Book2 Chapter22
Dallas once again helps me out of my clothes as I watch him get out of his. He gives me a pill that was in the pocket of his jeans, saying that the pain should come in the middle of the night and he wants me to have a good sleep.
Pulling the bed sheets down, he gets in, and soon as I’m pressed tight against his side, my thigh now over his. He pulls the blankets up to my shoulders, making sure I’m held just right.
“This was nice, Rya, to see everyone again. I’ve been away too long.” I’m smiling into his skin now.
“I’m happy for you, Dallas.” The opiate he gave me before bed is working as it begins to eat my vision away, my body sinking further
into his. His fingers play with the ends of my hair.
“I want you herewith me when I begin my training, Rya.” That’s the last I remember as I fall asleep in his arms.
***
Waking up by myself in bed, I dress awkwardly before going into the kitchen. The pain in my arm is biting into my bone.
I’m hurting.
Dallas is at the table with his parents having morning coffee. It’s just him and his parents talking quietly in the soft light of morning.
“You’re up. I didn’t want to wake you.” Dallas gets up, pulling a chair out for me to sit down and pushing it in slightly. He looks at the pins. With a quick yank, the first one is out, and the next is just as fast.
“The faster, the better, Rya,” he says as the pins are laying on the wooden table. “If I did it slow, it would hurt a lot more. Think of it as
waxing: the slower you pull the paper away, the worse it hurts. Same with these things.”
His parents smile at me. His mother is on his father’s right, with Dallas on his left.
“How are you feeling?” his mother greets me softly. “It hurts, but I can deal with the pain.”
Caleb walks up from downstairs, a mess. Bloodshot eyes, scratching his head, he’s shirtless with just his boxers on. He has scratch marks all over him; I think maybe they were made by two different pairs of claws.
Opening the fridge, he takes the orange juice from the carton and drinks it all down in just a few big gulps. He tries to put it back into the fridge as his mother throws a spoon at his head. He barely moves in time as it catches the tip of his nose.
“If it’s done, throw it out,” she snaps at him. I think this is how they show their love for one another. It’s a playful banter that they have.
“Mom, listen.” He shakes the container with just barely a layer of juice left. “It’s not empty yet.‘
“You suck the living soul out of my body, Caleb.” But she smiles at him the way mothers do at their males who they love unconditionally.
The Silverback Alpha laughs at the exchange. I don’t see Caleb playing any kind of games with his father. Maybe he knows better than to rile up the beast.
“Get dressed. We’re leaving now.” Dallas is firm with the way he talks with Caleb, no motherly love in his voice. A flash of annoyance crosses Caleb’s face, but he does what his brother says without a word of displeasure.
Once Caleb comes back up in his wrinkled clothes that he was wearing yesterday, we walk the brothers out to the car.
“You’re going to be great, Rya. I can’t wait to visit you again.” Dallas believes everything he says to me.
Dallas tells me that my arm will be better by the end of the week. We do what couples do, hug and kiss goodbye. I wave to him as he pulls away from the drive. Iwatch Alpha Clinton walk away with Luna Grace, hand in hand, into the snow–covered morning. Their footsteps leave behind a trail to track them by as they walk away from the house.
I get back into my room. The phone is laying on the desk, innocently waiting for me to listen to Clayton’s messages. I’m curious but feel guilty about wanting to hear them.
Taking a deep breath, I click to the next message. This is a slow pain that I will hear.
“Two years of watching you, Rya, I couldn’t wait to graduate. I honestly felt as if I were cheating on Kennedy if I stared too long at you.
Book 2 Chapter22
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I could smell you. I always knew when you were getting close. I would make it a point to leave before you came around the corner. You made it easy, though. I think you avoided me as much as I wanted to avoid you.” He takes a long drink of something, ice clinking
against the glass.
“I would catch you by the fence watching your old soccer team. Your braid was down your back. You were playing with the end while you were seeing them win the championship. You were supposed to be captain that year, weren’t you? I never saw you against the soccer fence again. I did watch you leave with your head down, looking at your feet. The more I think about it, you stopped looking up. You started to walk with your eyes always downcast. Again I did nothing to help you. I could have said something. I could have been kinder. I wasn’t.” He’s run out of time; the message ends.
“I remember you always used to laugh, even before I knew you were my mate. I remember hearing you laugh and thought what a cute sound. Unique. But as my last year of highschool came to an end, I realized you never laughed anymore. In fact, I thought you forgot how to speak. Your sound died. Mine didn’t. You had to endure my laugh, didn’t you?I made sure you would hear how happy I was with Kennedy. I made sure that you understood there was never going to be any chance for you with me.”
Book? Chapter22
