Laughing felt…damned good.
Like he’d never laughed before.
Maybe they’d had semi-parallel childhoods. Him losing his father and growing up in a house with an abusive step-father and asshole step-brother, and her losing her parents and feeling she needed to fill shoes no one ever expected her to even own, much less step into.
Maybe they both needed to learn how to live.
“There you go, being all logical,” he teased, kissing her once more before releasing her and turning so he could step under the water. “We should hurry. I think the hot water’s almost gone.”
They quickly finished, dried off, checked on the baby—still asleep, thankfully—and headed to bed.
Dewi dropped off to sleep almost immediately.
Ken thought he was close behind her when echoes of past conversations with Peyton charged through his mind, and he remembered that, across the backyard, his brother-in-law was likely not having nearly as pleasant an evening as he and Dewi just enjoyed.
Good luck, dude. In all the ways.
Chapter Seventeen
Peyton
That could have gone worse, although I’m not sure how.
He stared out the airplane window, ignoring the flight attendant giving the pre-flight safety talk.
Gillian had, understandably, blown up last night when he told her he was flying out today. She’d even angrily taken the baby, locked herself in the unoccupied guest room, and refused to speak to him. He’d finally given up, packed, and left a little after midnight after trying to speak to her one last time.
Trent drove him to the Spokane airport. Other than covering a few details he needed Trent to stay on top of regarding mundane pack business, Peyton didn’t feel like talking.
Fortunately, older brother Trent wasn’t a ball-buster in this way. He knew this wasn’t a journey Peyton wanted to take, especially given the timing and circumstances, but Trent was the only one who would understand. He’d dropped Peyton at the airport and left to return home. Peyton retreated to an all-night coffeeshop and worked on his laptop until the airline’s ticket desk opened and he could check in and make his way to the gate for his commuter flight to Seattle, where he’d catch his flight to the UK.
Gillian wouldn’t respond to his texts or calls. Not even after he landed in Seattle.
He’d hoped to talk to her at least one more time before departure, but as his plane prepared to take off from Seattle, she was still giving him the silent treatment.
He sent Ken a text.
About to engage airplane mode. Please have Dewi check on Gillian for me. She’s not happy with me.
Ken responded a moment later with a thumbs-up emoji.
Peyton tried one last time and opened his ongoing text thread with Gillian.
I love you, baby. I’m sorry I have to take this trip. It’s Pack Alpha business.
He sent it and waited for a reply for as long as he could before switching his phone off.
No, he absolutely couldn’t have used his Prime on her to calm her down.
For starters, he swore he’d never do that to her. That he would never violate her consent. He hadn’t done that when he first met and immediately claimed her, either. Despite knowing he’d want to chew his own arm off if she’d said no to him, she threw herself at him, dragged him outside the restaurant she’d worked at and into their back alley, kissed him, and made the point about consent moot.
Thankfully.
Secondly, all that would accomplish would be to piss her off even more, because she’d know he manipulated her.
Third, it wouldn’t work to change her feelings about the situation, and she was rightfully entitled to those feelings.
How did Dad make this shit look so easy?
