Chapter 17: Fix the Situation
1013 Words
Tyson's POV
I woke up at five forty-three and lay there staring at the ceiling for eleven minutes before I accepted that I wasn't going back to sleep.
I still felt terrible about last night.
I got up, showered, stood in front of my wardrobe for longer than necessary. My wolf was already awake, already alert in a way that was distinctly different from his normal morning energy.
You're going to see her, he said.
I'm going to fix the situation. I corrected.
I pulled on a jacket and left before Alice was up. I always ate breakfast before leaving. My wolf noted this with the insufferable smugness of someone who'd been making a point for twelve hours straight.
The walk to her dorm gave me time to think about how to handle it. An apology was the obvious move, even I knew that. But apologies required a vulnerability I had spent years systematically destroying, and the idea of standing in front of Roxanne Sinclair and saying I'm sorry, felt like something I didn't know how to do.
There had to be another way to show it.
There is, my wolf said. It's called saying the actual words.
There are other options.
Name one that'll work on her. He said.
I couldn't.
Because she'll see through anything else, he continued. She always sees through things. That's the problem and also, if you'd be honest about it, the reason you...
Shut up, I said.
He went quiet.
I knocked on her door and stood there waiting and knocked again and stood there some more like someone who had not been standing in front of this exact door for forty seconds already.
It opened.
Roxanne was in an oversized shirt, her curls loose and messy, clearly not long out of bed, and she looked at me with an expression so flat it could have been used as a spirit level.
"Oh," she said. "It's you."
"Yeah." I said.
"What do you want?" She asked.
Tell her you're sorry, my wolf said.
"Were you expecting someone else?" I asked.
She stared at me. "Does it matter?"
"I'm just saying, you opened the door like..."
"Tyson." Her voice was sharp. "What. Do you want."
I looked at her. "Can I come in?"
She held the door open without a word and stepped back.
I walked in. The room was quiet, Charlotte's side empty. Roxanne crossed her arms and stood in the middle of the floor and looked at me.
"So," she said. "What is it? Do we have something coming up? Because you could've texted."
"I know I could've texted." I said.
"Then why are you here?" She asked.
Because I feel terrible, I thought. Because I couldn't sleep. Because I keep seeing your face before the door closed and my wolf hasn't shut up since.
"I came to talk about last night," I said.
Something moved through her eyes. "There's nothing to talk about."
"Roxanne..."
"I overstepped." She said it before I could get any further. "I was pushing into things I had no business pushing into and I should have known my place. It won't happen again."
I looked at her.
"No," I said.
She blinked. "No?"
"Stop." I exhaled. "That's not...you didn't overstep. You were talking to me. That's it." I looked at the floor for a second, then back at her. "I was wrong. What I said was wrong. I know exactly why I said it and it's not a good reason and I..." The rest of it sat somewhere in my throat and didn't move. "I shouldn't have said it."
She looked at me steadily, waiting.
Just say you're sorry, my wolf said. Three letters. Two syllables. You literally know how.
I'm handling it..
"So," I said slowly. "Are we good?"
My wolf made a sound I can only describe as pure disappointment.
Wren looked at me for a long moment. The waiting look faded into something else, something quieter, more tired.
"Sure," she said. "We're good."
You absolute coward, my wolf said.
I ignored him.
"There's a game on Friday," I said. "Home game. I need you there. You know the supporting girlfriend."
"Okay." Her voice was flat.
I blinked. "Okay?"
"Okay." She looked at me steadily. "Which outfit do you have for me?"
"I haven't picked one yet." I said. "I wasn't sure if..."
She hates this, my wolf said. Look at her.
She said okay.
Look at her face. He said.
"I didn't know you were into hockey," I said.
"I'm not." She said it simply. "I hate hockey, actually."
"Then why did you..." I stopped. "You agreed immediately. You didn't even..."
"Should I have said no?" She tilted her head. "Can I? If you want me at a game, I'll be at the game. If you want me in an outfit I don't like, I'll wear it. If you need me at a party, a function, anywhere, I'll be there. I'll do whatever you need. That's the arrangement." She paused. "You said it yourself. I'm an Omega with no platform and no connections and nothing to lose. So." She spread her hands slightly. "Whatever you want."
The room was completely silent.
I could not find a single word.
"Is there anything else?" she asked.
My wolf was silent, first time in twelve hours. He had nothing left to offer because he'd been telling me all morning what I needed to do and I hadn't done it and now we were here.
"Friday, seven o'clock," I said. It came out low.
"I'll be ready." She crossed to the door and held it open. "You can go now."
I looked at her standing there, and I wanted to say it. The actual thing. Not I was wrong or I lost it.
It didn't come.
I walked out.
The door closed behind me.
I stood in the corridor and the morning was quiet and my wolf settled into the heaviest silence he'd held since this whole thing started.
Coward, he said. Simple and final.
"Yeah I know," I said out loud.
- Writer
