Chapter 76 All In One
Kristen's POV
"Ben!" I yell his name.
Slowly, Ben stops and whirls around in my direction. Upon noticing it's me, his good mood instantly drops and I totally understand him. He has every right to be upset.
He doesn't utter any word but he takes long strides until he's standing in front of me. Thankfully Maddy and Sapphire aren't here with me. They're both having different courses by this hour, which leaves me alone.
"How have you been?"
"Why do you even care?" His voice is low, bitter.
"Because you're my friend?" My reply comes out sounding like a question because I never thought of him like that.
"I don't want to be your friend, Kristen," he growls, attempting to sidestep me. But I hold his hand to stop him because things might have been rough between us, but I still care for him in my own way.
"I am so sorry, Ben," this apology isn't even about what happened at Calhoun's fake funeral but everything he's ever been through because of me.
"It doesn't change anything," Ben snatches his hand away from my grasp.
"I know, but I do feel bad," I follow suit upon seeing him walking away.
"You were aware, made me believe he was dead and I was stupid enough to think we'd have a chance to be together," Ben pauses and shakes his head.
"I couldn't tell the truth, Ben," Fumbling with my hands, I defend myself.
"And so you hurt my feelings," he continues walking as if I don't even exist but I don't relent in following him.
"It was never intentional. You kept coming and I couldn't turn you away," I explain.
"Do you even know how it feels to like someone and know you can't have them?" Ben almost yells.
Thank God he didn't say love, or else I would have felt twice as bad as I already do.
"I wanted to make you mine, Kristen. You would have ruled beside me as Luna over our pack, but it seems you want something bigger. Your mother's husband."
Ben's words slice deep through me and my mind instantly flashes back to Mom who's still at the pack hospital, taking treatments.
"I don't want to be around you, Kristen. Nor do I want to be friends with you," this is Ben's last remark before he walks out on
me.
Feeling completely out of place, I rub the side of my arm.
And he'll hate me even more if he finds out I am carrying Calhoun's child. So it's best to just let him go.
After taking the last course for the day, my friends are with me, strolling out of campus.
"I talked to Ben," I blurt out in the middle of our discussion about our upcoming final exams.
"About what?" They turn to face me.
"I wanted to get on his good side because I know he was already upset," I explain.
"It's not so easy, Ben wanted to date you," says Sapphire, who seems to be more observant than Maddy.
"No," I shake my head, "he wanted us to get married right after graduation so I could be his Luna."
My friends burst into peals of excitement upon hearing this from me.
"I can't believe two Alphas are head over heels for you," Maddy gushes, fanning herself with her fingers.
"Gah, I'm already so jelly," Sapphire fakes anger.
"But you know it's not possible to be with Ben because of Calhoun," I make this known to them.
"Would you have accepted his proposal if Calhoun wasn't in the picture?" Sapphire pops this question.
"I don't know," I respond uselessly.
"You know you do," Sapphire snickers.
Chuckling, I keep my mouth shut. And I contemplate on breaking the news to my friends. They are already aware of the engagement because they were present when Calhoun slid the ring into my finger.
"What's that look on your face?" Sapphire's face stretches into a frown.
"Yeah, why do you seem odd?" Maddy adds.
"Guys, I have something to tell you," My steps falter and they stop as well.
"Looks like you do," Sapphire observes.
"I'm pregnant."I blurt out.
"What!?" They exclaim in unison.
"I said I'm pregnant," Heat is already crawling on my cheeks.
"Christ, you have a baby in you?" The look on Maddy's face is as if I came from an extrinsic place.
Swallowing hard, I nod.
"Oh my god, I can't believe this is real. You're carrying a child inside of you."
"Is it Calhoun's?" Sapphire stops from jubilating to raise a questioning brow at me.
"Yes."
"OMFG!" Maddy bursts into this squeal of excitement and wraps me in a warm embrace. Even Sapphire completes the hug. "Have you told him?"
"I did three days ago."
"How did he react?"
They're talking non-stop in loud voices that people are even shifting their gazes in our direction.
"I've never seen him so happy before," I rasp out, holding the straps of my backpack.
