TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 327

Three hundred and twenty seven

Isabella pov

I’d spent about an hour in my room trying to get things in order and listening to Maverick, who went on and on about how much food Grandma Cassidy had made him eat and how Luna Lisa had invited him upstairs to watch TV.

“I hope you behaved yourself,” I said.

“Yes. And Grandma Cassidy gave me lots and lots of chocolate and made me brush my teeth at night.”

My heart warmed. One chance encounter with Luna Lisa at the hospital had brought me close to people who were nothing but kind to me without expecting anything in return.

Well, maybe except for Wesley, whom I was fucking, much to our mutual advantage.

But everyone else asked for nothing from me. They simply cared about Maverick and me.

“You don’t know how lucky we are,” I said to Maverick. He might not understand yet, but I could at least drum it into his head.

I was changing into something loose when a knock sounded on the door.

“Open up, Isabella. It’s me.”

I recognized Iris’s voice. Maverick rushed to open the door.

“Has it reached the point where you come in without telling me?” Iris said. “If I hadn’t heard Maverick’s laughter, I wouldn’t have known you had returned.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I was just trying to sort things out before coming to say hi to you.”

“That’s fine,” Iris said brightly. “How do you feel now?”

“Oh, I’m much better.”

I knew she was going to ask where I’d been, so I used the Alpha House as a cover, telling her I’d needed somewhere to rest and recover.

“What clinic did you get treatment from?”

“I was at the Alpha House,” I said.

“I keep forgetting how much Luna Lisa likes you. You’re so lucky,” she said.

“Same thing I was telling Maverick,” I said, not bothering to correct her that the Alpha House in question wasn’t Alpha Cameron’s house.

She came in and settled onto the stool. For some reason, the words seemed harder to find than usual, which was strange considering Iris and I could talk about practically anything.

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“So, how has work been?” I asked, trying to get the conversation going.

“Same old. Luna Lisa and her people are preparing for the gala. I wonder how it is there in the house.”

That nearly gave me away. Thankfully, Iris didn’t pick up on them.

“There’s actually something I have to tell you so we don’t keep keeping secrets,” she said.

I nodded.

She hesitated before speaking.

“Harrison and I have decided to give dating a chance.”

She fell quiet, almost as if she’d just confessed to doing something wrong.

“That’s great. Congratulations.”

She sighed.

“I know it comes off as insensitive, considering that you two aren’t on good terms yet, but I thought I should tell you.”

“I don’t have any issues with it. You two look good together.”

She fought back a smile.

“So, did it happen naturally, or is he using you to spite me?”

“I knew you’d say that,” she said, chuckling. “I was skeptical at first, but we’re taking it one step at a time. It’s recent, so let’s see how it goes. I’m not looking for a perfect romance anyway, but at least he’s agreed to try.”

“That’s good news, really. You two are good people, and I don’t see this going left. And if you think I’d come between you, please don’t stop yourself from being with him just because he’s uncomfortable with our friendship.”

“Oh, no, don’t say that,” she said. “I’m not a baby who can be pushed around.”

“Well, good to hear. I hope he’ll treat you well.”

“To think I’d given the douche green lights, yet he acted like he couldn’t understand the clues or anything.”

I laughed. It was true. Even I’d told Harrison that Iris liked him, and he still hadn’t caught on.

I poured water into a glass and took a drink.

“Is he still mad at me?” I asked.

She sighed.

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“He hasn’t stopped asking whether I’d heard from you, especially after you texted to say you were taking three days off. He said you weren’t looking good at the office.”

I wondered why he hadn’t simply called or texted.

“I think the both of you need to talk,” Iris said.

“I don’t want to argue, please.”

“I know, but whatever happened can be talked through, don’t you think? There were misunderstandings, but that doesn’t mean you both have to keep beefing or become enemies.”

“I’m not his enemy, and I don’t resent him. I just don’t want that negative energy anymore.”

“Then maybe you need to hear what he has to say or see him and decide whether he’s ready to reconcile,” she said.

“Fine,” I said, stretching out on the bed as we moved on to random things.

I heard a knock on the door.

“Maverick, go get that,” Iris said, but Maverick was busy building with his Legos.

“I’ll get it,” I said.

Harrison stood outside, looking unsure, like he didn’t know if I’d let him in. He held a grocery basket filled with bread, fruit, milk, snacks, and a few other things we needed.

I froze at the sight of him, then stepped aside.

“I was already at the store, so I picked up a few things for Maverick,” he said.

The moment Maverick heard his voice, he jumped up and rushed into his arms.

“Hey, buddy,” Harrison said, ruffling his hair before tackling him to the floor.

Maverick’s laughter filled the room as they played. Iris and I exchanged glances, and hers clearly said, Please talk to him.

“Thank you for the groceries,” I said, taking the basket and pulling out the items one by one.

Harrison sat down, and silence settled over the room, broken only by Maverick’s constant chatter as he played with him. Harrison kept him entertained, but I could tell he wanted to talk to me.

“Okay, that’s enough, Maverick,” Iris said, forcing a stern tone. “Go play with your Legos.”

Thankfully, he did.

Harrison said nothing, so I cut to the chase.

“I’m sorry,” we said together.

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Iris swallowed a laugh.

“Let me go first,” I said.

He nodded.

