Chapter 27
Silver
A couple of weeks pass after Munro and I put things to rest and started a new chapter in our lives. For two weeks, I’ve been a part of a pack of men that I’m realizing more and more with every passing day that I’ve fallen in love with.
The guys are all affectionate as fuck, and I find myself soaking up every ounce of it like a flower absorbing the sun. They’re all touches, kisses, and nuzzles of scent marking that I greedily accept and return, wanting them to know they’re as much mine as I’m theirs.
Most nights I fall asleep with at least one of my pack curled around me, each of them wanting to spend time with me as much as I want to spend with them. Between school and work, whatever free time we have we spend together. Every single night I go to sleep sated and mindless after a barrage of orgasms, and every single day I’m greeted by one or more of them to wish me a good morning with slow, sensual kisses that always makes me want to drag them all back into my nest and forget the world around it.
It’s nice, and I’ve never felt more at home with anyone before them.
Life is good, everything is going well, and we’ve all seem to have fallen into an easy routine together.
“Whatever you want to eat, I’m good with, handsome,” I declare for the third time, playfully arguing with Aero down the speaker of my cell as I hold it tucked between my shoulder and cheek, packing my purse to go spend time with Juniper for the day. Apparently, I’ve been a neglectful friend and I’m overdue a day bugging the shit out of my bestie. Her words, not mine. I mean, at least she wants to spend time with me, right?
“Okay, how about this. You have to choose between options, alright? Burgers or pizza?” he asks, and I laugh loudly as I hook my purse over my shoulder and leave my nest dressed in cut-off shorts and a white, cropped shirt, my white-and-pink-laced Nikes held in my hand as I tiptoe out of the room.
“You know I like both,” I remind him, and I receive a long-suffering sigh in return. “Oh my god, you drama queen. Fine. Burgers. That’s what we’re having tonight.”
“That’s my girl,” he replies, and I hear the grin in his voice that makes my own smile form on my face. It’s sickening, really, how obsessed I’ve grown with these guys. I’m ass-over-tit in love with them, that much is evidently clear, and I’m just waiting for the right moment to tell them.
“Whatever,” I snicker, Sitting on the last step of the stairs and shoving my sock-covered feet into my sneakers before leaving the house after snatching my keys from the entry table as I pass. “Anyway, what time will you guys be home?”
Aero pauses for a moment, and I strain to hear in case I missed a reply. Eventually he says, “Should be back before dinner, baby. Pace and I just have something to do today, but then we’ll be all over you like a bad rash you can’t cure.”
“Love that for me,” I laugh, curious over what it is they’re up to after school but not enough to pry. If they want to tell me, I’m all ears, but I’m good if they’re just doing their thing, too.
Aero chuckles, that sound that does funny things to me, and I melt when he says, “Can’t wait to see you, babe. I miss you already.”
Turning all gooey and gross, I mutter, “Miss you, too, handsome.”
Because I do and I refuse to feel pathetic about it. I miss them all when they’re not with me. With Rage and Haze working today, missing the Saturday sunshine in lieu of greasing their hands at the mechanics, and Munro promising to join Juno and I once he’s done with an assignment he forgot about, I’m already down three of my guys. When Aero and Pace told me they were busy today, I was sure I might die from boredom, loneliness, and misery. As it was, Juno called and demanded I spend time with her, saving me for the day.
“That’s what I like to hear, my little bubblegum baddie. I’ll see you later, okay?” he teases, and I agree with a laugh.
We end the call, and I’m smiling when I slide into the driver's side of the car as soon as it’s unlocked. Depositing my purse on the passenger side, along with my cell, I begin my journey to Juno’s, the sun shining brightly through my windows. It takes me twenty minutes of driving before I turn a corner that will lead me to Juno’s street.
I’m only five minutes away from her house when my cell starts calling. Smiling, I reach for it and glance down briefly to answer, sure it’s Juno wondering where I am. As soon as the call connects to the speakerphone built into my car, I say, “I’ve never known anyone so impatient. I’m five minutes away.”
Juno doesn’t answer. Instead, my cousin’s voice comes out of the speaker, his confusion evident as he asks, “Where are you heading to, kid?”
“Oh, hey,” I snort. “Sorry, I thought you were Juno. I’m heading there to spend some girl time with her. Why’s that? Everything okay?”
“Huh. Yeah, everything is okay, kid. Just thought you might have been on your way to your mother’s,” he answers, and my eyebrows pinch. Why the hell would I be going to that hellhole without a guilt-trip from Meemaw? I think I’d sooner catch crabs than willingly visit with my mother and fathers.
Shaking my head, I tell him, “The day I go there willingly and without prompting from our grandmother will be the day hell has frozen over and the Devil got his balls stuck to an iceberg. Why would you think I was going to see my mother?”
Silence greets me, and I turn down the long driveway that will lead me to Juno’s fancy house surrounded by trees and solitude, checking my cell once to see if the call is connected.
“Alek? You there?” I wonder, frowning now.
“Uh, yeah,” he says, clearing his throat before he continues. “Sorry, kid. I could have sworn I saw Pace’s car as I passed a minute ago.”
