Page 116 of Finding the Forward: Part One
Um, subject change much? But it was also welcome.
“Yes, usually international league. Egypt, France, Greece, and Manchester, mostly.” I took another drink of wine. “Though I only like Manchester to troll Mumsy.”
Grif laughed. “I love that. What did your sister call her? A twatwaffle?”
“Yep.” I’d never be brave enough to do that. I still couldn’t believe I’d told Mumsy off.
They’d all been blocked again. Well, except for Dad, who still texted me every day. Though now I replied. Mostly in photos. This morning, I’d sent him a photo of Dean’s bread.
“I mostly watch domestic league. But I follow Bucharest. I played hockey in Bucharest after university before I got signed to the Hurricanes. The hockey rink we used was in a facility with their indoor fútbol pitch, and I got to know them,” he told me, taking a bite of ziti. “Dean, this is so good.”
We finished the meal, mostly it was me and AJ talking about fútbol, with the other guys interjecting. Apparently, Jonas often watched it with him.
I brought out dessert–chocolate cupcakes and fruit tarts.
“When, Verity? When did you have time to make this, considering you attended Mercy’s away game last night?” Jonas stole a fruit tart. I’d been told they were his favorite.
“I made them this morning.” Which was part of why I hurt. Last night, the Maimers played the Boston Blockingjays. My brother Dare joined us and it was fun.
“It’s good.” AJ took a bite of cupcake. “Um, there’s a bar where I like to go watch fútbol. Maybe sometimes you can come with me?”
“I’d like that a lot. Thank you.” Maybe I could fix things with AJ after all.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
AJ
After thatincrediblydelicious picnic, courtesy of Dean and Verity, I leaned back into the table while the guys played flying disc. Despite the chill, the park was busy as families and packs spent time together, people exercised, and dogs played.
The guys were right, Verity wasnice.Freakishly nice. Also freakishly pastel. Even her coat wasbaby blue.
While she could still have an ulterior motive, I wasn’t convinced that she was bad. Jonas wouldn’t let her spend time with Dean if he thought she couldn’t be trusted.
She’d made amends with my sister and paid her debt. Grif loved me, wanted to be with me, and wouldn’t replace me with her. I also had gotten no indication from her that she was after that, either.
Verity probably made a fun person to watch fútbol with after a couple of beers.
She plopped down next to me in a cloud of anxiety. “I never meant to slight you. I hope you understand that I never meant any offense, Alpha AJ. Like I told Grif, I’m happy to step back or make concessions. If you uphold lead alphas in your pack, I won’t contest.”
“Jonas is head alpha.” My eyebrows rose.
She shook her head. “When someone has more than one alpha, sometimes one of them is lead, and they get... firstsies.”
“Firstsies?” Were we five?
“Before she went to jail, Mom was head alpha, but Mumsy was Dad’s lead alpha. So, when they disagreed, Mumsy would use her... privilege to get across her disapproval until Mom relented,” Verity replied.
“One mom used her status to cockblock the other until she got her way?” I laughed. “While I admire that level of petty, no, Jonas would absolutely be against something like that. He’d tell us to figure it out like grownups. He doesn’t do petty. JonaslockedGrif and me in the gym until we worked shit out.”
Why did I tell her that? But it was true.
He cared about us. It sounded like her alpha parents barely tolerated each other. No wonder the pack broke up.
“Work it out. Like fighting? I... I don’t know how to fight. The parents didn’t let any of us learn.” More anxiety wafted off her.
“Like bytalking.You don’t know any? Even self-defense?” I frowned. Pretty much every young alpha took some sort of fighting art. It was a good outlet for anger and hormones.
That was some power play, not letting your alpha kids learn to fight.
