27. Hannah
Hannah
" W hat do you mean, what I think happened?" I ask incredulously. "Charlie, I know what happened, I was there."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Please, just walk me through it." His voice is desperate enough that it makes me wonder…does he genuinely not know what happened? How would that even be possible?
But…I'm tired of not knowing. Of people telling me I don't have the whole story.
"Fine." I sigh, adjusting myself against my pillows. "Let's figure this out, once and for all."
Everything in the room fades as I recount the worst twenty-four hours of my life.
My heart is still racing with adrenaline after I safely make it through my bedroom window, leaning out and waving to Charlie as he drives away. Gods, how did I get so lucky? I reach over and turn on my bedside light, nearly screaming when I see Cat sitting at my desk.
"Out late, were we?" She gives me a knowing smirk, looking at her nails. "You're lucky I'm the one who wandered in here and not Rue. She would have ratted on you for sneaking out."
"What do you want, Cat?" I snap, my good mood quickly evaporating.
"I want you to stay away from Charlie. I'll make you regret it if you don't." Her words are so out of left field I'm momentarily stunned. Number one, she shouldn't even know about us. Number two, we've been together for a year—is she really going to act like she has some sort of claim on him?
Since I don't know what she knows, I play it safe. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Normally, I'd believe that particular statement, but in regards to this subject, I think you're full of shit."
My hands tighten on my bedspread, pulling the blanket back. "Get out of my room, Cat."
"Not until I make my point," she sneers, shoving her phone under my nose. My heart drops into my stomach. These are all messages from…Charlie? The most recent one came in one minute ago:
Charlie
Finally got rid of her. See you tomorrow ??
My throat burns as I scroll up, reading conversations that span back to the last week.
Detailing how if I don't present as an omega, he's going to take Cat for his pack. I can't believe it. I refuse to believe it. This isn't Charlie. This has to be some kind of trick—
Before I can check the phone number under the contact, she snatches the phone out of my hand and goes through the bathroom that connects our rooms, shutting the door behind her.
She didn't let me check the contact number. So, she must have just had someone else text her and change the name or something. That has to be it.
That's what I tell myself as I fall into a restless sleep. The next morning, Cat is gone, and Mom and Paul give Kieran, Rue and I news of Nana's sickness, and I call Charlie, devastated.
His phone only goes to voicemail, so I walk down the street to his house. His car is in the driveway, and I try calling again, hoping he picks up. I really don't want to have to explain to his parents why I'm on their front porch crying my eyes out.
Movement in the front room window catches my eye, a flash of blonde hair, is that…Cat? Bile turns in my stomach. Her head is thrown back, and she's laughing at something.
It…it was all true. The most recent message on her phone said "see you tomorrow". And she's here, in his house.
The last year we spent together, hushed whispers and stolen kisses…none of it meant anything. Did I ever mean something to him? Or was I just a convenient way to pass the time? He told me he loves me…but he's here, with her.
I can't…I can't be here. Turning on my heel, I look down at my phone and block his number with shaky fingers before running the five houses down the street it takes to get back home.
How am I going to face him now, knowing how he's used me?
Lied to me? The thought of seeing his electric blue eyes looking at me with disdain, or worse, pity, makes my stomach revolt.
But…Mom and Paul mentioned they were going to hire someone to go live with Nana in Starbrook City.
Maybe…maybe I could do it instead. I could finish high school online and stay with Nana during the day.
I hate the thought of leaving Cady and Kieran, but as my heart lies bleeding in the road in front of Charlie's house, I find that I hate the thought of staying even more.
Charlie's face is a mask of shock when I finish speaking, and unease fills me. He genuinely seems like he has no idea what I'm talking about.
"I…" He shakes his head, then leans forward, grasping my hands earnestly.
"Hannah, I swear on…on...on my mom's life, that I never texted Cat.
I've never been able to stand her, and I never would have said those things about you.
I swear, you can have Noah hack into my phone records and pull up every text I've ever sent and you won't find a single one to Cat. "
I don't know what I was expecting him to say, but it wasn't that.
Words fail me. He says he never texted her?
He wouldn't offer to let Noah into his records unless he was serious.
But…but…"Then why was she at your house?
" I demand, sitting up straighter. If he has a reason for this…
if he's telling the truth…that means we've wasted the last twelve years for nothing .
"That morning," he says, shifting forward and holding me captive with his icy blue gaze, "I was playing a pickup game of basketball with Will Rogers and his buddies down at the school.
I walked. When we were done, I checked my phone and saw your missed calls, but when I tried to call you back, it went straight to voicemail.
So I went home, thinking I'd take a shower and head to your place, but Cat was there, waiting with my mom.
She had a typed note that she said was from you, she said you couldn't write it because you were too upset.
It just said that you were sorry, but 'whatever we have is done, please don't contact me. '"
The words are out of my mouth before I can think better of it. "And you believed that?"
