Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

Leaving the pack was way more complicated than I originally thought. Thankfully, my mom had the foresight to get our school records before we left, as Tyler and I both needed to be enrolled. The high school principal owed my father a favor, so he was helping to keep Tyler and me a secret for now so Lawrence wouldn’t be hinted at where to find us.

I didn’t have much interest in school, being more focused on wanting to learn about my father. So far, we had talked some but not much. He and my mom kept shutting themselves away to talk about things, promising to loop me in soon. I noticed how red and angry her mate mark looked when her shirt shifted to show it one afternoon. I was worried that Lawrence would be able to find us just by following their bond.

I was getting ready to go shift and run to work off some energy when my phone rang, and I rushed to answer it. The only people who call me are Quinn and Andi, and I took care of latter last night. “Hello?” I answered.

“Michael,” Quinn’s voice came over the line. She sounded off.

“Hey,” I said. “Is something wrong?”

“Who is Andi?” she asked. My stomach clenched.

“Did she do something?” I asked carefully.

Quinn was quiet for a second then I heard her sniffle. “She threw a drink on me and threatened me. She said that I need to stay away from you because when you come back, she is going to be your mate.”

“s**t,” I muttered under my breath. I was sort of a d**k when I texted her to break up last night officially; then, I ignored all her calls because I didn’t want to deal with her anymore. All I cared about was Quinn. “Quinn, I am so sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yea,” she whispered. “My friends sent her away. But everyone saw. She did it during lunch in the hallway.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t come near you again,” I promised. Eros was agitated now; we both wanted to return to the pack to put Andi in her place for trying to hurt Quinn.

“Michael, did you have a girlfriend this whole time?” she asked.

I sighed. “It’s complicated. I never actually broke up with her, but Quinn, I haven’t looked at anyone since I met you. There was just so much on my plate, and every time I had any free time, I wanted to be with you. I knew she wouldn’t take it well, so I just avoided her. This is all my fault. I am so sorry.”

Quinn was quiet other than soft sniffling sounds. I didn’t know what to say because I made this problem for her. “I have to go,” she said quietly. She hung up without giving me the chance to say anything else.

Anger boiled through me. I dialed Andi’s number and didn’t have to wait long for her to answer. “How dare you!” I shouted into the phone.

“I’m not going to let you just find a new slut to replace me with, Michael,” she said. “When you get back, she doesn’t need to have any ideas in her head. Plus, she’s a freshman, and she’s ugly as f**k with her stupid blue hair.”

“Enough!” I told her. “Stay the f**k away from Quinn, Andi. She has nothing to do with you.”

“She won’t as long as she keeps herself away from you,” Andi said haughtily before the line cut off. I growled as I redialed her number. This time it went right to voicemail.

“This wouldn’t have happened had you listened to me,” Eros reminded me.

“There is no need for I told you so right now,” I snapped at him.

“Well, she wouldn’t have attacked Quinn if you had just broken up with her that day we met her,” He said. A growl slipped out of my mouth. f*****g Andi.

I tried calling Quinn again, but her phone rang until it went to voicemail. I realized she was probably in class. I sent her a text message begging her to call me after school and apologizing again.

I agonized over the next hour about what to do. It was Friday; there would be a football game this evening, and there was a good possibility Andi would go. I may have made it worse by calling her to tell her to leave Quinn alone.

Tommy. I ran up to my room and got into the dresser, where I shoved the list of phone numbers of my friends before we got rid of our old phones. I dialed Tommy’s number, praying he would answer.

“Hello?” he finally picked up the phone.

“It’s me,” I said.

“Wait, Mike?” he asked.

“Yea,” I said. “I’m sure you have questions, but I’ve got something important I need help with.”

“Your crazy f*****g ex attacking the girl you kept a secret from us?” he said pointedly.

“How do you-”

“You’re an i***t. Andi is going to try to shred her to pieces! I’m surprised that drink wasn’t laced with something,” he growled.

“I know! Okay! I know. Can you just keep Andi away from her?” I asked.

“Oh, I will. But not because you asked me to. I will keep that skank away from her because Quinn is a nice girl and doesn’t deserve any of that,” he said.

“Whatever your reason, I appreciate it,” I said.

“Shove your appreciation. Maybe next time, don’t up and disappear without saying anything to those of us who have had your back,” Tommy said, and the line cut off. I leaned against the wall and slid down onto the floor. My own selfish behavior got me, and Quinn, in this position. I just prayed to the Moon Goddess that she would actually call me back.

QUINN

I left all my things at school and ran home as fast as I could as soon as the bell rang. I went straight to the bathroom and stripped down to shower. I carefully folded Tommy’s hoodie and Sunni’s tank top, setting them on the counter before jumping into the steaming water.

