Chasing His Kickass Luna Back novel Chapter 25

Abby

At least she whispers it. I glance around, but none of my employees seem to have heard her. I shush her, grabbing her arm.

Karl smirks. “Chloe.”

She glowers at him. “Karl.”

“You’ll be working with Jack again,” I say to Karl, squeezing Chloe’s arm a little. The last thing I need is for them to make a scene. “Listen to what he says this time, okay?”

Karl nods. “Sure boss.”

I watch him walk away, then turn to Chloe. “Come with me,” I hiss.

She follows me to my office. I turn to face her, not bothering to close the door. I don’t have enough time to get into this right now, anyway.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. “Are you here for dinner?”

She crosses her arms. “Don’t change the subject. Why is he here? Since when are you guys even talking?”

I cringe. It dawns on me that I haven’t seen her recently, and she has no idea that Karl’s been hanging around. I guess Leah never spilled the beans either. Based on the look on her face, I have a lot of explaining to do.

“Look,” I start. I honestly have no idea what to say. The look on Chloe’s face makes me want to cower a little. “He’s just helping out for the time being. He was there when all my employees quit, and he just wants to make things a little easier for me.”

She doesn’t look very convinced. “He just wants to help,” she repeats, sounding somewhat disgusted. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I can tell by her tone, though, that she doesn’t mean anything good. I always thought Leah disliked him more, but I guess I was wrong. She took the news that he’s back a lot better than Chloe currently is.

The sad thing is, Chloe and Karl always got along when we were married. I’ve known Chloe for a long time, and she’s one of the few friends who stuck with me when I stopped being a Luna. She was never fake like some of the others.

I can still remember how shocked she was when I told her we were getting a divorce. “I thought you’d be together forever,” she had said. At the time, I thought so too. But things change, and I’ve come to accept that now. I understand that she’s just looking out for me, but she seems to have forgotten how much she liked Karl at the beginning.

“Seriously, Abby.” She shakes her head. “Come on. What’s the ulterior motive? I know he’s got one. And you know he’s got one, too, even if he hasn’t admitted it yet.”

I look down, weighing my words. If I come clean, I know I’m only going to paint his motives in a worse light. But, then again, maybe he doesn’t have the best motives for being here in the first place. There’s no reason for me to try to make him look better than he really is.

“He maybe, kind of, wants to get back together,” I admit.

The look she gives me almost makes me want to cower. I knew she wouldn’t support my decision to allow him back into my life, even if it’s just to help me out for a few days, but I didn’t expect her to look this unnerved. I’ve been putting off telling her because I had a feeling she’d react this way. I can tell by the look on her face that she thinks I might actually take him back.

“You’re not thinking about it, are you?” she says.

“No.” I cross my arms. “We’re never getting back together. I promise.” Even as I say the words, though, something sits heavy in my chest.

She stares hard at me. I don’t think she believes me. Not that I really blame her. I’m not even sure if I believe it myself. There’s a part of me that thinks as I say the words that I’m not just trying to convince her, but that I’m trying to convince the both of us.

“Just don’t forget all the shit he put you through,” she says, sounding exasperated. “I was there after the divorce. You were broken, and unless I’m mistaken, your wolf still isn’t awake.”

“I don’t know if I would say broken.”

“You wouldn’t get out of bed,” she argues.

“Great.”

I start to tell her where she can find an extra uniform, when Karl pokes his head into the room, softly rapping on the edge of the doorframe with his knuckles.

I jump a little, turning to face him. Chloe turns around and pins him with a glare, her arms crossed.

“Ethan was looking for you,” he says, ignoring Chloe completely. She’s still glaring at him, and I know he’s more than aware. “He needs you at the front desk, I think.”

“Alright.”

I look back at Chloe. “Go find Andrew. He’s working behind the bar right now. He’ll get you a uniform and get you started. You can work together tonight while you’re getting used to things, then I’ll have you back there by yourself.”

——————

Chloe approaches the table with three glasses balanced between her hands. She puts them down and slides them across to us.

“Thanks,” I say, taking a sip.

“I’m glad we’re doing this.” Chloe gives me a pointed look. “We needed a girl’s night.” Leah’s too busy looking around the bar to notice Chloe’s expression. “Yeah, me too,” Leah says.

Unfortunately, I have the sense that Chloe is partly here because she’s not satisfied with our conversation today. She clearly didn’t believe me when I said I have no intention of getting back together with Karl.

Maybe she thinks she can get Leah on her side so they can gang up on me.