Page 107 of Gift from the Tree

I’ve never been much of a drinker, not because I don’t like it or didn’t want to. I was never allowed. The only time I got away with it was when Donald forced me to go to functions with him, and I’d look like the odd ball out without a glass of champagne in my hand. I’ve also never had a girls’ night. Never allowed that either or even friends.

“You’re going to have to fill me in on what a girls’ night entails. I’ve never had one,” I tell her, laughing as she chugs the whole cup in one go, causing her whole body to shiver.

“Fuck, I’ve never had one either. I didn’t have many girlfriends growing up. It wasn’t my desire to run off and become a Primary to a powerful Nexus, so my vision of the future didn’t align with most of the girls. So we can just do it our way, get drunk, and talk shit.” We both fall into a fit of laughter and thankfully the painful pulling in my chest lessens.

“Why didn’t you want to become a Primary? Is it a bad thing?” I ask nervously.

The topic of Primaries has only come up one time since I’ve been here, and I now understand why. Those assholes didn’t want me to know, but even me and Oakly have never discussed it, and I guess that’s because she doesn’t want to be one.

“No, it’s a wonderful thing. A very powerful thing. But true Primary bonds are rare, and I didn’t want to just pick a group of assholes to spend my life with based on the amount of power they have, so despite my parents’ constant pushing and bickering, I fought back and have refused to even entertain the idea. Until now.” She groans but with a small smirk, like she’s both enraged and happy about it.

“What do you mean until now?” I ask.

“Really? You want to talk about my problems right now?” She raises an eyebrow in question at me, knowing I have a fuck ton to discuss, but yeah, I’ll talk about that once I’m drunk.

“Yes, really. I’m not talking about them till we’re at least a pitcher of this down,” I tell her, raising my glass to clink with hers.

Laughing, she throws her entire second glass back, and I follow suit, attempting to catch up to her before she releases a deep sigh and shakes her head. “I’m the true Primary for Jamie, Ry, Nikoli, and San.”

The small amount of drink I was still holding in my mouth, unable to swallow, goes flying all over the place, barely missing her as I stare at her in complete and utter shock.

“Come again.”

“I’m not repeating myself.” Faux annoyance laces her tone, but her smirk betrays her.

“What the hell, Oakly? Why do you seem so disappointed? I thought this was a rare, wonderful, strong, once in a lifetime thing. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“My reason is petty and I just need to get over it. Me and Ry had our awakening the day that they left for the mission. I knew only Jamie stayed behind since he’s the only non E.F. member and I wanted to meet him and get to know him a little. He’s great. So smart and sweet, and we hit it off instantly, but our awakening didn’t happen, and I wanted a “wow” moment, so I didn’t want to tell him that he’s a member of my Nexus, but I also didn’t want to keep it from him. So the night before Ry, Nikoli, and San came back, I told him. He was over the moon happy, spun me around, kissed me and everything. It was perfect even without the awakening,” she says so dreamily. A pang of jealousy shoots through me before I shut that shit down and focus on being happy for her.

“Then when shit hit the fan, Ry pulled me to the side when you walked away with Corentin and told me I couldn’t mention anything to Nikoli and San because I’d just be a distraction for them and that it was bad enough I told Jamie, and now he wasn’t willing to stay behind on the mission because of me. Then we got into an argument in the middle of kicking ass, and he blurted out how I was his Primary and I couldn’t put myself in danger because it’d destroy them all, and that’s how Nikoli and San found out. I’m just pissed he stole my moment. Petty like I said.”

“You thought it was petty so you didn’t tell me?” I ask, placing my hand on my chest, faking offense. Really, it didn’t bother me that she waited to tell me. This is life-changing shit, so she could’ve taken all the time in the world, and I’d have been okay with it.

“Well, honestly, mine and your bond is so rare, at first I thought I was hallucinating when me and Ry had our awakening. It’s so rare these days to have one bond but two? I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. It’s also one of those things people don’t really share until every member in the Nexus knows, so I was waiting to tell the guys first. I also had no clue you didn’t know anything about true Primaries. The signs for you and the guys have always been there, but since you didn’t say anything about it to me, I’d just assumed you all were pairing based on your power scale.”

I hum, thinking about everything that’s happened to me since coming here, and the signs were definitely there. I just didn’t know how to look for them.

“I don’t think it’s petty. I’ve been dreaming my whole life of being so special to someone that they’d never hurt me, cherish me, love me, celebrate me, and sweep me off my feet. I crave the wow moments, the sweet moments, all that lovey-dovey bullshit. It hurts when it’s robbed from you.” I choke up a little as I tell Oakly, I feel the same way. I don’t want her to dismiss her own feelings so quickly as being petty. These are the men she’s going to spend her life with. She deserves those moments; we both do, damn it.

“Have you told your parents?” I ask after we both sit there for a moment in silence.

“Fuck no. Me being a true Primary isn’t going to make them happy. They aren't a true Nexus, hence how we know which of my dads is my biological dad. They purposely worked hard to conceive me because he's the strongest of the group. That's not how baby-making works for true Nexuses though, by the way.

"They want to pick my Nexus for me based solely on strength. Even Ry’s position as second-in-command won’t impress them because it’s just that, second. They care too much about social status, and I couldn’t give a fuck about all that. I’ll tell them when we’re fully bonded.” She throws her head back, laughing like this is the perfect diabolical plan and I can’t help but join her.

A few drinks deep, I explain and bitch to Oakly about how my sugar wax is wearing off from the last time I did it in the nonmagical realm and she looks at me like I’m a damn freak for putting myself through the pain of removing hair. Then she teaches me the hair removal spell that takes all of five seconds, which is seamless and painless. I’ve never been so damn smooth in my life. I try to convince her to do a sugar wax just once for the experience, but she refuses.

For the next few hours, we sit on the couch in our pajamas laughing, crying, and drinking. She sings songs from the realm that I’ve never heard, and I attempt to sing songs from mine, which just ends with us on the rug, rolling around in tears, hysterically laughing at ourselves. Neither of us has a future as pop stars. I can tell you that much.

It’s shaping up to be a wonderful night until I make the drunken mistake of looking at my communicator when Oakly goes to the bathroom, and I briefly glimpse at the flood of messages from the guys and Gaster. As soon as I see little wanderer and princess, I lose the shit that I’ve been keeping together all night.

“Oh shit. What’s wrong?” Oakly asks as soon as she plops back down haphazardly beside me.

“Those stupid sweet assholes have sent me like a hundred messages,” I slur between my fits of sobs.

“Oh, Willy, rule number one of emotional drinking. Never pick up the communicator,” she says as she pulls me into a tight hug, making my brain swish around violently, and my stomach revolts against the movement.

“I’m gonna be sick.” I gag as I shove myself up and trip my way to the bathroom. And that’s where I stay for the remainder of the night.

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