15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Dayton
If someone told me a year ago that I would be out and about spending time with that slightly awkward new girl from our department, I probably would’ve laughed. I’ve become so content with my boring adult life, with going home and ordering takeout only to watch TV, that I figured after the days of partying and going out and socializing on the weekends were well beyond me.
I guess it’s just what I’ve been needing to distract me.
And I’m not complaining, really. Joane and her friend group are nice. They’re all betas and a bit younger than me—which makes me feel ancient sometimes—but I fit in well enough. Everyone is always nice to me, and they act like I’ve been a part of their group for longer than just a few months.
“Lost in thought again, Day?” I hear her voice in my ear, so I blink and look up.
It takes my brain a moment to come back to reality.
Right. Earth to Dayton. We’re out by the waterfront, celebrating her friend Michelle’s big promotion. There’s people, you can’t just zone out.
“Damn, sorry,” I say with an apologetic smile and sip from the can of non-alcoholic beer I’m holding.
“I’m getting used to it,” Joane notes playfully, giving me a brief expression of concern before smiling in return. Maybe I have been a little absent minded recently… But I can still do my job, pay my rent, function, and I’m completely, utterly fine . I’ve moved on. I’m living. “Andre was talking about that Richard Thornston guy. I was saying he’s one of the board members in our company, right?” she asks, interrupting my internal monologue again.
“Oh. Right. Yeah, he is,” I say, steadying my voice and putting up a more present, likable expression on my stupid face as I turn to Andre sitting across from me. “I’ve met him a few times. Really serious, tough to read guy.”
“Well, he’s a board member in my company as well. How many boards can you be a member of?” Andre notes with a frustrated grimace.
Michelle scoffs. “I’m pretty sure it’s the whole family. I’ve heard the name Thornston more than once. I think they’re all about that legacy of successful, macho, filthy rich alpha bastards. Probably own half the companies in the city behind the scenes.”
“That’s such a tired stereotype, though. It’s not like all alphas are CEOs and rich, successful people,” Joane notes swiftly, unintentionally using a tone indicating she’s the informed, responsible ally who has to educate her less knowledgeable beta friends.
A faint smile appears on my lips without even knowing why. Then I realized what she said. How ironic.
Usually, this beta savior behavior would make me roll my eyes, but Joane has come a long way from her completely clueless self. Ever since we’ve gotten closer, she’s been trying her best to educate herself on all things venus, and if she comes off a little preachy and self-important about it, so be it. She’s got the pass from me.
“Well, of-of course,” Michelle says with a quick, nervous blink, and the eyes of most of the group awkwardly aim at me, like they’re waiting for my wrath or for me to be offended. “You know what I meant.”
I like these people, but situations like these make me feel like such a freak sometimes.
When I feel my phone buzz inside my pants pocket, I thank the universe for giving me an out of that uncomfortable moment. I pull it out, expecting moms calling or maybe a courier—I might have been soothing myself with online shopping a little too much recently—but instead I see the same unknown number from before.
Joane leans in to see. “Again?” she mutters with a frown.
An unknown number rang me about twenty minutes earlier, but as soon as I picked up and answered, the line went dead. A mistake, or some prank, I thought. I hardly ever get calls like this. My first instinct is to ignore it or hang up. Yet with each ring, my stomach tightens, and something tells me to pick up.
I excuse myself and walk a few feet away before accepting the call. “Dayton Choi, hello?” I say just like before and wait.
Silence.
For a moment, anyway.
Faintly, I hear someone’s trembling breaths, or maybe even whimpers? I can’t tell. The muscles in my shoulders tense up. Something in my gut tells me to stay on the line.
“Hello? Who is this?” I ask in a more urgent tone.
A more clear sniffle comes through, then another shaky exhale. “It’s…it’s me.”
My heart skips a beat and the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. “Mina…?” I say, half wanting to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. But it is. It is her voice. Little, trembling, and weak.
