Page 51 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

Maya laughed. “Peter insisted.”

“Why?”

“He said… um…”

“What? What did he say?” I giggled.

Peter always made the strangest comments. It was a running joke in the company.

“He said fairies like glitter.”

I laughed, and Maya giggled a bit with me.

“Come on, let’s get you out of this, then we can head home,” Maya said, shaking her head. “I am so ready to clock out of here.”

I was right there with her. It was getting close to dinnertime, and I was famished. The image of Maya’s homemade ravioli flickered through my mind, and my stomach rumbled, making Maya laugh harder. “Me too, Havie. Me. Too.”

I changed as quickly as I could, taking care to not poke myself with the pins Maya had placed or cause them to pop out of the costume. Then I waited for her at the door to the shop, playing with the end of my long French braid as she hung the tutu up with care.

“Bye, Vivienne!” she called out, and the costume mistress waved at us as we left through the side door.

Maya looped her arm through mine as we walked home. I was glad I was wearing street clothes. Not that it embarrassed me to be a ballet dancer, but sometimes walking home in my leotard, tights, and skirt made me self-conscious. Like everyone was staring at me, watching me, looking at me in my dance attire. But when I wore street clothes, it felt as though no one paid me any mind.

When we reached our building, I immediately noticed a tall man with tousled sandy brown hair and a scruffy beard leaning against an old red pickup truck. I recognized him right away. Even if I hadn’t seen him at the lake, I would have recognized his smirk from the pictures I had seen of him when we were kids.

“Sebastian,” I said coolly, and Maya winced a little beside me. “Did Wesley send you? Is he not man enough to beg forgiveness on his own?”

I wasn’t sure why I said that. I had been thinking a lot since talking with Maya and I was having doubts about everything that had transpired all those years ago, and was already contemplating what to say to Wesley. But seeing Sebastian there instead of Wesley irritated the shit out of me.

“No. He doesn’t even know I’m here,” he said.

“Oh.”

That was almost worse. I deflated a bit and turned to go into the building. As irritating as it was to think he’d sent his brother in his stead, it was more disappointing to know he didn’t even care that much.

“Wait!” Sebastian called. “I wanted to tell you something. Something I know my brother won’t tell you.”

“So, you’re going behind his back?” I asked with a raised brow.

“No,” Sebastian said. “I know he’ll tell you, eventually. But he won’t do it now. Not when…” He struggled with his words for a moment, then started again from the beginning. “I’m confident he’d tell you in his own time, but I feel you need to know now so you understand what type of person my brother actually is.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “So…?”

I glanced at Maya, and she shrugged, too, then nodded. “All right, you can come in.”

“Um, actually,” he began, looking sheepish. “I need to take you somewhere.”

I paled and took a step back. I hardly knew him, and he wanted me to get in the car with him? I mean, we sort of, kind of knew each other when we were kids, but not really.

“Maya can come too!” he said when he saw my face and my hesitance. “But I promise you can trust me,” he added.

“Fine,” I said before I could change my mind.

I stomped around to the passenger side, and Maya followed, sliding into the back seat.

“I can sit there. My legs are shorter,” I offered.

“It’s fine,” she said with a small smile.

We all got buckled in, and then Sebastian pulled away from the curb, taking us towards the suburbs.

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