Susie lay back, exhausted as Barlow lazily stroked her stomach. She considered talking, but really she wanted to save her energy. Barlow would surely be recharged again soon, and she didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. He was such a sweetie. A sexy, love god, but still a sweetie.
There was a knock at the door, and Barlow grabbed the covers, hauling them over her.
“Maybe that’s my sandwiches,” he said, eagerly leaping out of bed and pulling his pants on.
Susie pulled the covers up to her neck. Everyone in the hotel had probably already heard her having sex – but that was as ‘naked’ as she wanted to be in front of anyone.
“Thought you said you didn’t want them.”
Barlow smirked. “I need to keep my energy up – the night’s still young.”
“Surprised they would ignore the sign,” she muttered.
He pulled the door open a crack, careful not to show too much of Susie, but instead of the expected perfunctory exchange with a member of the hotel staff, Barlow snarled.
Susie sat up in bed in surprise. “Barlow?” she called.
“Fuck off!” snarled Barlow to whoever was outside.
“I want to see her,” said Jules in an outraged voice.
“So do I” snapped Allen.
“He’s not with me,” added Jules.
Susie found her robe and pulled it around her. She rushed to the door, her confidence stilling as she found Jules and Allen outside.
“Barlow,” she murmured.
His face was thunderous as he glowered at the two wolves in front of him. They both squirmed under his look, and she didn’t blame him. Usually, he looked so handsome, so chill even. Right now, he looked terrifying.
“Susie, what happened?” asked Jules, her face creased in concern.
“Yes, Susie, tell me what happened,” demanded Allen, more than a little pompously.
Barlow growled.
Susie sighed. “Allen, go back to your mate,” she said pointedly. “Jules, umm, why don’t you come in for a minute?”
It was hard work, but eventually, she got Barlow to move and allow Jules in. But even though he tried to make it in too, Barlow made sure Allen stayed on the other side of the door, and then took great relish in slamming it in his face.
Jules took one of Susie’s limp hands. “Honey, what happened?”
Barlow snorted and leaned against the door, folding his huge arms.
“When did you find out Allen was sleeping with Lila?”
Jules’ eyes flared in fear. Yep, it was true, and the fact that Jules knew about it was accurate as well.
Susie pulled her hand free. “Maybe you should go.”
“Honey, I’m sorry – this was a year ago. I didn’t know until I saw them together one full moon. I confronted Lila about it, and she admitted they’d been getting together on every full moon for months. You know how wolves are on full moons – horny as hell and desperate to screw anyone.”
Yes, apparently so desperate they would sleep with one of their girlfriend’s best friends, or one of their best friend’s boyfriends.
“I didn’t want this to hurt you, so I told Lila to end it, and she did.”
“And that’s when he found Helen,” finished Susie dully.
“Yes well, Helen was keen to mate with someone high in the pack,” said Jules in a waspish voice, “so she pretended she was on birth control and got pregnant.”
And did me a huge favor added Susie to herself.
“You should have told me,” she said out loud.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Yes, much better to have the pack gossiping about it and have me overhear it in a restaurant bathroom.”
Jules looked like she was about to cry. She batted those huge eyelashes and pulled out the pout. She was expecting Susie to say it was okay, to forgive her and hug her. Given that Jules was about to get married, maybe Susie should just forget this and let Jules have this happy day. But no, she couldn’t quite manage that yet.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” said Susie.
“But… but, Susie,” stammered Jules.
Susie held up her hand. “I’m not going to ruin your wedding. I’ll be there, I’ll smile and be nice to everyone, and everything will be fine. I’ll do all the wedding activities you have planned. You don’t need to worry about that. I wouldn’t be so cruel as to ruin this for you.”
“But, we’re still friends, right?”
“Yes,” replied Susie coolly.
They were friends, but she wasn’t ready to return to their close relationship.
“But…”
“You should go,” interrupted Barlow.
Jules looked like she wanted to argue, but between Susie’s passive expression and Barlow’s fury, she decided that was a lost cause.
She nodded and walked out. Barlow locked the door behind her and watched Susie uncertainly.
“You know,” she said, “sandwiches sound good right about now.”
“They sure do,” he agreed with feeling. “You going to be okay?”
“Yeah, but just promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t you sleep with Allen, will you?”
“I’ll try my best not to,” he said in deadpan voice before his lips curled into a smile.
He squeezed her ass before grabbing the phone and – honest to god – ordering a party platter of sandwiches. The platters were designed for a party of twenty people.
She smiled as he argued down the phone with hotel staff as to what he wanted on his sandwiches – salad was a big no-no, and according to Barlow, unless a sandwich had meat on it, it wasn’t a real sandwich.
Yeah, she was going to be okay.
*
The wedding ceremony was uneventful.
Jules was a little nervous around Susie, but Susie just acted normally – she didn’t actually feel all that upset anymore. Yes, what happened wasn’t nice but… she’d be fine. Whenever she felt upset, she would think of Barlow. She would imagine him trying to eat twenty sandwiches in under a minute – she accidentally challenged him to do that, and it was hilarious watching him try. His face was a patchwork of mustard and mayonnaise when he finished. He didn’t manage it so that called for another platter of sandwiches so he could have another try.
Jules must have said something to Lila, too, because she couldn’t look Susie in the eye and wanted to ‘talk’ before the ceremony. Susie said no to that – she didn’t want them to get into a fight and ruin Jules’ day
Candace frowned at Barlow before the ceremony. “Doesn’t he have a dress shirt or a suit jacket or something?”
“No,” replied Susie. He was wearing a sweater and a pair of slacks. Considering they weren’t jeans, and they weren’t ripped, Susie considered that a big effort from him and she was grateful. Plus, he looked gorgeous – the sweater hugged his big shoulders to perfection.
