Three Hours (Seven Series Book 5) (18 page)

“Oh my God,” she said with a mouthful of spaghetti. “Is it that green stuff? That’s the
best
dessert. No one better touch it until I have some.”

I smiled and waved good night.

As soon as I reached my room, I kicked off my shoes and tried to ignore the sensation of feeling like a caged animal. I needed to get Misha back, but in my heart, I didn’t know if it was too late. A man like Delgado taking care of a cat? I couldn’t imagine it, but I also didn’t want to imagine what he’d done with her. The only way to keep from crying was to focus on Lola. She needed her mother, and I was going to make that happen. This nightmare had to end. The world is filled with unimaginable evils, but the worst act of evil is turning a blind eye.

I turned the dimmers on above the bed and crawled over the blanket. While the main room was shaped like a rectangle, they had extended the wall using the exact dimensions of the bed, so the only way to get in was to climb onto it from the foot. The lamps in the room were off, immersing the room in darkness. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to allow the dim lights to lull me to sleep.

No matter how many times I pounded on my pillow, I couldn’t settle my nerves. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at the built-in shelf on the headboard. Someone had filled it with a large selection of romance novels—some of which had significant wear on the spine. Probably April’s collection, which I found amusing since she didn’t go through heat. My guess was that she and Reno used this room as a private getaway.

A knock sounded at the door. I shivered when the air-conditioning came on and a cold breath of air skated over my arms. Across the room, I heard the squeaky hinge from a door opening, but I couldn’t see anything since the only lights on were the dimmers in my cubbyhole.

“It’s a little early for beddy-bye, isn’t it?” I heard Wheeler ask.

“I’m surprised you aren’t hunched over in agony from a spaghetti overdose,” I said with a snort.

“I’m still hungry.”

A shiver rolled over me, and when he moved into sight, I flew up and gripped the covers. “I thought you left.”

Ben smiled and tucked his hands in his pockets. “I had a little time to kill. So how about that drink? They keep it well stocked in here. Whiskey, vodka, even wine coolers. Maybe fried chicken wasn’t what you needed.”

“Ben, get out.”

“Whoa,” he said, holding up his hands. “Let’s not get confused as to what’s going on here.”

I flipped my hair back. “I’m in bed, and you’re uninvited. Which part do you think I’m confused about?”

“I’m just offering a drink to take the edge off. Maybe another time. Didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers.”

The door suddenly opened and my chest constricted. If it was Reno coming with news on the trace, this was about to get awkward.

“And the plot thickens,” a voice said with disdain.

Even worse, it was Wheeler.

Ben turned around. “Just on my way out. Did you want to tag-team or something?” When he vanished into the darkness, I heard a struggle. They were throwing punches, and something fell over and broke.

“Get out of here!” I shouted, standing on my feet. It felt as if I had a spotlight on my white baby-doll nightie.

“You’re going to regret that,” one of them said, but I couldn’t tell which.

“Maybe I’ll cut you off,” the other growled. “It’s time you bail your own ass out.”

“Go fuck yourself, since no one else will.”

The door slammed and then I had some peace.

“Hello?” I said.

A lamp switched on from the right side of the room. Wheeler crouched down and pulled a can of soda from the short fridge. He held it to his face and turned around, maintaining his distance across the room.

I approached him and pulled the can away. “Here, let me see.”

Wheeler averted his eyes, and I lightly touched the drop of blood on his cheek. “It’s just a small cut.” I ran a thin towel under the faucet and then pressed it to his upper cheekbone, right below his left eye. Most Shifters wouldn’t shift to heal minor injuries because it angered our animal if they couldn’t stay out. “Hold still for a moment. What did you come in here for?”

He turned the can of soda in his hand, looking down at it. “I haven’t seen you eat all day. Maybe I don’t want your panther getting hungry.”

“Oh. For a fleeting moment, I thought maybe you cared.” I stepped closer and peeked beneath the cloth. “Just another minute and it’ll clot.”

“Why don’t you drink this while you’re waiting?”

“I’m afraid all those bubbles will give me a headache. Caffeine on an empty stomach will keep me up all night.”

“It doesn’t have caffeine; it’s the green can.”

“Read the label,” I said, realizing how tall Wheeler was when I didn’t have my heels on, which put me at eye level with that gorgeous Adam’s apple of his. I was standing against him, and yet I could feel the distance between us. “Well, what does it say?”

“You read it.”

“I’m busy with the patient. I’ll have a sip if you tell me it’s caffeine-free.”

“Never mind.” He set the can behind him on the cabinet.

I peered beneath the towel and the bleeding had stopped. After tossing it in the sink, I took a step back and looked at him. Something occurred to me that hadn’t before. “You can’t read, can you?”

“I can read. What do you think I am, an idiot?”

“No… but neither am I.”

Wheeler reached for the can and held it out. “It says Dew.”

“Spin it around and tell me what the tiny letters on the back say.”

He cracked open the can and put it in my hand. “It says
drink me
.”

“Hmm,” was all I replied, turning back to the bed. I sat on the edge and took a small sip before setting the can on the floor by the wall. “Why don’t you get along with your twin?”

“Brother. Twin is incidental.”

“Such resentment.”

Wheeler sniffed and stalked forward, hands tucked beneath his armpits. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Of course I wouldn’t. I’m just a stripper.”

His eyes flashed up and I caught a glimmer of something in them that looked like regret. “That’s not what I meant. No one understands.”

