Chapter 267
LEAH
I don’t know why I’m surprised to find out Emily and Jessica were best friends, considering Aaron and James are equally close, and they all grew up together.
I climb slowly out of the SUV and then walk around to join James.
“Did you know she was coming home?” I ask him, trying to
keep the accusation out of my voice.
He knows how contentious things have been between me and Jessica over the years, with Aaron firmly in the middle. The least he could have done was given me a heads up.
“No, I didn’t know,” James says, shaking his head.
I can tell he’s being truthful, so that alleviates some of my annoyance at least.
Aaron had mentioned that Jessica had taken an extended vacation and gone to stay with some relatives in another pack somewhere–at his expense of course–and it’d been easy to put her from my mind and simply believe she might never
come back.
Her timing, however, couldn’t have been worse.
I don’t want to have to deal with her and all that petty rivalry right now with everything else going on.
Eventually, Emily and Jessica are over the shock of their
unexpected reunion and I slowly walk toward the mansion, debating whether I should ask Jessica why she’s come back.
As I get closer, her eyes narrow, and that pretty much seals
the deal for me.
Jessica and her nastiness are not worth my time or energy right now.
I ignore her and keep walking, but I can hear her and Emily whispering between themselves, and know they’re talking
about me.
Emily hates me for who I am, and Jessica hates me for what
she thinks I took from her.
There is no way in which having them together and against me is going to end well.
As I reach the doorway, I hear James greet his sister.
“Jessica, I didn’t know you were coming home,” he says, and
I pause just inside the doorway where they can’t hear me to
listen in.
“How could I not come home? I heard about what happened
to Aaron. Basically, every wolf in Montana is talking about it.
I left to come home as soon as I heard. Aaron was the love of
my life. He should have been my mate. I needed to be here for
the funeral.”
I spin and walk away, not waiting to hear what James says in
response to that.
Jessica’s words make my stomach tighten with an old, familiar churn of jealousy and anger.
She doesn’t have the right to claim Aaron was the love of her
life.
I doubt she knows what real love even feels like.
The kind of soul–deep connection that Aaron and I shared was nothing compared to whatever young romance they had
before I came along.
And I’m sure she’s going to swan around the mansion and grounds, acting like she’s the widow and her whole life is over while I do the real work of looking after Aaron’s son, seeing to
the welfare of the packs and running the businesses.
Jessica doesn’t have a clue, and I can only hope she’ll go back to wherever she was once the funeral is over.
However, with Emily back in the picture, I get the feeling hoping Jessica will leave might be wishful thinking.
I go upstairs and find Ethan with Tera. As I’d hoped, it’s time for his next feed.
I sit in the new nursery that James put together while Aaron and I were being held captive.
It’s in a room across from Aaron’s bedroom, and I have to say,
James did a wonderful job.
There’s a comfortable recliner/rocker chair to sit in while I’m
feeding or settling Ethan, and I sink into the comfortable chair
with Ethan in my arms, fussing for his bottle.
As he starts greedily gulping down his milk, I smile and feel grateful for this small slice of quiet and peace with my son.
These moments are few and far between, with our lives being so complicated like they are, so I want to make sure I treasure the times when its just me and him, and things are simple.
Quickly though, as the bottle empties and Ethan starts lulling off to sleep, my mind starts going back to all the problems I
need to take care of.
One of the biggest being the damn Al tech.
I was really hoping we might have found it today.
Instead, James and I ended up bringing home a miracle that’s probably going to end up being yet another complication, if Emily’s attitude toward me is anything to go by.
”
I’m running out of places to look for the Al tech, and wonder
what else I can do or who else I can ask.
*
a
*
x
An idea comes to me, and I’m not sure whether it’s a good one
or not.
But that’s half the problem.
I seem to be running short on good options these days.
So, I think, what the hell.
Aaron is gone and my life is never going to be the same.
What’s one more risky play in the grand scheme of things? Especially if it ends up paying off.
It’s time to ask Ryker for help.
