My Christmas Wish Alpha

Falling Apart

Neviah

“Steven, what the hell?!” I holler as I burst into the door. He hadn’t even bothered to lock it.

As he breaks away from... her... there’s only a split second of surprise on his face before it’s replaced with... relief?

My hands are on my hips right now, and though the cold is rushing in from the open door, I don’t make a move.

“Nev—”

“What are you doing?!” I shout, though as soon as the words leave my lips, I realize that I don’t really want the answer. There’s no excuse for this! And he wasn’t even trying to hide it. I want to leave now, but my feet feel glued to the floor.

What’s wrong with me?

“Nev, you’re overreacting,” he says unbelievably calmly.

That just makes my heart pound harder. Overreacting?! What?!

“You had to know this wasn’t working,” he says coolly, as though he’s happy I’ve finally found him with Miss Blonde and Beautiful. “I thought you’d be here yesterday, and I would have broken it to you easier, but you didn’t show up, so—”

I suck in some air, but no words come out. Break it to me easier?!

My gaze flits over to Miss Blonde, who is standing tall with her arms folded wearing a smirk on her face.

A smirk!

Finally, I manage to get my feet back under control and I whirl around. I’m not going to stand in this house for one single second. Stomping through the door, I leave it open, hurrying down the walkway to get back to the street and into my car.

I expect him to run after me with more of his lies, but instead, I hear the door shut behind me.

When I reach my car, I steal one last look up at the adorable little cabin that was supposed to grant my Christmas wish. I see them again, right next to the Christmas tree, their arms wrapped around each other with his hand on her... well, it doesn’t matter.

My breath puffs out in a fog in my already-cold car. It’ll take forever for the heater to get going again. Steve had promised to fix it months ago. Now, I see why he was too busy to get to it.

Ugh!

I catch sight of my face in the mirror, breaking out in red blotches as always happens when I’m upset. But there aren’t any tears, not yet. It’s too cold to cry.

The engine starts on the first try, and I’m grateful for that at least. I’ll drive the whole way home and go straight to Maria’s apartment, where I can cry on her shoulder.

I can’t believe he did this! How did I not see this coming?

Letting out something that sounds like a groan, I throw the car into gear and start moving, sparing once last glance to see that Steve is still getting cozy with Miss Blonde—so cozy that it nearly burns my eyes to look at them.

In shock, I slam my foot on the gas and lurch forward.

I have to get out of here, now.

But the problem is, I can’t turn around, not yet. With the snow so high on both sides of the road, all I can do is go straight ahead and hope I find another cabin with a plowed driveway where I can turn around.

“How could he do this to me!” I shout into the freezing cold air, reaching down to fiddle with the heater controls with my freezing fingers. “And how could I not see this coming! What’s wrong with me!”

Finally, the heater starts to kick on, and as my face defrosts, the tears start welling up.

It’s all gone—the wedding, the honeymoon, the house, the children....

My Christmas wish has completely disintegrated, and on Christmas Eve, of all nights! So much for a good holiday. It’s not even a bad holiday now. It’s the worst possible Christmas ever in my entire life!

After a while, I realize I’ve forgotten to pull into the nearby cabin driveway to turn around, and the snowy forest grows thicker around me.

“Please let there be another house,” I say to myself.

But there isn’t. Minutes pass, more than I keep track of, and I’m still driving down the dark mountain road, the thick tree line seeming to close in on me.

I slow the car when I get to a place that seems a little wider, moving to the side as much as I can, figuring I can do one of those little-bit-at-a-time turnarounds if I take my time at it.

But just as I’m about to turn the wheel, I swear I see it—a pair of glowing yellow eyes peering out at me through the trees.

“Ah!” I scream, slamming my foot to the floor and jerking the car forward. “What was that?! Oh, God. What do I do?”

If there were any eyes watching me, they’re long gone now, because I’m speeding so fast down the road, I must be at least a mile away from that spot right now.

So, I slow down again. “Get a hold of yourself, Neviah. It was probably just a deer. Yeah, a deer... that’s what it was.”

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my pounding heartbeat. It works... sort of, and I refocus my attention on the road, hoping there is a hunter’s cabin or something like that up here where I can turn around.

I’m probably miles away from Steve’s cabin by now. Too bad I’ll need to pass it on my way back. I make a vow to myself to put my visor up on the side so I’m not tempted to see what he and Miss Blonde are up to now.

Ugh, I can only imagine....

Once again, I start running through my thoughts trying to figure out how in the world I was so fooled by him. How long has he been seeing her? She certainly looked comfortable with him. Did she already know about me? She didn’t seem surprised at all. It’s like she expected me to walk in on them, like she was waiting for me.

Maybe she was. Maybe this was something she had planned from the start.

But what could she possibly have against me? I’ve never even seen her before today.

Or maybe I have. I only got a quick glance at her. Come to think of it, maybe she is a little familiar. Maybe I have seen her before....

But I’m jerked out of my thoughts by a sudden jolt that makes me scream, and I my knuckles go white as I grasp the wheel as tight as I can to keep it steady.

“Oh, no....”

My car sputters to a stop right in the middle of the road. I can tell by the wobble that I have a flat tire—a bad one at that.

I shut off my car and glance around at the eerie, silent forest for a moment.

“Well, you just can’t sit here and die, Nev,” I tell myself.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and steel myself to step out into the cold.