Chapter 3

The car ride with Mike was…awkward. I knew he was going to be tip toeing around me. He didn’t want to bring up Eddy and his new mate. I was curious. Was she worth leaving me for?

I really hoped she was ugly and a huge bitch. But with my luck, I probably wouldn’t get that combo. I'd settle for one of the two.

When Mike finally parked the car, I opened the door to get out but I was stopped.

Mike grabbed my wrist and stopped me before I got out of his car. He was really a man of few words, so stopping me meant it was probably a big deal. “You’re not going to cause a scene, are you?”

I shook my head. “Don’t plan on it.” I hadn't even given it much thought. I was going to try to be a grown up through this thing…well now that I was done feeling sorry for myself.

“Well don’t. This arrangement needs to go smoothly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I hate Eddy’s guts right now.”

He nodded and let me go. “They’re going to be here soon, so I expect you to control yourself.”

Who did he think he is? What made him so special to think that I would do whatever he expected of me? “You should just mind your own business.” I slammed the door and started walking to Nikki.

I felt eyes on me as I walked to Nikki. I tried to act like I didn’t notice. But I knew they had all been gossiping. They all probably knew that I had been depressed. They all probably knew everything about what had happened. It’s not like they would side with me. I wasn’t their alpha’s son’s girlfriend anymore. They didn’t care if I was the one who was screwed in this arrangement.

There was no way that there wasn’t gossiping. Poor little Emily had her heart broken by Eddy. I could already hear the whispers.

“I’ll punch the first person in the face if they ask me how I’m doing.”

Nikki smiled when she saw me, ignoring my threat. “Yay! I was thinking you were going to back out.” She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.

“I thought about it.” I sighed. “Are they all going to keep looking at me? I don’t want to be a spectacle.”

She sighed, “You know how they are. Give them some juicy drama and they turn into hyenas.”

We left our bags at one of the tables, then went down to the water. We stuck to our routine. We put our chairs right next to the water and sat there with our feet in the water. Our feet were freezing and our shoulders were burning from the sun. It felt great.

It felt great, until the couple of the century arrived.

Nikki groaned and muttered something I couldn’t hear.

“We can leave if you want.” She offered. I knew that Nikki would always be my best friend, even if she also had to be loyal to her pack.

I shook my head and slathered on more sunscreen. I didn’t want to go home with a sunburn. “It’s okay. Just don’t leave me alone.”

She nodded. “Of course not.” She looked back and waved. “Are you going to wave?” She muttered just loud enough that I would be the only one who heard her.

I gave her a look that meant I hated her. Then without turning back I lifted my hand and gave the happy couple a peace sign.

I wasn’t happy, but my grump werewolf father raised me not to be rude.

“Hey girls!” A female voice I didn’t recognize said. That meant that this had to be Eddy’s new woman. I knew everyone in this pack.

Nikki looked over at the new arrival and smiled. “Oh hi Margaret. How are you doing?”

Margaret...That’s an old lady name. I thought bitterly.

“I’m great. Do you mind if I join the two of you?” She asked sweetly, which made me want to hate her even more. She had to have heard about me. Wouldn’t people have hinted that Eddy’s ex hung around the pack? Maybe she just didn’t care.

I already heard her setting up her chair. I rolled my eyes.

“Um, sure.” Nikki was being polite. After all, Margaret ranked higher now that she was with Eddy.

As it turned out the woman Eddy left me for wasn’t so bad. I didn’t actually talk to her, but I listened. If she asked me a question directly, I answered it. When I finally rounded up enough courage to look at her, I wished I hadn’t. She was absolutely beautiful, much more beautiful than I considered myself to be.

The evil little troll in me wished she was disgusting and 600 pounds overweight.

I couldn't help but notice all the pack members glancing at us from time to time. They all wanted to make sure the non-pack member behaved herself with Eddy's mate. Their loyalty was to her now. This princess was the one that they cared about. After all, she’d be the one who outlived me. She was probably a werewolf already, and if she wasn’t she’d be one soon.

Everyone stuck around until it was very dark out. We lived so far out that light pollution wasn’t a factor when looking up at the stars. It was clear enough out that it felt like we could see every star in the sky.

“I’m going to grab water. Want one?”

I nodded a response to Nikki. She rolled over and got off the ground. I could hear every one sitting around a fire as it popped and sizzled. Nikki and I forewent the group gathering and laid on the beach with our towels as we looked at the stars. It was something that we’ve just always done together. We’d even make our own constellations and named them.

I was actually feeling okay. It didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would when I witnessed Eddy being affectionate with his new mate like he had been with me only last month.