Chapter 16 - Austin

I’d put a lot of thought into how I would handle Denise and people in general. No one would bat an eyelash about us being together within the pack. But I work outside the pack with humans, so I needed a plan. 

I wasn’t sure how Suzanne would react to all of this, mainly the part about Denise. I’ll give her credit; I was expecting more yelling and not just threats of violence but to be punched.  

I didn’t just pull over and park because I didn’t want to talk while driving. No, I did it to be sure if Suzanne went She-Hulk on me, I’d not get us into an accident. She’s been in one accident. That’s more than enough, thank you. 

I sighed, running my hand over my hair as she questioned my plans of telling people I work with that we have an arranged marriage and are starting the engagement period. This was the tricky part, if I’m honest. 

We only found out yesterday we are mates, and given she was my client, people will question how things ended and the whole sleeping with Denise part if I knew I was arranged to be married to Suzanne.  

It’ll be tricky, and I’m sure they’ll think I’m a bit scummy when I say that I was free to do whatever I wanted before the engagement period began. But now that Suzanne was old enough, I couldn’t and wouldn’t see anyone else. 

“Yes, engagement period. Or at least that’s what I’m going to tell people who ask about it outside the pack.” I sighed. 

“It’s the best answer I could think of that I would be asked minimal questions about cause usually pushing about someone’s religion is a judgy and asshole thing to do.” I shrugged. 

“I agree with that. I’m astonished you managed to think of a believable answer quickly.” Suzie teased. 

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, honey.” 

“What is with that? Why are you calling me that?” She demanded. 

“It’s what you smell like. Well, honey and cinnamon.” I shrugged. 

“Oh… if we are going to call each other names based on our scents….” Suzie smirked. 

“I am not liking where this is going. I’m afraid to ask, but what exactly are you thinking?” I cautiously questioned. 

“Well, just debating what to call you. You smell like fresh-cut grass, garden herbs, and wildflowers. So, I could call you flower. What do you think?” Suzie’s green eyes had mischief in them. 

“For the love of Goddess, don’t. At least me calling you honey, no one is going to think twice about. You calling me Flower is going to be weird.” I cringed.  

‘Shut up. Our mate can call us Flower if she wants to.’ Jax scoffed. 

‘I don’t even want to know why you are suddenly quoting Bambi but let’s not, okay. Or do you identify as a skunk instead of a wolf?’ I rolled my eyes. 

That shut him up. Suzie, however, was laughing and fuck do I like how it sounds. 

“I could call you blue dick, like the flower.” Suzie offered, still giggling. 

I don’t remember her laugh being anything but irritating before. I guess opinions change between her growing up and the mate bond. 

“Yeah… let’s not. Bad enough, I’m going to be spending Goddess knows how long with blue balls being mated to you. I don’t want to be called a blue dick.” I shook my head, snickering cause her laughter was contagious.  

“You’ll survive. I think you could go without getting laid for a while.” Suzie scoffed. 

“It’s fine. I’ll live. Not like I’m going to push you to do something before you’re ready.” I shrugged. 

“Good. Now was there anything else we needed to discuss? You came clean about the skank and discussed your plans for dealing with people outside the pack.” Suzie questioned. 

“Not at the moment. So let’s get you to school unless you have something on your mind or want to stay parked here and make out.” I smirked. 

Suzie rolled her eyes, shoving me playfully. “Drive me to school, numbskull.” 

I chuckled but put the jeep in gear, driving to the pack high school. Several people took notice that I was dropping her off. Good, let them all know who she’s with. 

“So I guess I’ll see you tonight at your house for dinner?” Suzie questioned, pausing as she reached for the handle. 

“Yes. I’ll see you at dinner.” I nodded, leaning closer.  

Once again, I got cock blocked. I didn’t kiss Suzie as some girl shouted her name, waving her arms outside the jeep. Yet again, my lips only found her cheek.  

“Bye, Austin.” Suzie smiled shyly, pecking my cheek as she hurried out of the car and to her friend.  

