Page 7 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
My shoes were by the door, my keys were already in my bag. If I had to, I’d go to the rink and work off my frustrations on the ice until my head cleared.
His phone lit up with texts.
Ris
Sorry you didn’t get the contract. If you want to stay with me instead of your dad, let me know. Love you.
It was like plunging into an ice bath.
“Who’s that?” My heart sank. Had he beencheatingon me? I wasn’t sure how else to take that text.
“That’s your fault, you know. If I’d gotten the contract, we could stay together. Now we can’t and I have to mate with an omega they chose. I wastedsomany years on you. I thought you were special, but you’re just some useless beta bitch.”
His words made me recoil.
“You don’t get to call me names. Do you honestly think our relationship was awaste?You didn’t think that when I was paying your tuition, makingyour food, and washing your underwear. When I put my goals, my dreams, on hold foryou.” The words turned bitter in my mouth.
How could he have kept all this from me? How did I not see it? No, I knew how I didn’t see it. Sometimes I was too tired to even finish my homework, let alone look to see if the man I trusted more than anyone was someone else.
“Sure, we had good times. But it doesn’t matter anymore. We can’t be together becauseI didn’t get a contract. You didn’t even end up being a fucking omega,” he spat.
There he went with the omega thing again. While sure, omegas were made for alphas, plenty of alphas married betas. Omegas were less than ten percent of the population to alphas, who were over a quarter, while betas were more than half.
“I never said I’d be an omega. People just thought that when we were in high school because I like fairy lights. I don’twantto be an omega. I… I thought you loved me.” All the life drained out of me as my voice broke. “I loved you. You were my everything.”
Tears pricked my eyes. I thought he was my forever alpha. My love. My one and only. I’dtrustedhim. Believed in him.
“I did love you. I wanted to be with you. Now I can’t. I told you, it’s over. There’s nowe,becauseI didn’t get a contract.Also, my family would eat you alive. With your pink hair, your clothes, your tattoos and nose piercing, and your manners. They didn't even fix your nose right the last time you took a puck to the face,” he sneered.
“It’s only hair. I can be fancy when I want to be.” I flinched. Most of it was intentional, including taking several pucks to the face.
I ducked under his muscular arm. He grabbed me by the back of the shirt and threw me into the living room. Not only did he work out a lot, but alphas were stronger and faster, with better reflexes, by nature. They were leaders and protectors. Betas were the average everyday people who got shit done.
All the air whooshed out of me as I hit the couch.
“You bitch,” he roared.
Red swam before my eyes as I tried not to let the force of his anger overpower me. While we’d fought, he’d never,everlaid a hand on me.
“That’s it. We’re over. Youdon’tget to touch me like that.” I peeled myself up off the floor, grabbing my phone and backpack.
That was my uncrossable line.
“Get back here,” he yelled, tripping over the table he’d thrown.
“We’re done.” Voice and body shaking, I shoved my feet into my shoes and unlocked the door. When I turned to get my hoodie off the hook, something hit me in the forehead, knocking me backwards.
Pain seared through my head as an object clattered to the ground.
An ice skate. He’d thrown a fucking skate at me. It felt like the blade nicked me. Shit.
Without waiting another moment, I slipped out the front door and ran down the apartment hallway, shoving my phone in the pocket of my ratty sweats, so I didn’t drop it. Sure, he was bigger than me, stronger.
But I wasfast.
“Where are you going?” he shouted down the hallway.
“You hit me, I’m out,” I yelled back, blood running into my eyes, which I wiped away. I had to get out of here. As much as leaving hurt, this wasn’t the man I loved.
