Page 110 of Begrudgingly Yours
“Everything is fine. I’m staying with Cindy.” She sees the disgusted look on my face and laughs. “I promise, I’m okay. Let’s not talk about this right now, it’s your birthday! It’s time to celebrate.”
“Fine,” I relent. “But wewillbe talking about it as some point. You can’t stay there forever.”
“I’m going to get the cake,” Kendall announces before he dashes off.
Uriah grunts as Stacia laughs. When I raise a brow at them, she explains. “Kendall’s been really excited about the cake.”
He comes in a few moments later with a big layered cake on a platter.
I gasp when I see it. It’s a beautiful red cake with beautiful cherry blossoms around the edges. In the center is a film slate with my name written in the margin.
“Holy fuck, Kendall.” I gape at it in shock. “It’s beautiful!”
My best friend’s alpha’s smile turns giddy at the praise. “Thank you. I’m really glad you like it. It has a cherry jam filling. Stacia said cherry is your favorite.”
I try not to look at Dax but my eyes go to him. As expected, he’s holding in his laughter and trying not to be too overt with his naughty reaction.
“It is,” I respond, not looking away from Dax. “We’re not putting candles in it, are we? It would ruin the icing.”
Ciro laughs. “No way. Kendall says it’s a cardinal sin.”
“But, we will be singing happy birthday so you can sit there awkwardly and take in the love,” Stacia adds, chuckling when she sees the horrified look on my face.
The rest of them laugh at that, and the combined sound of it sends a feeling of warmth right through me. Being here, with all my friends and mates, was the perfect way to spend today.Their acceptance and humor and unconditional support are everything to me.
I look at my mates and see they are all already looking at me. A flutter of something zips through me, and my love for them grows when I didn’t think it was possible. I see a peek of our future where it keeps growing and I keep making room for that growth. It doesn’t feel scary anymore. It’s exciting and riveting in the best possible way.
“Are you ready for your presents, twilight?”
I don’t answer. I just kiss him openly and brazenly, for all of our friends to witness. He melts into it right away, because this thing between us has always been cut and dry for him. My scent match kisses me while our pack snickers behind us, and it’s the happiest I have ever been.
EPILOGUE
10 Years Later
“I can’t believe it’sthisclose,” Opal squeals from my phone. I can almost hear her fingers working through her crochet needles as she looks for the perfect one. “This process was so long. Auditions, contract-negotiations, costume fittings. You haven’t even started filming yet and you’re probably already exhausted.”
Isn’t that the damn truth.The adaptation of Stacia’s hit series starts next week and I’ve been signed as the lead heroine for a while now. I feel like I already know the ins and outs of the character and I’m beyond excited to get started. Still, it’s nerve-wracking to be playing the character that my best friend literally spawned from her imagination.
The best thing about being involved in Stacia’s project is that it’s set right here in Massachusetts, so we don’t have any reason to move for the duration of filming. Dax is a menace when it comes to buying homes—just like his parents are—so we have temporary homes in all the major acting cities just incase Jett and I get a role where we need to move, but it’s not necessary right now. Stacia set her novel in the same town as Bensen, so we get to stay cozy and my omega gets to have a little more time with her nest before we consider getting a job somewhere else.
Not only me, but Jett could get a role any second. He’s been booking non-stop since college and I’m glad he finally has a bit of a break right now. There’s no worse burnout than a burnout from something you love.
Or a creative block. I knock on our wooden end table to prevent any of that energy from hitting me before the most important month of my life.
I’m just glad I get to see Opal soon. It’s been too long since I’ve hugged her or Stacia. Not to mention my god-daughter and the second little one that’s on the way.
“Don’t talk to me about exhausted. I can barely handle our pets, I don’t know how you handle being responsible for twenty-five childrendaily.”
“They’re better behaved than you’d think. If they’re not, there’s always a reason for it. Children are always trying to find a way to communicate.”
At her words, an altercation carries all the way to me in the home office.
“You are literally the most dramatic of all of us, and we’re actors!” Jett yells.
“And I was birthed from an actor, a flair for dramatics is literally in mygenes,” Dax quips back.
I swallow down the snort that threatens to come out at the children trying to communicate in the other room. “Opal, I may need to call you back. They’re arguing about who’s more dramatic again.”