I sighed, shaking my head. Eventually, I am kissing her, and no one is interrupting. I narrowed my eyes at that Stan kid when he walked up to Suzie and her friend. 

I will gut that boy if he touches her. Lucky for him, he didn’t try to touch her. 

I headed to work and went straight to Grant’s office. I was going to get to the bottom of Denise finding my address. Grant was, of course, in his office, already drinking his coffee. 

“Yo, Austin. You’re a bit early? You don’t have a client for a couple more hours. Everything okay?” He arched his brow. 

“I’m early for a couple of reasons. So, I want to talk to you.” I sighed, sitting down.  

“You know my door is always open. What’s up?” Grant nodded, putting his coffee down and giving me his full attention. 

“Okay, you already know I’d been hooking up with Denise.” I began. 

Grant nodded and waited for me to continue. 

“Well, there’s something I didn’t tell her or anyone. So my family is part of an orthodox sect of Christianity. So some of our beliefs are a bit odd and old-fashioned. And one of the biggest is arranged marriage.” I sighed. 

“Wait… are you telling me you’re getting married?” Grant arched an eyebrow. 

“Well, yes and no. She’s not eighteen yet, so we aren’t getting married. But in our religion, there is a two-year engagement period that begins when both parties are sixteen.” I shrugged. 

“I take it your child bride wasn’t thrilled about Denise and vice versa.” Grant snickered. 

“She’s not a child. But anyways.” I growled. 

“I thought the point was moot. I managed to get Denise to dump me, thinking of me as the asshole. Which I’m cool with cause I am. I couldn’t and wouldn’t commit to her.” I shrugged. 

“Uh-huh. So congrats on your engagement? Are you okay with this? Having your wife picked out for you? Did you always know who it was going to be?” Grant questioned. 

“I didn’t know who I was arranged to until last night. And while most people might not be down with it, I am fine with an arranged marriage. I lucked out with who I'm matched with.” I smiled. 

“Oh, so you like who was picked out for you? Who’s the lucky lady then?” Grant chuckled. 

“Suzanne Walterson.” I confessed. 

“Wait, you mean the girl you were the physical therapist for a few months ago? The one that dumped cherry pie on the break room floor cause she had a huge crush on you and caught you with Denise?” Grant’s brows raised so high they should be part of his hairline. 

“Yea… that’s her. And I didn’t realize she had a crush on me. And neither of us knew we were arranged. You don’t get told until both of you are over sixteen.” I explained. 

“I know it was scummy of me to mess around with girls knowing I’d have this arrangement. But I also made sure to only fool around with women outside our religion to avoid issues later on within the church.” I sighed. 

“Uh-huh. So now you are with Suzanne, and Denise is out of the picture. Thanks for telling me. I’ll try to limit the cross-over of your schedules to avoid conflict and tension here.” Grant nodded. 

“Thanks. I appreciate that. But there is another thing I want to talk about. Denise showed up at my house last night. I never told her where I lived. So I want to know if she got my address from my file here.” I frowned. 

“Whoa. Um, well, I sure hope Denise didn’t. Cause that’d be a big offense.” Grant frowned, turning to his laptop. 

I watched as he did his thing on the computer, his frown deepening. That can’t be a good sign. 

“Oh, she is so fired.” Grant growled or growled for a human. 

“I take that to mean I was right.” I sighed. 

“Yeah, I’m showing my computer was accessed after hours. I am so sorry about this, Austin. She hacked my computer, according to the security feed. Denise will be handled accordingly.” Grant sighed. 

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Now I should go get ready for my first patient.” I nodded and got up. 

Granted nodded but said nothing more as he was in full boss mode. I trust that he will handle Denise. So I went about my day with that weight off my shoulders, and the only concern left was this dinner tonight.

I don’t think anything will go wrong. Dad likes Maxton and Edith. Maybe I’ll get some alone time with Suzie. There was something I wanted to give her earlier, but it didn’t seem like the right time or place.  

The only worry I have about tonight is if my grandparents get wind of this. I know grandma will be happy I have a mate at all. But grandfather will not like me being with someone he thinks is from a lesser family.