Page 100 of Toxic

They’d asked me countless times over the past few weeks if I was okay, but eventually, they backed off when they saw how grumpy I got.

"It's hard not to notice, honey. Is this still about that… guy?"

I nodded, but not without some hesitation. My face soured again, almost automatically.

My father cleared his throat and, still holding Dad's hand, said, "Skye, if you're ready, tell us about it."

"I appreciate you all giving me some space these past few weeks. I didn’t want to talk about it, but that’s changed. You could say I’ve made a decision, and I need your help."

"What do you need help with?"

"As you know, I broke up with Martin in the first semester of my senior year—"

"Yeah, we were a bit shocked when we found out from Finn Delgado that you switched colleges in your final year…"

I bit my lip. Yep, I could tell Father didn’t want to make it sound like he had a problem with it, but the fact that I did it behind their backs definitely annoyed them, even if they respected my choice.

To make matters worse, I swore Finn to secrecy about the transfer until it was already complete, and the tuition needed to be paid… My reasons? Honestly, I just didn’t want to explain such an impulsive decision to them. They’d probably have triedto talk me out of it. The problem was—now I was coming to them with yet another impulsive decision!

Oh, well.

"So. In the second semester, I met someone, and I was really into him. He’s a beta. And our relationship was… complicated, I guess. More of a situationship than a relationship, but I felt something for him—actually, I fell in love with him."

Dad’s aquamarine eyes focused on my face, he was listening intently. Father, on the other hand, looked down at his hand resting on his thigh. I could read him like a book—I knew exactly what he thought about relationships with betas. He’d criticized the idea of getting involved with them more than once.

Snow, who was sitting nearby, glanced up for a split second before quickly looking back down.

But I didn’t care about their reactions right now—I just wanted to tell them the truth.

"Unfortunately, at the end of the year, that guy pushed me away. You might’ve seen him already; he was the one who came up to me after I received my diploma."

Dad perked up.

"Oh, I know who you’re talking about! Storm really insisted you try talking to him. He even called me afterward, saying I should press you to reach out to that guy, but I didn’t want to because I could see you were on edge, and I was worried you’d blow up if I even mentioned this person."

I sighed in frustration.

"You did the right thing; your instincts were better than Storm's. I wasn’t in the mood then."

Dad rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

"You know, Storm claims he can find perfect mates for people if he looks closely enough… Working at that matchmaking company for a few years made him—"

"The company that fired him?" I interrupted, making a face.

Dad sighed. "Come on, not for doing a bad job. We all know he had other issues. But did you know Storm recognized that Kay was Rain's True Mate before the tests even confirmed it? That's pretty impressive."

"Dad, really? It wasn’t hard to piece together. Rain was probably the most traditional about relationships out of all of us. He never hooked up; he only dated people he fell in love with. He was romantic as hell! And suddenly, he literally runs to save some bitter, lonely widower he never met before, to help him with an endangered pregnancy. C’mon! Like a dog in heat, despite the guy treating him like crap. I wasn’t surprised he was his True Mate. Rain would never have agreed to such an arrangement if there wasn’t more to it."

Dad bit his lip and slowly nodded. "Yes, that’s a fact. It was peculiar, if not out of character, for Rain to go there. That’s why he was so secretive about it at first. But you have to admit, Storm didn’t even meet Kay, and he was sure, Skye, sure! There has to be something to it."

"For me, it sounds a bit fairytale-like, but okay, let him believe that." I frowned, sighing. Admitting that Storm might have some magical slash alien intuition was hard for me, considering our volatile history.

But Dad just smiled. "Oh, he definitely believes it. And he wanted me to tell you that you should contact that beta guy. He thinks your relationship could work out."

I noticed Dad hesitated a bit as he finished, glancing at Father, who clenched his jaw and just shrugged, like he was washing his hands of the whole thing.

"Well, I’ve come to the same conclusion, independent of Storm, thank you! I want to try to fix this. So, I’ve decided to apply for a job at the company where that guy works—but they don’t have any openings right now, so I have a Plan B. I’m going to go there and talk to the director of the department Sorenworks in… yeah, Soren, that’s his name," I cleared my throat, realizing I hadn’t even told them his name before.

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