Page 13 of The Gift
“You guys have met?” Henley interrupts, demanding an explanation. Yeah, his eyes are on me and me alone.
“You could say that. We enjoyed a dance or two a few days ago,” she says, taking the lead, guiding me expertly through uncomfortable waters.
Henley’s eyes intensify in colour as they drill at me unapologetically for more of an explanation. Like a date and time run down.
“Reno?”
I look at Henley. “If I can give you a run down when we get back to our place, that would be appreciated?”
He flicks his eyebrows up at me without agreeing and doesn’t move away.
“Henley, will you excuse us? Reno and I probably need to have a little chat about a few things. It won’t take long and then we’ll be rejoining the meeting. And thanks again for your help.” Bailey talks quietly, lowering her eyes as she speaks.
Standing next to him, I realise that she’s shorter than both of us. A good head shorter than me, and Henley’s easily five inches taller than me. Although she’s got killer heels on. Henley matches her with the killer styling, though he wears his in his fucked off attitude.
“No, if it’s to do with my pack, I should be here.”
Bailey turns and looks at him. Her hazel-coloured eyes don’t shed any light on her emotions, and when she shrugs a second later, her eyes dart to mine for me to take the lead.
I guess I take too long trying to figure out how to get him to leave without turning this into one of those times where he digs his heels in. The silence is awkward, but only because Henley is making it more difficult than it needs to be.
And then the opportunity is smashed by the sudden appearance of Carmen, the lady in charge of all of us in a sense.
“You guys good to start?”
“Yeah, give us a second,” Bailey replies, waving her hand and taking a couple of steps closer to me.
“I should have said who I was,” I admit. And that’s the only bone of contention. Everyone knows who Bailey is, and my screw up was most certainly not telling her who I was.
“I take it you knew who I was, not only in name, I mean. You knew I was doing this program?”
“Most definitely.”
She’s hard to read, and I’m usually a good fucking reader. Right now, after I dropped that little bomb shell on her, she’s not overly emotional. If anything, she’s slightly unflappable but there’s a growing sense that she’s not quite the same Bailey I met that night. Her posture is more rigid, her mannerisms are more practised. I kind of knew she wouldn’t be the sort to explode cursing and screaming; she’s way too put together for that, but I’m not really a fan of this unidimensional side of her.
Her eyes haven’t left mine, but she’s not here anymore. And in a way it leaves me feeling worse than if Henley or Ashton chewed my ass out for being so unprofessional.
“Well, let’s leave it at that. You can fill in the gaps with your pack, but for what it’s worth, we are both adults. I don’t know how your pack works, and that’s not my business. I appreciate you coming out though and letting me know you’re a part of the team.”
“Bailey, wait…” But it’s too late, she’s already gone, leaving me with the echoes of her happy greetings to everyone in the room, and a pissed off alpha glaring at me.
“I should have said something,” I admit meekly, as he too walks past me.
He pauses at the door, talking over his shoulder but avoiding looking at me. “You think? I mean we only asked you how many times?”
“Shit!” I mutter under my breath before rushing into the meeting room. The whole confrontation lasted less than thirty seconds.
Moving quickly before the door gets closed on my miserable ass, I take a seat between Ashton and Koda, the both of them looking at me for an explanation. Leaning over, since it looks like we have a couple of seconds before the meeting starts, I blurt out an abridged version. Koda flicks his hand up the back of my head which gives me an idea of his thoughts, while Ashton looks like he’s about to blow a gasket.
Carmen’s phone begins ringing and she runs out of the room, promising to be back within a few minutes to start.
I’m kind of caught staring at my feet, contemplating the last time I felt like a naughty schoolboy, when I’m interrupted.
“Hey, guys, I’m Bailey.” She squats down so I can’t avoid looking at her, and she pats my leg briefly before reaching past me to shake the hands of Ashton and Koda.
Seriously, my head is spinning around wildly trying to follow their reactions, trying to pre-empt her next move, but she stands and leans her butt on the table addressing the four of us.
“I wanted to let you all know that I’m heading out. It’s got nothing to do with Reno, I’ve got an existing appointment and was only ever going to poke my head in.”
