10. River
River
I catch the ocean blue eyes of the dark-haired Omega who has occupied my mind constantly these past ten years—the very same Omega who is currently chumming it up with my sister.
I bet they’re talking about me and what a complete jerk I am. Not that I could blame them.
Daisy isn’t wholly aware of how we rejected her former friend, yet she knows that there was something between us, regardless.
The Omega is frozen as our eyes lock for the briefest moment, and I swear the world stops spinning as Saylor and I become its sole inhabitants.
Then slowly but surely, I start to turn my head away from her, playing the part of the asshole yet again as I pretend to be interested in everything but her.
I don’t look back to see the hurt on her face. As I said, I’m a complete asshole. I always was and always will be.
Again, I wonder why we are even here. This is an Omega writing retreat, but Daisy insisted that we come. Also, she said our stay at the lake house would be free.
And I’m not one to turn down a free offer.
Besides, the Wynter Pack aren’t so bad.
Currently, they’re running around the patio, playing dedicated hosts. Their Omega, Noelle, really has her Alphas on a tight leash.
Frost Wynter even gets out his guitar, providing the acoustics for the evening. The eldest Wynter brother, Robin, talks to all the guests, asking if they want their refreshments topped up. He even entertains the editor who published Daisy, an older Alpha who looks just like Santa Claus.
I suppose Santa even deserves a summer vacation now and then.
Shepard fixes a leaky pipe in one corner of the patio, and I don’t think I have ever seen that Alpha without a wrench in his hand.
I find Trent’s gaze next as he comes up to stand beside me, appearing just as bored. His eyes flick over to Saylor as he lets out a melancholy sigh. “We should talk to her at least.”
I roll my eyes. “Be my guest, T. But she won’t talk to you. Trust me, I tried. She even ran away from me.”
And who the hell could blame her?
I remember how she changed seats on the plane and practically bolted from baggage claim back at the airport.
Saylor is a wounded little mouse, and we would be wise to stay far away. We missed our chance. We were still mourning our ex-girlfriend, but as time goes on, I’m starting to forget what Emma looked like.
I barely even recall her voice, and it makes me feel so guilty.
Not because I am still in love with her. I loved her like any eighteen-year-old guy loves his girlfriend.
It’s just that ten years have passed.
If there is an afterlife, then I’m sure Emma wouldn’t want us to be miserable.
My hackles rise next as my Alpha picks up on a scent that I associate with a threat, and then I turn to find the owner of that offending aroma in question.
Oh, if it isn’t Rowan Thorn. Quite frankly, we don’t like each other. But at least I have a reason for hating him.
He publicly shamed my sister. If I hadn’t been a fifteen-year-old kid at the time, then I would have knocked the shit out of him.
But I’m not fifteen anymore…
I sigh, sipping my beer. “What do you want, Thorn?”
I don’t do formalities.
Rowan looks down at me in that arrogant, cocky way of his. He thinks he’s hot shit because he wears a suit and goes to finance summits in the city.
Meanwhile, I draw and post manga online. I get paid by commission, though.
Still, I bet Rowan looks down on me all the same.
Zale is the gym bro, as he owns his own gym. Trent is an accountant, and the three of us couldn’t be any more different.
Rowan narrows his eyes. “River, I think it’s about time you and I talked. I think it’s time both of our packs talked.”
The Alpha glances at Trent. Trent tries to pretend he never heard him.
I snort. “What’s there to talk about? We don’t like you because you’re the pricks who embarrassed our sister in front of the whole of Silverpine High. She opened her heart to you, yet you spat it back in her face.”
But isn’t that what we did to Saylor? What I did? At least my brothers went easy on Saylor. Meanwhile, I practically growled at her face.
“River,” Trent warns me. He glances at Rowan apologetically. “Sorry about him. He’s still a little jet-lagged.”
Rowan smirks, and what is with that smug expression? “Oh, I heard… I heard that a certain old friend of your sister’s came into town recently, too. An old friend the three of you know quite well.”
I glare at him now as I know what he’s insinuating. We may have rejected Saylor in a quiet hallway, but it seems news still spread. Even from all the way across the pond.
Rowan smiles, returning to his brothers, and now the three of them return to ogling my sister like she’s a piece of meat.
She’s not. At all. I hardly view her as an Omega. She’s just my bossy older sister, as I let out a growl.
Pack Thorn are the reason why I refuse to read Daisy’s books. Because I know where she draws her inspiration from.
But they’re her Alphas now. And I have to make peace with that, even if I don’t like them.
Zale appears behind my right shoulder. “What did he want?”
He inclines his head at Rowan.
Trent exhales. “He was trying to extend an olive branch.”
Zale snorts. “Olive branch… what a tool.”
At the sound of his insult, all three members of Pack Thorn turn our way. Now it’s three Alphas against three as we glare at the assholes who broke our sister’s heart.
They weren’t there in Manchester after we left Silverpine. Sure, Daisy may have acted strong, but we saw what their public rejection did to her first-hand—the endless panic attacks she would have in secret when she thought no one was looking.
She didn’t want to repeat her experience at Silver Grove High. She just wanted a fresh start.
She just wanted to be popular and finally accepted.
Briar and Ash are the first to look away. But Rowan keeps his gaze on us for much longer, raising a brow at us in challenge.
I know what that challenge is saying. “Do you really want to start a fight with your sister’s Alphas?”
Oh, I do. I wouldn’t hesitate to punch him in his arrogant face if he so much as breathed the wrong word to my sister again.
“Pricks,” Zale mutters, drinking faster.
Trent shrugs. “Ash and Briar aren’t so bad.”
I nod in agreement. “Yes. It’s Rowan we need to watch out for.”
The cocky Alpha still gazes at me all smugly as he returns to admiring my sister. My own eyes move her way next, and that’s when I spy Saylor again, drinking some more.
I think I finally understand why I hate Rowan so much.
Why all three of us hate him.
Because we see ourselves in him.
He may have broken our sister’s heart, but we broke Saylor’s, too. And no amount of pack rivalry or dick measuring is going to change that fact.
We really did mess up.
None of us say anything for a while as we simply watch Saylor from afar. She laughs at something Daisy says, throwing her head back without a care in the world.
I can't remember ever seeing her laugh like that.
Not once. Not at school…
Not even on the plane.
Trent speaks first. "She looks happy."
"Yeah," I reply bitterly, sipping my beer.
"Maybe happier than she could ever be with us,” Trent remarks sadly now, digging that knife in deeper.
He’s right.
I take another drink before quietly saying the words none of us want to hear. "Maybe we should leave."
Both of them look at me. "What?" Trent asks.
Yet I keep my eyes fixed on Saylor.
She has finally stopped smiling as her eyes drift my way, and once again, she hides behind her long, black hair.
I was right.
We really are ruining her evening.