Inevitably Yours

It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Michael didn’t show up to band practice the next day. He also stopped answering his phone once again. I tried not to worry about it, but it was bothering me. Stuart was now being cold to me at both practices and looking for any reason to chastise me. Christy, on the other hand, was my new biggest fan. She brought us both lunch to practice and even asked me if I wanted to have a sleepover with her. I politely declined but decided I liked her.

I got to sleep in a little the next day, letting my tired body refuel some. When I got to band practice, I wasn’t expecting to see Michael. Things started to look up, though, because Christy began introducing me to even more of the upperclassman.

When I came pedaling up my driveway after practice, Michael was sitting on my porch. He stood as I got to the top of the driveway. He had a guilty look on his face. I parked my bike and slowly made my way to him. “You disappeared again,” I commented. He nodded.

“And you missed practice, again,” I continued. He nodded.

“You can just tell me if you are avoiding me or don’t want everyone at school to know we’re friends,” I said softly, looking away.

“No!” he said firmly. He stepped forward and grabbed my chin, turning my face to him. “No.”

“Are you going to tell me what is going on then?” I asked.

He was quiet for a second. I couldn’t tell what was going on in his head, but something was bothering him. His other hand came up, and he ran his fingers down my arm, his eyes following the movement. He intertwined our fingers as he spoke, “I told you; it’s some complicated family stuff. Can you leave it at that for now?”

I bit my l*p. Something else was going on; I could tell something was bothering him. His plea was sincere. “Alright,” I agreed. I tried to ignore the pleasant prickling in my spine at our proximity.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“Do you want to come in?” I said.

He dropped his hand from my chin, and the guilty look returned. “I can’t stay,” he said. “I just wanted you to know everything is okay.”

“Oh,” I said.

“I don’t know if I will make it to practice next week, but I promise you I will be at the parade for sure,” he said.

“Oh good, you can watch me fall,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“If you fall, I’ll just catch you,” he smiled softly. His phone rang in his pocket, and he hung his head. “I really have to go now. I’ll try to call you soon, okay?”

“Mmhmm,” I said, trying to smile back.

“Think it would be okay if I got a hug goodbye?” he asked gently. I nodded. He let go of my hand and brought his hands around my waist. I raised on my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. His chin came over my shoulder, and he held me tightly to him.

We lingered like that for a drawn moment. I didn’t want him to go, but it seemed like he had no choice. I didn’t think he would pull away, so I did. I lowered myself back down to flat feet and gave him a tight smile. Michael looked like he wanted to say something, but his phone rang again. “Bye, Quinn,” he said as he pulled it out of his pocket.

He walked quickly down my driveway and broke out into a run when he he hit the street. I watched him run away, feeling a weird twisting in my gut.

MICHAEL

I hated leaving her. The look of disappointment was like a knife in my lung. I didn’t have a choice, though; I didn’t have a choice about a lot of things.

I wanted to tell Quinn why I had been skipping practice, but I just couldn’t. After spending the whole day with her just lying together, I ate dinner with my mom and brother before offering to take Pop his dinner.

When my Mema died years ago, the already quiet man became a living shell of himself. He rarely left his room, and someone brought all his meals to him. Many times, he didn’t bother to eat, so my mom would have to go force food into him. It was easy to forget he remained in the packhouse with us because of his reclusiveness.

I knocked on the door but didn’t wait for an answer. Opening it, I found him exactly where he always was- sitting in front of the old TV in the recliner with a blanket on his lap. The TV was playing a black and white western movie, but I doubt he knew what was happening.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Hey, Pop,” I said, coming next to him. “Mom made beef stroganoff.” He didn’t acknowledge my existence, just stared blankly at the TV.

I grabbed the plate from his lunch that was barely touched and replaced them with his dinner. I set the dirty dishes on the dresser by the door before going back over to him. I squatted down, hoping he might look at me this way.

“Pop, I gotta ask you something,” I started. I waited to see if he would move or acknowledge I was in front of him. When he didn’t, I continued on, needing answers. My afternoon with Quinn had renewed my resolve just enough to keep trying.

“So Daniel, my cousin, said something sort of crazy the other night. I tried to ask my grandma about it, but she brushed me off. I knew you would tell me if you could,” I said. I watched him carefully, looking for any sign of interest. “Daniel said that Dad, Lawrence, isn’t my father.”

I laid my cards on the table and bit the inside of my cheek, praying for anything. Pop didn’t move a muscle, his hazy gaze still on the black and white moving pictures.

“That is crazy, right? I mean, Mom and Dad are clearly mates. Daniel had to be joking,” I appealed. I prayed for him to tell me I was crazy, to pop out of this stupor, and tell me to stop with the ludicrous theories and get on with my life.

“Pop, is it true?” I questioned further. Eros was resigned to the conclusion already, not needing my grandfather to react. Pop’s benumbed ignorance of me was frustrating me.

