Scum (Book 1)

30. Future

Liam’s POV

Chey has a hangover, so she’s in a bad mood, but I can’t tell if she’s more upset about missing free breakfast, or the headache she’s nursing.

I actually feel bad about letting her drink as much as I did, but I still haven’t scolded her enough to make myself feel better about what happened, so every time she groans, I remind her of what she did.

“Come on bro… Chey doesn’t know any better. She already apologized. Why keep bringing it up?” Royce’s contribution does nothing for my mood because I’m not sure he would have been able to withstand what I experienced last night.

Chey grinds her lower half when she’s sleeping, not an uncommon thing, but with her body, and when in bed with a sexually frustrated male, it’s like torture.

“How do you think her mate would feel about this?” Chey sits up straight, and based on her breathing, she’s truly shaken.

“I wasn’t trying to do anything wrong. I hear you, I will never drink again, okay?” The girl stands and leaves the table, making me feel like crap.

“Why did you do that?” Jenna asks, pulling down her sunglasses to glare at me. “You know that Chey takes the bond very seriously. You didn’t have to go that far.”

“Jenna… You weren’t in the room with us. Chey wasn’t in danger but imagine if I were Riker.” My sister winces, and because Royce can also understand my point, he keeps his mouth shut.

Chey’s POV

I typically don’t like wasting food or money, but because I’m on the verge of tears, I take a long walk, hoping to calm myself.

I wasn’t trying anything with Liam, and I don’t know what I’ll do if rumors spread, and my future mate thinks poorly of me.

I have no rank within the pack, so it wouldn’t be a stretch for someone to think I was trying to ‘secure’ a title, but I would never trade my values and beliefs for the prospect of being anyone's Luna, especially since I’ll be entering the were-nursing program soon.

“You here alone?” I turn my head and see that Riker is standing right next to me. He flinches when he sees how red my eyes are, but I'm not embarrassed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just have a bad headache.”

“You drank too much last night.” I nod, remembering that every time Phoebe handed me a shot, I took it. “You should be careful in the future. Not every man is as patient as Liam.” I shrug, not wanting to get into this conversation because in a few days, Liam will ‘break up’ with me, and Riker will never see me again.

“Thanks for the advice.” We go quiet as I stare over the railing of the boardwalk and out to the ocean, but I’m suddenly tugged along by Riker, who like Liam said, is much stronger than he looks. “What are you doing?”

“Taking you for a swim.”

“I-I can’t swim.” I start to pull away from the man, but he turns around and picks me up the way a groom would carry his bride across the threshold.

“But I can,” he says with a grin, and before I know it, we’ve weaved through the crowd and we’re splashing in the ocean.

This is fun, so I find myself getting into the game, but I’m careful not to go past my thighs, knowing that I can barely tread water.

“Cheyenne, why are you with Liam?” My body tenses, and I start to walk out of the ocean, but Riker pulls me back. “I know it’s a game, but have you considered what the stakes are for you?” I have not considered the stakes, but Liam’s earlier warning has put them into perspective for me. “You aren’t a very good actress.” Riker strokes my head, pushing wet strands of hair out of my face, and I feel so uncomfortable that I back up. “What do I have to do to take his place?”

“Get your hands the f*ck off my girl.” I stumble backward, and both men rush forward, trying to stop me from falling, so I end up being supported by them both. “I said… let go.” Liam is using an alpha command, but Riker is an alpha too, so he takes a second to think about it before he actually listens.

Liam snatches me into his chest, and I glare up at him, not liking the way he’s handling me, even if he is upset with the situation.

“Chey is-”

“Not yours,” Riker interjects, which is true, but I’m not sure why that information matters right now.

Liam’s POV

Absolute fury courses through my veins when I see Chey flirting with Riker, specifically because I know the man just wants to f*ck her. She doesn’t have a rank, so he’s acting on assumption, but I plan to erase whatever little plan he has regarding the woman out of his head.

Ordering him to release her was easy, but convincing him to forget about her may be a little more difficult.

I pull Chey into my chest, attempting to hide the fact that her shirt has gone sheer, and her n*****s are exposed, but I used a little too much force, so she came crashing into me instead.

