Page 1 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

1

AVERY

“How much longer, Mom?” Ashton asked.

“Another ten, fifteen minutes,” I said as the Georgia wilderness streamed by on either side of the highway.

“Great,” he said, his voice laced with the sarcasm only a fourteen-year-old boy could conjure.

“You might really like it,” I said. “You never know.”

Instead of answering, he sighed, reached over, and turned the radio on.

“When Moses came down from the mountain, he saw that his people had turned away from God?—”

He rolled his eyes and changed the station.

“Job knew that God loved him, even as his life fell apart around him. That’s how we should all?—”

“Oh my god, Mom, don’t they have music in Georgia?” he asked, turning the radio over to Bluetooth and syncing his phone. “Is that all that’s on the radio down here?”

I shrugged. “It’s the South. What can I say?”

“Harbor Mills does at least have cell service and Wi-Fi, right?” He looked beseechingly at me. “I don’t know that I can survive otherwise.”

Reaching over with my free hand, I ruffled his hair and made a pouty face. “Aww, is Mr. Man going to die without his social media?”

Laughing, he swatted my hand away. “Maybe. I want to be able to text my friends and stuff.”

It had been a while since he’d laughed, and hearing it now warmed my heart. There hadn’t been much laughter after what happened a couple days before. The bruise on my cheek and Ashton’s black eye were fading, but they were still stark reminders of what went down. As Ashton’s eyes slipped down to my cheek, his smile faded, and he turned to gaze out the window as his music began to play over the speakers.

I never thought it would come to this. Never, in amillionyears, would I have believed I’d be going back to Harbor Mills. But Perry had made damn sure I had no other option.

I could still see it, like it was happening that very moment. Ashton was supposed to play a basketball game, and I’d told my fiancé Perry we’d be back in three hours since the team was going for pizza after the game. He’d kissed me goodbye, and all had been well.

Little did I know thirty minutes later, my whole life would be flushed down the toilet.

Halfway to the gym, Ashton’s coach called to let us know that both referees assigned to the game had come down with a stomach virus, so the game was being postponed until the following Wednesday. The news had disappointed us both—Ashton really wanted to play, and I loved seeing him happy on the basketball court—but we made the best of it and picked up Chinese food, then went home to surprise Perry.

What afuckingsurprise that had been.

I’d heard the moaning and panting the second I stepped into the house. Before it had even registered what I was hearing, my stomach sank, and the food tumbled from my hand as I rounded the foyer to find my soon-to-be husband—Ashton’s soon-to-be stepfather—balls-deep in the next-door neighbor’s wife, Shawna.

She saw me first, shrieking in surprise as she threw an arm across her breasts.

“What the fuck are you doing home?” Perry demanded, hastily pulling his pants back up.

“Excuse me? What do you thinkyou’redoing, Perry? Jesus fucking Christ.”

Shawna, having managed to get fully dressed in record time, sprinted out of the house, rushing past a gape-mouthed Ashton.

“Don’t you raise your goddamn voice to me!” Perry bellowed, pointing a finger at me, looking as though he’d caughtmefucking someone else instead of the other way around.

“We aredone, Perry,” I said, tears filling my eyes. All the things I’d hoped for were suddenly slipping away.

“Who are you talking to right now?” Perry hissed, grabbing my arm and digging his fingers into the soft flesh until I squealed in pain. “You don’t talk to me like that.”

His free hand swung forward, crashing into my cheek. Hot, searing pain burst across my face. My lower lip split, and a high-pitched whine began in my ear as I fell to the ground, clutching my cheek and gasping in pain.

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