“I need you to tell me if it’s true. I need someone to tell me what is actually going on,” I said, a little more fiercely now. I still garnered no reaction from the sad old man. I sighed and stood up, shaking my head as I walked away. His eyes closed just before I stepped behind his chair.

I grabbed the dishes and opened the door. “She would have told you everything,” I heard a croaky voice. I stilled. I held my breath waiting for anything else. “She probably had all the proof.”

“Mema?” I asked carefully. Pop didn’t respond. I waited on the threshold of his room for another minute.

“He won’t say anymore,” Eros said. I begrudgingly accepted it.

“He told me enough, though. Mema knew. I was her favorite; she would have told me if she were still here,” I said.

“Aren’t her things packed away in the basement?” Eros thought.

“Mom couldn’t get rid of them!” I remembered. Packing up the remnants of her mother’s life was hard enough on my mom; she couldn’t bear to part with everything. She stored it in the basement of the packhouse.

“That’s where we need to look,” Eros said.

–

I spent the next couple of days searching. My father stayed away on his Alpha business longer than expected, so I wasn’t bothered much when I retreated to the basement on my quest. When I found everything, it was far more boxes than I remembered. There were so many papers and photos it took forever to sort through even one box.

Unfortunately for me, my father staying gone longer meant that my mother also needed help preparing things for the Founder’s Day celebration. Our pack celebrated its founding every year with a parade and humongous party at the packhouse. It was probably selfish, but I got the feeling Quinn still didn’t know I was the Alpha’s son, and I wanted to squeeze every last moment I could get out of our little bubble before my reputation and reality invaded it.

My brother called a third time as I ran home from Quinn’s house. “Yea,” I answered.

“Where are you? He is going to be back any time now,” he asked worriedly.

“I’m almost back. I had to run an errand,” I told him.

“Did you clean your room?” he asked.

“s**t,” I breathed. “I’ll get it done.” Between helping with Founder’s Day preparations and searching through my grandmother’s things, I had completely forgotten about my usual chores.

“Michael, just hurry up,” he said before hanging up. I pushed my legs faster, basically sprinting the rest of the way home. I breezed into the house and up to my room. I moved around as fast as I could, picking up all the clutter I hadn’t bothered with for days now.

As soon as everything was put away, I stripped off my shirt and pulled on a clean one, thanking the Goddess that I got everything cleaned up before he got home and had a reason to get angry. I didn’t want anyone to smell even a lingering hint of Quinn on me. My phone rang in my pocket, and I hurriedly answered, not looking at the caller ID.

“What?” I barked into the phone.

“That’s no way to talk to your girlfriend, Mikey,” Andi’s nasally voice snipped.

“s**t,” I thought. I had been ducking her for far too long, but when I thought about actually breaking up with her versus spending time with Quinn, I always chose the easier path.

“I can’t talk right now,” I told her.

“Where have you been?” she whined. I rolled my eyes.

“None of your business, Andi,” I told her. She had been a fun distraction for a while, but I didn’t need it anymore.

“You’re not being nice!” she complained.

“Goddess,” I sighed. “I don’t have time for this.” I hung up on her and switched my phone to silent, so I couldn’t hear her calling back. I would deal with her when I had the energy; there were far more important things going on right now. I knew it wasn’t fair to her, but I could only deal with so much emotional baggage at once.

“Michael, come greet your father,” my mother linked. My stomach filled with lead as I silently trudged from my room.

–

The next few days were filled with nothing but endless chores and training. Someone let it slip that I had not attended any training since my father left, which meant he had to make up for my wasted time.

He managed to occupy every waking moment of my day for the next few days. I never even managed to get back downstairs and continue searching through my grandma’s things. My mom was also on edge, snapping at me randomly. Tyler kept out of the way, luckily. He had learned when it was wise to do so.

When I finally collapsed into bed on the night before the parade, I couldn’t help but smile a little. I would get to see Quinn the next day because my father couldn’t keep me out of the parade no matter what he did. Everyone knew the Alpha’s son was a part of the band, and they were right in the center of the procession.

My smile was quickly wiped away when my door was thrown open. I shot up, sitting almost all the way up, looking at my father.

“This is your only warning, Michael,” he growled. “You will not make a mockery of this family tomorrow.” I swallowed, rage spinning inside me. I nodded, not trusting my tongue to remain obedient.

“You are a reflection of the leadership of this pack and will not make me look bad,” he furthered. “Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” I gritted out. He eyed me with contempt before turning and stomping away. I fell back onto my pillow once more. Goddess, I wanted Quinn right now. I wanted her curious gaze and gentle movement; I wanted her soft voice and vibrant mind.

I looked at my clock. It was late, so I didn’t want to call her just in case she was asleep. I didn’t know what her weird sleeping problem was, so I tried to be mindful of it. I sent her a message instead, hoping she might respond. The smile returned to my face, and I instantly felt lighter when my phone lit up with her reply.