“I’m sorry, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I never meant to lead you on.”

I glanced at Iris.

“And you too.”

“No, I’m good,” Iris said, lying on the bed.

“I just didn’t want to drag you into something that was already complicated.”

“I overreacted,” Harrison said.

“No, you didn’t. I shouldn’t have asked you to pretend to be my boyfriend without giving you the full picture.”

He sighed.

“What hurt more than the lies was Wesley making me feel crazy about the documents Emma clearly approved. I didn’t know he was just trying to assert his ego over me.”

“So, friends again?” I asked, holding out my hand.

He took it and gave it a playful squeeze that made me wince.

“You really broke his heart,” Iris said, laughing. “He almost cried because of you.”

“That’s not true,” Harrison said, throwing a pillow at her.

I smiled as I watched them go back and forth. The weight I’d been carrying finally lifted.

“There’s one thing I’m still angry about, though,” I said. “You called me a woman who manipulates men.”

Iris laughed. Harrison’s expression shifted. He looked like a man who knew he’d messed up.

“I was angry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

I nodded.

“Well, if we’re clearing things up, you should know that having a child young doesn’t mean I planned for

it.”

He shook his head.

“I know. I shouldn’t have said it.”

Maybe it was the vulnerability in the room, but I suddenly wanted to let everything out. I’d carried it for so

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long that keeping it inside felt more exhausting than saying it.

“It was several months after I turned sixteen,” I said. “My grandmother, who I had been living with, had died months earlier, and I had to fend for myself instead of relying on whatever scraps I could get from her relatives.”

I sighed and stared into the distance.

“She had made me promise never to work anywhere where I could easily be exposed to men who would take advantage of my body. So I took up cleaning instead. It was something I was naturally good at, and I began cleaning for a f*e alongside people who already worked those jobs.”

Harrison and Iris kept their eyes on me, absorbing every word.

“On the day I was cleaning the civic center, I was working in one of the inner rooms. It was getting dark, and I needed to finish before leaving. The person who was supposed to work with me had left me to do the rest alone. I’d been told that if I didn’t finish that evening, I wouldn’t be paid.”

I drew a breath.

“I had just finished wringing out the mop and was hanging it up when I heard laughter. I peeked outside and saw the Alpha walking past with two of his friends. My mistake was not hiding.”

My voice trembled, but I drew another deep breath and continued.

“The Alpha saw me and asked what I was doing there all by myself at that time. I told him I was cleaning up and would lock the area when I was done. Then he asked me to wait for him.”

“I was hungry. I only wanted to finish the work for the day and get paid. I waited, thinking perhaps he wanted to give me some money or help me. That was the beginning of my nightmare.”

I brushed the tears from my cheeks.

“He took me to his house and offered me a job cleaning his quarters. I accepted because he was the Alpha, and I assumed he would pay me well and directly. I had no idea what that man had planned.”

“That night, he told me to have dinner with the staff, and I did. One of the staff members, a man I later realized had been involved in the whole thing, told me there was already a room available for me. Gullible and unsuspecting, I followed him there and fell asleep. I’d been working all day.”

Harrison couldn’t even look at me anymore.

“The Alpha came in, locked the door, and assaulted me. He restrained me to the bed and gagged me so I couldn’t call for help.”

This time, I couldn’t stop myself from crying, but I didn’t want to startle Maverick. I wiped my tears with the back of my palm.

“When he finished, he told me I was a sweet girl and that he would pay me handsomely if I continued.”

I sat up, memories of that day crawling over me like a phantom. I wiped my nose with the tissue and

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continued.

“I was in pain. I couldn’t even speak. I didn’t understand what had just happened to me. I couldn’t understand why the Alpha had lured me there only to take advantage of me.”

“Evil bastard,” Iris muttered.

“To make it worse, he wouldn’t let me leave. He did it again and again. He kept telling me he had never had anyone as sweet as me before.”

Harrison kept his face turned away.

“He released me after about two weeks. He told me to go home, think about it, and said he was going to make me a queen. But I wondered how, since he already had a wife and was notorious for keeping

mistresses.”

I swallowed.

“So I went home. I told my grandmother’s brother and his family what had happened. They thought I was missing or had gone back to my father’s house. None of them believed me. They mocked me instead, saying I was just like my mother, who had gotten pregnant with me out of wedlock.”

Iris’s tears spilled freely.

“I was already pregnant when I tried to end my life. I drank something I shouldn’t have, but they found me before it was too late. They were afraid I would die under their roof, so they decided to send me away.”

I looked down at my hands.

“My grandmother’s brother said I was too much trouble and that I had to leave before keeping me put them in trouble with the Alpha. He said the Alpha had been searching everywhere for me and would have found me if they hadn’t hidden me in the basement whenever he came looking.”

I swallowed.

My father was notified, and they wrote him a letter asking him to let me return. I had sworn never to go back because of the constant maltreatment, but I had nowhere else to go.

I shook my head.

“That’s how I found myself here and had Maverick.”

I said nothing more.

It wasn’t that I was afraid to tell them about my father and his family. It was wiser not to lay every secret bare at once. Even what I’d already told them had left them shaken with grief.

“I’m so sorry,” Iris whispered, rushing forward and wrapping her arms around me.

I rubbed her back as though I were the one comforting her.

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