Page 51 of Semi-Rejected Life

And I hope you’ve had some time to reflect. A part of me hopes you’ll reply to this letter and tell me that you made a mistake, that you still love me, and that you want me to come home. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter if you still hate me. I got over that a long time ago. I’d like for you to be a part of my life if you can accept me unconditionally. But if you can’t, it’s better we remain apart.

However, I won’t let you stop me from knowing my little brother.

Yes. I know about that.

I’ve attached a secondary letter for him. I would appreciate it if you would allow us to get to know one another. And even if you hide me from him, one day he’ll be an adult and you won’t be able to keep us from meeting. Then you’ll have to answer him about why you not only abandoned me at fourteen, but why you never told him the truth about his siblings.

I’d hate for you to lose another child over something so stupid.

I really do miss you two. And I hope to hear back from you soon.

-Vince

I put the pen down, looking over the letter one last time. The end seemed a bit threatening, but I’d already rewritten it several times and there just didn’t seem to be a way to phrase it another way. Besides, it was the truth, and I was tired of trying to dance around it. My parents had made a bad choice, and that was just the way of it.

But I really did hope they gave the second letter to my brother. I was serious about getting to know him. Even though we’d never met, he was family. Plus I had a feeling he’d be much more open to who I was than my parents. Younger people just didn’t care about that sort of thing.

“You ready yet?”

I glanced back to the door where River was standing, his shoulder tucked against the doorframe.

“Yeah,” I sighed, pushing the letter away. “I don’t think it’s possible to make that sound any better at this point.”

River pushed me off away from the door frame and walked over to me throwing his arms around my neck. He kissed me softly and got down to my eye level.

“Try not to let it eat you up, okay? You’re doing all that you can. If they can’t see how wonderful of a man you are, then that’s their loss.”

“I know,” I smiled. “I just… sometimes it’s still hard.”

“That’s okay. Just know that I’m here by your side wherever you go. Even if they can’t see reason, I’ll always be here. I promise.”

I looked up into those sparkling blue eyes of his, a rush of affection filling my chest. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Carino.” He gave me another kiss before standing up and holding out his hand. “Now come on! The sun has set and this full moon is driving me wild. I’m gonna burst out of my skin if I don’t get to shift soon.”

“Alright,” I laughed, allowing him to pull me up from my seat. “You big overgrown pup.”

He dragged me toward the door. “You love it.”

The pair of us hopped in his van and drove out to the beach. There were a couple of other cars in the parking lot belonging to other wolves, but we paid them no mind as we got out and stripped naked in the moonlight. Within a few seconds we were both wolves, the pair of us dashing through the dark forest at top speed.

We dodged through trees and crashed through the leaves, making as much of a ruckus as we could muster. It felt good to be free of the pizza shop for a night and to just do whatever we wanted to. Thanks to all the help River had been providing, sales were up and I was able to hire a couple workers to give us a day off here and there. It had taken a bit of effort to get them trained up, but already we were enjoying the spoils of that labor. Besides, I wouldn’t trade these moments with River for anything.

As we reached the bottom of the dune, I suddenly leapt to the side, all four paws striking River in the side. He let out a funny yelp and went tumbling through the sand. There was no way I hurt him, but he liked to put on a show sometimes in a vain attempt to make me feel bad. He knew that whenever I let my guard down, he could attack and get me back. Needless to say, I caught on to his antics pretty fast.

So I left River flopping in the sand and headed for the water. One giant leap from the shore meant I cleared the deeper water and landed on the first sand bar without soaking myself. River tried to follow behind me, but didn’t manage to time it right. With a massive splash, he slipped below the surface and had to scramble to get up next to me.

I’d never seen a wolf pout before, but that’s what he was doing as he clambered up on the sandbar and shook himself out, soaking me in the process. From there it was just a never ending game of tag in the moonlight, the cool water soaking us down to the skin. I’m not sure how long we played like a couple of pups, but at some point I reached a level of exhaustion I could no longer ignore. Both of us headed up the beach and into the forest once more, transforming back the moment we were clear of the sand.

“You’re getting faster,” River smiled, flopping down in the leaves beside me.

“Or you’re getting slower,” I shot back, giving him a wink. “Too much pizza?”

River reached down, pinching the tiniest bit of skin on his rock-hard abs. “I must be putting on more muscle from all that fucking we keep doing.”

“Fuck you,” I laughed, pushing him away. “I hate that you can eat whatever you want and still look like a god.”

“Alpha genes baby!” He leaned over, kissing me on the cheek. “And you can eat whatever you want too. I think you’d be really cute if you were chubby.”

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