“He gave it to me.”
Harper’s unnerving eyes jerked up to hers, and a slow smile spread across her lips. “Do you know what this is?”
She thought it was just a little piece of trash he’d given her from his pocket on a whim, but from the way Harper was acting, perhaps it was something bigger. Alana shook her head.
“When Aaron was a kid, he would collect little treasures. And the first time he met his dad, he gave him a paperclip. And big old dominant Breck Crew alpha, Cody Keller, still carries that old paperclip wherever he goes.” Harper pressed the bent metal into Alana’s palm and closed her fist around it. “Aaron started carrying this one when he figured out how much it meant to his dad, and it’s been his good luck charm ever since. We all used to tease him about it as a kid, but he didn’t care. If he gave it to you, you’re something special, Alana.” Harper helped her up and held out her palm.
“You want the paperclip?” Alana asked, confused. She definitely wasn’t going to part with it now, or ever, after Harper had enlightened her what it really meant to Aaron.
“Nope. Your phone.”
Alana pulled it out of her purse and handed it to Harper so fast she almost dropped it.
Harper fiddled on there for a couple minutes and then handed it back. “Now you have all of our numbers, including Aaron’s. He’s my cousin, and I was kind of afraid he would never like someone like this. I was scared he would never connect, you know?” Harper hugged Alana’s shoulders tight, warming her skin with just the brief embrace. “You call me if you ever need anything.”
“Okay, I will,” Alana said, eyes bugging out of her head as the alpha of the Bloodrunner Crew released her. “Um, Harper? If you ever feel like coming to Bryson city early, coffee is on me at the café. It’s just down the street. It has my name on the sign out front.”
“I’ll visit you this week,” Harper promised. “I need someone to talk about normal stuff with. I don’t know any ladies around here yet, and I need a break from all the fart jokes.”
Ryder looked at his alpha with a truly offended expression. “What’s wrong with fart jokes?”
Harper sighed tiredly and squeezed Alana’s hand, offered her a see-what-I-mean look, then made her way toward the door with the glowing red exit sign above it.
As Alana waved off the Bloodrunner Crew and watched them file through the door and out into the night beyond, another layer of confusion settled into her chest.
Tonight had just made her decision to move or stay even harder.
Chapter Eleven
Popcorn
Hair in a messy bun
Sexy leopard-print push-up bra
Cherry flavored lip gloss
Cutest pajama set
Mood music
Romantic comedy
Alana checked the TV, the glowing screen paused on the opening credits of a classic mushy movie. With a satisfied sigh, she marked out the last of her to-do list with a purple gel pen. Then she tossed the scribbled paper into the trash just as a knock sounded on the door. She took a moment to ball her hands up and run in place, silently squealing with excitement. Too much energy. She had to get herself under control or she would start shaking in front of Aaron. Be cool.
Alana tiptoed over to the mirror right beside the door, checked herself once, then blew out three quick breaths before she pulled open the door.
Her disappointment was instantaneously consuming. It wasn’t Aaron at the door, but a tall, lanky man with brown mussed hair and the same navy blue Bryson City Fire Department shirt Aaron wore on his shifts.
Her heart dropped to the ground as realization suddenly flooded over her. “Is Aaron okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. Sorry. I’m not here with bad news, and I’m really sorry it’s so late.” He put his hands on the doorframe and looked around inside her house. “I’m a friend of Aaron’s and was wondering if I could come in and talk to you for a minute? It’s important.”
“It’s midnight.”
“Yeah.” The man linked his hands behind his neck and gave her a charming hot-guy grin. That shit would’ve worked on her last week, but Aaron’s was better. “Again, I’m so sorry about the time. Can I come in?”
“I’m not comfortable with that. I’m glad to meet another friend of Aaron’s, but whatever you need to talk about, you can do from there. Or tomorrow. Tomorrow would be good.”
The man’s eyes flashed with a surprising coolness for just a moment before it was gone. He looked down the street and let off a laugh that echoed around her porch and bounced around in her head. Chills rippled up her spine, and with a gasp, she shoved the door to close it.
“Stop.” The word was clear as a bell, but the man’s mouth hadn’t moved from the cruel, twisted smile.
Alana stood frozen, holding the edge of her door, trying and failing to move a single muscle to close it.
“You don’t want to do that. Don’t want to do that. Don’t want to.” The deep, dark words tumbled over each other in her mind. “Invite me in. Invite me. Invite me in, Alana Warren.”
Fuck you. She wanted to say it so badly. The words sat there on the end of her tongue, ready like ammunition in the chamber of a gun. But when she forced air past her vocal cords, all that came out was, “Won’t you come in?”
She whimpered as her traitorous hand opened the door wider.
The man wore a pleased expression as he murmured, “Good girl,” and stepped one echoing, ominous boot onto her wooden floors, then shut and locked the door behind him.