When He's An Alpha (The Olympus Pride #2) - Suzanne Wright Page 0,37

sense?”

She thought about pointing out how that was absolutely not his business, but she’d just learned a fair bit of personal info about his past. She figured turnabout was fair play. “Yes.”

A muscle in Tate’s cheek ticked. “What did he want?”

“To know if I’m okay. What did your ex want?’”

Tate frowned. “Who told you about her?”

“A few of your pride mates mentioned her over the past few months. Valentina pointed her out just now. She was under the impression that you and I still had a ‘thing’ going on, so she explained about your ex, not wanting me to worry that the girl was competition. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“You haven’t really been answering mine properly lately, but I’ll tell you anyway. She wanted to apologize for how things went down three years ago and then asked if we could have dinner. I said no.”

“Have dinner?” Hmm, maybe Skank of the Century really was back for him.

“Yeah. She wants to talk. I don’t.”

Havana wasn’t entirely convinced he was as disinterested in Ashlynn as he sounded. They had serious history, after all. He had to be at least a little curious to know what she had to say. “Okay. Now could you move, because I need to grab a few more things. Thank you,” she said when he released the cart. But he didn’t leave. He fell into step beside her as she pushed the cart round to the next aisle.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

Glancing into her cart, he replied, “Wondering how hard it will be to convince you to share that chocolate trifle with me. We had fun with one of those once, didn’t we? It tasted better when I was eating it off you.”

She almost spluttered. This was not a conversation she wanted to have. And that was not a memory she wanted to revisit in the middle of a damn grocery store. “Don’t you have Alpha stuff to do?”

“If someone needs me for something, they know how to reach me.”

Alphas were often on call 24/7. It couldn’t be easy, but she doubted Tate would ever find it something to complain about. He was a man of action. He seemed to thrive on it.

“Now, about that trifle …”

“You’re not getting any of it,” she said. “You want one, buy your own.”

Aspen came into view, her basket full, holding a pizza box. “You done yet?”

“Almost. Just got to grab some milk.” Havana nearly ran over something with her cart. Noticing what it was, she sighed. “Okay, now things are just getting weird.”

Tate’s brow furrowed. “Weird how?”

“Last night, I had a dream that I was trying to check into a motel, but it was closed. Earlier, a woman walked past me singing Moonlight Motel to herself. And look what we have here.” Havana picked up the object off the floor. “A DVD of Bates Motel, season one.”

He pursed his lips. “And you think all this means … what?”

“I think the universe is trying to tell me something, but I can’t figure out what. It clearly has something to do with motels, though.”

He clamped his mouth shut, clearly fighting a smile. He looked at Aspen, as if expecting her to share his amusement. The bearcat only stared back at him.

“Wait, you both believe the universe is reaching out to you?” he asked.

“Not to me,” said Aspen. “I believe it’s reaching out to Havana. It often does. We just can’t always work out what it’s trying to communicate.”

His gaze bounced from her to Havana. “Right. Well, whatever.”

Havana huffed. “Fine. Don’t believe us. Now, I have to finish my shopping.” She gave him a breezy smile. “Later.”

He didn’t return the “later.” He also didn’t stalk off. He followed her to the refrigerator, whistling a merry tune.

Walking around the store with him was just … odd. During their fling, they never went places together. They certainly hadn’t done anything as mundane as shop for groceries together.

Reaching the fridge, Havana grabbed the bulky jug of milk, plonked it in her cart, and then headed to a checkout stand with Aspen. Havana cast him confused, sideways looks while he helped pile the groceries onto the conveyor belt.

Her devil, not liking his insistence on sticking close, urged Havana to smack him over the head with her prickly pineapple. The animal wasn’t pleased that Havana resisted.

Havana paid no attention to his nosy pride mates, who were watching them curiously, seeming under the false impression that she and Tate had come shopping together. It would appear that