"Why wouldn’t I want you? I’m letting myself believe that you’re my True Mate. There is no one else for me, Alex. There never was."
I squeeze my eyes shut, rubbing at them, fighting with myself about whether to say it, whether to ask what his judgment is of the whole stalker situation.
"There’s one thing I want to know," I begin with a trembling voice.
Right then the front door opens and Jared steps out toward the gate!
"Alex, everything okay?"
Damn, bad timing, but maybe it’s for the best. He saves me from myself. The question costs me too much.
I open the door and step out of the car even though it’s hard to stay upright, and Jared immediately grabs my hand. Bay watches me with intensity.
"Yes, the usual, just a bit of dizziness and weakness after the therapy, but otherwise I’m fine. Bay drove me today." I make an awkward gesture toward the driver.
"Oh, Bay?"
I see the surprise on Jared’s face, the last time he saw Bay was at my dad’s funeral.
It’s the same expression that I saw on Veyron’s face. Confusion, awkwardness, uncertainty. Right. I’m meeting with someone everyone knows is incompatible with me, and that’s bound to raise eyebrows. That’s just how ABO society works.
"Uh. Good to see you," he says, a little stunned as he glances between us.
"You too," Bay replies, though he doesn’t get out of the car. "I should get going, I have rehearsal tonight for the concert in two days."
"Of course, thank you for the ride."
Bay gives Jared a quick look, slightly… displeased that he’s still standing there, then says in a low, firm voice,
"Alex, one more thing. These past few weeks, I really couldn’t come by. I want you to know I wasn’t making excuses, my schedule was packed, and Eric would kill me if I didn’t show up at the recording studio."
I nod in understanding. "Sure, no problem… I really appreciate that you sent your brothers. They were very kind. You didn’t leave me without help, which was really caring."
I send him a shy smile, and hesitate.
Then I say it out loud. "You never left me without help." I put emphasis on those words and send him a meaningful glance.
Bay does not react, his face hard to decipher, but his quickening pulse betrays him.
We say goodbye with a nod.
He drives off while I head inside, feeling Jared’s watchful eyes on me.
"Wow, I didn’t know you two are seeing each other again and that there’s still so much… chemistry. The air was practically sparking."
For now, I don’t want to tell Jared what the real purpose of my desensitization therapy is, I don’t tell that to anyone. Everyone gets the official version that it’s just a basic anti-allergy treatment and they accept it easily because everyone knows my health issues.
We go into the living room and Jared, who has been feeding Tommy in his high chair, returns to what he was doing. While he was gone Tommy managed to knock over his bowl of soup, so I start wiping it off the floor.
"Leave it, I’ll handle it," Jared says with embarrassment as he nearly snatches the cloth from my hands, "you’re weak, sit down," and he takes my arm and guides me to the couch, where I collapse.
Jared stands there for a moment shifting from foot to foot, his beautiful, sculpted face uneasy.
"I admit I’m surprised to see Bay here, getting in touch with him…" He hesitates briefly. "Isn’t that a kind of… self-torture? You know you two can’t be together."
I swallow hard, and avert my eyes.
"He just… helped me, no strings attached," I mutter.
