Page 90 of Stalked By the Alphas
I’m about to push open the door when an older woman approaches Hazel. I watch as she says something to Hazel, who forces a smile in response. Even from here, I can see it doesn’t reach her eyes.
Guilt washes over me. We did this to her. We took her joy, her trust, her sense of safety. How can I possibly think I have any right to be here?
I back away from the door, my resolve crumbling. What was I thinking, coming here? Hazel made it clear she never wants to see us again. I have no right to force my presence on her, to make her relive the pain we’ve caused, just to make myself feel better.
As I turn to leave, movement catches my eye. Hazel is heading towards the back of the shop, presumably to her office. Before I can stop myself, I push open the door to the shop and step inside. The noise catches Hazel’s attention, and she stops, turning to look over. A forced smile forms on her face. Her eyes lock with mine, and the world falls away before it tilts on its axis, making me stumble and crash into a display of books near the door.
52
HAZEL
The crashof books hitting the floor jolts me out of my shock. For a moment, I can only stare at Zach, my mind reeling. What is he doing here? Anger and confusion rise as I watch him scramble to pick up the fallen books.
“I’m so sorry,” he mumbles, his face flushed with embarrassment. “I’ll tidy this up.”
I find my voice at last. “What are you doing here?” I hiss, glancing towards the back of the shop where Delia is thankfully occupied with a customer.
Zach looks up at me, his grey eyes filled with anguish. “I... I needed to see you. To apologise properly. I know I shouldn’t be here, but I couldn’t...”
“You’re right, you shouldn’t be here,” I snap quietly, cutting him off. “You promised to leave me alone.”
He flinches at my tone, and a tiny part of me feels guilty. But I squash that feeling ruthlessly. I have nothing to feel guilty about.
“Hazel?” Delia calls out. “Is everything alright back there?”
I force my voice to remain calm. “Everything’s fine, Delia.”
Turning back to Zach, who’s still kneeling on the floor surrounded by fallen books, I glare at him. “You need to leave. Now.”
He stands, still clutching a few books to his chest like a shield. “Please, Hazel. Just give me five minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”
I want to scream at him, to push him out the door and never look back. But something in his expression gives me pause. He looks... broken. Desperate. I hesitate, torn between my anger and the ache I feel seeing Zach so distraught. Against my better judgement, I find myself nodding stiffly.
“Five minutes,” I say, my voice low and tight. “In the back office. And then you leave.”
Relief washes over Zach’s face as he nods eagerly. I lead him to the small office, closing the door behind us. The space suddenly feels too small, too intimate. Moving behind the desk, I try to put some distance between us, but it’s hard. His summer rain scent is potent, surrounding me, and my stomach clenches. I want to go to him, to hug him and tell him how glad I am that he is still here and that I can help ease his pain if he wants to talk about it… but I can’t.
“Talk,” I say curtly instead.
Zach takes a shaky breath. “Hazel, I... we... what wedid was unforgivable. I know that. But I needed you to know how truly sorry we are. How sorry I am.”
“Sorry doesn’t change what happened,” I reply, my voice cold.
“I know,” he says, looking down, so forlorn, like a lost puppy that got kicked and left in a box on the side of the road. “God, I know. We violated your trust, your body, your home. We took something precious from you that we can never give back.”
His words hit me hard. So they figured out what I meant last night. I wondered if they would. Damn them.
“We thought we were protecting you,” he continues when I say nothing, his voice breaking. “We told ourselves we were doing what was best for you. But we were wrong. So terribly wrong.”
I can feel tears pricking at my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. “You had no right,” I whisper harshly. “You don’t get to decide what’s best for me. You don’t get to control my life.”
Zach nods, his eyes filled with remorse. “I know. We know. We were so wrong, Hazel. So incredibly wrong. We let our fears of losing you and our desires for you cloud our judgement. We convinced ourselves we were doing the right thing, but we were just being selfish.”
His words resonate with a painful truth. Part of me wants to soften, to forgive. But the anger and betrayal are still too raw.
“Do you have any idea what it’s like?” I ask, myvoice trembling. “To find out that your first real sexual experience was... was...”
“Wasn’t real,” Zach whispers. “We took that from you. Your choice. We can never make that right.”