“I’m…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…shouldn’t bother you, I…” She sniffs again, sounding like she’s barely winning a fight against full on breaking down. “Nevermind, sorry I—”
“No!” I blurt, blood going completely still in my veins. I make a few more steps away from the chatting group, leaning against the tree by the path next to the water. “Don’t hang up on me, Mina. What is going on? Where are you?”
Whatever you do, don’t you dare hang up on me .
As I go through all the possible catastrophic scenarios, I run out of the ones surrounding Mina and enter a category that makes my stomach turn upside down. Oh no. “Mina, is Rowland— Is your dad okay?” I ask breathlessly, digging my fingers against the tree’s bark. The air I draw into my lungs doesn't seem to do anything at all.
“He-he’s…he’s f-fine,” she whispers before breaking into a fit of whimpering.
The relief that rises through my chest nearly makes me want to jump with joy, but it quickly passes and is replaced by that nagging worry again. If not him, then what is it? “How did you get my number?” I ask.
“Dad’s phone,” she manages to say without her voice breaking, but I hear her sob right after. “I didn’t know who else— I…I don’t feel well,” she says in a high-pitched, trembling voice. Loud sniffle crackles in my ear again.
The realization of what’s happening begins to dawn on me, but I let her talk.
“I don’t know wh-what to do. I don’t wanna feel like this, it… I don’t want to! I w-want this to stop, I want my body to stop!” Hearing her break down breaks my heart. “I-I feel so hot and… I feel like I’m going t-to be sick.”
“Oh, darling,” I say softly, letting out a sigh. She’s too young for this. Not unusually young, not exactly unheard of, especially for a girl, but going through her first heat at her age is definitely not ideal or pleasant. Rarely is, at the beginning. “Where are you, Mina? Is no one with you?”
It’s Saturday. If she’s not with Rowland, she should be with his mother, shouldn’t she?
“N-no,” she sobs. Hearing that puts me on edge in a whole new way. A young girl in her situation should be nowhere by herself. “I was…supposed to stay at mom’s with M-Mac but… I felt like… I felt it coming and s-so I told her I’m sl-sleeping over at a friend’s house. I c-can’t. She’ll…she’ll hate me.” Mina starts fully crying and whimpering again and it’s like there’s a barbed wire twisting around my heart, slowly tightening.
This is so fucked up.
“So you’re…where? You’re just somewhere by yourself?” I ask, horrified by the thought.
She makes an agreeing sound before clearing her nose.
“Why wouldn’t you tell your dad? Mina, you have to call—”
“He’ll hate me too!” she blurts, voice cracking. She has to know that isn’t true. It’s the most nonsensical statement I could imagine. Rowland would drop everything for her. “He’s hated me ever since… ever since I— I ruined everything, and I’m horrible and he will n-never forgive me.”
“Did he say that?”
“N-No,” she admits begrudgingly. “But I-I know.”
I let out a long, painful sigh. You have to fix this, Dayton. “Listen to me. Stay right where you are and send me your location, alright? I will come pick you up.”
I don’t even know what to do to protect this little girl, or if I’m doing the right thing by not calling Rowland right away.
Calling Rowland. Fuck me.
I’ve spent the past four months, ever since I walked out of his house, desperately trying to pretend like he doesn’t exist anymore. I spent them convincing myself that I would never see him again. And now…
Her voice quietens. “Wh-what are you gonna…?”
“I will take you somewhere safe. I’ll help you, okay? That’s why you called me, right? So that’s what I’ll do. I won’t contact your dad until you’re ready, I promise.”
She’s quiet. I give her time, shifting on my feet while trying to break off the peeling bark of the tree to soothe myself. I know I’m still a stranger to her, mostly. And she definitely doesn’t like me. She probably thinks I don’t like her, either. The fact that she had nowhere else to turn but to resort to calling me, of all people, makes me so damn sad for her.
“Al-alright. I’m…in the bathroom of Bailey’s Cafe. We…go here w-with my friends.” Mina seems to be calming down a little, even if her voice still trembles.
