Chapter 18 – Missed Opportunity

Cassidy unlocked the door to her and Natalie's apartment while dragging her luggage behind her. Natalie came in shortly behind her, grumbling over the fact that Cassidy decided to leave early to come back to the city. "I can't believe you had us come back a day early," Natalie whined. "I'm sorry, Nat. I needed to get away from there so I could forget any interaction I had with that man." Cassidy told her. Natalie shook her head. She grabbed her suitcase and walked past Cassidy while she whispered, "Good luck with that." Cassidy narrowed her eyes at her friend's back. She was beginning to regret telling her about Jacob and the dream she had about him last night, and not in a good way either. Flashes of the dream shot through her head. She tried to shake herself out of it, but there was something always looming in the back of her head, not wanting her to. Cassidy pulled out her laptop bag and decided to put her focus on her work. She had just started editing a new story for one of their authors and didn't want to get too far behind in work because of the three-day weekend. "What do you think you're doing?" Natalie asked Cassidy as she stood in the hallway with her hands on her hips. "I need to do something to get my mind off of what happened this weekend. Getting lost in S.S.'s new transcript and editing it sounds like the best option for me." Cassidy admitted. "Look, I know it's exciting that you got to land the editing gig for this up-and-coming writer. But you can't throw yourself into your work because the guy had an emergency that he had to attend to." Cassidy turned in her chair and stared at her friend as she leaned on the back of her chair. "Oh yeah, has Gavin texted you yet?" she asked with a lifted brow at her friend. Natalie smirked. She knew that she was going to win this little pissing contest. "As a matter of fact, he did last night and then again this morning before we left," she spouted as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall. Cassidy's shoulders slumped. Why was it that when she had this undeniable connection with the man she met, he went running off, never to be heard from again? Natalie's man had already texted her and had shown more interest in Natalie than anything stupid Jacob had done. Ugh. Cassidy hated feeling like this. The one time, the one moment that she thought this could be her chance of finding someone special. It backfired and smacked her right in the face. "Cass, please don't give up. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for what he did," Natalie assured her. *** Gavin jumped out of his truck, rushed to the front porch of the house, and knocked on the door hastily. Jacob slowly stepped out of the truck and shut his door before leaning back on the front end of the vehicle. Gavin continued to knock, waiting for an answer. He had tried calling Natalie earlier, and her phone had gone to voicemail on several attempts. Gavin was getting upset and losing his patience. "Something had to have happened. I just talked with her early this morning, and everything seemed fine," he said aloud. Jacob just stood there, not saying a word, his eyes were focused in the corner of the porch where the swing was, and less than twenty-four hours ago, he was sitting there with his mate and almost kissed her. Jacob shook his head as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back to the sky. Gavin's phone received an alert, and he quickly pulled it out. His face was relieved when he saw the message from Natalie. He opened up the text, and his smile dropped immediately. Gavin looked up and glared at his so-called friend and Alpha. "This is all your fault," he yelled. Jacob looked at his friend, confused. "They left, they are gone. Cassidy wanted to leave and go back to the city. I lost my chance to have another date with Natalie because of you," Gavin said through gritted teeth. Jacob hated to be the reason that his friend missed out on a potential girl. But what was he supposed to do? "You are going to fix this," Gavin answered for him. "I told you I shouldn't be with her. I need to let her go," Jacob told him. "That's a load of B.S., and you know it. I bet your wolf is going crazy not being close to his mate. You are being so closed-minded about this and not allowing yourself an opportunity to be with your fated mate. She was chosen for you for a reason. Why can't you allow yourself the chance to enjoy life and a real chance at love?" Gavin implored. Jacob sighed as he took in the words his friend was offering to him. There were so many reasons he was giving himself to not go after her and get to know his future mate. But maybe those weren't the reasons that he should be listening to. Maybe Gavin had a point; he left sixteen years ago because he felt that was what was best for the pack, and now had learned he should have had more faith in his pack. Maybe he needed to push his doubts aside and, for once, go with what his heart told him to do. Alden: Yes, listen to your heart. Jacob shook his head as he gave in. He knew what he needed to do. "Get in. We're going back to the pack house. Pack a bag, 'cause from there we are heading to the city," Jacob ordered.