“He’ll be fine,” said Jules while doing some last minute primping on her hair.
“He looks better than fine,” murmured Lila, trying to make a joke.
Susie gave her a dark look and Lila blushed. Jules bit her lip and Candace frowned at them all.
“Am I missing something?”
“No, but if we don’t hurry, Jules will miss her wedding,” said Susie brightly.
Jules hugged her and Susie returned the hug, because, she still very much loved her best friend.
Jules was radiant. The flowers were perfect. Even Jules’ family dog who had been trained to walk down the aisle carrying the rings did nothing worse than try to eat a couple of flowers.
Susie sneaked a couple of looks at Barlow during the ceremony. Once, he was scratching his ear and staring into space. The second time he was glaring at Allen.
Boy was she glad he hadn’t listened to her when she tried to make him stay home. She didn’t know how she would manage without him there for support. But it was more than that - she just liked having him around.
After the ceremony, Susie ducked up to their room to change her shoes. She had worn heels for the ceremony at Jules’ request, and also so she wouldn’t look quite so diminutive next to the tall she-wolves, but she wasn’t planning on wearing them all day.
Her phone rang, and she answered it on seeing Terri’s name.
“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt the wedding.”
“No, it’s fine – the ceremony’s over, we’re just waiting to sit down for lunch.” Barlow, it had to be said, wasn’t being very patient about that.
“I was actually planning on leaving you a message so you could get back to me when you’re not busy.”
“I’m not busy now,” said Susie, kind of glad to be talking to a female friend outside this particular wolf pack.
“How’s everything going?”
“Actually, not that bad.”
“Are you okay with seeing Allen again?” asked Terri, her voice laced with concern.
Susie smiled. “Yeah, it helps that Barlow’s here.”
Terri paused. “Barlow’s with you?”
“Yeah, didn’t you know?”
“No, Greyson’s been wondering where he is, I must let him know so he can stop worrying.”
Susie shook her head. She had assumed he would tell his family, but apparently, he just left town without a word.
“Yeah, umm, he’s kind of here as my date,” she admitted shyly.
“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Terri excitably. “You and…”
“No!”
“But…”
“No, Terri, we’re not together,” she explained patiently, “we’re not dating.”
“Oh! It’s still early days, you could…”
“As much as I like your family, I’m not interested in mating a wolf and Barlow does not want to be with me either.”
Terri let out a delicate cough. “What’s wrong with mating a wolf?”
“Nothing,” she hastened to answer, remembering that she was talking to woman besotted with her own wolf mate. “I’m just off wolves since Allen.”
“Well, I guess I don’t blame you,” said Terri slowly. “But don’t count them out completely.”
“Sure,” she agreed hurriedly and without really meaning it. “Umm, did you want something?”
“Actually, I was wondering if you would be able to babysit for me in a couple of days – I was hoping you could keep the boys all night.”
“Ummm, I suppose so – as long as I’m not working.” She didn’t have to waste time checking her calendar for anything other than work. Her social life involved a girls’ night with Terri every now and again and occasionally attending one of the Tanner barbeques.
“Phew! You are a lifesaver. The girl who usually watches them is out of town, and given that it’s the full moon… well, let’s just say I’d rather have the boys out of the house all night. There are some things they should not hear.”
“The full moon…”
“Yes, Mal gets very…” Terri cleared her throat. “Let’s just say loud.”
“Oh.”
“Something wrong?”
Terri was human. Mal was a wolf. She was in the same situation that Susie had been with Allen.
“Don’t you ever worry about him going out on the full moon – I mean, wolves are extra horny at that time of the month, and he’s surrounded by she-wolves…” Susie trailed off imagining the gorgeous, young Mal surrounded by she-wolves while poor Terri waited patiently at home.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Are you suggesting Mal might cheat on me?”
“Well, he is a wolf…”
Wasn’t that the excuse Allen used for what he did? Even Jules used it as a reason to mitigate what Lila had also done with Allen. Weren’t all wolves like that?
Susie felt a chill go through her. She hoped she hadn’t just lost a friend over this.
Terri hooted with laughter down the phone. Nope, didn’t sound like it.
“It’s not that funny,” protested Susie.
“Oh it is,” gasped Terri. “To be clear, I’m not laughing with you; I’m definitely laughing at you!”
Susie frowned at her reaction. “But isn’t it in their nature to…”
“Look, I’ll admit I had a few doubts when Mal and I first got together – though that was more about our age difference than anything else. But Mal’s not like that, and since we’re bonded, neither of us have any interest in anyone else. But even before we bonded, he only wanted to be with me. I won’t lie and say all wolves are as faithful as mine, but there are a lot of good ones out there, and the Tanner boys are very loving and single-minded when it comes to pursuing the women they love.”
“Really?” Her heart thudded.
“Just ask Britt – she thought it was just a crush, but she hasn’t been able to shake Craig for over a year now. Or Ellie – she hasn’t been able to shake Hank for about thirty years!”
Elation whipped through her, but only for a second as she remembered something important.
“Barlow’s not interested in being with me.”
“Are you sure? I saw the way he looked at you when you met at the barbeque. That’s the way Mal looks at me,” Terri told her, more than a little smugly.
“I…”
“Just, don’t base your decision about Barlow on Allen. Keep an open mind, please?”
“You just want me to join the family.”
“Yes, I do! We have a severe lack of females. But I also want you to be happy.”
“Thanks, Terri,” she said with feeling.
“No, thank you – I’ll bring the boys around at six. By the way, Seth has started biting, so wear thick socks, and William likes to throw things – hide anything that’s valuable to you. Love you, bye!”
Susie stared at her phone, considering her next move. She was also considering that she needed to buy a new pair of socks and warn her roommates about the terrible twosome she would be babysitting. But mostly she was thinking about her next move.