16

All three of them practically tumbled down the stairs and piled into the kitchen to find the strange neighbour, Rob, standing far too close to Mum. She was asking him if he’d managed to find a lodger yet, but the answer was obviously no. Not many people were keen to move into the spare room of a weirdly little creep like Rob. Her mother had to know this—she was just being nice, as usual.

Rob wasn’t horrible exactly. He was a small and strange man, not ugly exactly, just... odd. He had this strained, humourless smile and a tendency to trail off into jumbled words before falling silent whenever he spoke for more than a few minutes. Mum said he had social anxiety, so we should be patient with him, even though he clearly mistook her kindness for sexual interest.

"Have you seen anyone in Rob's garden?" Mum asked. "His Rhododendron was pulled up."

"Oh, that's a shame," Adrian said with such false sympathy Scarlett almost burst out laughing.

"Is that your Hyundai i10 parked out there?" Riley blurted, ignoring the question.

"E—erm, yes, why?" Rob answered, blinking rapidly as he spoke.

"Do you park over two spots on purpose as some sort of alpha move or are you really that bad at parking?" Riley asked.

The look on Mum's face was a picture. She'd mentioned his parking multiple times—she and Ron had joked about it. It was rather hypocritical of her as she stood, trying to subtly shake her head at Riley.

"T—they're my sp—pots," Rob argued with a stutter.

"Yeah, but it's an i10," Adrian jumped in. "Literally the smallest car on the market. I mean, a mini cooper has a bigger surface area."

As Riley snickered the guy blushed, turning his cheeks to a deep shade of red.

"You should see him park it, it's hilarious. You'd think he was trying to pilot a Boeing," Adrian said to Riley.

The pair of them laughed before Adrian loomed over the much smaller man and patted him on the shoulder, telling him he was only kidding.

"Yeah, and sorry to hear about your Rhododendron, mate," Riley said, joining Adrian. As the pair towered over Rob, he muttered something incoherent and backed out of the door.

Mum watched him out of the window, waiting until he was back inside his house before collapsing in a fit of giggles.

"Oh my days, you pair!" she cried. "That was so mean."

"We've all been thinking it. He needed to know," Adrian said with an uncaring shrug.

"Oh, be nice to him, please," Mum begged. "He's sad and lonely."

"And he probably sits alone in that house with his mangy cat, looking through the window and cry wanking over you while he watches old re-runs of The Bill," Adrian said.

The weirdly specific reference made Scarlett giggle. Sometimes she wondered what went on in Adrian's head.

"Oh don't say that!" Mum huffed. She had to know poor creepy Rob was in love with her. It was her own fault for always being so nice to him. Being neighbourly she called it. Mum was nice to everyone until they gave her a reason not to be.

"Let's go hang out at the King's Head," Scarlett suggested as she poured herself a drink. The pub her Mum worked at had a pool table and was generally quiet on a weekday.

"Good idea," Adrian said. "Now... should I take Sienna or leave her chained to the bed?"

"What? Seriously?" Scarlett chocked on her lemonade.

She couldn't believe Sienna would let a guy chain her up, even one she was besotted with. The girl was a total control freak.

"You wanna see?" Adrian asked. Just as Scarlett took another sip of her drink he added, "She is naked though."

"Adrian!" she cried, drawing out his name.

"Okay, okay, I'll let her come," he conceded, running up the stairs to fetch her.

"I told you he eats girls like Sienna for breakfast," Riley said. He nudged her in the side as he said it, smiling down at her with a smug expression.

Scarlett playfully shoved him back, but he didn't move. It was as if he was carved from granite.

Thinking more sneakily, she pinched his side between his rips and hips, making him jump and squeal in shock.

"Oh, now you're getting it." He grinned, lifting her off the floor as if she weighed nothing. He threw her onto the living room sofa and attacked her with tickles to her rips and underarms, making her howl in laughter.

When footsteps echoed from the stairs his face changed from amused to worried. He quickly straightened up, smoothing down his hair as Adrian and Sienna walked in.

'Why is he so worried about what Adrian thinks?' Scarlett thought, becoming increasingly irritated about the situation. 'Yes, he is the Alpha but that doesn’t mean he owns us. Their relationship is… odd.'

She’d noticed the way Riley would only stand close to her or look at her when Adrian was out of the room or distracted. The caste system was probably more important to him, growing up in a wolf only community.

As the group walked to the pub the lads walked in the front, chatting quietly to each other, and snickering every so often.

Sienna flashed her a look before linking arms with her, sticking to her side like a limpet. She used to love this. It would make her feel so special to be Sienna’s chosen one. The only one who got to snuggle into her side as she walked.

She had always assumed it was a way to shut everyone else out and make the other girls jealous. Now, as the girl clung to her, she realised the arm linking may have been as much for Sienna's comfort.

'It’s easy to forget she's a person with feelings,' Scarlett thought.

The tiny girl smiled up at her and asked about Riley.

"He's cute right?" Sienna said, eyeing her reaction.

"Adrian doesn't want me to see his best friend," Scarlett whispered, rolling her eyes. "But oh my Lord, he's fine."

"Yeah, he said you're off-limits," Sienna told her and shrugged. "But you convinced him to date me. Maybe you can change his mind. The double dates would be awesome."

As usual, Sienna was taking control of the situation and running off on a tangent without consulting anyone else. This time, however, Scarlett liked her idea.

"Yeah, I'll talk to him about it. I don't want to ask him for too many favours," she said.

"I'm sorry you wasted a favour on me," Sienna said, looking genuinely guilty.

"Oh, don't say that. I'm glad it all turned out well and you and Adrian have this weird relationship where you do bondage and stuff," Scarlett said with a sly grin.

"Oh, he told you about the handcuffs?" Sienna laughed. "I never thought I'd like it until he did it."

"I know I'd like it," Scarlett admitted. "I used to tie myself up as a kid."

Sienna shrieked with laughter.

"That's why I love you so much. You're so random and funny," Sienna said.

'She loves me?' Scarlett thought. After being afraid of her best friend for the past year, she had forgotten about all the good times before Tom came along.

Just as she thought about Tom, she spotted him outside the pub, smoking with his friends. He still hung out here to play pool since Scarlett introduced him to the place.

She looked around at Adrian, Riley and Sienna.

'Well, this is going to be awkward.'