Hunting Human - Amanda E. Alvarez [87]
What’s his problem, anyway?
One minute he’s supportive and understanding—albeit a bit grudgingly—of her decision to take control, the next he abandons her at his parents’ house without so much as a word. Again. And now that he was back, he acted as though he barely knew her, rather than, than…
Than what, exactly?
They were hardly lovers, at least not anymore. So what did that leave?
The thoughts chased each other around her head until she grew dizzy with doubts and insecurities.
One thing was certain. She missed him.
And just what do I do with that?
“Spoon for your thoughts?” Lucy relaxed into the seat next to her and held up two spoons and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. “Not so fast,” she said, jerking her hand back when Beth reached for a spoon. “Something’s giving you premature forehead wrinkles. Spill.”
“Your brother.”
“Ah. Say no more.” She handed over a spoon and pried off the top of the ice cream. “Men. Let’s ask Ben & Jerry what they think.”
Beth sighed around a mouthful of Chocolate Therapy. “What’s his problem anyway?” she asked, reaching for another spoonful.
“Beats me.” Lucy shrugged. “You guys have a fight or something?”
“He’d have to stick around to fight. I haven’t seen him all week.” Beth jabbed at the ice cream with her spoon.
“Hmm. What about before?”
“Before?”
“Yeah, before he up and disappeared? Something must have happened.”
“Not really. We disagreed but he came around.”
“He’s not acting like it,” Lucy observed, pushing the swing back and forth with her toe. “Classic Braden. Ignore the problem. Sulk and brood.”
“Like that solves anything,” Beth grumbled.
“I didn’t say it was rational. What did you expect? He’s a guy. If he isn’t yelling and fighting through conflict, he’s sulking and brooding until he gets over it.”
“Yes, God forbid he actually tell me whatever it is that’s pissed him off.”
Lucy threw her head back and laughed. “What kind of men have you been dating?” Her eyes danced with mirth. “The men I know deal with conflict in one of three ways—they beat it up, they brood about it or they ignore it all together. If you hold out for Braden to tell you what’s crawled up his ass, you’ve got a long wait ahead of you.”
Beth groaned. “How long is long?”
“A decade, maybe two?” Lucy sobered a little. “The point is, if you want this resolved, you better figure out what started it and approach him. So, back to the original question, what did you fight about?”
“He didn’t want me to work on learning to control the shift.” Beth sighed and twisted to face Lucy. “He said it could wait until after Markko wasn’t a threat.”
God only knows when that will be.
Nothing had happened in the last week. No sign of Markko. Nothing.
“And you didn’t want to wait?” Lucy asked, redirecting Beth’s thoughts.
“I didn’t want to wait,” Beth agreed.
“I can understand that. You’ve waited long enough.”
“Yeah. He didn’t get it.” She still didn’t understand why. She’d expected him to push her to embrace the wolf. As far as she could tell, his entire family thought of it as perfectly normal.
“He obviously gave in though.” Lucy stared out at the woods, a smile curling her lips. “Anything else?”
Beth studied her hands for a moment. “I think I might have hurt his feelings.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. After I told him I wouldn’t wait, that I couldn’t wait, he offered to help.” Beth winced even as she thought the next words. “I asked Chase instead.”
“And you sit here, wondering why he’s pissed?”
“You’re laughing at me!”
“Well, yeah. I mean, come on. How many men have you dated?”
“I can see how that might have hurt his feelings or something, but I explained why.” Exasperated, Beth turned to Lucy and pinned her with a frustrated glare. She stopped laughing. Mostly. “Chase is less likely to baby me…it’s not like I’ve