Chapter 26
“I think it would be best if we just kept our relationship on a professional level from now on.” He’s using his doctor’s voice on me while I try to not cry. The tears want to pool in my
but I am just trying to fight it the best I can.
eves.
Is this what you want, Dr. Valentine?” Holding my breath until my head starts to feel dizzy, Iwait for his answer.
“I think that would be best.” He’s not looking at me. He’s looking at some stupid picture on his wall that’s taking his attention away from my torn heart.
Getting off the chair slowly so I don’t fall, I turn my back to him. It remains straight, not shoulders hunching forward. I will not look defeated in front of this male.
“I respect your choice.” Turning the handle, I let myself out, closing the door quietly behind me. I make it to my office before the first tear slips out, and the others follow close behind.
“I wish this could be different,” he says, emotionless behind me after the door closes. It’s
faint, but I can hear it.
Sitting behind my desk, I focus on the things that I need to be thankful for: my family, my career, my life. I could be dead, and that would be it. Try to focus on the positive.
I manage to get through my day, keeping my door closed after my females leave. I stay closed up inside until I know he has left for the day. That’s when I emerge slowly, dragging my feet.
The walk home takes double the time that it took me this morning.
Walking into my room, I lay down on my bed, letting my pillowcase soak up all my sorrow..
My tears sanitize my clouding mind, cleansing my soul.
Crying is not a bad thing,as Aurora says, so when you have that need to cry…cry
The floodgates to my heart are open, and screams of frustration are muffled by my pillow. Once nothing is left, rage starts creeping in on its hands and knees, slowly slithering inside
of me.
How dare he! All these years of suffering just to come back here and find something small and maybe special, and he has to ruin it. This is how obituaries are made.
The car ride is quick to his home, faster than I have driven in a long time.
I pound on the pack house door. My fist seems like it could go clear through if I let it.
Luna Catherine opens the door, regarding me up and down with an apple in her hand. A sly
smile is on her face.
“Where is your son?” My voice shakes in fury, my madness hardly contained. I feel like a tornado twisting on an irrational path ready to tear up this place.
Her teeth flash in warning to settle down.
“He’s out back speaking with Kennedy.” She smiles a wolf’s smile; and I have to look closely to see if her tongue is forked behind the canines that flash. She takes a bite of her apple. and its crispness makes a crunching sound, a small spray of juice squirting out. I feel such darkness overcoming me that, in a fleeting thought, I think I can take the Luna on. A low rumble tumbles out of her chest as if she can read mind.
my
She opens the door wider for me to come into their den. Not her office, she leads me into their personal space, where usually no pack members get to go.
Kimberly is curled up on the couch, sleeping like a little girl taking a nap after a busy morning. She looks so peaceful. Part of me wants to be quiet so she can get the rest that her body needs to incubate a life.
I look around at the walls. They are filled with family pictures of all of them.
A small picture sits on the coffee table of Clayton and Kennedy smiling into the camera, faces all muddy, toothless in bathing suits, playing in a puddle. A moment captured by a mother who thought how adorable they are.
Chapter 26
The fireplace mantle is covered in memories. I have no place in this life. I can’t help but stare at everything. His life has no space for me.
She brings me to the window that looks out over the hack lawn. I see them there by the apple tree; she’s crying in his arms, her body shaking so fiercely with sobs that he needs to hold her to his chest. His lips are on her head, his hands trying to wipe away the tears. He tries to push her slightly away from him, only for her to grab onto his shirt, pulling herself back into him. She’s telling him something, fists on his chest pounding at him.
Teel like I could break her fingers so she couldn’t touch what belongs to me. In this moment, my rage leaves with that thought. Dallas is right. He would be my lie if I can’t stop thinking that Clayton belongs to me. I wish I could stop my hands from shaking when I see them together.
Another crunch from the apple turns my head the Luna’s way. She’s standing beside me watching the show, eating her apple. I hope she bites into a big fat worm so she can taste foulness on her tongue instead of the happiness I’m smelling from what she’s seeing.
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