11. Chad
CHAPTER 11
Chad
We drive around aimlessly, the hum of the car filling the quiet between us. I glance over at Lakelyn, her profile softly illuminated by the dashboard lights, and something settles deep inside me—she picked me . She could’ve stayed with Mason, but she walked out of that coffee house with me .
My thoughts drift back to the kiss. The way her lips felt against mine, the connection that sparked between us—instant, electric. I’ve kissed a lot of people, played the game long enough to know when it’s just for fun and when it’s something more. With her, it felt…different. Like the world narrowed down to that single moment, and for the first time in a long while, I wasn’t playing a role. I was just me , and that seemed to be enough.
But then Mason showed up. The way he stared at me back there, all tension and fire, like he was two seconds away from throwing a punch or pulling me from the booth and kissing the shit out of me. It shouldn’t have gotten under my skin the way it did.
But it did .
Something about the way he looked at me, that spark of awareness between us as we squared off, felt like a different kind of connection. I’ve never felt that from an alpha before. Not like that—if you don’t count Dean, and we definitely don’t count Dean.
I shake the thought away as we pull off the road, the tires crunching on gravel as we wind up a secluded path. The air’s cooler up here, and the night wraps around us, thick and quiet. We park at the top, and when I kill the engine, the silence settles in like a blanket. Lakelyn leans forward, peering out through the windshield.
The view’s stunning. The dark mountains stretch out in front of us, rolling shadows against the sky, and dotted across the landscape are tiny pinpricks of light—houses, cabins, lives unfolding out there in the distance. The lights sparkle like stars fallen to earth, and for a moment, it feels like we’re the only two people in the world.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispers, her voice soft, almost reverent.
“Yeah,” I murmur, my gaze shifting from the view to her. “It is.” I’m not sure anything can compare to her beauty. At least to me.
She leans back against the seat, her hair falling around her shoulders, and I can’t help but smile at the ease of this. It’s not forced. We’re just here, at this moment, and it feels right. Cozy, intimate, without the pressure of anything more. Not that I wouldn’t be open to it—hell, I am—but I’m not about to push. Not with her. Not when it feels like we’ve known each other forever.
“So,” she says, breaking the silence, her voice soft but curious, “what brought you back to Blue Ridge? Feels like a long way from the Big Apple.”
I chuckle, leaning back in my seat. “Honestly? I was lost. New York was… a lot. It felt stifling, like I couldn’t breathe anymore.” I glance out the window, the lights from distant homes twinkling in the darkness. “Living at my parents’ mansion isn’t exactly the dream either, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
Lakelyn’s eyes stay on me, listening without judgment, and it makes it easier to keep going. “I needed space to figure things out. It’s quieter here, you know?”
She nods, a small smile playing on her lips. “I get that. Sometimes you just need to get away.”
“Yeah.” I turn back to her, feeling that same pull, the comfort in just being around her. “And now… I’m glad I came back. Didn’t think I’d find something—or someone—worth sticking around for.”
Her eyes flicker with something I can’t quite place, and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “How long are you planning on staying?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, my voice quieter now. “I didn’t have a plan when I left New York. But now that I’m here… I think I’ll stick around for a while. Maybe even get an apartment instead of living with my parents.”
The corner of her mouth lifts in that way that makes me feel like we’ve known each other forever and not just a little over a week. “I’m glad you came back and we met.”
“Me too.”
The air between us feels warm, cozy, and for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel lost.
“If you’re going to be staying in my house, Chadwick, you are not staying in bed all day,” my father says, his voice gruff as he sets down the morning paper. His eyes finally settle on me, a mix of impatience and something else—something that’s been there since the day I presented as an omega.
Disappointment .
I grip the edge of the doorframe, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m not in bed.”
“Don’t get smart with me.”
The idea of my own apartment is sounding better and better by the moment. I’m not going to last more than another day with my father back home. “I was just heading out.”
He grunts, looking back down at the paper as if the conversation is already over. “You should’ve been helping your mother instead of sulking in your room for days. It’s no wonder you—” He cuts himself off, but I know where he’s going with it.
It’s always the same. Everything circles back to the fact that I didn’t turn out the way he wanted. I wasn’t his alpha son, the one he could parade around like a reflection of himself. No, I had to be the omega. Pure disappointment.
“You should be out there working, not wasting away,” he adds, flipping a page with a sharp snap. “If you can’t even do that, what’s the point of being here?”
The words hit hard, like they always do, stirring up that old resentment I thought I’d buried. It’s not like I don’t know I’ve been hiding. But hearing it from him—feeling his judgment— makes me want to punch something.
“Yeah,” I murmur, not really agreeing but not arguing either. It’s easier this way, to just let him think he’s right, that I’m exactly the failure he’s always thought. But something about this time feels different. Maybe it’s because I’ve already been dragged through the emotional wringer with Dean, or maybe I’m just tired of the same old song and dance.
“I’ll get out of the house,” I say, my voice a little sharper than before. “Maybe try tennis again. I signed up for some lessons.” I know the mention of tennis will remind him of the embarrassment from when I was a teen. Yet, I can’t help it. And hell, maybe I’ll actually sign up for some lessons. Maybe I can have lessons at the same time as Lakelyn.
“Tennis?” He raises a brow, eyes narrowing. “What good is tennis gonna do you? You think playing games is gonna make up for the fact that you’ve been useless for days?”
I swallow down the anger bubbling up, biting the inside of my cheek. “This isn’t forever, I’ll be gone before you know it.”
“You’re trying to avoid responsibility, like always.” He doesn’t even look up from the paper this time, the dismissal clear in his voice. “Chadwick, you’ve been doing this since you were a kid—running away from what you don’t want to deal with. Now you’ve run home with your tail between your legs, because New York City was too much. It’s pathetic.”
Pathetic. The word cuts deep, but I’ve heard it enough times to not flinch anymore. Still, the anger in me simmers, and I can’t keep my mouth shut this time.
“Maybe I’m not the son you wanted,” I snap, feeling my heart race. “But at least I’m trying to figure out what works for me. I’m not gonna waste my life trying to live up to something I’ll never be. And I’ll never be an alpha, no matter how much you wish it.”
The air in the room goes still, heavy with the unspoken tension between us. For a second, his eyes meet mine, hard and unreadable, but I don’t look away. I’m done with that.
He sets the paper down slowly, his jaw clenched. “Watch your tone, Chadwick.”
“I will,” I say, meeting his gaze without backing down. “But I’m not gonna apologize for being who I am.”
Without waiting for a response, I turn on my heel, heading for the door. His silence follows me out, but this time, it doesn’t feel like a loss. It feels like I’ve finally said what I needed to say.