I park in a spot next to Juno’s sparkling, brand-new truck before picking up my cell and asking, “You saw Pace’s car? Passing where?”
Alek sighs, and I hear the scrape of his hand brushing over stubble as he likely brushes his palm over his mouth, before he finally says, “What car does Pace drive again?”
“A beat-up Nissan Sentra. Why, dude? What the hell?” I blurt, growing a little worried.
Alek blows out a breath. “That’s what I thought. I definitely think I saw him driving to your mom’s, Silver. I was just leaving there because I needed a signature from Cynthia for the paperwork for the vacation at the Bahamas she won. She missed a spot, so I had to take it over today. When I left, I saw Pace’s car driving toward Cynthia’s house. I could be wrong, though, kid. It could have been someone else driving the same car, you know? Don’t listen to me.”
Instantly, my heart shrivels before it starts beating rapidly beneath my ribcage. I’m staring out the drivers side window, trying to comprehend what it is Alek is telling me, when Juno steps out of the house in a pair of black leggings, a band shirt with the name Sueco scrawled over her chest, and her purple hair pulled up in a funny ponytail that doesn’t hold all of her shoulder-length strands.
Waving at me from the doorway with a look that says, ‘You coming or what?’ I can do nothing but stare while Alek says, “Sorry, kid. It’s probably a mistake. There’s no reason Pace would go there, right?”
So one would think.
My entire body shuts down so suddenly that I grow numb and a buzzing starts up in my ears as memories of my childhood come back to me with a vicious bite. I’ve been down this road before. I’ve experienced the hurt, the misery, and the disappointment that comes any time Cynthia Gage is mentioned. I’ve lived through my mother getting her way with her money and power. It’s why I quietly mutter, “There’s only one.”
“What was that?” Alek asks, having missed what I said. “Silver?”
“I have to go,” I say a little louder, monotone while dread swarms my body like a hive of wasps, stinging at my flesh repeatedly. My heart is aching already, my thoughts rioting while I try to come up with any other reason for my alpha and omega to be visiting with the woman that stole my childhood and used me as a pawn in her elaborate game of politics and power.
I come up empty for anything other than money.
My parents paid off one guy to leave me alone before, they wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I know them well enough to understand that they’re a diabolical pack not meant to be fucked with. They’re snakes. They strike you when you’re not looking, slithering in the tall grass to remain hidden before they attack. There’s no reason to speak to them at all unless you’re looking for something from them.
Hanging up on Alek before he can continue the conversation I’m checked out of, I roll my window and shout to Juno, “Raincheck. Something came up.”
“Wait, what?” she rushes, stepping onto the porch and placing her hand over her eyes to block out the glaring beam of the sun. “Pixie, what’s wrong?”
“I have to go. I’ll call you later,” I tell her lifelessly before I reverse the car and pull straight back out of the spot I parked in, leaving my best friend behind while I gun it down her driveway, spitting gravel and dust in my wake.
Without much conscious thought, I’m already navigating my way toward my mother’s estate, back to the house that brought me better memories to replace all of the shitty ones I suffered growing up. Back to the place that felt like a prison, never a home. The house where I was forced to wake up at five in the morning, where I had to work out for two hours as soon as I woke up, only a kale smoothie to drink as my breakfast. Where my entire day would be planned for me from start to finish and only my dreams were mine alone. It’s where all of my birthdays were celebrated with a new dress that didn’t suit me, a party with all of my mother’s socialites, and no birthday cake in case I got fat.
It’s the house that I escaped from for a fucking reason, and now I find myself driving back there, with my pulse thrumming painfully, my palms sweating around my steering wheel, and my heart lodging itself in my throat.
Stomach turning and praying I’m wrong, begging for any deity that exists that I won’t find what I think I might, I drive like a madwoman to my mother’s house in record time. My wheels crunch over the gravel driveway that leads to a roundabout that wraps around a fountain I would sit at for a single moment of reprieve before the house staff would find me and demand I return to whatever hellish thing my parents demanded I learn.
I feel like I’m about to break apart, splitting at the seams, when I spy Pace’s car already parked just outside the front door to the overtop mansion.
Clenching my teeth to stop a sob from crawling out of my throat, fighting against the damn tears that come with the sight of his car, I grip my steering wheel tightly as I drive the remaining the length of the driveway.
I’m almost at the fountain when my cell rings.
I ignore it.
It rings again.
It goes to voicemail.
When I park and my cell starts blaring a third time, I peer over at it, finding Munro’s number flashing on the screen. Of course, because Juno would have told him I was acting weird. She would have told him that something was wrong, and that I looked like I was going to throw up.
Reaching for my cell, I swipe the red button on the call before turning the phone off completely. I discard it back on the passenger seat before climbing out of the car, heartbreak and dread already slathering me in its sickly, tart scent. I can smell the stress in my usual bubblegum scent. I can already feel myself trying to shut down the feelings I have for the guys, trying to bottle it all into a numb state so I can deal with the inevitable.
