Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“Do I need to call the cops?” Wendy asked, suddenly appearing near his window.
He glanced past her shoulder and looked straight toward the house.
Earlier, Rose had said a whole bunch of things to him, and a few of them had struck a chord within him. Actually, she’d spent the whole time shouting at him, which he accepted. He’d acted like a dick, and he was putting it mildly, according to what Rose had told him.
“If you don’t get your head out of your ignorant ass, you know you’re going to lose the woman you love.”
“I don’t love Eloise.”
“You don’t? I call bullshit. I know you, Beau, and you don’t go sneaking around with someone you don’t even like, or do what you’ve done.” She growled with frustration. “You know what, fine. You don’t love Eloise. She was just someone to have fun with. What about your child? The one thing we can agree on is that the child Eloise is carrying is yours. There is no way she cheated on you with any guy. You’ve got to at least admit to that. So, is that child going to be running around No Wolves Road without a daddy? Are you going to allow that? Because if you don’t mend this shit with Eloise, then you’re never going to get the chance to be that baby’s father.”
He’d gladly ignored her, because he could live with that. That’s what he told himself.
“Or maybe it is better this way. He’ll get a stepdad and you’ll be able to see someone else enjoying your kid and your mate.”
Rose had left before the beast within him came forth. His office was trashed. The rage he felt at another man touching Eloise, of being near his woman, his child, he just couldn’t stand the thought. He normally had perfect control over his wolf. This was the first time he’d not been able to stop his reactions, and he didn’t like it.
“You don’t need to call the cops,” Beau said.
“Then lurking or stalking, or whatever cool words you wolves are calling it nowadays, isn’t funny,” Wendy said.
He looked at Wendy and then back toward the house, wondering if Eloise knew he was outside.
“How is she?” he asked.
She folded her arms across her breasts.
“I’m not here to cause trouble, I just … I want to know how she is.”
“She’s … coping. It’s hard for her, you know. You were her first and only boyfriend. I’ve never known Eloise to be so smitten with a guy that she’d sneak around for months just to be with him.”
Beau knew there was a jab in there. “Can I see her?”
Wendy sighed. “I’ll send her out.”
“I don’t want to make her uncomfortable,” he said. “I’m happy to come inside.”
“That’s why I’m sending her out. That house is Eloise’s safe space. I get that you’ve probably been in there but until she tells me she has forgiven you and wants you in our house, you’re not coming in. It’s nothing personal. I’m protecting my daughter, because I failed until this moment.”
“I … I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“That’s the thing with men, you never mean to hurt, and yet, it seems to be the only thing you’re capable of doing.” Wendy shook her head as she walked away. She turned toward him as she got to the door. “If she’s not out in five minutes, I’d leave.”
Beau knew he deserved this. He’d been cruel to Eloise. He hurt her when he promised he wouldn’t do so again, and he hated that.
Seconds passed and he tried not to look at the clock, but he just couldn’t help it. One minute ticked by, then a second. They were close to nearly the five-minute mark when he saw the door open, and out stepped Eloise.
She looked so tired. She wore a pair of sweatpants, a jacket, and she had on some snow boots. There was a thick layer of snow on the ground, and she walked toward his car. He’d forgotten how cold it was because he ran hotter than normal.
“Do you want to climb in?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Nah, I’m quite happy to stand here,” she said. “What do you want, Beau?”
“I wanted to see how you were.” It was fucking lame.
He saw the paleness of her face. She was pregnant with his child but it looked like she had lost too much weight. Shouldn’t a pregnant woman be putting weight on?
“I’m fine. As you can see. Perfectly fine. It’s really cold, and I just want to head back inside.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Yeah, me too.” She looked distracted as she glanced back at the house.
“What can I do?”
This brought her attention back around to him. “What?”
“I … I miss you, Eloise. I don’t … I don’t like not seeing you. I need to be able to fix this.” He hated being in the wrong.