Page 69 of Possessive Alpha

He just holds me, lets me get all my tears out, and passes me tissues to mop up my face.

And then he feeds me stew and holds me some more.

I fall asleep in his arms, where I wish I could stay forever.

CHAPTER 20

Ishake Clara awake.

She blinks blearily up at me. “Martha, what’s going on?”

Breathing out a sigh of relief that it didn’t take too long to wake someone who usually sleeps like the dead, I return to throwing more clothes into our bags. “We’re leaving.”

Silence, then a soft rustle of sheets as Clara gets out of bed. “I don’t understand.”

I love my sister, I truly do, but right now, I hate how slow she is in the mornings.

My eyes dart to our closed drapes. Not that I would call 3:00 a.m. the morning. It’s more like the middle of the night for me.

“We’re leaving. Now.”

“But I thought you and?—”

“Stop, Clara.” I stare down at the sheets as tears burn behind my eyes. “I can’t say goodbye to him.”

“So you just plan on running out on him instead? That doesn’t make sense.”

Probably not. But I can’t ruin his life by asking him to come with Clara and me. And I can’t… I can’t do that to him. It isn’t fair, and it isn’t right. He deserves to be happy.

“Start packing, Clara.”

“But I?—”

I whirl around. “Pack. Now.”

I don’t order Clara. Never have, and I thought I never would. But I’m not okay. Not in my head, my heart, or my soul.

Everything hurts.

Ty will stop me from leaving, or he will lose this home he needs by following Clara and me. It’s why I left him sleeping in his bed, creeping away before he could wake.

After a long, probing stare, Clara sighs. “Okay, fine.”

We pack quietly.

Clara is slow. She’s dragging her feet, which I put down to her still being half asleep.

I’m slow for a different reason.

I have tears in my eyes and I have to keep stopping to brush them away so I can see what I’m doing.

Finally, we’ve finished packing our duffels. I should make sure we haven’t left anything behind, but I’m ready to fall apart, the sun must be coming up, and Ty or anyone else could wake up and then there’d be no leaving.

Before I leave our room, I place the credit card Jackson gave me on my pillow. Right where he won’t miss it, so he knows I didn’t take it with me.

The house is silent, and we don’t encounter a soul as we make our way down the stairs and out of the house.

Clara is still dragging her feet. I’d snap at her to hurry up if I wasn’t dragging my own feet. Because deep down, I don’t want to leave. I want someone to wake up, ask us what we’re doing, so I have a reason to stay.

---