Pack Secrets || WLW

Be My Guest

 "Didn't know Sawyer's the love of your life," June says from over my shoulder.

The woman rolls her eyes. They're a deep shade of brown, chestnut like her hair. "Very funny," she says.

She's still wearing her soccer jersey and sweats from the game earlier. It feels like a lifetime ago when I walked into the stadium and saw this woman kissing June but the sun hasn't even come up yet. Her hair is still braided on the top and pulled into a low ponytail that streams down her shoulder.

June moves so she's standing next to me and shrugs. "That's who sheriff's pointing the gun at." June's lips pull into a familiar smirk. I'm usually drawn in by it, curious what she's going to say but right now, I'd rather crawl into my own skin. "Just a heads up, she doesn't date so don't waste your time."

Instinct makes me want to slap her arm for divulging a piece of information about myself to not only a stranger but one I don't like very much. Instead, I keep my reaction cool and collected. I don't know June's ex but she seems like someone who's going to get under my skin. I'm not going to give her the ammunition to do so.

June nudges my arm. "I would know."

That does it. Every ounce of control I'd been forcing myself to maintain flies out the window. I look at June, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. There's no need to look in a mirror. I already know my cheeks are pink from the way heat travels through my face. Did she just tell her ex about my refusal to date her?

"June," I whisper.

She raises an eyebrow at me. "Unless you want to talk about that again."

"June."

The woman laughs loudly, almost like she's forcing it. She looks at me this time when she speaks. "June is such a flirt in the beginning, isn't she?"

I force a smile on my face. It looks real. I know it does because I've been plastering the same smile on my face for years to appease the people in this town. Now is only slightly different. I'm not smiling to get on someone's good side or to prove I'm a good young lady. I'm smiling to make sure June's ex will never know how much she bothers me.

"Well, thank you..." I motion between Sheriff Gray and June. "For stopping this whole thing. I appreciate it."

June's ex waves me off. Not the gesture I was expecting. "I wouldn't expect you to understand what's going on around here. Maybe you should head home and let the locals talk."

"Don't talk to her like that, Lindsay," June orders.

The ex—Lindsay, closes the space between herself and June, a cocky smirk playing at her lips. "Or what, baby? What are you going to do?" Her eyes flick to June's lips and stay there. "Hurt me?" She's a good foot shorter than June, making it so she'd have to stand on her toes to kiss her; which, by the looks of it, might happen.

June sucks a deep breath in through her nostrils and steps back. Not what I was expecting from her, seeing as she was about to take a bullet after the sheriff called me a slut. But they have history, maybe even chemistry. Maybe June has more patience for Lindsay.

I clear my throat to break through the tension. "She's right. I should go." Thank God my voice comes out even. "I'll just um... Call my dad. See if he can give me a ride." The words feel wrong, foreign. I haven't relied on my dad in ages, not even when I was a kid. But he seemed different earlier. My brain tells me not to get too hopeful but my heart wants to believe everything will be different this time around.

"You don't have to go," June says, looking at me now. "Lindsay's just being a bitch. As per usual." Her tone is full of acid. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of June's anger.