Chapter NineteenGrace
Chapter Nineteen
Grace
“ T V or books?” I asked as we sat at the table in my hospital room, playing a game using a board and marbles that he’d gotten off the hospital game cart.
“TV.” Wes moved his marbles over mine and took them.
“Books,” I replied. He’d taught me this marble game in our dreams. Usually we’d play it at the park, sitting at one of the picnic tables.
“Favorite animal?” Wes asked.
“Horse.” I moved one of my marbles to another space. After Evan had left, when I wasn’t napping, we’d been catching up. We used to know everything about each other.
I loved learning about adult Wes and his life. However, spending time with Wes only cemented how lonely I’d felt since I’d stopped dreaming about him.
He nodded. “Wolf.”
“Mountains or beaches?” While we’d grown and changed in many ways, I didn’t think we were all that different deep down. That ease between us was still there.
“Mountains,” he told me. “Did you ever get to the beach?”
I nodded. “The PhD program I went to was only a few hours from, well, according to your maps, Bayside. We sometimes went to the beach.”
Or as I called it, San Francisco, but the region was still referred to here as the Bay Area.
“In college, I was a cheerleader for the football team. We played teams near the ocean,” I added. Football didn’t exist here, well not American football. Fútbol , as they called it here, was soccer. Rugby was very popular–hockey and lacrosse, too. Wes had played rugby in high school.
“Was that the university you wanted?” he asked.
“No. I went to the big local state college for undergrad, then for my PhD program, I went to work with a professor I’d met in college,” I told him, as I captured one of his marbles.
I’d studied maps, trying to figure out where I was. There would be similarities between some worlds because there were only so many original ideas in the universe. Somehow, I’d found a world that overlapped a lot, yet still had so many differences. It was fascinating.
It was interesting, because some cities and states were nearly the same.
There was New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, even Portland, and Vancouver.
Some were similar, like Motor City was Detroit, and Rockland was essentially Denver.
Las Vegas was called Glitter City of all things.
But a whole lot of the country also looked much different.
In this world, the migration to this continent wasn’t fueled by religious freedom, but freedom from strict designation laws.
Betas flocked here en masse to be free of stringent laws that were almost feudal in some places.
They didn’t want to be conscripted to fight alpha wars, work alpha land, or be forced into specific positions solely because of their designations.
They just wanted their own land, their own laws, representation, and the ability to achieve on merit, not birth.
This caused everything to develop much differently.
“Something you’ve taken up since we last talked?” I asked.
“Boxing. Jett’s into boxing, too, so I have someone to spar with.” He took three of my marbles, landing one of his in the safe zone.
I leaned my head on his shoulder. I’d missed this. Him. He’d been such a big part of my life for so long. I hadn’t realized until now how big of a hole he’d left. “I finally learned to ride a bike.”
“I’m proud of you.” Wes beamed at me. “Evening showers or morning showers?” He moved another marble into the safe zone.
“Evening bath with bubbles and a beer.” I laughed, moving one marble into the safe zone.
“She drinks. I think I even heard you swear.” He grinned and took one of my marbles. “Scandalous.”
“I know, right?” I moved another across the board. Growing up, I’d been such a good girl, in my small, conservative, religious Midwestern town. Well, except for my dream boyfriend.
“I take morning showers, mostly so I don’t smell like sex when I go to work in the morning.”
“Do you have lots of sex?” I bit my lower lip. The more time I spent with him, the more specifics I remembered about our time together.
“It’s part of the territory when it comes to alphas and omegas.” He pulled me close, his nose almost brushing mine. “I remember us… do you?”
“Yeah.” My voice went breathy. Would it be like that in person? “Do you actually have a magic alpha dick?”
One of the big biological differences he explained was that an alpha cock had a knot on it, like a wolf, and it could lock into someone. He’d shown me in our dreams once he’d awakened as an alpha.
Oh, he had shown me.