"You're official Calhoun's wife and Luna," they shout at the top of their lungs, attracting stares from fellow students
"Keep your voices down, I don't want anyone to find out until after graduation," I snap, glaring from one friend to the other. "Yeah, right. They'll still know anyway," Maddy has this sheepish grin on her face.
"So are you two already making marriage preparations?" She comes again with this question.
"I'm currently not speaking with Calhoun," this comes out before I can even stop myself. Shit.
"Why?" They chorus after exchanging a confused glance.
"Mom isn't in a good condition,"
"What do you mean?"
"Calhoun got over excited at the news and gave my mom divorce papers to sign and then she fainted."
"Christ, that was just.." Maddy stops herself before concluding what she had to utter.
"I can't be with him right now. I don't even care about his issue with my mom, it doesn't change anything..she brought me into this world and I can't sit back and watch her lose herself."
"So what will you do?" Maddy asks with concern in her eyes.
"I don't know, the situation is intricately twisted and I'm avoiding Calhoun for sure," I reply with a sigh.
"But you're carrying his baby," Maddy points out.
"He wanted us to live together, away from his home but I refused," I say.
"I'm starting to think you're doing too much," Sapphire speaks up after staying silent for a minute.
"No, you two cannot understand because neither of you is in my shoes. She's my mom. I've hurt her way too much." I state.
"So you're leaving Calhoun?" Sapphire searches my face.
"I never said so," I reluctantly reply.
"Well, that's what you're implying," Sapphire points out and Maddy nods in agreement with her.
"I just want to be away from him for a month or two," a sigh erupts from my mouth after my response.
"Can you even do that?" Sapphire has a challenging look on her face as she questions me.
I take a rough gulp because I haven't actually thought about it. Can I avoid Calhoun for a month? He walked out on me when I was letting my emotions go overboard three nights ago. I miss him even if I don't want to, and maybe, we truly need this break so we can think things through. And mom will as well recover.
"See, you're not even so sure of yourself. You love Calhoun too much to be away from him," Maddy giggles, jabbing her shoulder against.
"I..."
"What if you two take this break from each other for a month and by the time you go back, he's already with your mom? Trying to amend their marriage," Sapphire kisses her teeth and grins at me evilly.
"And then you'll be left to care for this child alone. Ben wouldn't even accept you either, he'd already be with his Luna by then."
Letting these words sink in causes dread to flow through me."
"Just stop, you don't have to go too far," my frown is huge on my face.
Sapphire chuckles and puts her arm on my shoulder.
"Don't stay away from Calhoun, you need him now more than ever."
There's some truth in her words but my stubborn heart cannot completely agree with it.
"My mom..."
"It's always about your mom, is it not?"
"For fucks sake, you're twenty-one, Kristen. Engaged to Alpha Calhoun and still pregnant for him. Why are you so obsessed with your mom and how she feels about you?"
"Because she's my mom. It doesn't matter if she's not the best out there, but she's still my mom and nothing could ever change that," I point out, while Maddy bounces her head from Sapphire to me and then me to Sapphire.
"Even if she tries to poison you?" Sapphire walks until she's standing in front of me, so I can see the dreadful look on her face.
"How can you even say such a thing? She'll never do that," I defend Mom even though we aren't on good terms because of
Calhoun.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Sapphire rolls her eyes in their sockets and waves my response away.
"Have you seen the way she looks at you?"
"Yes, she's upset with me so she can't control her emotions or school her face to be free when I'm near," I state.
"No, you're seeing her from a different angle because she's your mother." Sapphire points out.
"What do you mean by that?" It's my turn to frown.
"She stares at you with contempt. Like if she's ever given the chance to hurt you beyond measure, she will."
"You don't know what you're talking about," I try to weigh this down, afraid Sapphire is pointing out the truth. Because I've truly seen her stare at me like that. And I know she hates me. But to the extent of killing me? No way.
"You just need to be careful around her, Kristen. Never visit her without company." Sapphire has her hand resting on her chin in
a thoughtful manner.
"I think Sapphire is right, Kristen," Maddy looks from me to Sapphire and Sapphire to me, "She might be a bitch but she's the most sensitive out of all three of us."
No statement is made from me because I keep letting Sapphire's words sink in my head.