Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30

His expression went stony as he watched the colors swirl. I wanted to know more, to ask a million different things about what haunted him. But I wouldn’t want to answer those questions myself. So instead, I turned back to the creek.

I lost myself in the sound of the water, the feel of the breeze, the cool moss beneath my hands. I let my mind drift. Every time a memory threatened to take me under, I focused on something I could see, hear, touch, or smell.

And not once did I feel alone. Even though this person was a stranger, even though we didn’t speak a word, I was comforted by his presence. Something about the knowledge that I wasn’t the only one hurting, the only one trying to make peace with ghosts.

At some point, the sky shifted and the breeze turned chilly. I forced myself to stand. “I should go.”

He climbed to his feet as I did.

“Thanks for sitting with me-”

“Vaughn,” he answered.

My mysterious stranger had a name. “Vaughn,” I echoed, my tongue rolling around the letters. It fit him.

He raised a brow in question.

“Senna.”

He nodded. “Let me make sure you get back. We’re losing light, and the last thing I need is a dead girl on my conscience.”

I stiffened at his words, all the warmth and comfort I’d felt earlier dropping away in an instant. “It sounds like it would be easier for you if I took a tumble off a cliff on my way home.”

He took a step closer. “You have no idea what’s easy for me and what isn’t.”

My heart rattled against my ribs. “Well, let me make this one thing easier.”

I turned on my heel and fled.

…

I held a Diet Coke can to my burning eyes–not from crying this time, but from a sleepless night spent drawing ice–blue eyes that wouldn’t leave me alone.

I’d tossed and turned last night, unable to get comfortable. My skin felt too tight for my body, and I’d had the deep need to move. For the first time in my life, I’d wanted to go running.

Instead, I’d pulled out my pastels and begun to draw. I’d filled page after page, not even conscious of what I was creating until ice–blue eyes stared back at me. Vaughn. He was taunting me, even in my subconscious.

16:59

Screw My Childhood Sweetheart–His Alpha Brother Marked Me First!

25.9%

Chapter 30

I lifted the can from my face and cracked it open. Drinking deep, I prayed for it to clear away some of the brain fog. My bagel popped up in the toaster, and I quickly spread some cream cheese on it. Just as I finished, my phone dinged.

Caspian: Consider this me ringing your doorbell.

I wrapped my bagel in a paper towel with one hand and typed with the other.

Me: Lazy.

Caspian: Rude.

I slid my phone into my back pocket and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Grabbing my bagel and my Diet Coke, I headed for the door. I paused before I opened it, listening. I didn’t hear the television, and I wasn’t sure what that meant

exactly.

Instead of letting myself sink into worry about my mom, I headed for the truck. Caspian hopped out of the back seat and held the door open. He gave an exaggerated bow. “Madame, would you like me to lift you into your chariot?”

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