On the drive back from the Catskills, I decided to suck it up and call Todd. My guts told me there was nothing going on between him and Jenna. He probably didn’t even realize what he had done wrong. But he needed to know how I felt about it. I felt a little nervous. Was this going to be an awkward conversation? But I called him anyway. Though we didn’t have much time to talk as he was at work, we made plans for all of us to get together the day after we got back.
Dave grabbed two beers from the fridge. He handed me one as he sat down next to me on the sofa. After clinking my bottle with his, he took a long swallow.
“Great trip Bev. Thanks for going with me.”
“Your folks are really nice, Dave.”
“Yeah, they are good people. Hope my mom didn’t get on your nerves asking about grandpups.”
“Nah, she’s cool.” I flicked a whisp of hair away from my forehead.
“She can be pretty blunt at times,” Dave said, shaking his head.
“Uh huh. Now I know where you get it from.”
Dave frowned. “What? I’m not blunt, just honest.”
“Yeah, right!”
Dave sighed. “I don’t want to get back into the grind of looking for a job again, but I know I need to. Hey, turn on the TV and let’s catch the news—see if there is anything about the protestors.”
“Shit!” I didn’t miss hearing about that. When we’d gone to his parents for the weekend we’d decided to block everything out about the werewolf mess, so we hadn’t read the paper or watched the news there.
“It’s late, Dave. The news is over.”
“I set up the DVR to record the KKA news channel.”
“Ok.” I hated to be back in the middle of this mess again, but I knew I needed to find out what was going on. I flicked through the recorded programs, found the KKA News Channel one and pressed play. I fast-forwarded until I saw the reporter, Marcy Haynes, in front of the Orange Tap, standing next to a middle-aged man. For some reason he looked very familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.
“So we have with us Jerry Mars, the owner of the Orange Tap, or OT, as the locals like to call it. Jerry, what is your position on this? Do you feel there really is a government cover up going on, and there are werewolf shifters among us?”
The man grimaced, his mouth curling in an angry snarl. “You bet I do, and I don’t want them in my bar.”
“You sound angry. Have you had problems with shifters in the past?”
Jerry shook his head as he spat into her microphone. “No, but I just know that they’re good for nothing, and they ain’t coming in my bar, and that’s that!”
“Ok, thank you for your time Jerry,” Marcy said, turning to face the cameras. “That was Jerry Mars, the owner of the Orange Tap Bar in Frederick, Maryland.”
“Not too many protestors there. That’s weird,” Dave pointed out.
I looked at the area behind Marcy and saw he was right. There were just a few protestors, but not the usual crowd. I didn’t see any members of the WHO group either—at least, none that I recognized. But I did see Lisa and Shelby off to the side.
“That Orange Tap bar owner looks familiar, Dave. Have you seen him before?”
“Nah, I think they mentioned him in another newscast, but I don’t remember seeing him anywhere.” Dave got up and turned off the TV. “Anyway, it’s late, you’ve got classes tomorrow, and I gotta get up early and start the job search again. Me thinks it’s time to hit the hay.”
Dave and I went to bed. I was exhausted from the full weekend and the stress of the past few days, but a deep sleep was not happening. I slept fitfully, tossing and turning. By the time morning rolled around, I felt like I’d hardly gotten any rest at all. There was so much going on in my life: classes I wasn’t sure I would pass, the werewolf mess, Dave’s lack of a job … and Todd. Todd was weighing heavily on my mind. I really needed to talk to him about how much it had hurt when I saw that other girl with him … and soon.
I dressed quickly for school and gathered my things. Dave had said he was going to get up early, but he was still snoozing away. That was a major problem with not having a place to go; like a job or school. With nowhere to be, there was no discipline.
I certainly cared about both of my alphas, and I loved how they tried to fulfill me emotionally and sexually—but they both needed a little taming. Todd needed to focus his attention on our trio and stop being so worried about hurting other people’s feelings. Dave needed to buck up and get a job—any job for now till he found something better. He needed something to do—and he needed to earn money!