Page 12 of Love in Unexpected Places

None of that mattered now.He got to his feet, ready to leave, but Theo put a hand on his arm and got him to sit back down.“Do you have to go now?Is Sabrina already out of the house?”

“No.Her birthday is tomorrow, so she has a little time to pack her things.Our parents aren’t going to allow her to take much, though.”

“We’ll provide for her,” Chance said without hesitating.“She’s a pack member.She should have everything she needs.”

“She’ll probably have to finish high school,” Matty said cautiously.

“I’ll call the school and let them know.Will you be okay with her living with you?I know that with everyone coupling up, the house I assigned you initially is almost empty.”

“There’s enough space for her to have her own bedroom, so I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“Are you sure?Because I could assign you and your sister another house if you want privacy.”

It was overwhelming.Matty had gone from only having a few members of his ragtag family to having an entire pack, and while he knew that not every member cared about him, it was clear that Chance did.Maybe it was because Theo loved Matty, but it didn’t matter.Chance was doing everything right and saying all the right things, and Matty had to resist the urge to hug him.

Instead, he cleared his throat.“I haven’t seen her in four years.I don’t know how she’ll react when she sees me.”

“She contacted you, of all people,” Theo said softly.

“Because I don’t think she has anyone else.I mean, I guess she could go and stay with friends, but they probably still live with their parents, and we don’t have any other family.”

“Yet your parents still kicked both of you out.”

Matty shrugged.He’d made his peace with that, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy for Sabrina.“I don’t think they ever actually wanted to become parents.”

“Why did they have kids, then?”Theo shook his head.“I will never understand those kinds of people.”

“It was what was expected of them, I guess.Get married, have kids, things like that.They were young when my mother got pregnant with me, and I don’t blame them for not being ready to be parents.”

Theo’s expression was uncompromising.“There’s a difference between not being ready to be a parent and being a bad parent.Did they even try?Because to me, it feels like they did the bare minimum until you and your sister turned eighteen, and they could finally kick you out of the house.It shouldn’t be like that.Even if they didn’t want kids, they had two, and they should’ve done the decent thing and tried to be good parents.”

It wasn’t anything Matty hadn’t thought of before, but it felt weird to hear it coming from someone else.He liked that Theo was standing up for him, though.He kind of wished Theo would come with him when he picked up Sabrina.

Matty knew he’d have to confront his parents.He didn’t know if they would care, but he’d been waiting for four years.He’d always told himself that as long as they treated Sabrina right, he wouldn’t complain about what they’d done to him, but they were kicking Sabrina out, just like they had Matty.It was obvious that they had never wantedanykids, and the fact that they’d had two made Matty despise them a little bit more.

Maybe if it had only been him, he would have understood.He knew he’d been an accident and that his parents hadn’t meant to get pregnant.They’d been forced to get married because of him, so he could understand why they disliked him and didn’t want anything to do with him once they could avoid it.But Sabrina?They’d known better then.If they didn’t want her, they’d had options.Instead, they’d decided to have her.

Just like they’d decided to kick her out as soon as she turned eighteen.

If there were two people who deserved to be miserable, it was them.Unfortunately, Matty suspected that the fact that they didn’t have any responsibilities anymore meant they were happy.It was what they’d always wanted, wasn’t it?

“Matty?”Theo said cautiously.

Matty blinked and realized that Theo had probably been calling him for a while.He forced himself to smile, even though there was nothing to smile about.“I’m fine.”

“You’re not, but that’s okay.You don’t have to be fine.You don’t have to deal with any of this alone.”

“Thank you.”He looked at Chance.“I don’t know what I would have done if you’d refused to welcome Sabrina.”

“You won’t ever have to find out.As far as I’m concerned, she’s a pack member.”

This time, when Matty started getting up, Theo didn’t stop him.He looked worried, but Chance took his hand, and Theo relaxed again.

“I’ll leave tomorrow morning,” Matty said.“But I’ll call Sabrina to let her know what’s going on.She’ll be relieved to know that she won’t end up on the streets like I did.”

“Make sure to tell her that she’s welcome here,” Chance said with a smile.“I know this might not be what she wants or even what you wanted for her, considering the coven and everything else, but I’m happy to give her a place to call home.”

“Thank you.”Matty didn’t know what else to say.He was overwhelmed, but he had things to do.He wanted to call Sabrina and check in on her to make sure she was okay.He wanted to tell her everything that had happened and reassure her that no matter what, she’d be okay.He wanted to call his parents and yell at them for what they were doing.

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