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I read about it in the paper years ago. Seems like it attracted mostly single Alphas.
Anywhere that’s popular with Alphas seems to end up more expensive automatically.
I follow Ryan along my building’s hallway and down the stairs.
“Well, it might be a little more expensive,” he admits. “But it’s got to be better than living in a replica of my old apartment where …”
He trails off, shrugging his shoulders.
“Frank Palmer is dead,” I remind him. “You killed him. Besides, it’s not the same apartment.”
Except it basically is. Everything from the paintjob to the bathroom fittings are the same.
Color me morbid, but I visited the place where I almost died about a week after I got out of hospital.
It was on the market, and it wasn’t getting any interest, despite the landlord’s willingness to give a hefty discount on the first year’s rent. I was there as a potential renter, having given a fake name.
Looking around felt surreal. I didn’t remember much about being brought there. Being there didn’t bring back memories. The need to throw up hit me hard just as we stepped into the bedroom, and the landlord wanted me to leave after I rushed to the toilet to be sick.
The smell of death was lingering in the air in that place, as if Frank’s corpse was still rotting away next to the bedroom door. It was disgusting, and I know I wasn’t imagining it.
My new apartment might basically look the same as Ryan’s old apartment, but the crucial part is it doesn’t smell like death. There’s no way in hell I ever could have moved into his exact apartment.
This one might be a bit of a mindfuck, but I can deal with it since I know a lot of the rental buildings have the same one-bedroom design in Cressidan City.
It’s affordable and it’s close to Secret.
Those are the only things that matter.
Ryan’s quiet as we walk down the rest of the stairs and leave the building.
We step out onto the street and pass a group of students from the college who are laughing and talking animatedly as they head toward the city’s centre. That’s the life Secret was looking for when she came out here. She ended up with something a little different, but she seems happy now that she’s blossomed into an Omega and met her true mates.
I always suspected she was special.
I worried about sending her out here, and there were definitely things to worry about, but she’s happier now than I’ve ever seen her and there are no more secrets between us.
We move down the sidewalk and past the alleys that seemed shady last night.
They’re not as scary while there’s still some daylight left, but I don’t mind Ryan’s company.
“You eat chicken, right?” he asks, suddenly.
I laugh. “Um, yeah. I’m not vegetarian, or anything like that.”
“Cool,” he says. “Cass didn’t ask if you had any allergies or whatever, and I remember you were kind of picky about food back in Silver Lake.”
I raise an eyebrow, and then nod slowly. “Right. You were around for the main Leanne is an alcoholic phase. I was usually avoiding whatever food might make me puke after a binge session.”
“You were an alcoholic?” he asks, sounding shocked.
I shrug. “I was burying my head in the sand over being Secret’s real mom. Alcohol helped me avoid life in general.”
“Holy shit,” he murmurs, his face paling. “Cass put wine in dinner.”
“That shouldn’t matter,” I start, not sure about it, but feeling too awkward to make a fuss.
“I don’t mean he put in a teaspoon of the stuff. I literally saw him free-pour from a bottle.”
