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That, at least, was true. Grandma grilled me when I dropped out, asking me if Ash had anything to do with it. I told her no.
“Let’s go, baby girl.” Jace pushed past the two of them and grabbed my hand, pulling me out the back door. “Before they can argue about who’s going to drive.”
“I already have the keys,” Gabriel called. “Tough luck.”
The backyard was nice. Long and narrow between the two fences that separated us from the neighbors, lush grass covered the space, a walkway down the center. Near the house there was a patio with comfy chairs around a fire pit. I would be using that now that it was getting colder.
A two-story carriage house rose in front of us. I’d seen it from the windows. Roman’s studio. Jace didn’t stop as we passed through, but I wanted to. Big blocks of stone and unfamiliar tools. The scent of dust and lingering traces of my Alpha. I twisted my head, trying to take it all in before we were out the other side and entering a smaller garage.
“Roman,” I called. “I need you to show me the studio.”
“I will,” he said, sliding in on the other side of me in the back seat.
I sat squished between my two Alphas in the best kind of sandwich. Leaning my head on Jace’s shoulder, his hand rested gently on the inside of my knee, tracing patterns up my thigh on the leggings.
“Where are we going, little one?”
Rattling off the address, Gabriel turned and looked at me in shock. “Really?”
“Yup.”
“Damn, baby girl.” Jace laughed. “That neighborhood? Your grandma’s house is going to put ours to shame.”
A shrug was all the answer I had for that. I could pretend I didn’t come from wealth, but there was no point. I did, and I tried not to let it affect who I was as a person.
“Your parents?” Roman asked.
I winced. “They’re alive. They just… didn’t want to be parents. Which is fine. I don’t want to be one either.” None of them sounded shocked or horrified by that revelation. “My mom and dad are both Betas, and they were pretty young when they had me. No pack, just each other.”
Jace laced our fingers together. “Where are they?”
“Who knows?” I shrugged. “They travel. My mother’s inheritance and my father’s job help with that. He works on digital infrastructures for big companies or something like that. I don’t really know. But they never stay in one place. Last time I heard from them they were somewhere below the equator on an island.”
“I’m sorry,” Roman said.
“I’m not.” I shook my head. “They’ve never been my parents. Not really. Even when I was young, the most I got from them were birthday cards. It doesn’t bother me.”
I’d had plenty of time to process the feelings of being abandoned and the angst of not having parents the way others did. There was probably something deeper to the reason I struggled so much with loneliness and the need for affection, but I’d moved past theneedto understand the deeper meaning of why they hadn’t wanted me. Some things simply weren’t that complicated.
Apart from that, parents weren’t always a picnic. All I had to do was look at my friend’s lives to see that. I got lucky with Grandma.
Speaking of Grandma, we were turning down the drive that led to her house. If you could call it that. This section of Slate City was practically unrecognizable between the rolling green lawns and giant estates. You would think you were deep in the country if you didn’t know better.
The mansion I grew up on appeared on the left, a tangle of classic architecture with more modern additions. It was a little over the top for my taste, but it was undeniably beautiful.
Asher cleared his throat. “Okay, sweetheart, you win.”
“What did I win?”
“Meeting your grandmother at school is very different from meeting her on her turf in a house likethat.”
My smirk was victorious. “What’s my prize?”
“A lifetime supply of orgasms?”
I narrowed my eyes. “That better have already been part of the deal.”
All my Alphas laughed, and Jace kissed my cheek. “Can’t argue with that, baby girl.”
