Kylie's mouth dropped open. "But Burnett said-"

"I made Steve promise not to tell him. It wasn't life threatening." She moaned. "The bad thing is that Steve saved my ass. Not just at the restaurant in front of Lee, but again with the rogues and then when we ran into some nasty weres. I was in pretty bad shape, couldn't fight. I hated it." She paused. "He checked us into a hotel and was taking care of me. I don't know how it happened, one minute he was doctoring me and the next we were playing doctor."

"Oh my!" Kylie said. "So you actually-"

"No, we didn't. Came close. Thankfully blue balls don't really kill a guy."

"Blue balls?" Kylie asked.

Della rolled her eyes. "You don't know what blue balls are?"

"No. Should I?"

Della grinned. "At least you should know if a guy ever tells you he can die from it, he's lying. Andbelieve me, some guys will actually say that to guilt a girl into doing the bumping dance. I had one try it on me once, before Lee. I told him I'd go to his funeral, and never dated him again."

"But what is it, really?" Kylie made a face. "Or is it too gross? It must be gross because they never mentioned it in any of the pamphlets my mom gave me."

Della chuckled again. "It's when a guy gets really turned on and is ready to do the deed and then the deed gets canceled."

Kylie leaned in. "Do their balls really turn blue?"

Della burst out laughing. "I don't know, I've never gotten down there and checked."

Kylie blushed, but then she didn't really care in front of Della, so she just laughed. "So you think Steve had blue balls?"

Della rolled her eyes. "He looked pretty uncomfortable. I shouldn't have let it get that far. I was just ...

mixed up in the head."

"Or maybe you really like Steve." Kylie pointed her spoon at Della. "I'm not saying you should have had sex, but the guy's crazy about you and you obviously like him, too. So why are you treating him like a disease now?"

Della took a big swig of her chocolate blood. "Because ... when I realized what was happening, all I could think about was that in a year or so I'll be standing in another restaurant watching Steve with his fiancee. I can't do that again." Tears filled her eyes.

"But you don't know that will happen."

"I don't know it won't happen, either." Della reached for the bottle of syrup and added another squirt to her glass. "So now I've spilled my guts. How do things stand with Lucas?"

Kylie stirred her chocolate in her bowl. "It's over."

Della's eyes widened. "Why? Did Monique say they'd fooled around? We should get Miranda to give him a case of mange on his balls!"

"No, Monique sort of said they didn't."

Della picked up her glass. "Then why's it over?"

Kylie clanked her spoon against her bowl. Because if it isn't he'll lose everything.

Della studied her. "But it he didn't cheat-"

Anger stirred in Kylie's chest. "Even if he didn't do anything, it still feels like he did. I mean, he was getting engaged, behind my back." She shook her head. "First Trey. Then my stepdad cheats on my mom.

Then Derek and now Lucas. Why do guys do this?"

Della kind of shrugged. "At least Lucas didn't have sex."

It still feels like a betrayal. A big one. "What's downright infuriating is that I still love him." Love him so much that she couldn't stand by and watch him lose everything because of her. "But I'm still so mad at him I could..."

"Give him a set of blue balls?" Della chuckled.

"No, punch him!"

"Then maybe you should." Della looked down at her glass.

"Should what?" Kylie asked.

"Punch him. Then maybe you wouldn't be so mad and you could move on."

Kylie shook her head. "I wish it was that simple.""Maybe it is. You won't know until you try. Just go up to him all casual like and then go all crazy on his ass. Seriously, then maybe you could put it behind you and forget it."

"Like you're trying to do with Steve?" Kylie pointed the spoon at her again.

"Hey, I'm like a good parent. I don't want you to do as I do, but do as I say!" She chuckled.

Kylie shook her head.

"And besides, now it's..." She shut her mouth, unsure if she wanted to talk about this.

"It's what?" Della asked.

She might as well spill it. "It's not just about what he did." If it was, Kylie suspected she'd be halfway to forgivness. "He gave up everything when he refused to sign that engagement paper. He's not going to get on the Council, his own pack is pissed at him. Monique's dad is threatening to have him killed. Sooner or later he's going to hate me for this."

"I think you're overthinking it."

Kylie ran her spoon around the bowl for the last bit of chocolate. "And I think we gotta change the subject," she said.

Della relented and picked up her glass. They didn't speak for a few minutes, then finally she spoke up.

"Before I went to Lee's place that night, I went and played peeping tom at my house."

"How were things?" Kylie asked, sensing it didn't go well.

"Good. So good it made me mad. They were playing board games like this happy little family. Dad told jokes and they were all laughing. I don't think they even miss me." She stared at the table for a few minutes.