“Good. Don’t open the door to anyone until I get there. I’m on my way, alright? Just hang on. Breathe. Focus on your breathing.”
Giving me a quiet ‘mhmm’ as a response, she ends the call. I straighten my back and rub my eyes, looking around. Something in me shifts into another gear—I have a responsibility I can’t mess up. Not just as an adult toward Mina, but also as omega toward another omega. She’s vulnerable and scared and I have to help.
Taking fast, wide steps, I get back to the group.
“Hey. I’ve got um, emergency, and I gotta go. Nothing life-threatening,” I add quickly once Joane’s eyes widen in shock. “You guys have fun. I’ll message you later.” I don’t even wait for some awkward goodbyes and rush right toward my car.
?
After driving as fast as I could before risking killing myself or people around me, I finally arrive at the cafe by the Lyndhurst Park and that new little mall with a bunch of hip, modern stores.
Not just Mina and her friends hang around here, apparently. I see plenty of teens and younger kids running around, sitting on benches with their cups of coffee, skateboarding, or listening to music while being loud and having fun.
It won’t be easy getting her out of there without embarrassing her. Being out in public when in heat is one thing as an adult is uncomfortable enough in itself. Even sitting in my cubicle most of the day, I get irritated with people, their looks, their smells, with the loud noises… Controlling my emotions and my pheromones becomes so much harder.
Nowhere near as hard as it is for someone having one of their first heats. Mina is going to be out of it, and she has no experience with anything—experiencing other people’s pheromones while in heat, holding hers under the lid, or dealing with the hormones coursing through her body.
I glance at the back of my car and thankfully see the thick cardigan that’s been sitting there for god knows how long. I check for mold or weird smells, and thankfully it only has some leftover scent of one of my perfumes. It will do.
I get out and head inside, feeling my heart in my throat again. How strange is it going to be seeing her after what happened last time? More importantly, how will I handle seeing little pieces of Rowland in her?
Taking a deep breath, I pause by the entrance to the bathrooms, grounding myself. I look around before entering, and try to sniff out the situation. There aren't that many people inside, probably because it’s a nice, warm day and most chose to sit outside. Good.
I then focus on the complex mixture of scents in the air, attempting to follow the most intense one. There’s definitely been a few alphas and omegas in here today. The two younger guys sitting by the window, with an older woman… One of them is an alpha. But they seem distracted. If they have paid no attention to Mina yet, we should be good.
The toilets are unisex, with three separate doors behind an open wall at the back of the cafe. Only one is locked, so I carefully walk toward it. I hear her breathing in there, which abruptly stops when I get closer.
“Mina? It’s Dayton,” I say cautiously.
As soon as I’m inches from the door, the scent comes to me. Something like jasmine and slightly charred wood. It’s harder for omegas to smell pheromones of other omegas. I was never very good at it, and much more susceptible to alphas’. But she is without a doubt like a smoke bomb, unintentionally spilling out her pheromones all over the place.
This could have gone badly. Every omega has heard the horror stories. Someone inexperienced in heat, alone and vulnerable, getting stumbled upon by an alpha, one that is either in rut or just a bad person. Either way, a dangerous situation.
“Mina, are you—”
The lock clicks, and Mina cracks the door open a little, half of her face hiding behind the door. She holds onto it like a shield and meets my eyes, but only for a moment. She looks a mess. As expected. Her cheek is red, her eyes glassy.
I smile awkwardly, swallowing as more of her scent hits me.
We gotta go.
“Here,” I say, handing her my cardigan. “Put that over yourself. Cover your head. I’ll lead you out and straight into my car. It’s parked right in front of the door, okay? You’ll be safe there, I promise.”
She stands there, still hiding behind the door, before she finally nods and slips out. Her movements are wobbly. Heat radiates out of her body as she gets close. I put the cardigan over her like she’s a celebrity trying to hide from paparazzi and gently put my arm around her shoulders to keep her steady.
