Chapter 14
Dodge
He’d never thought himself a coward. But Dodge was. He knew it. That beautiful woman was right there in his arms, trusting him, watching him with those wide eyes, listening to his stupid history, and...
And he ran the fuck away before he did something he couldn’t take back.
It was the adrenaline and the close call earlier in the day. The body freaked out and sex was a great way to regulate, to recover. She didn’t really wanthim, she just wanted – release. That’s all it was.
He paced in the living room to work off his lust and the wolf’s impatience that Dodge hadn’t claimed the girl. The wolf knew what he wanted: Persephone Lawson, curled up in his den, tucked into his bed, smelling like him and smiling at him andwithhim. Curling her fingers into his hair, nuzzling against him and making a sweet little‘hmm’sound when he squeezed her ass.
Dodge growled in frustration and shoved his hands in his hair, yanking on it to try and drive the memory from his brain. What the fuck was he doing? He never should have opened up to her about his past, about his family. It made him vulnerable. He couldn’t afford that. No doubt the architect thought she knew him, that she understood him. She was wrong.
He was much, much worse a man than Persephone thought him, based on the little anecdote.
He picked up his phone and started to call... His hand tightened around the phone and cracked the case. Silas. He wanted to talk to Silas about this girl and the way she turned his head around. Evershaw would mock him and Deirdre wouldn’t understand. Todd would give him an asshole’s opinion but nothing useful.
He ran through the mental rolodex of people he trusted for advice on what to do with Persephone and came up empty. Just Silas.
Dodge relied on his shifter hearing to give him a hint that she stirred or left the bed to confront him. He should have said something to her. His feet brought him almost to the bedroom before he turned around and got more distance. No. He wasn’t going to be an asshole and make her think that something could happen between them. She wasn’t the kind of girl he could just fuck and drop when he lost interest.
She deserved better. A hell of a lot better thanhim. He’d drag her down into his darkness. He was a salty bastard, battered and scarred, and she was full of light and life. She brought the sunshine with her and the kind of idealism and excitement that he truly envied. He was too cynical for that kind of optimism, though. He’d kill that part of her just by being around.
He sat in the darkness and stared at the door, running over the events of the day over and over, and searched for some clue over what to do next. He had to keep Persephone safe until she understood not to endanger the pack and he was certain that the mobsters wouldn’t hurt her. Then he could flee like the coward he was so he wouldn’t have to see her fall in love with someone else.
Dodge was still awake and annoyed several hours later when Persephone finally stirred. He pretended to be dozing on the couch – another coward move, and he hated himself for it – as she tiptoed into the kitchen and retrieved some of the cardboard toaster pastries that he thought only little kids could stomach. At least they weren’t the kind with frosting on them.
She didn’t even bother to put them in the toaster before gnawing on them.
She’d gotten dressed, even with her shoes, and cast a few sidelong looks at him as she moved toward the door. When she reached for the lock, he couldn’t pretend anymore. “Don’t.”
Persephone froze, almost comical with half a pastry hanging out of her mouth. “What?”
“Don’t open the door,” he said. Dodge sat up and scrubbed at his face before getting to his feet to hunt through her fridge and cupboards once more, hoping that more nutritional food had materialized in the hours since he’d last looked.
It hadn’t.
His disappointment must have shown on his face because she offered the uneaten pastry without a word. Dodge shook his head. “Thanks, I’ll chew on the drywall instead.”
“I’d like my security deposit back, so do it somewhere the last tenant’s dogs already got to.” She turned away and disappeared back into her bedroom.
He deserved it. He’d almost expected her to wake up swinging and confront him about being a dick – insisting on sleeping in her bed to protect her, fooling around a little bit, then fleeing like a coward. Dodge figured she’d never been rejected before and it would have been a rude surprise. He waited in the kitchen, though, debating what to do if she hid for the rest of the day. He’d drag her out of there for lunch at the Korean restaurant, then he’d hand her over to the alpha. Done. That was it.
She returned, pastries gone, wearing a semi-fitted jacket that managed to look professional and casual at the same time. “Now what?”
Everything about her screamed challenge. She wanted him to know that she didn’t give a fuck about what happened the night before, and she was ready to fight over it. He didn’t meet her head-on but side-stepped, hoping to deflate some of that rage. “You go about your normal day. What would you usually be doing?”
“Great,” she said. “I would go to work.”
“At the sanctuary?”
“Since your asshole boss didn’t hire me, yes. The sanctuary is my primary place of employment.”
So formal. Dodge wondered why she wasn’t spitting nails at him instead of loaded words. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the shitty cabinets in the kitchen. “Technically you turned down the job. Deirdre wanted to hire you and you ran away.”
Persephone’s eyes narrowed. If she’d been a wolf, she would have torn his throat right out.
Dodge refused to blink or back down. Let her be pissed at him. It was better than her crumpling into a teary mess. He could deal with anger.
