Changed [Watty Awards 2013]

17. Bait

17. Bait

DELILAH

To my surprise Eric kept his cool. The only way you noticed that he was mad was the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Emily put a hand on his chest to reassure him. I looked down at the ground after that. I was ashamed. I was ashamed of everything that I have done to this Pack. I couldn’t look at Nick.

Coward.

The door opened. I finally looked up at the door to see that Marcel had walked in, his greasy black hair clung to his scalp and neck.

“We’re not letting you catch up, Marcel.” Nick growled from his spot in the recliner. I snuck a glance at him and my heart dropped.

He was mad… no he was beyond mad. He was furious—not that I could really blame him. I’d be furious too if I was stuck with someone like me making stupid decisions.

“No need,” Marcel cleared his throat. “I already heard it all from outside. I didn’t want to walk in mid-story. That would’ve been inconsiderate of me.”

I put my head back down and felt Kyle wrap his arm around me. I leaned into him—not really deserving his affection.

The cell phone Peyton lent me rang and I grabbed it out of my pocket. It was Matt. I stood up and walked upstairs into Nick’s room…our old bedroom. I pressed the green answer button and held it up to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, gorgeous. How’s it working out?”

“Not very good,” I sighed, “I screwed up bad and I don’t think it’ll smooth over very well…”

“I have faith in you. Do you want me to come over there?”

I smiled. “Of course I do, babe, but you’re a mutt and I don’t know if they’ll like a mutt on their territory.”

He cleared his throat. I imagined him rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke to me. “I kind of wanted to ask to join the Pack…”

I blinked and silence went over the line.

“Del?”

“It’s not a good time, Matt…”

“Of course it is. A Pack is stronger if it has more wolves and I need a Pack. I figured I may as well just join yours since you were technically Luna and still are.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I have no idea what a Luna is and I’m not sure I want to be one.”

“It’s a good position to be in. Same with Alpha and Beta.”

I sighed. “Okay, you can come over here. I’m going to warn them first so they don’t attack you when you get here.”

“Okay, babe.” He chuckled as I pressed “end.”

I turned around to walk out of the room when I yelped and stumbled back. I looked up and glared at Nick.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”

“And you shouldn’t give me a heart attack.” His blue eyes bore into mine. “I actually thought you were pregnant and going to give up my pup to that sadistic lunatic.”

“I know. I screwed up, Nick. I always do.”

He crossed his arms. “Do you want me to be completely honest with you?” I nodded. “Promise me you won’t be mad.”

I rolled my eyes but nodded.

“Yes, you screwed up—big time. You’ve screwed up a lot, Delilah. But the thing I don’t understand is why you would promise him something that you couldn’t provide? Why didn’t you say anything the night before? We were a team. Were being the key word. You know you can tell me anything. So what was so different that you couldn’t trust me with this?”