Secrets of the Unity

Chapter 3: "Fuck... I'm Screwed!"

Olivia

My heart vibrated with fear as I silently prayed to the Moon Goddess that Sage wouldn’t be stupid enough to voice that we knew each other. If he did, then it’d lead to talking about that summer, and for both of our sakes, that needed to stay under wraps… forever.

“OJ?! Is that really you?!” Trevor stepped forward, excitement and joy coating his gorgeous features. Just the sound of his voice soothed a considerable amount of my worry.

He’d changed just as much as Kyson in the muscle department. His silky brown hair sat just under his slightly pointed ears, pulled back into a ponytail. And he now had a tattoo of the Yin and Yang symbol donning the light-brown skin of his left forearm. He was as sexy as ever.

Don’t tell him I said that…

Trevor pulled me into a tight embrace. I slyly inhaled his delicious scent, instantly feeling at ease and at home. He’s always had that effect on me. I don’t know why, but he has. He planted a soft kiss on my forehead, and we pulled back from our embrace.

“It’s good to see you, Trev. You look good… And you have abs now!” I joked, poking his stomach.

Trevor laughed and smacked away my hand. “Yeah, well I could say the same about you little lady. When did all of this happen?” He asked, motioning to my physical appearance.

“Over the last two years. Needed a change after-” I cut myself off. I didn’t want to talk about that summer, especially not in front of Sage, who was slyly staring into my soul with those piercing blue-gold eyes of his.

Trevor instantly knew what and who I was referring to. “Ah! Right. The dickhead of summer twenty-eighteen.” I chuckled. “How’ve you been since then?” He asked. The sincerity in his eyes melted my heart.

I heavily sighed. “Surprisingly, I’ve been alright. It helps to not think about it that often.”

“Are you sure you’re alright? No residing feelings of resentment or hatred?” Kyson mumbled expectantly, repeating the same words that I’d said to him and Trevor five years ago when they became friends with Tyler and Sage. I’d hoped for some underlying hatred from at least one of them. Clearly, my hopes were in vain.

“Okay, first, don’t use my words against me. Second, I know you guys want me to hate him how I wanted you to hate…” I trailed off, looking at Sage and Tyler. They grimaced in offense and folded their arms. Kyson and Trevor snickered. “But, I’m over it… and I’m over him.” I looked back at my brother and his friend.

I could feel the disappointment in Sage’s gaze as it burned into my soul, but I continued to ignore him and kept my attention on my brother and my brother’s best friend.

“Mhm. Are you sure?” Trevor asked in a coaxing tone.

“Didn’t I tell you to stop using my words against me?”

Trevor laughed and put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, fine. But just because you’re over it doesn’t mean we are.”

“And we won’t be over it until we’ve beat his ass.” Kyson cosigned as a low growl vibrated through his chest. Trevor nodded in agreement.

I just rolled my eyes and accepted their choice to hate the guy from that summer. The irony of it all is that they’re best friends with him.

When I told Kyson and Trevor about that summer, I didn’t tell them the guy’s name, or that I was at the Alpha’s winter cabin in the mountains. If they’d known that Sage was the guy who took my virginity and left me in turmoil, they would’ve killed him by now.

“The three of you seem really close,” Sage said, gaining our attention.

Trevor nodded. “Yeah, we are. We’ve been through hell and back together.” Kyson and I nodded in agreement.

Kyson was going to speak, but before he could, he was interrupted by the one person in the world that I loathed almost as much as Sage… Toddrick.

“Hey, our parents are inside waiting for you guys,” he said, greeting Sage and the guys.

Toddrick froze when he spotted me behind my brother and Trevor. I rolled my eyes in annoyance— for the millionth time today— while mentally preparing myself for the ignorance that was about to spew from the hole in his face.

Kyson and Trevor stepped aside, flanking me, as they watched our exchange with curiosity.

Toddrick’s lips curled into a smug smirk, again, as he spoke.

Does he not have a facial expression that won’t make me want to punch him in the nuts? Oh, wait… Just the sight of his face makes me want to punch him in the nuts. So I guess that’s a no.

