Chapter 67 Are we playing or not?

Chapter 67 Are we playing or not?
CLAIR

The breakfast was fine. Nothing weird happened. But I could tell they were holding back. Like they wanted to talk about something real but could not because I was sitting right there.

So they stuck to pack stuff. Business. Interesting enough, sure. But I felt like I was keeping them from the actual reason they had come over.

The second I finished eating, I got up. Went to my room. Brushed my teeth. Changed into my jeans. Slipped on my sneakers. Then headed out.

They were still in the kitchen when I came back in. Talking. But they went quiet the moment they saw me.

I walked over and kissed my dad on his forehead. Smiled at him. Smiled at the Beta too. Then I left.

"Where are you going? Daycare?"

Arel followed me outside. His voice was soft. A little worried too.

"No. The city," I said, not stopping until I got to my truck. Only then did I turn around.

"I am coming with you." His voice came out low. His eyes were soft on me.

"No. Dad wanted to talk to you. I will be fine." I smiled. Reached out and rubbed his chest a little. Brushed off some bread crumbs from his shirt.

"Are you sure?" His lips pressed together. He was watching me carefully.

"Yes, sir!" I said right away. Took my hand off him.

His forehead wrinkled up. I glared at him.

"I am not meeting someone!" I snapped.

"At least take my Beta. He will not bother you." He tilted his head toward the house. Beta Finn.

And just like that, the Beta came strolling out. Humming. Walking all casual around us to the passenger side.

"I can drive if you want," Beta Finn called out.

I rolled my eyes at Arel. Did not even look at the Beta. "I will drive. My truck. My rules. By the way, there was a dead deer at your front door earlier."

He gave me that warm smile. Hands in his pockets. He looked excited actually. "That was for you."

"For what reason?" I raised my eyebrow.

"We will talk about it later. Better go now so you can come home early." His hand went to the end of my hair by my shoulder. He twisted it gently between his fingers.

"Okay." I nodded. Gave him a weak smile.

Arel took a deep breath. Raised his hand and ran his thumb over my cheek. "Be careful. I will see you later."

I nodded again. Then he leaned down and pecked me on the lips.

My eyes went wide. I stepped back and climbed into my truck. My feelings were all over the fucking place. Did he just kiss me outside my house? Out in the open? Right in front of his Beta? Did my dad see that?

He came closer to the side of the car. I felt like he wanted to say something else. But I started the engine and hit the gas. Sped off onto the road. Did not look at him even once.

"Holy shit! What was that?" The Beta laughed while holding onto his seat. He pretended to be scared. "Slow down! You can not drive this fast here. You will get in trouble!"

"Who is going to do that? The Alpha? This is his fault I sped up!" I answered way too loud. But I slowed down anyway. Got to the normal speed limit.

I took a deep breath. Let my shoulders drop. "I just do not understand your Alpha. One minute he is cold. Then he is hot. He suffocates me sometimes. Then ignores me after. And you want to know the worst thing he did?" I glanced at him quick. Then looked back at the road.

The Beta stayed quiet. So I kept going.

"I can handle all the manipulation. The hot and cold temper. But he accused me of opening my legs and fucking Cyrus just to keep Cyrus around." My eyes started to burn. But I tried not to cry.

"Then when I told him I wanted to talk about it, he said there was no need. Like it did not matter. I am not trying to say I am innocent here. But he knows I never had another man before him. And he still..." The words stopped. I just stayed quiet.

The Beta sighed next to me. "He would have felt it if you had done it. You know that."

My eyes went wide. Tears fell down my face as I turned to look at him. "I forgot about that. You know, whenever he is around, I can not think straight. So maybe he realized that? And instead of telling me, he kept me guessing. Made me try to find ways to prove I did not do anything. Fuck him!"

"This is all new to him." He said it sudden.

"What do you mean?"

"Everything you make him feel. He does not know how to react to it."

I bit my lip. My head hurt from trying to find any reason for how he acts. "This is so unfair."

"You love him." His voice was quiet.

"Why are you even asking that?"

"I am not asking. I am telling you."

"What? You are confusing me, Beta."

"You have liked him since we were kids. Maybe you did not know it. But you always picked him over all of us. Everyone knows it. Me, Ethan, Silas, Dylan, Damien, and Arel. We all knew."

"What? You talked about me? And who is Dylan?" My nose scrunched up. I did not look at him this time.

I tried to ignore that he just said I liked Arel even back then. Even though it was true. I just did not know it was that obvious.

"Damien's older brother. Same age as the Alpha. But he moved away when he found his mate." He stopped for a second. Let me take that in. "But to answer your question, we talked about it once. Arel ordered us not to talk about it again. And we never did. Now I think he used the Alpha command back then. And he was young."

He laughed a little. Shook his head. I kept my eyes on the road.

"We teased him one time. About how you would always pass the ball to him whenever we played. Only to him. Even if I was standing right in front of you, begging you for it, you would run to his side or bump into everyone else. Break all the rules just so Arel could have the ball and score. You only saw him. Even if you did not know it. Arel probably felt it too. But he did not want you to pull away from him or feel uncomfortable. So he made us stop talking about it."



FLASHBACK

Arel, 11 YEARS OLD
Finn, Ethan, Silas, 9 YEARS OLD
CLAIR, 7 YEARS OLD
DYLAN, 11 YEARS OLD
DAMIEN, 10 YEARS OLD

Finn

"Come on! Let us play. I only have two hours before I have to go back to that stupid study hall!" Arel blew air out of his mouth. Threw his hands up. Broke up the fight between Dylan and Damien.

Dylan shot a death glare at Damien. Then picked up the soccer ball. Got himself in position outside the line. Everyone else went back and got ready to keep playing.

The game went fine for a few minutes. Then she showed up. Again. This time I was carrying a bag of cookies.

"Not again! Time out!" Ethan slapped his own forehead. Called us over. Then walked to his sister and stopped right in front of her so she could not come any closer.

"You are not coming here, Clair. Go home!" He crossed his arms. Towered over little Clair.

"No! I want to play. I brought cookies!" She smiled real big at her brother. Held the plastic bag up to his face.

"No. Not today. Go play with your barbies. That is what girls play with." He shook his head. Turned her little body the other way.

"No. All their legs are missing already. I can not play with them if they have no legs!" She huffed. Turned back around. Scowled.

Arel laughed a little and shook his head. Picked up the ball. "Are we playing or not? I have to leave soon."

Ethan threw an uneasy look at all of us. Then looked at his sister again. "Find some girls to play with. You can join next time. I promise." He said it real smooth. Hoping she would agree.

Pink spread across her small face. Her lips started to push out. Her eyes got wet. Little Leona was putting on her show again.

I sighed.

Pretty soon she started to sniffle. Then sob. Then came the little hiccups. If this kept going, she would be crying her eyes out.

"Again!" I groaned. I knew what happened every time she did this.

And I was right.

"Let her join. I will take her on my team." Arel said it calm. Like it was nothing.