Chapter 17 #3
“Exactly. But when he wasn’t pretending to be an Alpha and was instead pretending to be my friend, he listened to me ramble on about No One and acted like he had no idea who he was,” I say.
“He had plenty of opportunities to tell me the truth, but he didn’t.
It wasn’t until tonight that I figured it out. ”
Iris winces.
I put my elbows in my lap and hold my face in my hands, absolutely defeated. “I’m so stupid. How could I be so blind!”
I feel the bench under me shake as Iris scoots closer to me, and her hand is a comforting warmth against my upper back.
“You’re not blind, or stupid, Mari. Reece managed not only to trick you, but all of Sabine, and that’s a feat,” she says gently as she rubs in small circles.
“And of course you’re upset. You guys are close.
Friends. So this feels like a huge betrayal to you, which hurts.
I totally get it. What I don’t understand is why. ”
“I wish I knew.” My words are muffled by my hands so I raise my head up a little. “Like, why kiss me and act like he wanted to be with me? Like he was actually an Alpha interested in being my mate?”
She tilts her head to the side. “Well…maybe it’s because it was his only chance to be just that.”
“Huh?”
“Think about it, Mari,” she says, leaning back against the bench. “Reece is a servant. A Delta.”
The words immediately make me bristle. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“A lot, actually,” she says. “He’d never be able to go to a ball with you, dance with you, talk to you publicly as he is right now. He could lose everything.”
I hesitate as her words sink in. I know she’s right, but what I don’t understand is why take the risk? Reece had said he had played the part of Alpha at the Ackerman ball to show his invention to Mr. Stockton. So why even bother talking to me? He could have just walked away.
“I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is the most obvious one,” Iris says, studying me. “He likes you.”
I’m shaking my head no before the words even leave her mouth. “No, there’s no way.” My heart gives a solid thud, heat rising to color my cheeks.
“That man has looked at you like you’re the answer to every question in the universe since the first day he came here.”
“We’re friends.”
“Right.” She rolls her eyes. “And I’m the damn Easter bunny.”
My blush spreads, heat tingling up to my hairline. “Iris! We are friends,” I say but then correct myself. “Well, we were. After tonight…”
“Things are changing between you two,” she goes on and points to the shed.
“That much is obvious. And I’m not saying what he did wasn’t fucking dumb or dishonest—you have every right to be furious right now because it was very much both those things.
But what I am saying is that it may have been his only chance for society to see him as anything other than what his DNA says.
He’d have been a fool not to risk everything for one night with you. ”
I stare at her. Blinking.
She stares right back. Not blinking.
She’s right. She’s so fucking right, and she knows it. And now I’m still angry and hurt. I don’t want to forgive him, even though deep down I can understand why he did it. And that’s making the heartache start to slip away. Even if it’s just a little.
“Wanna bet he was meeting with that fuckwit Stockton in hopes of selling off some invention to get himself a better life? One where he doesn’t need to wait on an Upper Side family hand and foot and can be his own boss? Maybe even be seen as an equal?” Iris says, emphasizing the last three words.
As an equal.
Is she implying that Reece was doing this…for me? For us? So that we’d have a chance to be together?
But that would be insane. Even if he came into money, and Iris’s influence on the Monarch was fast-tracked, how could we be together when my heats… I’d have to deal with them alone my entire life, deal with the pain myself. There would be no relief for me. It’d be miserable.
But would it be worth it? To be with someone I cared about? Someone I knew loved me?
Whoa, you’re jumping the shark here, Mar. Reel it back in.
Then Iris reaches across the gap between us and pulls out the sketchbook from my purse. Somehow, she flips to the page with me and Reece, and then with a quick flick of her wrist, to the last sketch of just No One. Like she knew they were there the entire time.
“Hmm…” she says. “Definitely looks like friends to me. Sure.”
Then she passes the book back to me and stands.
“Listen, you do what you feel is right. Whether it’s talking things out with Reece or telling him to fuck off, it has to be up to you.
Don’t let anyone tell you what that next step is.
Not Heath, not society. Hell, not even me.
” She offers me a warm smile before stepping out of the gazebo.
“If you need me at all, just shoot me a call or text. Right now, I have to go back to Nightshade and have a very interesting conversation with my two mates, one of whom asked me to fix an old white tuxedo of his not too long ago, and the other who has taken the truck out a few times for what he claimed were just ‘joy rides’.”
As I watch Iris walk out of the yard, I think to myself, Oh, yeah. That’s going to be a very interesting conversation, all right.