Chapter 2
1258 Words
“You can’t be here! You can’t be here!” I rushed out whilst rushing at Xavier.
My hand clamped around the edge of the door, frantically trying to get it shut. But Levi clung to my legs, demanding who the man was. Xavier jammed his foot in the door, stopping me. My mind was screaming. Crying.
Breaking apart.
“Please! Sutton! Just listen to me!” Xavier demanded through the slit in the door.
Sobs rocked Levi’s little body, vibrating it against my leg. “Mama. Mama. What’s going on?”
“If he finds you here, he will make my life hell. She’ll make my life hell. Please, Xavier, if you ever loved me, leave. Now. Please.” I was sobbing now as well. Felt the hot tears sliding down my cheeks.
“What has he done to you? Sutton? Why are you so afraid?”
Glancing over my shoulder at the hallway, I waited for the other shoe to drop. For Andrew to walk in and see him. See me, fighting to close the door. He was going to lose it. Throw me out on my ass with nothing to my name.
“Please!”
Cold resolve flooded Xavier’s every word. “Meet me at the pack house tomorrow morning. I’m here on official business so if you tell them that you want to see me, they’ll allow you in. Give me that, at least?”
“Fine! Just go!” I stammered out and gave the door one final push.
It shut, luckily but that didn’t ease my mind.
Levi had seen him. Was now in an all out sobbing fit, clinging to my legs with all his might. I could feel his snot seeping through my jeans. My ratty, tattered jeans that I had bought three years ago and never another pair.
“Mama,” He cried through his hiccups, still distressed.
Crouching, I plucked Levi off of me and sat him down on my knee. My entire body wobbled and shook. Forced me to steady myself with one hand on the floor. “Hush, baby. I’m here. Sorry for upsetting you. I didn’t mean it. Sorry, baby.” I said soothingly, stroking his back with my other hand.
“Who was that man, mama?” He asked through tight breaths.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I pushed Levi’s head towards me and kissed his temple. Then his hair. Each brush of my lips over him had my heart calming bit by bit.
“No one, sweety. No one. Now, go to bed. I’ll be in there in a second to read you a story, okay? And mama is really sorry for getting so worked up, okay? It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Okay, mama.” He replied and hopped off my knee.
His hiccups hadn’t gone away by the time he disappeared around the corner. Little footsteps echoed back at me. Then stopped once he reached his bed and no doubt climbed in. A hiccup soon followed the silence, telling me enough about where he was.
As I was staring at where Levi’s little frame had disappeared to, Andrew came into view.
His beaming broad smile vanished almost instantly after rounding the corner. “I heard someone knock. Everything alright?” He asked in a deep voice.
Shaking my head, I forced another smile. “Sandra came over to ask me to help her at the pack house tomorrow morning. Mind taking Levi to daycare?” I asked.
Andrew shook his head as he walked to me, golden locks falling from side to side on his forehead. “Sorry, babe, but I have a run at six with the boys. Promised them. Sandra won’t mind if you’re a little late, will she?”
Smiling up at him, I shook my head. “No. She won’t be. Let me just finish up with the kitchen and living room then I’ll come to bed,” I said and kissed his shoulder softly.
After seeing Xavier, the act almost felt unsavory to me. Tainted. Ruined.
Gone were the neat little boxes I had shoved my emotions into. Dug up by a man I hadn’t seen in over four years. A love lost because it was impossible to sustain.
The brother to the man I had once been happily mated to.
My true mate.
Alpha Xavier Brenton.
***
The pack house loomed in front of me, a symbol of unobtainable wealth. Luxury. A brutal display of who was in charge.
Guards were posted on either side of the wrought iron gate. None of them looked pleasant. Sneered at the run-down little car that dared to approach the manor.
“Stop. Who goes there?” The guard asked, brows furrowing.
All last night I had prayed that none of Andrew’s friends would be in attendance. That none of them would recognize me as I slipped into this fortress. Luckily for me, none of them were on rotation. Had three days off, hence the run this morning Andrew had.
“Sutton Smith, here for Alpha Xavier.” I bleated, panic rising in my throat like a wave.
The man radioed the name to someone on the other end, barely glancing my way. When the speaker blared to life again against his shoulder I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“She’s a go. He is expecting her in the east wing. A butler will show her where to go.” The voice crackled to life, gruff and abhorrent.
Once more, the guard eyed my car with disdain. But he waved me in regardless.
The closer I got to the house, the less people were in sight. The gardens were immaculate. Walls of the house were clean. Although this place was called the pack house, though, it looked to be more along the lines of a pack mansion.
And lacked the pack part.
A gentleman was already waiting on the steps for me. As I climbed out, he turned his back, beckoning for me to follow with a gloved hand.
The inside of the place seemed as large as the outside. Pressed me in on all sides. More luxuries than I had known in my entire life dotted the walls. Crowded me in.
“Here you go, ma’am.” The butler said after a while and opened a door to my right.
Insides stood Xavier, gnawing on his thumb nail. Head bent forward. He was wearing a path in the floor, over a soft rug that complimented the room perfectly.
Black hair curled beautifully across his forehead. His jaw was as sharp as ever with stubble lining it, creating a shadow on his face. Broad shoulders. Muscular legs.
And as always, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing his defined veins.
“Sutton,” He whispered as our eyes met. Sounded like a hope and prayer on his lips.
Before I could muster up a reply, Xavier was already in front of me. Rugged knuckles traced down the length of my face as intense eyes drilled into mine. “How many years I’ve waited to see you again,” His thumb fluttered out and brushed the bottom of my chin. “To touch you again.”
Leaning in close, Xavier captured my lips in his, bottoming out my stomach. Blood roared in my ears. And my traitorous body melted into his, arms flinging around his neck, desperately pulling him closer.
All the years I spent trying to forget my past finally came crashing back to me.
- Writer
