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CHAPTER NINETEEN: LAST MAN STANDING
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MAGGIE DIDN'T WANT TO sound rude, but dinner at the diner where her sister worked was not what she expected when Paul said he was taking her on a date. To be frank, Maggie didn't know what she'd imagined for this night, but having Dakota's cat-like eyes staring at them for most of the evening definitely wasn't her idea of romance. Nor was walking in holding Paul's hand only to come face-to-face with Zeke sitting at the counter, Connor at his side as Zeke chatted with his twin.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Paul said just as Zeke spied them standing at the entrance. Instinctively, Maggie turned her back on him, refusing to catch the eyes of someone she knew would be glowering with resentment. Instead, she shot Paul her biggest smile, trying her best to seem content despite the sudden tension. Paul had never been good with romance, that much was painfully obvious. But he was making an effort for her, so she'd go along with whatever he wanted. Well, she'd try, at least... "I'm sorry, I didn't think--"
"It's okay." In an unusual display of embarrassment, his face had flushed a vibrant shade of red. Maggie smiled and cupped his jaw, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. "Do you want to sit at a table or a booth?"
The kiss did nothing to help with Paul's nerves. If anything, his blush bloomed even brighter, creeping down his neck and up to the tips of his ears. Struggling to compose himself, he blurted out, "I should be asking you that."
"Well, I asked you first."
"Fine. A booth then."
It wasn't long before a red-haired waiter dressed in the diner's black-and-white checked button-up approached them. He wasn't much older than Vera, and looked very unhappy to be put on the dinner shift. Smiling at them thinly, he introduced himself as Ethan and lead them over to the table of their choosing. Fortunately for Maggie, the only available booth was tucked up in the corner far enough away that Zeke couldn't openly stare at them without being obvious to Connor. Connor, who Maggie knew was completely in the dark about everything; the supernatural, imprints, his boyfriend's connection to one of the wolves in particular...
Of course, Dakota had the perfect view of them, but she was more caught up in laughing at something that Connor had said to make Zeke blush. She didn't really have the attention span for her sister and sister's boyfriend.
Maggie couldn't help frowning as she watched Dakota smirk at Zeke and Connor's intertwined hands. Slowly, Paul's voice faded into the background, drowned out by her sister's laughter. Maggie hadn't known that Zeke told Dakota about his relationship. She was happy for him, of course, she would be heartless if she wasn't, but she was also torn between being happy that Connor was slowly integrating himself into the family and missing Zeke's presence in her own life. This was a big step for him, something he would've shared with her had the past few weeks been different. It hurt Maggie a lot. If she wasn't on a date, the confident part of her, the part that rarely ever reared its head, would've dragged Zeke out onto the docks and demanded some kind of truce, a rebuild of burnt bridges.
