to hear you say it too.”

This was not happening! It felt wrong to say it even though I knew I didn’t mean it. It was like I was cheating on Alli. It was crazy, but true.

“Cade, I’m waiting.”

“Babe, you know I love you too,” I lied.

“I know,” she chirped.

And I tried to remind myself that they were only words.

Chapter 37

Allison

Day five of feeling like uber-shit. I went so far as to sneak off to the drugstore to buy some Dayquil, but apparently over-the-counter meds didn’t work on half-weres. So I guess I was just supposed to suffer. If I didn’t know better, I would think that I was suffering from morning sickness, but since you actually have to have sex to have morning sickness, I could rule that out.

I dragged myself out of bed, ran a brush through my hair, a toothbrush over my teeth, and fumbled down the stairs looking like death-warmed-over.

“Dude, Alli. You look like you’re about to die. Are you sure you’re okay?” Aiden asked when I reached the front door.

He rushed into the kitchen and handed me a Gatorade and a granola bar for the ride to school. Just the thought of food made my stomach turn.

I sipped the Gatorade on the way to school, and thankfully Aiden remained quiet most of the way there.

Somehow I made it to first period, but I was feeling worse by the minute. Maybe I should have just stayed home, but was trying to avoid Mom, knowing that she would freak out over me being sick. I’ve never really been sick before, but surely, it could happen, right? Especially since I was half-human. One thing was for sure, if I kept getting worse, I wouldn’t be able to keep it from Mom for much longer. I already felt like I might keel-over at any moment.

I saw Teagan walk in, and I gave her a weak smile.

“Still feeling bad?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I’ll survive.”

“You sure? You might want to go see the nurse, just in case. You don’t look so hot.”

To get her to shut up as I really didn’t feel like talking, I assured her, “If I don’t feel better by lunch, I’ll go see her. Besides, it’s Friday and Thanksgiving break starts tomorrow, so I’m just gonna try to make it through the day.”

“Just promise if you start feeling worse, you’ll go.”

I know she was just trying to be a good friend, but I was kind of tired of being told that I looked like shit. I was well aware of that. I felt like it too.

I dragged myself from class to class in a daze, laying my head down in each, but still trying to look attentive enough so that I didn’t get in trouble.

At lunch, I sat with Teagan and tried to force down the granola bar that Aiden gave me to eat for breakfast. It wasn’t making me feel any better. In fact, I quickly decided that it was definitely having the opposite effect. I tapped Teagan on the arm and said, “I’ll be back, okay.”

I never made it though.

***

I woke up to the nurse waving something under my nose. When I came to my senses, I noticed Teagan staring at me wide-eyed.

“Alli, are you okay? You passed clean out in the middle of the cafeteria,” Teagan told me.