"Not for a second." He frowns. "But when I went to your house, Kieran was there, and when I asked about you, he said you went to go visit your Nana last minute. But then you were just…gone. I knew the note was fake, but you did actually leave."
"We…" I choke out, my hands tightening in his. "We were played ? We wasted twelve years…and for what? What did Cat get out of any of this?"
All these years, he wanted me. He looked for me.
He moved out here on the off chance I might live in Starbrook City.
The knowledge hits me in a way I have no idea what to do with.
I'm devastated, angry, heartbroken, but most of all…
relieved? I can't blame Charlie for any of this, though.
I blocked him. Ran without getting the full story.
Barred my family from telling him about where I was. He did everything he could.
"I don't know," Charlie's hand reaches tentatively for my cheek, and I find myself leaning into the contact.
His eyes widen slightly in surprise like he didn't actually expect me to welcome his touch.
The feel of his palm resting on my cheek sends the deepest kind of warmth through me, and it's like something in my heart finally clicks into place.
My eyes close, relishing in the feeling as my hand comes to rest on the back of his. "But, Hannah?"
"Hmmm?" His touch has turned me into a pliable little puddle of goo for a moment, and as angry as I still want to be about Cat's transgressions—which I'll definitely be dissecting later—right now, I just want to feel his skin on mine.
"I still love you." His words have my eyes snapping open. They act like a charge of electricity straight to my heart, lighting every nerve ending on fire as my mouth drops open in shock.
"What…what do you mean? You still…"
"Love you. Never stopped, mags." His words are sure, his touch firm as he gently cups my face and leans in.
Kissing Charlie is like going back in time. The second his lips meet mine, it's as if we're just two kids again, learning what it means to love. Sandalwood and coconut intoxicate me as my mouth opens to his, a small moan escaping me.
This. This is what I've been missing. For the first time in twelve years…I feel whole. Complete.
My hands grip the front of his shirt, hungry for more, and he fucking delivers. I'm yanked out of the bed and into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist.
We only had sex a few times when we were teens, and it's been so long it still feels like exciting new territory.
Charlie and I startle apart at the sound of the door flying open, and my cheeks heat when I see Simon's concerned face.
"Sorry to, um, interrupt," Simon says, rubbing the back of his neck, and I get a glimpse of my other three alphas smirking in the hallway. "But the nurses said her heart monitor was going off the charts."
"Oh my gods," I hide my face in Charlie's neck, embarrassed as hell.
"You're going to be discharged here in a second anyway, so let's just take those nodes off." Simon walks over, and Charlie sheepishly sets me on my feet, making me realize we're lucky we didn't rip any wires out
Twenty minutes later, I've been cleared for discharge, and I'm sitting up in the hospital bed, free of my IV and nodes, Charlie wedged in next to me and Enzo, Austin, and Noah sat around us.
While Doctor Mejia had finished checking me out, Charlie filled the guys in on what we found out when we crossed our stories.
"Do you want me to drain their accounts?" Noah asks seriously. "If not Rue, then for sure Cat, just for this bullshit."
"Noah," I sigh, rolling my eyes. "You can't just make anyone who upsets me poor."
"Sure I can, princess," he smirks, winking at me. "If not that, I can completely ruin them so nobody ever wants to associate with them or their packs ever again. Just give me their pack names.
"No, Noah." A laugh leaves me. "We don't need any of this coming back to bite us in the ass before the trial. Now…did they say how long until I'm out of here? I'm ready to go home with my alphas."
"So…does all of this mean you're gonna move in?" Austin asks, leaning forward.
Biting my lip, I look at all my alphas.
Strong and steady Enzo.
Sweet and gentle Austin.
Noah, who only seems to soften his edges for me.
And Charlie, who never gave up on me, even after all these years.
Moving in…it's a big step. But, with the scent sickness, I have every excuse I need to jump in head first and not worry about anyone else's opinion. Though, everyone knows how fast things move when a true scent-match is involved. Logistically though…
"What about my rent? I still have seven more months on my lease." I hate to bring it up, but I don't want to keep paying for an apartment I'm not living in.
"Don't worry about it, mags," Charlie tightens his arm around me and presses a kiss to my head.
It feels surreal to have him with me like this.
"I'll cover it. Think of it like a courting present, you know, to go with the house.
Besides, if the bullshit with Cat hadn't ever happened, you would have stopped paying rent a long time ago anyway. "
Thinking that it's weird to call me moving in a courting present, I try to ignore the way his words remind me all over again of what we lost out on the last twelve years because of Cat's meddling.
It also occurs to me that maybe Doctor Mejia was right about other packs recognizing on some level that my omega was waiting for a different alpha.
I want what he's offering. If I were more like Cady, I'd refuse on principle. I'd demand to pay my own way or just refuse to move in, but…I'm tired of fighting this. I want my pack.
"You're sure?" I ask, turning my head to look at him. Part of me still can't believe that he really did want me this whole time.
He answers me by leaning down and pressing a sweet but breathtaking kiss to my lips. "I told you, mags. You're mine, remember?"