Page 13 of Perfect Alpha

Fucking Britt.

The memory makes me grit my teeth in annoyance, both at him and myself. If I hate him so much, why do I care who he’s sleeping with?

I don’t.

Except that I really, really do.

I yank a sweater out of the closet so hard the hanger goes flying. When I bend to pick it up, I drop it three times before replacing it on the metal rail that my dad spray painted pink when I was going through a Barbie phase.

“Everything okay?” Hannah asks softly.

But I can’t answer her. I’m lost in a suffocating memory.

My best friend had no issues with me and Cade dating. I fell in love with him when I was a gangly little girl and he was a cool and sophisticated teenager.

He didn’t give me the time of day back then and barely acknowledged my existence unless it was to tease me or make a snide comment.

When I graduated from high school at the tender age of eighteen, Cade was hanging out at the same party as me and my friends. There was no better way to kill time in our sleepy little town than a good old-fashioned ripper.

Like a series of vignettes, the moment everything changed between us and made my life irrevocably different plays in my mind’s eye just to torture me. I can see the second he realized I wasn’t a little girl anymore, like an observer having an out-of-body experience.

I was climbing out of the pool in a barely-there bikini, water dripping down the curves that I was building in the gym.

And I caught Cade staring at me with his jaw gaping open as his gaze delivered shivers straight down my spine.

Cocky as ever, he closed the distance between us, locking his arms around my waist. That’s when he kissed me for the first time, and it was in front of everyone we knew. Loud cheers erupted with Hannah’s voice clear as day hooting, “Finally!”

“I knew it,” Cade whispered, hotly against my neck.

“What… what… do you… you… mean?” I managed, my entire body trembling.

Dreaming about this moment for years didnothingto prepare me for being flush against his rock hard body. His rapt attention was fixated on my face, and his big, powerful hands were greedy and possessive on my bare skin, setting every synapse on fire.

“Tasting you once will not be enough.” The arrogant smirk on his face was hot as hell, and the memory of the butterflies swarming in my stomach can still steal my breath. “Victory, I will not be able to let you go.”

And for a while, he didn’t.

Hannah was thrilled that her two favorite people were an item, and she was convinced I was going to become her real sister when Cade finally popped the question. Of course, I would say yes, and we’d start a family together.

Everything was all set.

Instead, the universe laughed in my face.

My throat aches from the remembered cruelty I learned Cade was capable of, and I wrench myself back to the present.

Moving away from Montana was the best decision I ever made. Cade probably hasn’t even noticed my absence with the revolving door of women he’s had ever since.

“I’m good,” I promise.

Hannah doesn’t look convinced, and her eyes are full of so much sympathy that I wince. Am I that obvious? God, I hope Cade can’t tell.

Aidan reaches his arms up, and I obediently carry him downstairs. Hannah’s hair is long, but ever since having Aidan, it’s almost always tied back. When toddler fists roughly clench my curls and tug in fascination, I’m reminded exactly why.

“Ouch! Aidan,no. Don’t hurt Auntie Victory,” I scold.

Hannah comes behind me and catches my hair in a spare clip. “Sorry about that. He’s the hair monster.” She opens the front door, and I follow her outside with Aidan giggling in my arms.

“Pretty hair!” Aidan squeals with glee, and I can’t help but laugh, too.

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