We rush out of the bathroom. I don’t care about anyone or anything, don’t meet anyone’s eyes. All I care about is getting her into that car. Once she’s safely sat in the back, I shut the door behind her. I hop into the driver’s seat, firmly wrap my hands around the wheel, and look ahead.
Now what?
I didn’t quite think this through. Taking her to Rowland’s, if she doesn’t feel up for it, would feel like a kidnapping. In her state, she’s anxious and paranoid enough. The hospital? Maybe, but they would call him—or worse, her mother—anyway, and I worry a little about a strange man bringing a young girl unrelated to him there in such a state.
Think, think, think. The only other safe place I could take her would be—
Ha! Of course.
“Alright, listen,” I say, feeling a little more confident in myself. I only look at her through the rearview mirror to keep some distance between us and put less pressure on her. “I know you feel like crap right now. I’m sorry. You can tell me where you want to go, but if you don’t have any ideas, I can take you to my parents' house. Both my mothers are venus, and my mom is an omega. She’s the sweetest person and she’ll help you with this. Trust me, she'll know exactly what to do.”
I watch her rosy face, half buried in my cardigan that is now on her shoulders. After a moment of thinking, Mina nods.
“Good,” I say, starting the car. “Put on your seatbelt.”
This is the best I can do for her right now. Mom will probably have some suppressants, or know which are safe for her. What’s more, even if we’re both omegas, I’m sure there are things Mina would rather talk about or ask another woman.
I turn on the radio as we drive, putting the volume low enough to not give her a migraine that I know I’d get in her state. The atmosphere is as awkward as one would expect, and I’m not sure if I should speak or keep quiet.
Every so often, I glance back at her in the rearview mirror and see her sitting there all fidgety. She shifts around, pressing and rubbing her legs together. She must be cooking under that cardigan, though I figure she’d be sweating buckets even without it. No more tears, at least, so that’s a win.
“Aren’t you gonna say it?” she mutters after about ten minutes. I barely catch what she said, so I briefly turn with a questioning brow raise. Even looking like she’s running a fever, Mina has it in her to make that grumpy frown of hers, even if for just a moment. Plus, I don’t think it’s really aimed at me. “Are you not…going to tell me how you said so? Th-that this is all my fault?”
I furrow my brows deeply and tighten the grip on the wheel.
“Of course not,” I say firmly. “This isn’t your fault. The way you acted before, maybe, yeah. Not this. It’s out of your control and you’re suffering enough for me to pile up on you as well.”
She hangs her head down, hiding nearly everything but her big eyes inside the folds of the thick fabric, and she stares at me cautiously in the rearview mirror. Like she can’t believe I’m not telling her off or feeling a twisted sense of justice like some prick.
“I-I hate this. I feel like…I’m gonna go crazy,” she murmurs, that heart-wrenching shake coming back to her voice. She sounds not like the grumpy Mina I’ve known, but more like the small, innocent little girl Rowland always talked about missing so much.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I say. “I know how scared you must feel and how horrible it is. Feeling like…your own body is out of your control in this strange, overwhelming way. Like you don’t even recognize it, or yourself at points. I promise it gets better.”
“Does it?”
I smile. “Yeah. It gets much less intense and scary and much more just plain annoying. More like having a period is for women, I guess. Well, I think. Once you’ve gotten it a few times, you will get a better hold of yourself, and get used to the pheromones playing a role in your life. It will feel natural eventually. Sometimes it can even be enjoyable once you’re umm…older. Much older.”
Oh god, what are you saying, Dayton? Shut up.
Trying to get her to my parents’ house before I say something inappropriate or uninformed, I speed up. Mina sits in the back in silence, but from the look of her, maybe a little more at ease.
Once we arrive, I park in the driveway and tell her to wait for me a moment. “Oh. You don’t mind dogs, do you?” I ask before closing the door. Mina shakes her head. “Good.”
