Chapter 53
chapter
fifty-three
“Leave you?”
I spit the question like a curse. Or some kind of blasphemy.
Leave? Bridget?
Planting myself beside Adrian, I reach over to cup her cheek. My Alpha wants me to rage and shout, but I barely scrape out the words to ask, “What are you talking about, cupcake?”
She doesn’t answer right away, probably because she’s doing everything she can to keep the sheen in her pretty eyes from rolling down her flushed face. I glance across the table for backup, but Jesse looks just as heartsick as our omega… and Colt watches her with a calculating expression.
Carajo . Am I the only asshole who assumed this was as good as done ?
Behind her, Adrian’s worn sigh tells me, yeah, you are .
“Our deal,” the alpha rumbles to me. “She told us we could stay until her heat, remember?”
Colt chimes in, muttering, “We agreed on eight weeks. It’s been five.”
“Six,” Jesse whispers.
Adrian grinds his jaw. Bridget senses his upset and shrinks down a bit.
Oh, fuck no .
My omega does not shrink .
With a growl, I tug her into my arms. She straddles both our laps, but folds herself closer to my chest, hiding her expression against the jagged purr that rolls to life.
Her scent dwindles to a faint lemon thread—but it’s still so wrong , I feel like I’ve been stabbed. A cold knife lodges itself in my gullet. Carving deep, dragging downward.
“ Querida ,” I whisper into her braided hair. “You still want us to leave ? We were going to ask you to let us stay .”
My voice breaks on that last word. Bridget whines, the sound small and tight. “If you stay for my heat, my Omega won’t understand. She already thinks you’re actually my alphas. If you don’t leave and I go into heat and you wind up helping me?—”
It’s not some possibility . If she goes into heat and I’m fucking breathing , I will be there. How could she doubt that?
Fuck. Have I ever told her?
I could have put that shit in writing! All those dumbass notes I leave in her lunchbox and it never occurred to me to RSVP “yes” to the woman’s heat?!
I’d like to revisit the possibility of me kicking my own ass.
“—I just don’t know if she’ll be okay after,” Bridget finishes. “Being alone.”
Four growls break out, Jesse’s being the loudest. “You can’t ever be alone for your heat, bumblebee,” he insists, stretching across the table to hold her hand. “It’s dangerous . And painful.”
Bridget bites her lower lip. The sour edge of her scent builds until my eyes water.
At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. It could totally be a reaction to picturing my cupcake all alone during her heat haze. Hurting. Or hurting herself.
Jesus. I can’t breathe . I feel sick, but there’s no time for that shit. Bridget is shaking .
I wrap my arms around all her perfect softness, whispering as she whimpers. “Let us stay with you, corazón ,” I husk. “Please. We want to?—”
I catch myself at the last second, turning to the others. They all nod, barely glancing away from Bridget’s face long enough to grant their permission.
I take it, settling my eyes on hers. “We want to bond with you.”
Her body goes rigid before she thrashes out of my lap. Her eyes dart around us, ensuring none of the families or couples nearby are watching when her voice drops to a hiss.
She pins me with a glare. “Don’t say things like that, okay? Just?—”
She holds up her left hand, where the Cartier diamond shimmers in the last of the evening sun. “This wasn’t supposed to be real , okay?” she goes on, quiet but firm. “It was a deal we made. A lie we told. But then you guys moved in, and everything got so—so?—”
She bursts into tears. The rest of the guys are on their feet before she can shudder through an inhale, but I stay in my seat. Staring. Paralyzed . Thinking about the day I bought that ring.
How I purchased the flashiest one they had. The smugness I felt about leaving without having to bother with an engraving or an ounce of romance. The way I complained about driving to her sister’s to leave it in their mailbox .
Bridget’s right. It really does hurt.
I stand, stepping between Adrian and Colt. Reaching for her hand and waiting for her confused gaze to find mine before I pluck the ring off her finger.
Fuck this stupid thing.
Fuck every moment we ever thought of Bridget as anything other than everything .
The others shuffle aside so I can cut a clean path to the edge of our cage. Avoiding the floor sensors that would prompt a pitch, I bend to pick up the nearest bat.
Silence rings behind me as I toss the diamond once. Twice. By the third time, I have its size worked out. Its weight.
I toss it a bit higher and swing.
Tink .
The sparkler flies off into the distance. Swallowed by the sunset.
I drop the bat and turn back to the others, dusting off my hands.
“Deal’s off.”
Bridget gapes, her mouth opening and closing three times before she finally explodes, “Dante! You just—you can’t?—”
“I did.” I shrug, palming her nape and dragging her in for a smacking kiss. When I pull back, I nuzzle at the tears leaking from her eyes, murmuring, “Because that stupid ring and this whole dumb plan can go to hell, Bridget. I don’t care about any of it. I just want you .”
Adrian nods, drifting over to hold her jaw in his palm. “We all want you, little blue. Forever .”
Jesse agrees, coming to her other side. “The four of us have discussed the future and a potential mate,” he puts in. “But we unanimously decided we’d rather bond with you .”
Colt finally joins us, releasing a long breath and staring into her depths to add, “If you’ll have us.”