She looks over at me and beams, curious about what I think of the idea. “I’d like to get the whole fraternity down here sometime, but I already give them so many extracurriculars to do. It’d have to be on their own terms.”
“Understood,” she says, then looks over at Honey. “I’ll be right back.”
She leaves Atlas and me to speak to the owner with a new brightness in her step. When I look over, her prime is watching her with pride in his eyes.
“Thank you again, Sam,” Atlas says in a low tone. “Stacia’s been struggling lately, remembering where she came from. Therapy helps, of course, but I knew this would help, too. Lighten her spirits.”
I understand that more than anyone, but I can see the worried expression on his face, the heaviness that’s trying to stay below the surface. “She’s not the only one struggling, is she?” I ask.
He doesn’t fold, though, only gives me a gentle shrug. “I just keep thinking her parents might try to find her again. She’s doing so well with moving on, I can’t watch her go through the emotional rollercoaster with them again.”
I nod, remembering back to that awful day. We don’t talk about it much because it’s not a good memory to reminisce on, but it’s in the past. And I say as much.
“I just wanted to say thank you, again. Seriously, if youhadn’t done what you did—” He swallows. “I don’t know where we would be. Or where our omega would be.”
That day will forever be etched into my brain. It may have been a monumental point in their story, but it affected me just as deeply. Hearing her parents threaten to kidnap their own daughter and force her to marry who they want, it was like I was thirteen again, visceral hate directed at me with entitled rage. The weight of their hands tugging me into the car against my will and dropping me off somewhere completely new and foreign to me. All because I finally had the courage to tell them who I really was.
If it wasn’t for my grandma, there’s no telling where I would be right now.
I shake my head of the memory and turn back to my friend. “You would have done the same thing for me,” I remind him.
“But I didn’t?—”
“You were too close to the situation, At. It was hard to see the answer. I wasn’t, so I did. So if it were me, you would have done it. It’s as simple as that.”
His lips curved with amusement. “As simple as that, huh?”
“Precisely,” I confirm. “You need to stop beating yourself up over something that’s no longer in your control. It’s done, At. Your life with her has begun.”
He sighs. “Still, Sam. You’re the best of us. You showed me what it really means to be a prime that day. So, thank you.”
I take in the words, and they sink heavily in my stomach. Every day, I try to be the best prime I can be, but I still feel like I’m coming up short. My busy schedule (mainly my internship) keeps me from being home with my omega. Kit sits there by himself more times than not, and it makes me feel sick. Not to mention, the tension between Thatcher and Kit is something that I cannot maneuver in any way. They haven’t told me, butI’m pretty sure that they’ve exhausted their attempts at getting to know each other.
Despite that, I can’t shake the feeling that they’re meant to be together. I’m not sure if it’s wishful thinking or some kind of instinct that keeps pushing me to ignore it until they figure it out, but I hate it being so unspoken. It’s necessary, I think, but it makes me feel like we’re a broken pack. And I’m theprimeof that broken pack.
I think I’m failing them.
Stacia and Honey walk over, and the omega has a tiny sheen in her eyes. “It’s time to get lunch. Would you like to join us?” she asks me.
I give a sincere smile. “I appreciate that, but I’d like to get back to my omega.”
My two friends say farewell, and when they get out to the parking lot, Honey turns to me. “You have some quality friends there, Samson. I’m glad, too, to know there are good people out there supporting you,” she says, giving me a soft smile. “Do they know how much they mean to you? Have you thought about letting them in?”
I swallow roughly. “Ah, Honey. They don’t want to know how messed up my life almost was.”
She tsks at me. “Just because something saved you doesn’t mean what happened doesn’t exist. It’s the reason why you do everything you do today. Maybe they’d like to know that.”
The unexpected emotion catches in my throat, and I swallow it down. “Thank you, Honey.” She reaches up to hug me, and I let her, only lingering for a second. I pull back, grab the check I signed this morning, and place it in her hand as she holds mine.
When she sees the amount on it, her eyes widen. “You need to stop doing this, Sam,” she reprimands me, but there’s no true fierceness in her voice. I see what it means,how much it can help. “You need to start saving some money for your life with your pack.”
“There’s more money than I know what to do with,” I remind her. “And because of where it came from, it deserves to be given to people who need it.”
She puts the folded-up check to her chest, right against her heart. “Well, thank you. You’re too good for this world, my little apple.”
TWENTY
Playing: “Warm” by Ariana Grande
