Page 100 of Puck My Life

“What is she scared of?”

“Spiders and thunderstorms.”

“What does she want to do with the rest of her life?”

“She wants to run a bakery called Neverland.”

“Do you want to fuck her?”

Do I? It would change everything. “Yes!”

“So you love her?” he fires off.

“Yes,” I fire back and then go absolutely still.

Yes? I do?

I do.

All I can see is Vae. The rose-colored glasses of denial are gone. It’s just me and this yawning pit of honest feelings.

Vae is mine. She’s the one.

I stagger backwards, the wooden seat in front of my locker knocking my knees out from under me. I sit down heavily, in a daze. A daze of Vae.

“My work here is done. I’ll send you the bill.” Henry swaggers out, flicking Mal with a towel he throws into the laundry trolley. “Put that thing away before you put out an eye.”

I just sit there and let it all fall into place. All the everything that I thought was one way is suddenly upside down and another. But it’s like this was the right way the whole time, and I was wrong.

Every single time we hurt her, dismissed her, comes back, slamming me in my face. Every time I took another omega or beta to our beds, flaunted them in front of her. Every missed thank you, every moment of happiness we could have had.

I put my face in my hands and groan.

“You okay, Deacon?”

I lift my head, seeking out Mal. His expression is curiously blank, but he’s dressed.

“Raynor?”

“He’s kinda known about his feelings a lot longer, subconsciously, anyway. It’s why he never fucked the last few girlfriends we had.”

I close my eyes. “I didn’t notice.”

“You weren’t looking. It’s okay, Deacon.”

I hang my head. “I’ve been a lousy alpha. A lousy player and teammate, and, worse, I’ve hurt her.”

A thought slams into my brain.

“What about her?”

Does she hate us? The anxiety balloons in my stomach, spreads up through my chest and sits, heavy and oily, making me nauseous. Would Vae ever forgive us for what we’ve done? I wouldn’t.

“Oh, Deac, I think she’s been in love with us since we were kids. She’s always been ours; we just never saw her. I’ve thought about this a lot, and it makes sense.”

“She wants a family, kids, a life and happiness,” I say to Mal, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Yeah, she does.”