I scrubbed until my skin was pink, feeling dirty. I believed Michael when he said it had only been me since we met, but there was a weight in my stomach. I could hear my phone ringing from the counter while I stood under the hot stream. It was either Michael or Christy. I ignored it until the water started to get cold.

I got out, wrapped myself in a towel, and went to my room to get dressed. At least my hair didn’t smell like cherry soda anymore. I had plenty of time before the game; I wanted to just lay in my bed and escape for a little while, but I couldn’t sit still. Once I had clothes on again, I paced my room, pulling my brush through my hair repeatedly. My phone rang again from the bathroom.

I went back to get it. Both missed calls were from Christy. I called her back, and she answered immediately.

“Where did you go?” she asked worriedly. “We didn’t talk during school, and then you disappeared so quickly. Sunni said something happened at lunch.”

“I went home to shower. I’ll come back in time tonight,” I told her.

“Someone was talking about Andi throwing a drink on a freshman today,” Christy started piecing things together aloud. “Quinn, was that you? Was that over him?”

“It’s fine,” I told her. “I just needed to wash my hair. I’ll come back in a bit.”

“I’m sorry, honey. Goddess, that chick is awful. Don’t take it personally, okay?”

“Yea, I’m good. I’ll see you in a bit,” I told her.

“I’m going to see if Matt will come pick you up, so you don’t have to walk back. I’ll text you,” she said. We hung up, and I went back to my room, sinking onto my bed. I dropped my head in my hands. My necklace dangled under me. How did I pick the perfectly wrong guy to fall for?

–

Matt did come to pick me up, Tommy in the car with him. When I tried to return his sweatshirt, he told me to hold onto it. We got back in enough time for Laurie to braid my hair up nicely again and still be early for our call time.

Our half-time performance went better than the previous week, and I still managed not to fall on my face. During our break, I stayed in the stands, not in the mood to socialize with everyone. Tommy came over and sat next to me, nudging me with his shoulder. “Come on, smile a little,” he teased. “That’s two weeks in a row you didn’t completely bomb.”

“Thanks for everything today,” I told him. “I wasn’t expecting any of that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Just don’t wander around alone for a while, and you won’t find any trouble. She’ll find another person to torment eventually.”

“Wonderful,” I g*****d. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“What is Aaron’s problem? Did I do something? Why did he call me freshman princess?”

Tommy laughed. “You haven’t noticed?” I shook my head. “You are probably the most popular freshman in band, at least. The others are all awkward or weird. You are actually normal and pretty cool. Plus, you’re pretty, which the older guys tend to notice. Aaron called you a princess to make fun of you but look-” He pointed down toward the bottom of the bleacher section we all sat in. Almost all the freshmen were standing together talking. The remaining people in the stands were giving them a wide berth.

I frowned. “Don’t worry. It happens all the time. They will assimilate eventually. Anyway, Aaron isn’t mad at you per se. He is mad because Michael got to you. His girlfriend dumped him last year for Michael, and then he slept with her like immediately. She had been pushing Aaron away for a while.”

“Oh,” I said. Now it made sense why Aaron was prickly toward me. “I’m sorry.”

“What do you have to be sorry for?” Tommy asked. I shrugged.

“Seems like he is still hurt over it,” I said.

“He’ll move on eventually,” Tommy laughed. The director blew his whistle, giving us one minute to get in position. “You going to be okay? We can get Christy to sneak up here and hide in your section.”

“No, I’m okay,” I smiled. “Thanks for hanging out with me.”

“I mean it; don’t go running off alone for a while. Andi is less likely to try something if you’re with people. She’ll want to corner you alone.”

“Got it,” I said as we both stood up. He headed back up the bleachers to his drum. Sandra came over to stand next to me; she usually stayed next to Stuart.

I started blowing warm air through my instrument, waiting to start playing pep songs again. “You know, I don’t really care for you, but I wouldn’t have thrown a drink on you,” Sandra said.

“What?” I said, looking at her. Her eyes were forward.

“Andi has plenty of problems, the least being that Michael dumped her. She’s just looking to take it out on someone because no one really paid her attention before,” she explained. “I still think you are an opportunist with a superior opinion of yourself, but what Michael did to Andi isn’t your fault. If he didn’t sleep with you, it would have been someone else.”

“I didn’t sleep with him,” I growled quietly.

“Deny it all you want, but no one believes it,” she said. A song was shouted at us from the bottom of the bleachers. I didn’t have anything to say to her. I knew no matter what I told her, she wouldn’t believe me simply because she didn’t like me.

“Don’t bother with wolves like her,” Sapphire tried to reassure me. “We know Michael. She is jealous because she wants him to care for her like he does us.”

The drum sounded, counting us into the song. “I just want people not to care what I do so much,” I told her. “I never thought it would be so hard to be invisible.”

“Michael would say you’re too special for that,” she said.

“Pffttt,” I laughed back. “Wishful thinking, dear wolf. Wishful thinking.”