Chapter 78. Denying

Ryder’s POV

This house was just stuffy. I wanted to go somewhere else, ride the motorcycle with the boys, go to that game shop, leave town, just do anything, outdoor stuff that made the boys happy. But I couldn’t. Salome’s parents had just arrived from the Red Tundra pack.

I was starting to hate it here.

Everything smelled like someone else’s life. Like money and Chanel No. 5 and polished floors and perfect little conversations about stocks and golf and summer homes. Salome’s mom had this perfume that clung to the air like it was meant to be there and her dad? He talked like the whole world was deaf.

And me, I just sat there. Because Aunt Helena wanted to show me off. So I perched on the couch like I was auditioning for the role of “Well-mannered boyfriend.”

I told myself I would make this meeting boring for everyone and speak when spoken to, and at one point, I pretended not to hear the questions, just stared at the painting on the wall, but tha