Wrapping myself in mental armor, I climb out of my car, leaving the door open as I walk steadily to the front door. I don’t bother knocking, there’s no point. I know the door will already be unlocked, because my parents are bold and confident enough to assume their house will never find itself broken into. With the security they have, the confidence is warranted.
Reaching for the door handle and bracing myself for what I might find, I push the door open and step into the lavish house full of minimalistic decor and white, bland walls. I ignore the family portraits that line the wall, all black and white and severe. There’s one missing between my mother and one of my fathers, the space empty where mine used to be. I didn’t notice it was gone when we were here last, worried about other things. It’s funny how I notice it now, when my world is on the brink of going up in flames.
Stepping into the ornate entrance, uncaring about the sound of my scuffing feet, I look for my mother. I don’t find her here, so I move further into the house. My feet are already guiding me to the office I know she keeps downstairs, years of memory coming back with the force of a tidal wave, bringing with it the foreboding sense of agony.
I can hear voices before I reach the doorway of her office, my mother’s nasally tone flatly commenting, “You’re not the pack for her. I won’t allow my daughter to slum it and drag our name through the mud with her. Take this and be done with it.”
I’m stepping into the doorway the next moment and I turn to stone when I spy Pace and Aero standing on one side of mother’s desk while she sits regally behind the other, her hand holding a small strip of paper I already know the contents of. Pace is leaning against the desk, one hand propping himself up while the other reaches for the paper, and I shatter right there and then.
I must make some kind of sound of distress, or Aero’s sense of smell is far more honed than I gave it credit, because he’s turning with a frown just as Pace pulls back with the paper in his hand. My broken gaze meets Aero’s surprised baby blues in an instant, and his face falls just as the first tear falls from my eye.
“Silver,” he breathes, shaking his head while his mouth gapes at me with no more words to follow.
Pace turns with a frown next, right before his spine stiffens and he scents me before that honey gaze meets mine. “Fuck. Silver, wait.”
I give him a sad smile that feels like it might shatter my face like broken porcelain, already shaking my head. I don’t see why I should wait. I already see it with my own eyes.
One glance at my mother’s vicious, little smirk that slices me in two has me turning and striding away from the room, running a shaking hand through my hair roughly while I try to take a breath that doesn’t feel like it might kill me. No worse than seeing that fucking check in Pace’s hand, though.
Fuck, it feels like my chest is on fire. I feel like I’m breaking from the inside out, torn apart, drawn and fucking quartered.
I’m out of the house and into the fresh air before I realize I started running, my hand pressed against my chest that feels like it’s caving in on itself. I’m practically choking on the sob that bubbles its way up my throat, more tears falling like a dam has been broken inside me.
“Silver, hold on. It’s not what it looks like!” Pace shouts, running after me with a frantic pace, his words sounding just as panicked as he looks when I stop and turn suddenly.
Both men flinch as soon as I’m facing them again, tear tracks running down my cheeks with unstoppable speed. My hands clench and my voice comes out in a broken rasp as I ask, “Oh, okay. So, that’s not a check in your hand right now? I didn’t just walk in my mother paying you to walk out of my life?”
Pace frowns, looking at the paper one before blurting, “Holy fuck.”
He doesn’t sound impressed. In fact, he kind of sounds disgusted even as his shock bleeds through his voice, but then Aero is stepping closer with his hands raised as if he’s trying to approach a scared kitten with her claws out.
I shake my head and take a step back, everything within me growing cold and lifeless as I laugh bitterly and shrug. “More than you bargained for? I can imagine. She paid twenty thousand for the last one to fuck off and leave me alone. Didn’t hear from or see that dude ever again. I guess I have that to look forward to now, right?”
The next laugh to escape me sounds as broken as I feel, more tears falling as I peer down at the gravel beneath my shoes. With a shake of my head, I frown and mutter, “To think I actually fell in love with you guys, too. More fool me.”
I don’t bother hanging around for whatever bullshit they might want to throw at me. I’m turning and diving toward my car before either one can say anything, can even reach me to stop me from leaving, and I’m locking the door as soon as I’m seated.
The moment the ignition roars to life, I’m driving out of there, only one last glance at the two men that held pieces of my heart and shattered them in mere seconds. Aero’s hands are on his head, a distressed look on his face as he watches me go, while Pace looks utterly horror stricken, his hands clenched tightly at his sides, crumpling the paper with his newfound fortune scrawled on there with my mother’s signature.
Swallowing another fucking sob, I reach for my cell and turn it on. Several missed calls and texts come through instantly, and I ignore every single one, dialing one number and forgetting the rest.
“Silver, are you okay?” Alek asks gently, almost reluctantly, like he’s worried about what might come out of my mouth.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “Can I stay with you?”
Alek sighs long and hard, and I hear the sadness in that single sound before he says, “You’re always welcome here, kid.”
I nod even though he can’t see it, whispering, “See you soon.”
Then I disconnect the call, turn my phone off, and drive to my cousin’s house with my heart dragging along the gravel behind my car as I leave the alpha and omega that broke it behind.