Page 2 of Same Rogue
“Who the fuck even writes like that?” he demanded, barely resisting the urge to retch.
“You!” she yelled. She scrolled up and good lord, she sure had been talking to someone, and constantly for a while, looked like.
Bridger grabbed her phone. “Look, clearly you’ve been catfished, and that’s your own damn fault. “Ask for a video for proof.”
“I did! Immediately!”
Okay, his frown was hurting his forehead, and now he was seeing pictures, and to his absolute horror the pictures were of him, here, while he hadn’t been paying attention. One was of him chopping firewood. One was of him at the river with hisshirt off from a couple of weeks ago when the Pack had done a camping trip. One was of him holding Tru and Tabian’s new baby boy.
Realization hit him like a freight train as he realized who had been there with him during all of these pics. His suspicion was solidified as he opened the video Nakita, or Kitty, or whatever the hell her name was pointed at.
It was a video of him baiting a fishing line at the river. He’d been fishing with Bay and a couple of the guys. He looked annoyed, and he remembered exactly why.
Vic had asked him to wave to the camera. He’d refused, but Vic wouldn’t shut up about it, so eventually Bridger had done it just to get him off his back.
Mother. Fucker.
Bridger connected a call to that number, and he heard the phone ring, clear as day. It was coming from Vic’s house.
“I’m going to kill him,” he assured Kitchen, or whatever her name was.
“Kill who?” she called after him.
Bridger ignored her. Whatever Vic had done, he was going to pay with a pound of flesh.
Vic opened the door and held his hands out. “I can explain!”
Bridger drove him right into his house and hit him square in the jaw.
“Stop!” Lyric yelled. “It’s my fault. I did it!”
Bridger had been cocked to hit Vic again, but at that, he glanced up at Vic’s mate. “What?”
“I wanted to help! We all know you lost your mate.”
“So you thought what?” Bridger yelled, releasing the collar of Vic’s shirt and shoving him to the ground. Bridger stood to his full height. “You online shopped for some tattooed ex-stripper thinking that would take my mind off Amelia? That couldn’t get farther from my type if you fuckin’ tried. I cannot believe youwould do this without running a single thing by me,” Bridger yelled. Oh, he was heated.
Lyric gasped as she looked up at the doorway.
Bridger turned to find Naskittle or whatever her name was standing there. Her smokey gray eyes were glowing nearly white. “I’m not a stripper. You’ve insulted me in every way. I’m not blond enough, or bare skinned enough, or covered up enough.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I was talking to what I thought was a nice man. I didn’t know about Amelia, or that you lost anyone. I was on the matchmaking site for a year before I chose a potential mate. I thought I was doing everything the right way.” She looked around at Lyric, and Vic, and back to Bridger. “None of this is actually my fault. I was the one who got screwed. You get to go back to your life. I detonated mine for a nice man who doesn’t even exist.” Her glowing eyes were rimmed with tears now, and Bridger had to look away. He couldn’t see women cry. He just couldn’t. It did something bad to his insides.
The Kitty lady turned and her heeled, fringed boots made hollow sounds against the porch as she strode for the stairs. She jogged down them and speed-walked through Vic and Lyric’s yard, headed for her car.
Good. Right? Good. She should leave.
Bridger needed to get back to his home and finish trimming his beard and enjoy his evening and maybe Change tonight because getting pissed off like this always conjured the wolf. He just needed to forget about this lady.
“Both of you are so messed up for this,” Bridger growled as he left.
“We’re sorry,” Lyric said softly.
He shook his head. What had they been thinking? He was fine. He didn’t want anyone else. He never wanted to love anyone but Amelia. That had hurt enough. And you know what?He was offended, okay? That KitKat lady was really who they thought he would be interested in? He was disappointed they didn’t know him better. Seriously, he was disappointed.
He felt even more alone here now that he realized no one really knew him. Had they even tried?
God, he was so pissed off.
He was walking fast, but that was okay. The tattooed lady was already to her car. She squatted down on the ground and was digging through her purse, and to his mortification, he heard a soft noise that changed the trajectory of his anger. It was this little helpless sob. It wasn’t for attention either, because she’d tried to swallow it, and glanced at him quickly, then gave him her back. “I’ll be gone in a second. I just need to find something.”
