Page 46 of One Last Chance

“Mhm. How kind of you.” Sarcasm tinges her voice for a moment, in the same sly, passive-aggressive way I’ve hated so much near the end of our relationship.

She’d use it more and more, until every word she said felt like a veiled insult, building up my insecurity and worry about our relationship into a monster towering over every moment we spent together. A stark contrast to the days we serenaded our love to each other and used punny double entendres to flirt all day long.

“You’re still going to help me look at the radiator, right? It smells so weird and Jordan’s out for the weekend. He hates letting any strangers into the house.”

I suppress a disgusted scowl. “And he’ll be happy about anasty alphamessing around with his electrics?”

Biting back feels good. As I pass by her to walk inside, Hope scoffs. Thankfully, she’s smart enough to keep quiet, since she needs something from me.

“Besides, you’re aware I’m not the most technically gifted individual.” And yet, I’ll have a look and see what I can do, because I don’t want one of my children to burn down in their sleep with this trailer when they’re spending their time here.

“Thank you,” Hope says, playing up the niceness of her tone as a joke. A stupid, foolish part of me stirs because it reminds me of the old her. Of the times when she meant it.

I smile at Mac and Mina sitting at her rugged couch, watching TV with gummy sweets and colorful sugary balls on their lap.

“The sugar makes him ten times more hyper than he already is,” I note while we walk into her bedroom.

“Stop being so uptight. It’s fine.”

It isn’t, but I don’t have the strength to argue.

Ignoring the posters and books around the room is in my best interest, but I can’t help from glancing around briefly. They’re pretty much as deranged as I expected. “Where even is he, thathe can’t take care of his own house? On some stupid rally?” I ask, kneeling by the ancient-looking radiator. It does smell like something's burning. Not a good thing, I wager.

What am I even looking for? My god, why am I here?

“Stop it,” Hope grumbles. “I’m sorry that his interest in building a meaningful community with other betas offends you so much.”

I roll my eyes in response and turn my attention back to the radiator. Nothing inside this thing looks broken, and the plug is fine. Not so much the socket.

“I think it might be the plug socket. I’ll need to unscrew it to check the fuse. Would you mind getting me a screwdriver?” Hope nods and starts digging through some boxes in her jam-packed walk-in closet space. “I really can’t believe you live in this place. You can do so much better, you know? I’m not paying you alimony to live like…this.”

She lets out an annoyed sigh. “See? This is exactly the problem. You and your fucking…pomposity. You think you are so much better than me because you live in that big, expensive house, don’t you?” She starts going off on me, lowering her voice only once she meets my eyes and sees my deep frown. With a screwdriver in her hand, she stomps toward me and throws it on the ground by my feet.

If I was some arrogant,pompousprick, I would’ve left right this second.

“You enjoyed living in that house, if I remember correctly. In fact, you helped choose it.”

“Well, I’m glad I cleared out of there to make space for your omegaplaymatesthen,” she snaps back bitterly, suddenly reminding me who Mina gets her viciousness from.

I swallow the uncomfortable lump in my throat and hold in the painful tingling her words send through me. We don’t say anything until I pull out the plug cover.Probably for the better.“Looks like the fuse is blown.” And even to my layman’s eyes, the wiring itself looks sketchy as fuck.

“Hmm. You can replace that with a new one, right? He should have that stuff here somewhere. I’ve definitely seen it,” she says, more talking to herself, and starts rummaging through boxes again. Her ability to act like she hasn’t just said some heinous shit to me amazes me.

I sit there in silence, feeling drained by her and…empty.

“Anyway, about Jared,” she starts again.Spare me, please. “He really would be much more forthcoming to you if you gave him a chance.”

I nearly laugh. “He quite literally hates me for who I am, Hope. You want me to give him achance? How?” I’m getting heated. The anger boils at the bottom of my stomach and I do my best to not let it reach my head. Especially with the kids in the earshot.

“Maybe he wouldn’t dislike you so much if you didn’t keep my children from me, you know? He’s a family man. He actually cares about that stuff.”

As long as those children are betas.

“Are you serious right now?” I finally turn to her, lifting my arm in an exaggerated gesture to point out that her kids are a few feet away right this moment.

She frowns, grimacing like a pouting child. “You know what I meant! Mac hasn’t spent a night here once. How can Jared—his stepdad—bond with him if he can’t even spend time with me without supervision? Like I’m some damn criminal and not his mother. The one who birthed him!” She raises her voice, tapping a finger against her chest.

I clench my teeth and exhale deeply through my nose.

---