Another nod.
Benji elbowed him lightly. “I told you you were smothering her, boss.”
“Benji,” Vinny growled without looking away from me, “shut the fuck up.”
I typed again:He said he’d pick me up from the porch. I told him not to come inside.
Benji choked on a laugh. “Smart. He would’ve walked in and Vinny would’ve—”
Vinny held up a hand to silence him. Then he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring me down like I’d attempted to murder him
“Violet,” he sang my name, but it did little to conceal his irritation, “why would you call him instead of me?”
Because you terrify me, because I don’t trust male alphas, because you don’t like me, you just want to own me.
Because I didn’t wanthimin the room when the doctor inevitably told me I was losing the baby. I’d been through that enough with Logan, and even if the child wasn’t something I’d wanted, the loss always stung.
If Serena would have offered to come, I would have saidyes, but she and Skye were out with one of Serena’s friends and shopping for Skye’s baby.
Saying any of that wouldn’t have helped, so I typed:I didn’t think you’d want to come.
“You didn’t think I’d want to be there? For myown fucking kid?” he scoffed, gesturing sharply toward my stomach. “Violet, I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
“She has a twin,” Benji supplied unhelpfully as he stole a triangle of my toast. “Reed. He’s an alpha.”
Vinny’s eyes flicked between me and my beta.
Benji shrugged. “What? I listen to her.”
Vinny threw his hands up. “Oh my God.That’swhat’s fucking wrong with her.”
I blinked.
“Vinny,” Benji warned.
“No–no. This makes sense,” Vinny muttered, pacing a slow, murderous circle behind my chair. “That’s why you’re so fucking stubborn. You shared a womb with an alpha.”
I instinctively curled my arms around my stomach.
Vinny groaned into his hands. “TellReednot to come.”
My spine stiffened.
I typed:No.
Vinny froze and Benji choked onmytoast.
Vinny lowered his hands and bent over, coming nose to nose with me.
“What,” he said quietly, “did you just type to me?”
I tilted the screen toward him, making sure he saw myno.
Vinny inhaled slowly.
“Violet,” he said, his words verberating around the dining room. “I don’t like repeating myself.”
I typed faster:You’re not my alpha. You don’t get to decide.