“Neither of us seems to have anyone we can confide in. As much as I love Lexi, she’s still so human. She will never grasp the reasoning behind why I’ve kept my animal hidden for so long, and for that reason, I’ve kept a lot more hidden from her. You seem like you have way more bubbling inside than that can of soda. If it’s one thing I’m known for, it’s keeping secrets. After all, I’ve been doing it my entire life, so I understand the importance of privacy. You’d be amazed at some of the things I know about the men in this town.”

He smirked, and one of his brows sloped down at an awkward angle. “That I don’t doubt. Men seem to lose common sense when their pants are down.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Who said their pants were down? I don’t sleep with my customers. What a travesty most people believe such a thing. Yes, there are girls who do, but dancing is just a job. When I’m not at work, I’m just an ordinary woman.”

“Ordinary isn’t the word I would have chosen.”

“Okay then. Sexy,” I purred with a sly grin.

Wheeler intrigued me, and after the scuffle with Ben, I could no longer resist the urge to learn more about him. Maybe now that he knew about my panther, it made it easier for me to want to open up. But mostly I felt like he had a lot of buried emotions beneath his gruff attitude that no one in the pack seemed to have noticed.

“Tell me,” I said.

“Tell you what?”

“Confide in me and I’ll give you honest advice. I’m proposing a unique opportunity for two people to be completely open with each other without any judgment or fear of it leaving this room.”

He shook his head, staring at the floor as he paced around. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Tell me your secrets, Wheeler, and I’ll tell you some of mine.”

My voice softened, and I realized what I’d longed for. A sense of intimacy during the lonely nights at home when I wanted to complain about my job, my dark secrets, or even my tired feet. I just wanted to have someone there to listen. Strangely enough, Wheeler was the only person I’d ever felt an inexplicable desire to tell all my secrets to, and maybe that’s because he didn’t come across as someone who would feed me a line of bullshit.

“I’m not a guy who sits around and shares his feelings. This isn’t a daytime talk show.”

I wasn’t about to let Wheeler win this battle. “Switch off the lamp and crawl into bed with me.”

He licked his bottom lip and watched me from behind heavy brows.

“Fine. Just stand there and grow roots then. And wipe the smug look off your face. I’m not offering anything but conversation.”

“In bed.”

“If it makes it easier, I’ll start and you can see how serious I am. You have a wicked tongue, but I can see you’re not the kind of man who spreads gossip. So maybe that’s why I trust you a little more than anyone else. I’m asking you to lie with me because I’m sleepy, and…” My voice softened. “I want to know what it feels like to lie in bed with a man and just
talk
.”

Wheeler’s mouth opened as if to say something.

“That’s right. Men who come to my bed aren’t there to talk. I choose the men I sleep with carefully, but not one has ever stayed the full night. They always have somewhere important they need to be. Maybe a silly part of me envies Lexi when she talks about how she and Austin sit up at night talking for hours until they doze off in the middle of a conversation.”

Wheeler laughed and turned around. “That sounds about right. I bet I can guess who dozes off first.”

I patted the bed beside me. “Men look at me as a conversation piece, not someone they can hold a conversation with. Indulge a woman who’s feeling a little down.”

When he switched off the lamp, I expected him to leave, so I tucked my legs beneath the covers and stared up at the ceiling. The bed sank down when Wheeler sat on the end. I scooted to the right and turned to face the wall on my right, giving him plenty of room. The light above was dim, almost like a nightlight, but brighter.

He kicked off his shoes and then scooted back. When I peered over my shoulder, he had his fingers laced behind his head, looking up at the ceiling pensively. “I’ve never been in this room until you came,” he said absently.

“I’d assumed you built it.”

“Thought you said I couldn’t do anything laborious with my hands?”

I smiled. It seems he remembered everything I said, even if it was years ago. “That’s an impressive memory you have.”

“Hard to forget insults. They stick like verbal glue.”

I turned on my back and looked at him. “I’m not going to lie, Wheeler. I despised you back then for how you treated April. I’m not a fan of men who degrade women, and the way you were doing it was arrogant and showy. In a public mall, of all places. Imagine how belittled she must have felt.”

“Yeah, it was a shitty thing to do,” he agreed. “Knowing her now makes it harder to remember, but back then, she was just a human trying to break apart the pack.”

“People are more than who they allow you to see.”

“Not me. What you see is what you get.”

I pulled the sheet up higher. “So you keep saying, but that’s not true. You didn’t have to risk your life bringing me here. Let me see your arm.” Without waiting, I pulled his right arm away from his head, studying his tattoos closely. “Why does the chain have a broken link?”

The silence was so heavy that I could hear the electric buzzing of the fridge.

“You’ve never told anyone, have you?” I asked. “There’s something about your past you’re hiding. You wear ink on your body like armor, but that’s not a confession—it’s a defense. Showing isn’t telling, not when people don’t know what they’re looking at.” I turned on my left side, staring at the marks on his shoulder. Up close, something about them looked off.

“It can
never
leave this room,” he stressed in a low voice.

“You have nothing to fear. I give you my word I’ll never speak of anything you reveal to me within this room. I’ll tell you some of my dark secrets so we’ll be even in the blackmail game. But I expect the same courtesy.”

He pursed his lips and gave a short nod. “Deal.”

That moment changed everything between us. It’s a rare opportunity when a person removes all the layers and allows you to see who they are at the core. Sometimes we don’t even get that chance with our own family or friends, and maybe it’s easier to let someone you don’t have any emotional connection with see that side of you. There’s no fear of rejection, ridicule, or withholding love. We had nothing to lose.

“So? Do tell.”