Page 23 of Resisted

SILAS

It wasfive forty-five in the damn morning on a Sunday when my doorbell began going haywire, ringing repeatedly as if someone was standing on the outside, holding the button down. At first, I woke with a startle, my heart beating so fucking fast as I looked around, disorientated. But after a full five seconds, realization finally came to me.

I tossed my blanket dramatically off me as I got up and stormed to my bedroom door, right as Boyce and Vince opened theirs. Vince was the first to talk. “Anyone know what the fuck that is?”

“The fucking doorbell,” Boyce said with a groan.

“No shit, but why is it on meth?” Vince scrubbed his face.

Standing in the hallway talking about the level of noise wasn’t going to do anything about it. I pushed past them and moved through the hall until I reached the living room, not stopping until I reached the front door. I flicked the lock, not even hiding my disdain as I pulled open the door.

Then I froze.

My heart pumped inside of my chest, but I must’ve been dying.

“Well?” Bella stood there, her hand on her hip, as I stood staring. “Are you going to invite me in?”

Was I? No. I didn’t want to see her in this space, in my space. I didn’t want to constantly think about that one time she walked through my living room, or subconsciously try to find her scent mixed with all of ours.

Boyce pulled the door from my grip, widening for her. “Come in, it’s fucking freezing.”

I wanted to slam the door in her face, deny her entrance into my personal sanctuary, but I didn’t. Because the truth was, it was freezing, and though I hadn’t realized it until this very moment, I’d missed having Bella in my life. Did that mean I wanted it to be permanent? Fuck no. A few minutes of it couldn’t hurt, though. At least that was what I told myself when I stepped aside wordlessly.

Without brushing me, she walked past, but the scent that wafted by with her had my knees nearly shaking. Three years. It had been three years since I walked into that house to learn of the fates’ cruel joke. And here we stood three years later, another cycle creeping up upon her, and we couldn’t run out of town and pretend it wasn’t happening. Not when there was absolutely no work, no assignments, nothing to keep us away from her, no excuse I could possibly use.

Did she know? Did she know that the very scent of her was already making me weak? Had my mother finally told her the truth? Was that why she was here?

Before I could ponder any more questions, she twirled on her heels in the middle of my living room. “So nice of you to visit me, Silas.”

“I—” The lie formed but never left my mouth.

“You would not stop by and say hi, and you and I both know it.” She crossed her arms, lifting her chest up. Fuck. I forced my eyes toward the ceiling to avoid looking. “You’ve been back home many times over the last few years and you couldn’t stop by.”

Vince walked by, his hair skewed from sleep, his sweats hanging low on his hips with his tattooed chest on display. When I glanced at her, she was eating it all up. “Put a fucking shirt on. We have company.”

Instead of listening to my instructions, he flipped me off and continued to the kitchen. Her eyes followed. It was fucking infuriating. When he was out of sight, she turned back to me. “So, why are you avoiding me?”

“What makes you think I’m avoiding you?”

“Clearly it isn’t your mother. Or your fathers. They all seem to still be on speaking terms with you. Every fucking person in that house has heard from you but me.” Vince shouted from the kitchen to watch her language, but she ignored him. “Not even a fucking text like you used to send.”

Shit, I needed to think fast. I needed to come up with a reason I’d been avoiding her, and it needed to be good. I knew I couldn’t neglect this situation forever. But I’d thought I had more time. At least I’d hoped I did. “How did you even know I was in town?”

Vince poked his head out. “How do you take your coffee, baby?”

She glared at him. “Stop calling me that.” It was the same argument they’d had for years now, though it seemed more deflated now. “Cream, two spoons of sugar.” When Vince’s head disappeared back to the kitchen she answered me. “Well, I figured if Vincent and Boyce were at Mom’s yesterday, surely you would be around too? Where there’s one, there are the others.”

I looked to Boyce. “Volunteer work at the fucking food bank, Boyce? Really?”

He shrugged, not even looking a bit put out. “There was food, and I did volunteer to consume it.”

“Vince!” I screamed his name with so much force, he had no choice but to comply. But with him, I always suspected he complied at his own will. He could have been alpha. There was no question about it, but he had no interest in the power of it. He fought the compelling urge to bring himself to my feet, instead opting to slowly stroll from the kitchen with two cups of coffee in his hand.

He handed one to Bella. “Yes, Alpha?”

Was that a cocky smile he hid behind his mug as he took a sip? “You went to my mother’s.”

“She invited me.”