Chapter 38
FLETCHER
I laid flat on my back, the sheets still smelling of us. My heart beat thumped unsteadily between my ears as I stared up at the ceiling. I keened my ears, trying to listen to the murmur of voices from downstairs, but it was no use. I couldn’t make out any words.
When the house finally fell silent, and it was quiet for a long while, I crept back out of the bedroom and down the stairs. I found Adam sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, looking utterly disheveled and out of place in his own home.
God, was this it? Had I ruined everything? My mind spun webs of what-ifs and worries. They pinged around my head like a pinball in an old arcade machine. I could barely think straight as I made my way over to the couch.
Slowly, I eased down on the edge of the cushion and placed a tentative hand on Adam’s leg. “Adam? I—”
DING-DONG! The doorbell rang, zapping me like a shockwave. We both jumped. My hand flew to my chest, as if that might somehow stop my heart from flying out of its cage of bones.
“That would be our takeout,” Adam said quietly.
I stood and fetched it, being sure to tip the delivery driver. I set the brown paper bag down on the coffee table where it sat, taunting us. Not that I had an appetite anymore. Ugh.
I sat back down beside Adam, but neither of said a word. The silence spanned on forever, making me ache at the deepest parts of me, until I couldn’t take it any longer. I needed to know. I couldn’t bear not knowing.
“What’s going to happen to us?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper, half-afraid of the answer.
Adam swallowed audibly. “The wedding is off. Aria knows.”
My gut plummeted. “Oh no… God, Adam, I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. I—”
“Shh.” He turned to me, placing a fingertip to my lips to quiet me. “Stop, Fletcher, none of this was your fault. I’ve been needing to make a decision for weeks now, but… Maybe it’d already been made, months ago. When I met you.”
He smiled faintly. “Aria told me that she wouldn’t say anything about us.”
“Do you believe her?” I asked him.
“I do, weirdly enough,” he replied. “She was raised in a pack that’s completely different than mine, one where an Omega’s words still hold weight.
She told me that if you made me happy, then I needed to do what was right for me, and she’s right.
I just… I don’t know what steps to take, but I’ll figure it out. I have to.”
He reached out and pulled me against his side, kissing my temple.
“I need to call my financial advisor first thing tomorrow morning. Have everything my parents might be able to touch locked down and secured. Protect my assets, like you said.” He growled softly.
“I refuse to have everything I’ve worked so hard for stolen out from under me by my father. ”
He shook his head, but softened, his fingers stroking my cheek. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Fletcher. Alright, baby? Things are gonna get better. We’ll buy a house in another city and start fresh, just you and me, someplace no one knows of our pasts. We can start our new beginning, our new lives.”
I wasn’t sure how much of this Adam was saying for my benefit, or for his own, but I found myself nodding along. “Okay,” I agreed, soft. “I love you, and I trust you.”
Adam’s smile was sunlight. “I love you too…and I love the sight of you wearing my shirt.”
I couldn’t help the giggle that burst free, unbidden. I leaned forward and kissed him, short and sweet, then hopped up and grabbed the bag of Chinese food. “Better not let this go to waste. I hope they packed forks. I am shit with chopsticks.”
“Same.”
We turned on the TV for background noise and ate our lukewarm noodles and chicken out of cardboard cartons while Adam browsed available houses on the market on the Zi-Yo app, and I couldn’t help but think… Maybe this was it. Our brand new beginning.
And a flicker of hope began to bloom in my heart.