your spot on the crew. I’ve kept it all this time because I don’t want this life for you. I want a better mate for you, one who won’t hurt you. One you won’t grow to resent. I was trying to figure out how to make you happiest—to let you go or draw you closer.” He drew his sad gaze to hers and lowered his voice. “But then you said you missed me touching you, and I can’t go back anymore. You’re mine.”
Skyler cupped the necklace in her palm. “Kellen, I don’t want to make you sad.” Her heart felt like it was overflowing and breaking all at once. “Why don’t you think you would make a good mate?”
“If I tell you, you’ll run away from me.”
“I won’t. You have to trust that I care about you enough to listen and try to understand where you come from.”
He stared out the window for a long time, then turned on the truck and scooted her into the passenger’s seat.
Geez, why couldn’t he just talk to her? He shut down like this every time, leaking out the smallest amount of information possible, which only served to drive her insane with the twenty new questions that arose. And pushing him for more didn’t help. If he didn’t want to talk about something, he just slammed down a wall she was helpless to break through. She wanted him, all of him, but perhaps Kellen wasn’t capable of sharing himself wholly with someone else. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he knew he was unable to let people in, and he didn’t want to hurt her with it. That was the only thing that made sense from the bits and pieces she’d scrapped together from him and Denison.
She placed the necklace back in the box and put it back in the glove compartment, confused as to why he’d given it to her if he had no intention of actually allowing her into his life. And not just the life he had now. Kellen was different. He spoke different, acted different, seemed governed by different rules. Even Tagan made allowances for him that the others in his crew weren’t afforded.
Kellen drove her back to the trailer park in silence, his eyes hard on the muddy road in front of them.
She felt duped. Her heart had fallen for someone incapable of returning the depth of her feeling. And sadly, she’d still accept him if he was serious with the necklace. Pathetic.
With her hard hat in hand, she shook out her damp hair and prepared for him to drop her off in front of 1010. Instead, he pulled his truck to a stop in front of 1015, his trailer. She hadn’t ever been allowed in there, and from what she’d seen over the past week and a half, no one else ventured in there either. While the shifters in this crew openly walked into each other’s trailers—sometimes without knocking as she’d learned when Brighton barged in on her in the shower and snatched a bottle of low dose pain killers from the medicine cabinet before he waved and let himself out—no one ever did that with Kellen’s home. He seemed to be very private about his living space, a fact that only made her more curious about her elusive bear.
The crew were out and about, battening down the hatches. They were stacking the plastic furniture around the fire pit, then dragging them to Bruiser’s trailer.
She thought Kellen meant to help them, but he cut the engine, jogged around the front of the truck, and opened Skyler’s door. With a frustrated sounding grunt and a muttered, “Aw, fuck it,” he scooped her up, ran through the torrential downpour, and climbed his porch stairs.
His shoulders heaved in an explosive sigh as he settled her on her feet, just outside the front door.
“Swear you’ll try and understand?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said in the easiest promise she’d ever made.
He opened the door and pulled her in by the hand. It was unnaturally dark, and she had difficulty shimmying out of her sopping wet jacket. He didn’t seem to have the same problem by the sound of fabric rustling against her senses. She waited for him to flip on the light
Skyler cupped the necklace in her palm. “Kellen, I don’t want to make you sad.” Her heart felt like it was overflowing and breaking all at once. “Why don’t you think you would make a good mate?”
“If I tell you, you’ll run away from me.”
“I won’t. You have to trust that I care about you enough to listen and try to understand where you come from.”
He stared out the window for a long time, then turned on the truck and scooted her into the passenger’s seat.
Geez, why couldn’t he just talk to her? He shut down like this every time, leaking out the smallest amount of information possible, which only served to drive her insane with the twenty new questions that arose. And pushing him for more didn’t help. If he didn’t want to talk about something, he just slammed down a wall she was helpless to break through. She wanted him, all of him, but perhaps Kellen wasn’t capable of sharing himself wholly with someone else. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he knew he was unable to let people in, and he didn’t want to hurt her with it. That was the only thing that made sense from the bits and pieces she’d scrapped together from him and Denison.
She placed the necklace back in the box and put it back in the glove compartment, confused as to why he’d given it to her if he had no intention of actually allowing her into his life. And not just the life he had now. Kellen was different. He spoke different, acted different, seemed governed by different rules. Even Tagan made allowances for him that the others in his crew weren’t afforded.
Kellen drove her back to the trailer park in silence, his eyes hard on the muddy road in front of them.
She felt duped. Her heart had fallen for someone incapable of returning the depth of her feeling. And sadly, she’d still accept him if he was serious with the necklace. Pathetic.
With her hard hat in hand, she shook out her damp hair and prepared for him to drop her off in front of 1010. Instead, he pulled his truck to a stop in front of 1015, his trailer. She hadn’t ever been allowed in there, and from what she’d seen over the past week and a half, no one else ventured in there either. While the shifters in this crew openly walked into each other’s trailers—sometimes without knocking as she’d learned when Brighton barged in on her in the shower and snatched a bottle of low dose pain killers from the medicine cabinet before he waved and let himself out—no one ever did that with Kellen’s home. He seemed to be very private about his living space, a fact that only made her more curious about her elusive bear.
The crew were out and about, battening down the hatches. They were stacking the plastic furniture around the fire pit, then dragging them to Bruiser’s trailer.
She thought Kellen meant to help them, but he cut the engine, jogged around the front of the truck, and opened Skyler’s door. With a frustrated sounding grunt and a muttered, “Aw, fuck it,” he scooped her up, ran through the torrential downpour, and climbed his porch stairs.
His shoulders heaved in an explosive sigh as he settled her on her feet, just outside the front door.
“Swear you’ll try and understand?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said in the easiest promise she’d ever made.
He opened the door and pulled her in by the hand. It was unnaturally dark, and she had difficulty shimmying out of her sopping wet jacket. He didn’t seem to have the same problem by the sound of fabric rustling against her senses. She waited for him to flip on the light
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