Aspen took the seat opposite Havana. “Okay, what’s wrong?”
Havana shoveled another spoon of the chocolate dessert into her mouth. “I took Bailey’s advice.”
Aspen scrunched her face up. “You … you took advice from Miss Logic is For Losers?”
Bailey frowned at the bearcat. “Not liking your tone.”
“But you can’t argue that your advice might not necessarily be good to heed, can you?” challenged Aspen.
Huffing, Bailey took a seat at the table. “Well, maybe not. But logic gets in the way sometimes. I don’t like obstacles.”
Aspen turned back to Havana. “What advice did she give you?”
Havana licked at her spoon. “To have one last round of sex with Tate so I could find some closure. I hoped it would work, so yesterday after dinner …”
“You did the dirty.” Aspen bit her lower lip. “I take it your hopes didn’t come to fruition.”
“No, they did not.”
“Well that’s a bummer.” Bailey puffed out a breath. “But this doesn’t sound like something that would send you into the trifle-for-breakfast-zone.”
Havana sighed. “Tate wants to drag out the fling a little longer. And while I can’t deny that he’s right in claiming neither of us are truly ready to part ways, I can’t give him what he wants. I just can’t. I’ll only get more and more attached. And, honestly, it hurts that the only thing he sees when he looks at me is someone worthy of a fling. If I keep sleeping with him, I’ll end up hating us both. But getting rid of him hasn’t been as simple as I thought.”
Aspen twisted her mouth. “There is one sure-fire way to make him leave you alone.”
Havana paused in bringing another spoonful of dessert to her mouth. “What?”
“Tell him the truth,” replied Aspen. “Tell him you want more. If he’s so against the concept, there’s no way he’ll stick around. In fact, he might even freak out.”
Bailey nodded and pointed a finger at the bearcat. “That would definitely work, because he won’t be able to argue that continuing with the fling would be harmless. He’ll have to either step up to the plate or back the hell off.”
“He’s not going to offer me more,” said Havana.
“Maybe not,” said Aspen, her tone soft. “And I know it’ll suck to hear him tell you he can’t give you what you need, but the present situation also sucks. If you really want him to leave you alone and give you the space to move on, this is probably the only way to do it.”
Bailey’s shoulders slumped. “You know, Vana, I really do hate that the two guys you grew to care for don’t want what you want.”
“Same here.” Havana sipped her coffee. “On the subject of said two guys, Dieter called yesterday. He heard about the attempted kidnapping. He insisted I call him if I have any further problems.”
Bailey snorted. “He can’t honestly think you’d turn to him for help after he chose another woman over you.”
“To be fair, he has no idea that it hurt me.”
Aspen rested her arms on the table. “I think Dieter cares about you in his way, Havana. But he doesn’t want the lone shifter lifestyle, and he’s had no luck getting a flock to accept him. He knows his best bet is to mate into one. I think Tate cares about you, too. I think he just isn’t prepared to face it yet.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Havana took another gulp of her drink. “And it’s possible that he’ll get back together with his ex.”
Bailey blinked and straightened in her seat. “His ex?”
“Yep, she’s back. Valentina—who says hi, by the way—told us a little about her yesterday. Her name’s Ashlynn, but I often refer to her as ‘the skank’ in my head. She and Tate tried to imprint on each other, but it all went south.” Havana relayed the story to the mamba.
Bailey folded her arms. “Do you think she’s back for Tate, hoping he’ll make her his Alpha female?”
“Maybe. She wanted to have dinner with him so they could ‘talk.’ He turned her down. He swears he has no interest in her.”
“Do you believe him?” asked Aspen.
Havana hesitated. “He was pretty convincing. If he was lying, he was also lying to himself.” She ate another spoonful of trifle.
Aspen drummed her fingers on the table. “So … are you going to tell him what you want?”
Havana’s stomach rolled at the idea, but she couldn’t deny that it made sense. Which was uber unfortunate. She put down her spoon. “Yeah. It’ll be hard, and it’ll be harder still to hear him tell me what I already know, which is that he can’t give it to me. But it’s probably the only guaranteed way to make him give me space. I can put my pride aside to get that.”
Bailey pouted. “I hate that you’re hurting.”
“Me, too,” said Aspen.