Page 218 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

After getting her on the phone, I’d gone outside to ask Porter for a ride. At least at Stormy’s house, I wouldn’t have to sit alone and stew in my own thoughts.

“All right,” Porter said as he turned into Stormy’s neighborhood. “I’ll hang outside. Your friend seems cool, but it’ll be weird with me in there.”

“Stormy won’t care.”

He shook his head. “I’ll be fine for a few hours. It’s early. I’ll call someone else later to relieve me.”

He pulled into Stormy’s driveway, waited for me to get out, then pulled across the street and parked at a house with a “for sale” sign out in the yard. Porter angled the truck so he’d have a direct line of sight on Stormy’s house.

Stormy was at the stove flipping pancakes when I entered, Shiloh watching her intently from her high chair.

“Good morning,” Stormy said.

“Morning.”

I flopped on the seat at the bar and watched her work, zoning out as she poured more batter onto the griddle.

“What’s wrong?”

Torn from my thoughts, I refocused on her. “Huh?”

She gave her spatula an irritated wave. “I know you. You look like shit.”

“It,” Shiloh squealed.

Stormy paled and glanced over at the baby. “I guess I need to start watching my mouth.”

I giggled, and Stormy joined in. She placed a plate of pancakes with butter and whipped cream in front of me, plopping a bottle of maple syrup beside it.

“Here. Let’s get fat and happy,” she said. “And you can tell me what’s got you looking like that.”

She’d never take no for an answer, so I went over everything that had happened—my secretive call, the reaction I’d gotten from Cole and Langston, the things Cole said afterward.

“Do you want my honest opinion?” she asked.

“As long as it agrees with my opinion,” I said dryly.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m with Cole on this.”

“Really?” I’d had doubts that I’d done the right thing, but I’d hoped an outside source would agree with me. It would have been less damaging to my ego.

“Really,” Stormy said apologetically. “If you’d told them and explained where you were coming from, I’m positive you could have convinced them you were strong enough to handle it.”

“Ugh.” Groaning, I dropped my fork onto my plate and rested my head in my hands. Having her side with Cole made me feel worse. The two people I cared about most agreed, which meant I was likely in the wrong.

Why had I done it in the first place? In the moment, when my emotions had been at their highest, it made perfect sense. If Cole had disagreed, they would have forbade it, and I’d have been pissed. In hindsight, though, Stormy was right. Cole wasn’t that hard-headed. If I’d explained what I wanted to do, he probably would have been convinced. And like Cole had said, I would have been furious had he done something like that behind my back.

It was enough to drive me to tears. In fact, Iwascrying.

“I hate this,” I said miserably. “I’m not thinking straight. What’s wrong with me?”

“That’s understandable,” Stormy said, squeezing my hand. “Hell, I’d have lost my mind by now if I was in your position. It’s okay to screw up, as long as you own up to it. It sort of reminds me of when I was pregnant with this little monster over here,”Stormy said, nodding to Shiloh, who had given herself a mohawk with the syrup from her pancakes.

“What? Me getting all weepy every three minutes?” I said, brushing the tears from my cheeks.

“Yeah, I cried at the drop of a hat. Marcus was so upset that he couldn’t do anything to help. Sometimes all I needed was to have a good cry.”

“Oh my gosh,” I said with a laugh. “I was the same way. Anything could set me off. If I couldn’t find my shoe? Tears. The Chinese place forgot to put chopsticks in the bag? Tears. It was crazy.”

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