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We both turned to the screen to watch it flip through clips of the packs.
“That poor girl,” he trailed off, shaking his head as a redhead in a ballgown stood on screen, smiling excitedly at the camera.
“Holy shit, that’s her!” The yell almost had my dad dropping his tea as I jumped to my feet, waving frantically at the screen.
I almost didn’t recognize the girl from the coffee shop at first. Her hair was much more tame on screen than it was in person and she was dressed to the nines. That mixed with the intense makeup on screen, I might have missed it altogether. But there was something in the way she smiled that instantly put it together in my head.
“God, that means she knows Morgan,” I said, horrified at the thought.
“Don’t hold that against her. I don’t think the two had much choice,” he pointed out. “In the behind the scenes on this show, well, let’s just say she got the short end of the stick here.”
“I guess that explains how she showed up in our town, probably trying to escape this circus.” That was the moment they showed a few packs arguing about the omegas. “I don’t know if I want to give a girl a chance that’s desperate enough to go on a show like this.”
Or at least I was telling myself that since I likely didn’t have a shot now anyway.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you watched it,” my father said knowingly. “She never fit in with the rest of them. She’s a lot more intelligent than the others and seemed to really believe in the romance of it. They made her appear so sweet and innocent. If she’s here, I doubt it ended well. Spoiler alert.”
“Well, you better watch because otherwise we’ll never know. She’s never going to talk to me. I guess that’s for the best. Can’t get hurt if you’re forever alone, right, Pops?”
This time, the glare my dad gave me was real. What I said was a low blow and we both knew it.
“You need to go to the gym. You can call me later and apologize,” Dad said sharply. It was his way of telling me to leave without saying it directly.
“Sorry, Dad,” I said as I handed him a blanket and made sure he was comfortable before walking out.
My head hadn’t been a pleasant place to be for months but it was nothing compared to how I felt right now. At this rate I was going to die alone, even pushing my family away.
I clearly didn’t deserve a mate. Our first meeting and I’d ruined it on astronomical levels. Plus, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a pack wouldn’t be a pack without my brother, asshole or not.
The gym was fairly empty when I pulled up but I didn’t let it stop me. I headed straight for the locker room and opened my locker, changing and wrapping my hands in sports tape quickly.
It was only a few minutes before I was standing in front of a punching bag. Sparring would have helped more but it was better than nothing.
My muscles burned and sweat poured down my back as I landed blow after blow, trying to focus on breathing evenly and letting the negative thoughts leave with each punch.
You’re worthless.
It’s your fault she left.
You weren’t enough, you never will be.
She’ll never talk to you.
Even your own twin hates you.
The thoughts were spiraling as I pushed my body to its limits, wishing that I didn’t feel this way anymore. If this didn’t let up soon, I’d have to break down and get therapy.
“Hey, hey, leave some punching bag for the rest of us.” I glanced over to see the owner of the gym. Reggie was a fierce fighter in his day. Now that the years caught up with him, he was running the gym. He still sparred with us every now and then.
“I’d offer to talk about it but fuck that. You want to fight?”
I just nodded, not giving myself a chance to even speak as we headed for one of the sparring rings. My body was already tired and I knew after this I was going to be in pain. Hopefully, I at least felt semi-normal when I walked out of here.
My head wasn’t in it. I could barely focus on dodging his blows.
For the first time since Reggie and I had known each other he kicked my ass. By the third time I was slammed to the mats he helped me up and shook his head.
“You’ve got more problems than the ring can solve. Get out of here, son. Walk it off but you won’t be hurting yourself in my gym. Not today.”
