Raven moans when her lips close around the fork and the flavors hit her tongue. Her eyes roll closed as she chews and swallows. Oh fuck, yes. She makes another humming noise before opening her eyes and taking another bite.
To keep from jumping across the table and kissing her, I shove a generous forkful of the pasta in my mouth and nearly choke on the overly large bite. When I’m sure I’m not at risk of dying, I concentrate on the flavors and nearly moan. My next words are muffled from the food I’m still chewing. “Fuck, this is good, birdie. Excellent job.”
We don’t talk while we eat, both too wrapped up in the incredible flavors of the dish. Once our plates are clean, Raven eyes the massive envelope.
I hand it to her, as tired of waiting as she is.
She takes the package and tears open the top, pulling out the stack of papers inside. I spent a good portion of the afternoon before our game at the office center in the Olympic Village printing out each page. I cross my fingers, hoping this helps her understand.
“They’re letters,” I say in explanation even though I’m sure she can see that.
She flips through the stack. “They’re all to me.” Her nose wrinkles as she continues turning pages. “How did you have time to write all these in the past few days?”
“I’ve been writing these since the summer after high school.”
Raven stiffens, her hands stilling, no longer shifting the papers.
“Every time I felt frustrated that I couldn’t track you down or get ahold of you, I’d write a letter.”
“There was a reason I changed my phone number.” She glares at me, and I suddenly remember the multiple times I prank called her in high school and the two times I drunk dialed her and probably said some very inappropriate things, although the details are fuzzy.
“Read,” I say, wanting to brush off the memory. That’s not what I want her to be thinking about right now.
She scans the pages with a deepening frown. “They’re not in order,” she says as she flips through the stack.
“I rearranged them.” I tap the top page. “That one’s from the day Rhodes told us about his bullies. I already regretted how we’d treated you, but that day I got a little peek into what it might have felt like for you. I’ve worked hard ever since that day to make sure no one ever feels like that again—not while I’m around.”
“I’m glad,” she whispers, staring down at the pages. “But… it still hurts.”
The pain in her voice washes over me, flooding through our weak bond and settling in an ache in my chest. “I know, birdie.” I drop out of my seat and kneel beside her, taking her hands. “Let me spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please. I’ll never again fail to stand up for you and protect you.”
She slowly draws her hand back out of mine. “You don’t need to protect me—you can’t really, not fromeverything. You just need to be kind. That’s all. Just kind.” There are tears in her eyes.
“Oh, birdie. I’m gonna do so much better than kind.” I turn over her hands and kiss each palm. “I’m gonna love the shit out of you.”
49
RAVEN
“Is there something you need to tell us?” Harriett shoves her phone in my face before I can react or even shut the door to my hotel room. We were just on our way to meet them in the restaurant downstairs when they ambushed us.
I blink at the screen and see the pictures we took in front of the mural, but they’re not the ones of just me. It’s the one of Vann spinning me around, Orion looking on in the background with hearts in his eyes.
“How did they get these?” I ask.
“There were plenty of people around,” Harriett says, brushing off the question. She scrolls up to the top of the article. There’s another picture, this one of me and Foster holding hands as we left the hotel to go to my doctor’s appointment. There’s also one of Orion and me coming out of the arena after our date. His arm is around my shoulders and he’s leaning in to whisper in my ear. There’s even one of Vann kissing my cheek in this very hall just last night.
The headline reads:Alpha Obsessed Omega Ruins Her Shot at Medaling
“What’s going on, Raven?” Coach Ana asks.
I can hear Foster gathering his things in the room behind me, sense him getting closer.
“Are you feeling alright?” Harriett asks when I remain silent too long, head quirking to the side. There’s something in her tone I can’t quite place. Does she suspect I’m nearing a heat? Should I tell them?
“Give us a minute,” Coach Ana says to Foster before reaching past me and closing the door in his face, leaving him on one side and me on the other.
“Hey!” I reach for the handle, but she’s still holding it.
