Page 73 of Pack Larsen

I’m stepping into the doorway the next moment and I turn to stone when I spy Pace and Aero standing on one side of mother’s desk while she sits regally behind the other, her hand holding a small strip of paper I already know the contents of. Pace is leaning against the desk, one hand propping himself up while the other reaches for the paper, and I shatter right there and then.

I must make some kind of sound of distress, or Aero’s sense of smell is far more honed than I gave it credit, because he’s turning with a frown just as Pace pulls back with the paper in his hand. My broken gaze meets Aero’s surprised baby blues in an instant, and his face falls just as the first tear falls from my eye.

“Silver,” he breathes, shaking his head while his mouth gapes at me with no more words to follow.

Pace turns with a frown next, right before his spine stiffens and he scents me before that honey gaze meets mine. “Fuck. Silver, wait.”

I give him a sad smile that feels like it might shatter my face like broken porcelain, already shaking my head. I don’t see why I should wait. I already see it with my own eyes.

One glance at my mother’s vicious, little smirk that slices me in two has me turning and striding away from the room, running a shaking hand through my hair roughly while I try to take a breath that doesn’t feel like it might kill me. No worse than seeing that fucking check in Pace’s hand, though.

Fuck, it feels like my chest is on fire. I feel like I’m breaking from the inside out, torn apart, drawn and fucking quartered.

I’m out of the house and into the fresh air before I realize I started running, my hand pressed against my chest that feels like it’s caving in on itself. I’m practically choking on the sob that bubbles its way up my throat, more tears falling like a dam has been broken inside me.

“Silver, hold on. It’s not what it looks like!” Pace shouts, running after me with a frantic pace, his words sounding just as panicked as he looks when I stop and turn suddenly.

Both men flinch as soon as I’m facing them again, tear tracks running down my cheeks with unstoppable speed. My hands clench and my voice comes out in a broken rasp as I ask, “Oh, okay. So, that’s not a check in your hand right now? I didn’t just walk in my mother paying you to walk out of my life?”

Pace frowns, looking at the paper one before blurting, “Holy fuck.”

He doesn’t sound impressed. In fact, he kind of sounds disgusted even as his shock bleeds through his voice, but then Aero is stepping closer with his hands raised as if he’s trying to approach a scared kitten with her claws out.

I shake my head and take a step back, everything within me growing cold and lifeless as I laugh bitterly and shrug. “More than you bargained for? I can imagine. She paid twenty thousand for the last one to fuck off and leave me alone. Didn’t hear from or see that dude ever again. I guess I have that to look forward to now, right?”

The next laugh to escape me sounds as broken as I feel, more tears falling as I peer down at the gravel beneath my shoes. With a shake of my head, I frown and mutter, “To think I actually fell in love with you guys, too. More fool me.”

I don’t bother hanging around for whatever bullshit they might want to throw at me. I’m turning and diving toward my car before either one can say anything, can even reach me to stop me from leaving, and I’m locking the door as soon as I’m seated.

The moment the ignition roars to life, I’m driving out of there, only one last glance at the two men that held pieces of my heart and shattered them in mere seconds. Aero’s hands are on his head, a distressed look on his face as he watches me go, while Pace looks utterly horror stricken, his hands clenched tightly at his sides, crumpling the paper with his newfound fortune scrawled on there with my mother’s signature.

Swallowing another fucking sob, I reach for my cell and turn it on. Several missed calls and texts come through instantly, and I ignore every single one, dialing one number and forgetting the rest.

“Silver, are you okay?” Alek asks gently, almost reluctantly, like he’s worried about what might come out of my mouth.

Clearing my throat, I ask, “Can I stay with you?”

Alek sighs long and hard, and I hear the sadness in that single sound before he says, “You’re always welcome here, kid.”

I nod even though he can’t see it, whispering, “See you soon.”

Then I disconnect the call, turn my phone off, and drive to my cousin’s house with my heart dragging along the gravel behind my car as I leave the alpha and omega that broke it behind.

Chapter 28

Aero

I feel sick.

Violently fucking sick.

The look on Silver’s face the moment she appeared in the doorway of Cynthia’s study churns my stomach. The memory of that single tear that stained her cheek threatening to regurgitate the breakfast I ate this morning.

What’s worse is watching Silver drive away with that lost, broken look on her face that she thinks we put there. Telling us she loved us while feeling like we just fucking wrecked her, leaving us behind before we could explain.

“Shit, man. Fuck!” I shout, hands gripping my hair frantically as I watch the taillights of Silver’s car disappear down the stupid fucking gravel driveway I never want to travel again. My heart is frantically beating, damn near right out of my chest at this rate, my scent has long since turned sour with anxiety, fear, and fucking stress, and there’s a deep, cloying panic that’s choking me with an unrelenting grip as I watch her disappear.

Over my pounding heart, I hear Pace mutter under his breath, before an anger I’ve never seen on his face appears. He’s turning and striding right back into the house instead of running to the car to chase Silver, and I’m forced to run after him with frantic confusion.

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