For some reason, it feels like I’m coming home drunk at sixteen after a bender. I don’t know why my hands tremble, but they do, so I try to make them stop before knocking.
The door opens, with Ma poking out at me with a wide smile. “Oh, did we say you would come up, my love?” she asks, face sparking with joy until she frowns, sniffs the air, and looks me up and down. “My, Dayton, what’s the—” She looks over my shoulder and sees Mina sitting at the back of my car.
“Is Mom in?” I ask tensely.
Ma seems utterly confused, as she should be. “Yes, of course, but…what’s going on?”
“I’m going to need her help. I’ll explain.”
Moments later, Mina is inside, and Mom already runs circles around her to make her comfortable. She thrusts a glass of juice in her hand for hydration, tells Ma to prepare something sweet to eat, and leads Mina to the bathroom to answer all of her intimate questions, as well as to give her something to make her feel better.
Momo whines by the door, feeling left out, while Ma and I stand in the hallway, sharing a ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ sort of look.
I explain the details to her in the kitchen while she prepares a gracious bowl of ice-cream with some fresh fruits and syrup.
“Ah,” she lets out a deep sigh, “all this drama! There’s never any drama anymore these days. It brings back the memories of being seventeen and coming clean to your mother’s parents about knocking her up,” she says, raising her brows with a half-amused, half-terrified grimace.
I chuckle and lean against the kitchen counter next to her, intrigued. “You know, you never talk about that,” I say.
She snorts. “Yeah! Because it was freaking traumatizing!” Ma puts a comedic flair over her words, but I can sense the seriousness behind them. “Jeez, your mother’s parents, Day… I swear, they were so intense, it’s a miracle they didn’t end up convincing us to get an abortion. They sure as hell tried their hardest,” she adds bitterly.
I always knew the reason we never talked to or about my mom’s side of the family was something to do with that, but I never heard the full story.
“Well,” I say, putting my hand on her shoulder with a smile, “I’m really glad you didn’t listen to them.”
Ma laughs through her nose and puts the ice cream scooper down, turning to me to give me a firm hug. “So am I, love,” she says, squeezing me firmly before pulling away again. “It was the right choice for us. What we wanted. I’m glad you did the right thing too and helped that girl. I know how hard it must be for you, considering…everything.”
Always knowing exactly what to say. Always peeling away the bullshit to go right to the core. Ma never misses.
I sigh and turn away, tapping my foot on the floor.
“What are you going to do?”
“Take her home, of course. Once she’s calmed down and the suppressants start working. She has to go home and face it. I think a part of her knows that.”
She touches my shoulder. “So do you.”
Yeah…that’s what I’m terrified of.
“Darling.” We both turn to Mom poking into the kitchen. “She wants to speak to you,” she says softly, and her expression tells me she did her best and Mina is feeling better. “In the living room. We’ll give you privacy and go upstairs.”
My stomach twists. I nervously meet Ma’s gaze, wondering if it’s even a good idea. Instead of saying anything, she hands me the bowl of ice cream and winks.
Scared to talk to a little girl. Damn.
Sighing, I take it and head into the living room. Mina sits cross-legged on the couch with Momo by her side. She’s wrapped waist-down in that insanely soft, fluffy blanket Mom seldom even lets anyone use—because it’s ‘too soft and nice for just everyday use’. Her hair is pulled back, a cooling pack sitting over her shoulders, and she generally looks much better.
The suppressants must already be kicking in. Her cheeks aren’t bright red anymore and her forehead doesn’t glisten with droplets of sweat, either.
“Feeling better I take it?”
Mina jerks her head up from petting Momo. A slightly flustered emotion passes over her face before she nods, the corners of her lips curling up just a little. I present the bowl and she takes it from me, putting it in her lap.
“Down. Not for you, Bubba,” I say to the dog, gently tapping his back so he knows to jump off. “It’s my Ma’s ‘comfort special’. Trust me, it’ll make you feel peachy.”
She looks down bashfully, nodding. After taking a few spoonfuls of her dessert, Mina glances at me in a way that clearly says she wants to talk about something but isn’t sure.
