Page 64 of Patiently Yours
“Stacia.” Uriah’s tone has her looking over at him, and whatever she sees in his face causes her to sigh.
“Texts. From Derek.”
Alpha fury immediately fills the room.
“I thought you blocked him,” Ciro comments, trying be the one with a level-head
“I did,” she says, “but he keeps finding ways to message me. It’s a new number every few days.”
I put my hand out. “Let me see them.”
She stares at my hand, then back at me. She almost looks guilty, which puts me on edge.
“Stacia, please. Let me understand.”
She relents. Her phone is on the coffee table after she dug it out of her pocket the night before. She hands it to me before sitting down and putting her head in her hands.
My first thought when I open her messages is ‘jesus fucking christ.’ Her messages are riddled with text threads from unknown numbers, spanning back to weeks ago.Sometime after I ran into him on campus,I realize. And there’s new texts, ones that she muted from last night. Her last text was telling of her frustration.
No wonder she relapsed.
I curse under my breath before I hand it off to Kendall and go to kneel in front of her.
“Stacia, baby.” I gently lower her hands. When she doesn’t look at me, I put my thumb and forefinger on her chin and softly move her head so our eyes can meet head on. “He’s spouting bullshit.”
“It may be bullshit but some of it is rooted in truth.”
Behind me, I hear Kendall curse under his breath while reading the messages.
“What truth?” I ask her, trying to gauge her train of thought.
She shrugs. “I did immediately start seeing you. It was so quick. What does that say about me?”
“That you found yourscent matches,” Uriah growls. I turn to see that he now has her phone in hand. He puts it on a nearby table after giving it a look of disgust.
“Us being scent matches doesn’t take away my free will,” she argues. “I was still selfish enough to take it, even though my old relationship had barely been over.”
I cut in. “Derek is trying to control you, angel. You know how I know? Because Itoldhim you were my scent match. He’s grasping at straws because he knows what that means, he knows the severity of it, and that pisses him off.”
She looks surprised. I guess none of those menacing texts let her in on the fact that he knew. He only wanted to make her feel bad, and it looks like he’s succeeded.
Stacia stubbornly shakes her head again. “That may be true, but my parents used to say the same stuff about me. That must meansomething, right?Imust be the problem. And if I am, I can’t let my bad habits mess with you guys, too. I won’t let it.”
“Stacia.” She looks at Ciro, hearing the sadness in his voice. “Why are you trying to push us away?”
Her mouth gapes open. “I… I’mnot, I just… everything is soconfusing.”
Kendall comes up beside me. “Baby, you’re coming down off of molly right now, your serotonin levels are going to be up and down for a while. Things might feel a bit confusing, but we care about you. Everything is okay.”
“No.” She stands up, rushing to step away from us. “No,no. Stop being supportive. Stop telling me that it’s okay, it’snotokay. None of this is okay, and you don’t deserve any of it.”
“Doe—”
“No, Ciro. Don’t you see? Everyone in my life is right about me. Derek is right. My parents are right. I’m selfish, and I take too much. I don’t deserve a good thing. I’m not a good girlfriend, or a good omega, and I don’t deserve a pack like yours.”
Deep growls emanate from all of us, even Ciro with a strong beta growl. “Stacia, they arenot.”
“Yes, theyare,” she snaps. “I’ve always been spacey, forgetful,mindless. I’m not good at relationships, I fucking forget everything important.”
