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“There she is, I was starting to get worried,” Katya said, moving in beside me. Her hand wrapped around my wrist, squeezing gently.
“Shock, sue me,” I muttered back. “Dad, give him a second to talk.”
My dad stepped back but not before grumbling the entire way. I grabbed a chair and moved to sit in front of him. Now that I was close to the beta I was hit with the intense scent of blackberry jam, sweet and aromatic.
His eyes widened, his breath coming out in quick, shallow pants as he threatened to hyperventilate.
“No, we can’t,” he choked out. “If he finds out we're...” The man might be more afraid of mates than I was. Oddly, I found that comforting.
“I don’t do ‘mates’ so no need to worry. Now explain yourself,” I said firmly. "Why were you stalking and taking pictures of me?"
He blinked up at me, almost hurt now. I swear this beta had more emotions than an omega nearing heat.
"I didn't know if it was you, I needed pictures so my team could confirm," he explained. "Fuck, that is creepy. I didn't..." he trailed off yet again.
“Look, kid, keep it together,” I said when his shallow breaths started again. My voice was intentionally calm and slow. He snorted and shook his head, leaning back now.
“This is not how I pictured finding a mate. Nor am I usually this kind of hot mess,” he tried to explain.
"Are you that afraid of Evrin? It's been a hot minute since I saw him last, but he wasn't exactly someone I'd count as scary. I think out of the two of us... I’m more terrifying."
He swallowed hard. "Right now, I'm not sure who I'm more afraid of." His eyes scanned the others around us before locking back on me.
“Start from the beginning because right now, I’m questioning your sanity. You came here and started talking about a man who has no place in my life, nor should I in his.”
“He’s never gotten over it,” he countered, as if I should give a fuck about what he had to go through. The slight accusatory tone had my blood boiling.
“Fuck him, and fuck you for coming here!” I bit out, my anger so intense I had to grit my teeth and clench my fingers to stop myself from snapping. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“He’s spiraling again.” The words were said with a soul-cutting sadness. The man who kicked me to the curb didn't have an issue with anything that could cause a spiral, which was telling of how far we'd come since then. I felt for the man sitting in front of me, but Evrin was no longer my concern. Sure, I had to ignore the pang of sadness for a life that was ripped away from me, but I put that where it belonged. In the box of past trauma I tried to never open.
“At the risk of sounding like a bitch, that man lost any chance of my sympathy in college. I’m not a psychiatrist, there’s nothing I can do if he’s spiraling.”
“But—” he started but I’d already stood up and cut him off. “My brother didn’t have it easy either.”
“Evrin is your brother and he hired you?” he froze at my words. I was trying to piece together his story but it was a mess.
“Yes,” he admitted with a sigh of defeat.
“I think you should leave.” His shoulders sagged in disappointment but one low growl from my dad had him nodding in defeat and walking through the gate.
“What the actual fuck?” My words were met with strained laughter. Of course, Katya was the only one frowning. “Let’s hear it.”
My best friend sighed and leveled me with a look that meant a lecture was coming.
“You could have at least heard him out. I know it’s about Evrin but he wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t serious.”
“I’m going to sound heartless here… but it doesn’t matter to me if his deathbed wish was to see me one last time. He made his choice and I've had to live with that and so does he.”
“Self preservation is not you being heartless,” Mom argued. “We all helped put you back together when you came home. I’d beat his ass on your behalf, deathbed or not. I've never seen my girl so heartbroken.” Her voice wavered a bit. It had me wondering just how bad I was then. That was an awful dark time but I'd thought I kept it together for everyone else.
Dad and Ezra nodded in agreement.
"You were like a zombie for a few weeks," Dad confirmed. "We talked about moving at one point to start over fresh."
"I remember that," Ezra confirmed. "It was right about the time you found Walter. His mean old self somehow brought you back to life."
"Out of pure spite," I agreed. "He was great. It was a great job to lose myself in, honestly. Between that and my random paintings I sell, it was healing."