“When I bring you home, if you’d like, I’ll show it to you and see if I can jog your memory.” He gave me a smoldering look.
Part of me warmed at the thought, remembering some of the extra-special fun we’d had together.
Frowning, I looked into his eyes. “Will Evan mind? I don’t know how this works.”
“No, Evan won’t mind. But we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Grace,” he assured me.
“Why do I want to let both of you have me? Talk about scandalous. ” I focused back on the board, trying to ignore the feelings he ignited inside me.
“It is okay here, and we’re consenting adults.
” He captured my last piece. “There’s a lot of reasons.
I mean… I always thought what we had was real.
Maybe it is. Or maybe it’s that we’re both incredibly sexy.
” Wes shimmied his shoulders. “Where were you living when you left, you’d graduated, right? ”
I busied myself putting the pieces away so I wouldn’t kiss him. It might lead to other things–and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that in a hospital. I frowned as I searched for the memory. “Not that far from where I’d gotten my PhD. I… I think I’d worked there even before graduation.”
Maybe.
“What’s your favorite smell?” I added, going back to our little get-reacquainted game.
“You.” He nuzzled my side with his nose, making me laugh, as the door opened
“I haven’t heard you laugh in a while.” Spencer stood there with a bag. “I brought dinner. Wes, I don’t want to interrupt, but did you sign all the documents HR sent you?”
Wes nodded. “Yep.”
“Hi, Spencer.” I waved, face warm, given he interrupted us being silly. But he didn’t seem fazed.
“Hello, my good doctor.” He smiled at me.
We chatted for a few moments.
“I’ve got to go, but good night.” Spencer left.
“No Evan?” I tried to hide my disappointment as I cleared off the game so Wes could set the food on the table. “I know he was staying at the house tonight, but he said he was going to drop by.”
“I know. We forgot it was Thursday.” He kissed my temple.
“What’s on Thursday?” I asked. Wes was constantly touching me, which didn’t help my thirsty thoughts.
“He does something with his baby sister every Thursday. She lives at her high school but sometimes spends weekends with us.” He took containers out of the bag.
“Evan was telling me about his sisters this morning when you were troubleshooting work stuff. I can’t wait to meet her.” I liked teenagers. Back when I was supposed to become a teacher per my mother’s demands, I’d wanted to teach high school, not kindergarten.
“We can tell him we miss him.” Wes whipped out his phone, took a picture, and sent it to him.
Wes
Miss you.
Evan
Miss you both. Peaches, kiss him for me, okay?
While Wes and I had cuddled a lot today, we hadn’t kissed since yesterday morning after my shower.
I took Wes’ phone.
Wes
Are you sure it’s okay? ~ Grace.
Evan
It’s okay. Kiss him more than once and have a sexy cuddle–or more.
“It’s really okay, isn’t it?” I chewed on my lower lip. I watched a couple of videos today that helped me to understand more about how packs and relationships worked in this world.
“It is, Peaches.” He cupped my face with his hands. “As long as you’re not out to break our hearts or break us up, we’re all yours. All you have to do is wrap your head around it.”
It would be so easy to do that. I still felt so much for him. Leaning in, I kissed him slowly, reacquainting our lips. My heart sped, and before he could wrap his arms around me, I broke it off, brain screaming for more. Like whatever a sexy cuddle was.
Giving him a coy smile, I opened a container.
I got a better look at the food, which was not only artfully arranged, but garnished , and had little containers of sauces. “Spencer went to a fancy restaurant, didn’t he?”
Wes held up the bag. “Yep. He’s a showoff. You said your favorite carb was potatoes, these are some of the best mashed potatoes in the city. After this, we can cuddle some more.”
My insides melted. I was getting myself into trouble. But I’d think about it later. Right now, I’d eat dinner with the person who had once been more important to me than anyone in all the worlds. Someone who was very much real despite everything they’d told me.
Someone I might still be in love with.