Page 17 of Small-Town Secrets
He had a point. I hated it, but he had a point. "I don't know how to talk to him," I admitted. "Where would I even start?" The thought alone terrified me.
Raph scratched his chin and looked around the studio as if the answers he was looking for were in one of his designs. "You know this is exactly why I didn't stay at the shelter, right? I'm not a counselor. Maybe you should talk to Conner about this."
I shook my head. "I don’t want to get even more people involved."
"No, I guess I wouldn’t either, if I was you." Raph chewed my conundrum over in his head for another minute, and then his face lit up. "Oh! I know!"
"You know what?" I looked at him in confusion. He returned my gaze as if he held the key to all my life's problems. Or, to at least one of them.
"Aaron being your kids' instructor is perfect!" he claimed. "You can let the twins go back to karate and watch how he interacts with them. You can get to know him again. See how he is as an adult. Figure out if you can trust him, andthenyou can tell him, and since you'll know him better you'll know how to have that conversation."
"You think I should let him teach Chris and Tyler, really?"
"Ultimately, it's up to you, but I think it might help put your mind at ease."
I nodded, even though I didn't know how to feel about this idea. Aaron wasn't a bad person, I knew that.
But how could I ever trust an alpha again?
6
Aaron
When I returnedto the gym to teach karate on Thursday, the children were a little better behaved—and the twins were missing from my class. I tried not to let their absence bother me. It was no big deal, right? Maybe they were both sick or whatever.
There was no reason for me to suspect that Laurence had pulled them out of my class because I'd accidentally terrified his son or because he'd seen me in the parking lot and decided I shouldn't be teaching his children. I still had a bad feeling, though.
What if Laurence was still mad at me because of what had happened the last time we'd seen each other?
He was right to be mad. I should have been able to control myself, even if he was in heat, and I definitely shouldn't have dismissed him in the morning just because the situation confused me.
And now here I was, teaching karate to a group of children while simultaneously wondering what an omega I hadn't talked to in years thought about me. I needed to pull my head out of the clouds and focus. When I did, my niece caught my eyes and grinned at me as if she knew I could use a smile.
Maddie was a sweet kid. When class was over and everyone ran into the changing rooms, she stayed behind to chat with me again, and I asked her if she knew why the twins hadn't come that day.
"Chris and Tyler?" She tilted her head in thought. "I don't know. I saw them at lunch."
So they weren't sick or out of town then. My stomach sank. I hated the idea that these children weren't in karate anymore because of a mistake I'd made—either a week or eight years ago.
I needed to talk to Laurence. It was the only way to put my mind at ease.
* * *
Ihadno idea where Laurence lived these days, but when I asked my brother, he told me he'd spotted his former friend working at the town's only flower shop once when he bought a bouquet for his wife. Personally, I'd never set foot inside that store, but I knew where it was. I'd driven by it a couple of times.
When I stopped my motorbike in front of the building now, I felt a little bit like a stalker—one who acted in bright sunlight. It was early in the day. School hours. I figured if Laurence was working, he was probably doing so while his children were being taken care of.
The flower shop looked nice from the outside. Well taken-care of. There was a large window screen next to the door that let me peek inside at a colorful assortment of flowers—so many I couldn't hope to name them all. A few potted plants lined the sidewalk next to the door as well. My dog was looking at them curiously, as if wondering which would make the best dog toilet.
"Don't you dare," I said to Sarge.
He made a defiant yipping sound, sitting in the tail bag where he always sat when we were taking motorbike rides together. He had his little helmet on to protect his head, and sunglasses to shield his eyes from the wind. Sometimes I felt like the outfit was encouraging his attitude.
"I'm here to make amends, you know," I told him as I picked him up and set him down on the sidewalk in front of me. "Be on your best behavior, okay?"
Sarge seemed to ponder this for a moment, tilting his head this way and that before ignoring me to sniff at the flower pots. I'd known my dog long enough to know this was his way of telling me he was going to do whatever he wanted to do. I gave a little sigh as I attached his leash to his collar. Sarge was a good boy, really. He wasn't going to get me in trouble—at least not in too much of it, anyway.
"You think I should head inside?" I asked him.