“So… you didn’t want to ask me to the coronation, but you have no issue asking one of the future ranks? I’ve got to hand it to you, chipmunk, you’re more desperate than I thought!” He snickered.

I smiled sweetly. “Trust me Toddrick, no one can be more desperate than any girl that’s ever asked you out… ever. Honestly, I can’t even imagine how much barf they had to choke down just to utter the words ‘will you go’. I can barely get past wil- hurk>” I gagged in disgust before I could finish the word.

Tyler and Trevor burst into laughter while Sage and Kyson covered their mouths, trying to hide their amusement. Toddrick threw Tyler a deadpan glare. Tyler coughed, ducking his head in shame as he tried to hide his amusement.

Toddrick turned back to me with another smirk. “You don’t have to hide it, munchkin, I know you like me. I can see it in your eyes,” he said, running his fingers through his wavy blond locks.

I grimaced. “Look, I know you have a strong case of Jungle Fever, but this monkey in particular,”—pointed to myself, then to him—“does not want that banana. Besides, I prefer my bananas over four inches.”

He scoffed in offense. “I’ll have you know; my banana is very big-”

I cut him off with another gag of disgust. “Please, don’t put hurk> don’t put that image in my head! That’s disgusting!”

The guys burst into laughter. Toddrick tried to shut them up so he could throw back another insult, but they continued to laugh over him. So, by default and wit, I won.

Toddrick huffed in defeat and glared in my direction. I happily threw one back, turning the moment into a full-on stare-down.

“If you don’t want your eye scratched out, I’d suggest you stop staring, immediately,” Kyson warned. Toddrick broke our glare match and looked at Kyson in question.

“She attacks if you stare too long,” Kyson chuckled, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

I sighed, irritated. “It. Was. An. Accident. There was a fly, and I was trying to kill it! And I said I was sorry! Let it go!” Kyson and Trevor knew how much I hated when they brought up that incident from when we were kids.

Kyson and I were in the middle of a staring match and Trevor was refereeing. A fly buzzed past, and I swatted at it, accidentally scratching Ky’s eye in the process. Trevor immediately ran to go tell our parents. The little snitch.

I got in trouble for not being a good sport and cheating while Kyson and Trevor got ice cream after Ky's trip to the doctor. I tried to tell them that there really was a fly, and I was trying to kill it, but no one believed me. I apologized for days but Mom and Dad weren’t interested in hearing it because Kyson had to walk around with an eye patch over his left eye for two weeks while the scratch healed… And that, my friends, is the story of how Kyson became slightly blind in one eye and why he wears glasses.

Trevor snorted. “Yeah, sure, an accident. And now Ky’s slightly blind in his left eye.” My eyes narrowed at him in a warning, but he and Kyson laughed it off.

“You guys know the groundhog?” Toddrick asked, looking between the three of us in bewilderment.

I rolled my eyes once more, irritated. “Kyson’s my big brother, asshole.”

Toddrick’s eyes widened with realization and shock. “Wait!! You’re OJ?! As in, Olivia June Summers?!”

You’ve got to be kidding me!

I stared at Toddrick in disbelief. I can’t believe, after four years of bickering, he didn’t know my name!

“Seriously?! You haven't known my name after four years of insults?! That’s insulting as hell! And only my close family and friends can call me OJ. And we aren’t close, nor are we family or friends, so you can call me June.”

Toddrick turned to Sage and his eyes clouded over, indicating that they were mind-linking one another. Toddrick quirked his brow as if he was asking a question and Sage nodded in response.

What are they talking about? My question didn’t have to sit long for it to click.

Sage and Toddrick are as close as close can get. There is no way Sage would go two days— let alone two years— without telling his little brother that he took a girl's virginity. There was no doubt in my mind that Toddrick knew everything about that summer.

Shit! Toddrick knows everything about that summer! Now I really am panicking.

While I trust that Sage isn’t dumb enough to voice our past, I can’t say the same for Toddrick. Considering that he is, by far, as dumb as a doorknob, Toddrick was bound to say something and damn us all to my family’s fury! What the hell am I going to do?! Was there even something that could be done?!

Fuck… I'm screwed!