I saw the way she looked at me, and if I had been anyone else, she probably would have hit me by now.

“Chey is-”

“Not yours,” Riker interjects, making me even more furious with the man.

“She’s my girlfriend and a member of my pack, so it’s my responsibility to look after her.” The man smirks, and I realize that this entire display was his ploy to find out more about Chey without asking me directly.

I take off my shirt and put it over Chey’s head.

She quickly puts it on, likely guessing that I wouldn’t have given it to her without a reason, then I ask Jenna and Royce to take her back to where the car is parked, but she keeps looking back as she’s walking away, probably conflicted because she’s leaving her alpha, but I’m not afraid of Riker at all, in fact I’m impressed by his calculatedness right now.

“You sly bastard.” Riker’s father has access to the directory of all invited guests, but we never submitted which pack Chey came from to hide the fact that she’s a pack helper. The man is an as*hole, and in the past, he has organized events where people were grouped by the ‘pureness’ of their bloodline.

“It didn’t have to go this far,” Riker says, relaxing his posture to show me that he’s no longer being aggressive. “Now that I know where she’s from, if you tell me what rank she holds, I’ll back off a little.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m making a list to give to my father. He wants to personally vet the person who will become the future Luna. He won’t give up the title until I’m marked.” That puts a smile on my face, and once I tell the man that Chey holds no rank at all, his face drops. “So… She’s just a pack helper?”

“Since the day she was born,” I smugly reply.

Like his father, Riker believes in strong bloodlines, so I assume that he won’t go after Chey anymore, but my fear is that he won’t respect her either.

“I won’t say anything.” That’s shocking, but I guess the man likes Chey more than I thought, making me feel a little weird.

“Chey isn’t ashamed of her status. We just didn’t want people treating her like ‘help’ while she’s here.” I’m sure that Riker’s already worked out that Chey and I aren’t a real couple, but I won’t confirm that part for my own sake. “Also, dating her is to get my parents off my back,” I lie.

“What does she get in return?” Again, I’m shocked.

“She’s been accepted into the were-nursing program. While she’s studying, I’ll be financially responsible for her.” I shouldn’t have convoluted my ‘relationship’ with Chey with lies, but Riker seems to buy the story, which is good, because I really don’t want to make her look bad by telling him that she’s being paid.

“You could have just told me that from the beginning. It probably wouldn’t have changed much though.” I laugh, once again reminded of how fun hanging out with Riker used to be. “Now that I know, I won’t continue to make things difficult for you, but I can’t stop Phoebe, and your woes won’t matter to her…” We chuckle, and as I walk out of the water, I feel much lighter than I did when I arrived.

There’s silence as we travel up the beach, but before we get too far, I grab the man’s arm, wanting to add just a little more context for him.

“Seriously Riker… Chey is off limits. She’s a nice girl, and she genuinely believes in waiting for her fated mate. Aside from everything, I respect that about her, which is why our arrangement is so perfect.”

“Because if Porsha comes back…” I wasn’t expecting the man to draw that conclusion, but he did, so I have no choice but to nod. “I understand, but what happens if she’s like us? What if she doesn't have a mate?” I never thought of that, but before I know it, he and I are foolishly making a bet on Chey’s future. “If neither of us are marked by the time she turns twenty, I intend to formally pursue her.” I can’t fault the man for wanting to shoot his shot, but at the same time, I’m conflicted.

“And what happens if we’re still together?”

“I’m not asking you to step out of the way completely. I’m just asking you to let her choose who she wants to be with.” That’s surprising, especially because I know how the man feels about a person’s rank.

With Porsha, it was specifically because she was an alpha female that Riker wanted to fight until one of us couldn’t continue.

Like idiots, we never asked her for her input, but knowing her personality, she would have wanted the winner anyway, but I guess the man has matured enough to know that rank isn’t everything.

The sad part is that, if he would have suggested using our ‘charms’ to win Porsha over, he likely would have won, but he was impulsive and desperate to please his rankist father, and all he got as a prize was an ass kicking.

With that said, I won’t interfere in the man’s plan because after this week, Chey is free to do as she pleases.

“Fine but remember… respect her boundaries.”