Page 2 of Same One
“Complicated how?”
“Uhhh—”
“Complicated how?” he growled again.
She looked startled and fear washed through her eyes in a wave. “B-because I am in the middle of changing my name back to my maiden name.”
Whatever he’d expected her to say, it hadn’t been that. His face relaxed in surprise, and he leaned back in the chair and cocked his head. “You’re going through a divorce?”
“Oh, that happened two years ago, and technically I was never married.”
He squinted. The sunlight was streaming through the window and hurting his eyes. “Why would you take a man’s last name if you weren’t married?”
“That’s…” Tru squared her shoulders. “That’s none of your business.”
“Why are you here?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but my stepson just got his driver’s license yesterday, and he borrowed my car forschool, and I’m stuck here for another half an hour until he picks me up.”
Okay, usually if a decoy was sent to infiltrate a Pack, they didn’t have offspring.
“So, when your boy goes to school, you just wait here all day?”
“Just today.” She slipped her book into her backpack and shouldered it. “He just turned sixteen yesterday and wanted to drive to school. I have the day off work and didn’t need the car. Figured I would get some reading done here and get out of the house, so I had him drop me off, and why am I explaining any of this to you?” She leaned closer. “Is this a power you get at a certain age? Or a certain phase of maturity? You just bedazzle women into talking to you?”
“That’s not a thing, and now I know you know what I am.”
“Everyone in here knows what you are,” she whisper-screamed. “Your eyes are the color of a bug light, and you’ve been growling this whole damn time. Excuse me,” she murmured, standing.
“I thought your kid was picking you up.”
“I live close enough to walk. You know what?” she asked, rounding on him. “You stop asking me questions. You have me all in a…a…tither!”
“What on earth is a tither?”
“Oh, of course you don’t know proper English you child. Gas me up. What’s your drip? That’s so sus. I’m about to crash out. Yuh. Let’s post it to the Gram, bruuuuh. You have too much rizz—”
“Idon’t know proper English? I have no idea what you just freakin’ said, lady. What the hell is a rizz?”
She frowned and looked around. Yep, everyone in here was staring at them now. “It’s teenager talk.”
He blinked hard. “You think I’m a teenager?”
“Or a twenty-something. Twenty-three? Twenty-four? Gah, don’t tell me! I don’t want to know what a cougar I am.” She placed her hands in front of her, palm up and encouraged herself to, “Stop. Talking! I’m leaving now. Never to return!” she called behind her as she left the coffee shop.
“What the hell does a cougar have to do with any of this?” he asked the stunned lady beside him. She looked just as baffled as he felt.
“A cougar is an older woman who finds a younger man attractive,” she explained.
Tabian’s mouth fell open and he jerked his attention to the window. He could see the woman—Tru—making her way across the street and taking a left. She shook her head and seemed to be talking to herself.
She found him attractive?
Wait.
“What do I do with this?” he asked.
“I’m not your friggin’ therapist,” the woman snapped. “Figure your life out.”
