Chapter 503

Nathan

The air of the small, underground bar that Dan and I stepped into was thick with the scent of whiskey and cigar smoke.

I paused for a moment in the doorway, taking in the sights and sounds around me: the businessmen in crisp suits leaning around wooden tables, the busty blonde bartender who was fixing her high ponytail in the mirror, the jazz music playing from a band in the corner.

“Weren’t expecting me to take you to a place like this, eh, youngling?” Dan asked, shooting me that signature smirk of his as we walked over to the bar and found two seats.

I shrugged. “I’m learning to not make assumptions.”

“That’s my boy.” Dan clapped me hard on the shoulder as we sat. The blonde bartender sauntered over to us and leaned one slender palm on the bar, chewing a piece of pink bubblegum as she regarded us through her long eyelashes.

“What’ll it be, gentlemen?” she asked, her voice nearly lost amongst the din.

“Two glasses of scotch. Neat,” Dan instructed before I could interject.

“Gotcha.” The bartender walked away, not at all in any rush whatsoever to get our drinks. I watched as Dan’s hunter-like eyes scanned over her ass while she bent over behind the bar, but I quickly looked away before he could notice.

But I was too slow, because he saw me. He grinned at me and nudged me with his elbow. “What?” he asked. “Can’t blame a man for looking.”

“I, uh… No, I can’t,” I said, not wanting to rock the boat already on my first day of the summit.

Dan watched me for a moment before he leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I saw you look, too,” he said. “And I saw you looking at the secretary earlier today as well.”

I furrowed my brow, genuinely racking my brain as to who he could be referring to. And then it struck me; there was a female secretary taking notes and passing out paperwork at the meeting today.

But I had hardly exchanged more than three words with her. Hell, I couldn’t even recall what color her shirt was.

Before I could say anything, though, Dan clapped me on the back again. “I’m just joshing with you, youngling,” he said. “Why the long face?”

“I just don’t want to give you the wrong impression, that’s all,” I said as I accepted my drink from the bartender.

“Oh, don’t worry. You haven’t.” Dan took a sip of his scotch, his eyes never leaving me. “I know what you’re all about: that wife of yours takes up a good amount of space in your brain, doesn’t she?”

“She is my fated mate,” I said with a slight laugh. “That’s bound to happen.”

“Tell me, Nathan.” Dan leaned in a little closer, and his gaze seemed to pierce straight through my skull. “What do you see in her?”

I blinked, confused. “Pardon?”

“Let me get this straight,” he said, sitting up now. “You’re a young Alpha, and a promising one at that, with a whole world in front of you. Don’t you ever wonder what your life could be like if you had stayed single, rather than locking yourself down so young? What are you, Nathan? Twenty-five? Twenty-six?”

“I’m twenty-six,” I said, trying to keep my tone steady. I took another sip of my drink, letting the burn of the scotch give me a small boost of confidence. “And I love Olivia. I always have; ever since we were kids.”

“How romantic.” Dan smirked again and took another sip of his own drink. “I don’t know, Nathan; I just worry about you, that’s all. I see a lot of myself in you.”

“Do you?”

Dan nodded. “I married once, when I was your age. It was a nightmare; we divorced and she tried to take everything from me. I should have been smarter, focused on my career instead of putting a ring on some woman’s finger. But I thought I ‘loved’ her.”

I stifled a frown. That explained a lot; Dan clearly didn’t have the best record when it came to love. Even his current wife, Clarissa, seemed to be more of a trophy than anything. Not to mention the prostitutes that he seemed to be fond of.

“But, ah, well,” he said, finishing off his glass. He tapped it on the table twice, indicating a refill. “Let’s speak about other things. How did you enjoy your first summit meeting?”

“I think I learned a lot,” I began, grateful for a segue into another topic. “In fact, I think that the point made on borders was…”

…

I nearly stumbled into the bathroom, my vision cloudy from four glasses of scotch and two shots of whiskey. The marble sink swam in front of me, but I managed to grab ahold of it and steady myself there.

A small, sly smile played on my lips as I stared at myself in the mirror. With my hair slightly mussed, my tie loosened, and my sleeves rolled up, I looked like a bit of a mess.

“Olivia would be rolling her eyes at me right now,” I slurred under my breath as I tried to smooth down my hair. “She’d be so annoyed…”

“She wouldn’t be annoyed.” My wolf sounded just as slurred as I did; the effects of alcohol never skipped over him. “She’d probably even be a little into it.”

I blinked in surprise. “You think so?” I asked. It had felt like so long since Olivia and I had made love; first there was the initial scare, followed by two weeks of bed rest, and then… little Alvin.

It had been nearly a month since then. We didn’t even sleep together anymore. Some nights I would wander to the couch, and some nights she would toss and turn until she disappeared to the nursery.

I found her sleeping on the floor on more than one occasion.

God, I missed her. I just wanted to feel her, to hold her. We had been through so much, and I felt so… alone.

“No,” I finally muttered. “She wouldn’t be into it. It’s like she hates me lately.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” my wolf reassured me. “Why don’t you text her now? You’ll feel better then.”

I nodded as I looked in my own reflection in the mirror and slipped out my phone. Yeah, I would feel better if I just talked to my wife. That was it.

With my vision still blurred, I opened the camera app and snapped a picture of myself in the mirror. I sent it to her with the caption: “Missing you. Call later?”

“There,” I said. “Sent.”

“Good.”

A few moments later, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out with anticipation, hoping to see a similar picture from my wife—but I was met only with a sad face emoji. Nothing else.

My hand began to shake a bit as I stared down at the response. I was only trying to cheer her up, to cheer us up; had I overstepped, somehow, by sending her the picture? Had I done something wrong by trying to let a little loose for just one night after weeks of sorrow?

Cursing under my breath, I slid my phone back into my pocket and burst back out into the bustling bar. Across the steamy room, I saw Dan still sitting at the bar with two fresh glasses of scotch in front of him. I stormed over to him and sat down, already taking a swig of mine.

“Get into a fight in there or something?” he asked with a laugh.

I shook my head. “You were right,” I said. “There is trouble in paradise.”

Dan blinked at me in surprise for a few moments—but only for a few moments before his face split into a mischievous grin. He knocked back his scotch with one gulp, slammed the glass on the counter, and stood.

“If your wife won’t satisfy you, Nathan, then there is another woman who will.”