Page 79 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“What’s that?” Reid asked, leaning over me, his over-the-top teal velvet suit jacket brushing my hand.

“The program.”

“There were programs?!” Reid exclaimed, twisting around to look towards the back of the theater.

“Yeah, they were literally right there when you walked in,” Sebastian said, rolling his eyes as he kept them on his program.

“Shit, I didn’t see them!”

Reid stood up from his seat just as the lights dimmed and the conductor entered.

“Fuck!” he whispered as he plopped back down into his seat. “Wes, let me see yours,” he hissed, reaching to grab mine out of my lap.

I picked mine up and out of his reach. It was the special opening night edition that they were selling, and there was no way I was letting any of these stooges look at it.

“Touch it and lose a finger,” I threatened, a low snarl spilling from my lips.

“Damn, someone is testy,” Reid shot back, lifting his hands in surrender.

“I’m going to frame it,” I told him. “After Haven signs it.”

All three of them tried and failed to hold in matching shit-eating grins. “Fuck off,” I grumbled, settling back into my seat as the overture started.

As the ballet began, and we watched, Reid kept up a running commentary through our mindlink.

“I’m confused. Why is there a purple fairy? Where did she come from? She’s not in the movie!”

I glared at him out of the corner of my eye.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Haven is great. I just don’t understand where the purple fairy came from!”

“Shut up, I’m trying to watch!”Nolan grumbled.

“Why didn’t the fairies take her away? That’s my favorite part! ‘Make it pink, make it blue…’”All three of us turned to look at him with raised brows.“Don’t look at me like that! Maddie went through an Aurora phase, okay!? We used to watch it together!”

“I’m not even going to comment on any of what you just said,”Sebastian replied, shaking his head.

“Well, at least they used the same music,”Reid muttered.

Nolan sighed and rubbed his forehead.“Of course, it’s the same. It’s Tchaikovsky.”

“Bless you,”Reid said.

Nolan lifted the collar of his turtleneck to hide his mouth, and Sebastian snickered, earning him a small glare from a woman in front of us.

“Sorry,” he mouthed to her.

We turned our attention back to the stage, where Haven was beginning a duet with the dancer portraying the prince.

“Maybe I’m just biased, but I think Haven is better than the female playing Aurora,”Sebastian said, and Reid nodded.

Haven’s hand slid into her partner’s hand, and he spun her, then caught her by the waist. A small growl spilled out of my lips, my eyes narrowing and focusing on that tiny point of contact between them.

My friends all gave me a look, and I gave a small cough.“Sorry, there was something stuck in my throat.”

“Sure there was.”Seb winked.

When the performance ended, and the dancers came out to take their curtain call, the applause for Haven seemed to be the loudest out of all the soloists and principals. But maybe I just heard what I wanted to hear.

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