I shift nervously on the couch, joining my hands over my knees.
“So…I don’t want to rush you, but it honestly kind of freaks me out that neither of your parents knows where you really are. As overwhelming as this is, you can’t stay here forever.” I pray she understands where I’m coming from.
“I know,” she whispers, absentmindedly poking the spoon around in the ice cream. “He’s not home.”
I blink in surprise. “He’s working? Saturday afternoon?”
Before, we would spend almost all the weekends together. Out and about, or spending the whole day doing nothing but lounging in bed.
Mina narrows her eyes, staring into the bowl. “He’s been working a lot ever since…” When she pauses, I see her lip quiver. She tightens her grip around the bowl and hangs her head even lower to hide her face from me.
I hate the thought of Rowland drowning himself in work because of what happened. I suppose I’ve done the same thing, but I also pushed myself to spend time with people. Isolation has always led me to make stupid decisions. Pushed me into foolish situations and relationships. A part of me wished Rowland had gotten over me and moved on. A part of me hoped he hurt as much as I did. I don’t know what’s worse.
“Ever since you left, Dad hasn’t been himself,” Mina continues, no longer able to hide the tremble in her voice as she fights tears. “He tries t-to act like nothing’s changed but he…I know he hates me. He hates me for what happened. He acts like he doesn’t, but he does. I know it. And he will hate me even more now.”
“Mina.” I reach out to comfort her, but she’s already sobbing. With a painful sigh, I pull the bowl out of her hands and set it on the table. “You don’t believe that.”
“ I hate myself. I wish I had never been born. Everyone…everyone would’ve been so much happier,” she blurts out hysterically, so I pull her toward me, pressing her glistening face against my chest and softly caressing her head. I can hardly believe she lets me. Ever since I first met her, this girl has been like a wild cobra. Now, she melts into me, letting out her pain and allowing me to hold her.
“I’m so sorry your mom led you to believe all this. There’s nothing wrong with you. The only things you can fix are the things you can change. The things you have control over,” I say softly, hoping I’m actually saying something helpful. I hardly ever feel like a proper adult, no matter how old I get. Can I even pass on any sort of wisdom if I’ve spent most of my life being so insecure about my own pheromones?
She sobs. “I’ve…I’ve been horrible, t-t-to everyone.”
Brushing her hair, I smile crookedly. “You’re young, and pretty headstrong. I won’t act like you haven’t been on a bad path, but like I just told you, that’s something you can change. You can turn around and fix the things you messed up.”
She pulls away from me with such force I get scared that I might’ve made her uncomfortable. Instead, she looks at me with tortured, wet eyes. “I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I…I said you hit me,” she whispers, lips trembling. It’s almost like she expects me to go off at her. “I was s-so s-scared.” Closing her eyes tightly, she rubs her face. “I didn’t know what to do, and I was so scared of what you were saying so I— I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I don’t know why I did it!”
It’s true. What she did caused me the most pain I’ve experienced in a good while. At moments, it felt like she ruined my life. But now I know, I see, that I could never be in as much pain as she’s been, possibly for quite some time.
What she needs right now is comfort. That’s the only way she might start heading the right way.
“I’m not angry at you,” I say. She doesn’t look like she believes me. “All I ask for as a compensation is for you to talk to your dad. About everything . All he wants is for you to open up to him, Mina. He loves you more than you could ever understand.”
Lowering her brows, she licks her lips pensively. When she mindlessly cleans her nose into Mom’s special blanket, a part of me wants to scream. Another threatens to burst into laughter.
“Daddy loves you too. I-I know he does. And…and I don’t want him to be miserable anymore.”
A jolt of pain passes through my chest.
Could there really be a chance for us still?
“I’m going to take you home and we’ll try to make a sense of everything. Okay?” I say, clasping my hands tightly together.
Mina, even with tears still running down her cheeks, gives me a firm nod.
“Okay.”