Page 175 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“Right,” I said with a small smile.

He looked down into his mug and fidgeted with it. Wesley rested his chin on my shoulder, and I leaned back into his chest. Had I not known about the mate bond, the way my body always sought his would have struck me as odd. But with my knowledge of our newly forged connection, I realized the bond provided me with security, with comfort.

It was probably why I’d been so drawn to him from the start. That had bothered me before. To think the only reason he’d wanted me was because of some magical connection telling him he had to be with me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there must have been some instinctual part of our souls that recognized the other before we knew we were mates.

Harrison lifted his eyes to us again. “I also wanted to apologize. For ordering Wesley to not contact you at all. It was poor judgment on my part.”

“It’s all right,” I said, even though I could feel Wesley did not agree.

“No, it’s not. I should have realized—but I didn’t. I didn’t understand…” He sighed and shook his head. “We should have realized you were more to him than just a friend when you were younger. We should have tried harder to bring you here after they took you away from Jack and Shirley. I realize that now. That I was wrong. And I’m sorry.”

“You did what you could,” I said. “And you did so much more for me after, even when you didn’t know if you’d ever see me again. That means more to me than you can ever know. Plus, we found each other. Everything worked out.” I looked up at Wesley, and he gave me a small smile.

“But you could have grown up together, and I stole that away from you. From both of you,” Harrison continued. “I can’t give that time back to you. And for that, I am truly sorry.”

I pictured it then. Growing up in Crescent Lake, spending my days on the shore near the water, having Wesley and his friends around all the time to protect me and be my friends too. I wondered if we would have stayed friends the whole time or if our friendship would have turned into something more as we grew.

Wesley’s face dipped down so his mouth pressed against my shoulder, and the bittersweet sadness I felt through the bond told me he was thinking something similar, thinking of all we could have had together. His deep inhale told me he was using my scent to calm himself, as he’d explained earlier. I wanted to melt into him, to turn around and finish what we’d started before his dad arrived, but our conversation with him was not yet over.

I had to giggle to myself as I watched Harrison sitting there, his face serious and his gaze unwavering as he waited for me to say something. His brows furrowed together in a way I’d seen so many times on Wesley’s face, and I laughed even harder.

“I’m sorry,” I said through my laughter. “I was just remembering Wesley’s second letter to me when he wrote his apology to me for his first letter. And now, imagining him sitting and waiting for my reply, looking exactly like you did just now,” I told him.

Wesley froze, and his arms tensed around me. Harrison’s brow shot up as his eyes moved from my face to the top of Wesley’s head over my shoulder.

“His apology for his first letter?” Harrison asked evenly.

Wesley let out a sigh as I answered. “Yeah, you know, the one that said ‘I’ll be honest, I am only writing this letter because my teacher said we have to. She said if we don’t, we’ll get an F, and I am not about to fail an assignment and ruin my track record of perfect grades. Plus, my dad would probably ground me or something.’”

“You memorized it?” Wesley groaned, turning his face to look at me.

“Did he really say that?” Harrison asked, clasping his hands together on the countertop.

I looked between the two of them, at Wesley’s grimace and Harrison’s look, which was a mix of amusement, interest, and censure, and realized something. “You didn’t know about the first letter?” I directed to Harrison, and he shook his head.

“Twinkle Toes…” Wesley warned as I looked at him again.

His eyes flickered with a little sparkle as he waited for me to finish telling his dad about his first letter since he knew no amount of him growling or scolding me would stop me. I raised my brows at him, and he just shook his head and stood up, leaning back against the sink with his arms crossed and his eyes up at the ceiling as I finished my story.

“Well, he then proceeded to say ‘You’re probably a really nice person, and I’m sure that you, just like me, have plenty of friends at your school and don’t need a friend who lives hundreds of miles away in a different state.’ And he signed the letter with ‘Thanks for letting me write you this letter so I can get an A. Sincerely, Wesley Stone.’”

“He said all that?”

“Yep,” I replied, putting my hands on my hips and nodding.

“And what did you say back?”

“I told him it was okay because I was an orphan and used to no one wanting me, and I hoped he got his A.” I glanced over at Wesley, and he had his head in his hands with his shoulders shaking.

“Well, you certainly have your hands full, don’t you?” Harrison said to Wesley.

“You have no idea,” Wesley’s muffled, laughing voice replied.

He peeked at me over his fingertips, and I smiled at him. “Sorry, Pal.”

“No, you’re not.” Harrison chuckled. “Wesley, you’ll be doing laps today. Until I tell you to stop.”

“What?!” Wesley exclaimed, snapping his head in his dad’s direction. “Why?!”

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