Chapter 24

Twenty-Four

JADE

" W hat happened, Jade?"

"Are you coming back to us?"

"What happened to your job?"

I was pelted with questions as I carried a box from the car into my parent's home. Unfortunately, they were all at home at this hour, and there was no sneaking in as I hoped.

"I'll explain. Just hold on," I sighed as I dropped the box into my old childhood room. The house was modest. It wasn't as ginormous as Caleb's new mansion, but it was enough for a smaller family like ours. Since my brother Jack moved out, we had a lot more space.

I walked past my three dads staring at me in the living room and my mom who was holding a pencil in her hand as she held her student's papers in her other hand. It was nightfall as I returned to my car for the second box in the trunk. As I made my way back, I tripped and fell onto the cracked sidewalk.

Fuck my life.

"Be careful, kiddo," said Dad Jon, reaching a hand out. I grasped it, groaning from the pain in my ankle.

"Shit, I think I twisted my ankle," I said, limping and hopping as he slowly walked me to the house. My other two dads, Seth and Rob, were at my car, carrying my boxes for me into the house.

"Hey, hey, no cussing," Jon chastised.

"Dad, I'm old as fuck."

"Jade!" he said, eyes round. "Then you're not too old to be grounded, young lady."

"I'm just joking, Dad," I said, wincing as he sat me on the couch. I reached down, massaging my ankle. My mother ran into the living room with an ice pack, applying it on my ankle. "Thanks, Mom."

"Doesn't look sprained," she said, pressing the coldness against my skin. It eased the pain immensely. I applied pressure on my foot, and I winced again. "Don't overexert yourself for a few days."

"I know, Mom," I said, without reminding her that I was a nurse.

After my dads brought my boxes into the two-story home, they sat around me in the family room expectantly waiting for me to explain what was going on and why I was moving back in with them. I was lying on the couch with my feet on my mom's lap as she held the ice pack to my ankle.

"Time to tell us what's going on," said Dad Seth, clasping his hands on his lap.

I sighed.

There was no more hiding it. I didn't care anymore at this point.

"Well, I quit my job," I said. Without waiting a beat, I told them the second shocking news. "And I got evicted from my apartment."

"What?!" said Rob.

I was mostly scared about my mother's reaction. After everything she drilled into me about being in a professional field as an omega, I knew she was angry. She was quiet. Worryingly quiet.

"I couldn't keep working there," I said. "Our boss is a freaking tyrant, and I'm just drained."

"How could you do this after everything?" my mom finally asked. "After all your schooling. We can help you get your position back with the Omega Rights Association."

"No," I snapped. I didn't want to stay and continue this conversation. I gingerly stood on my bad foot and grabbed a chair for balance. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"We love you," said Dad Jon. "Your mother only wants what's best for you."

"She's just scared her friends will hear about this. Her failure of a daughter," I said and looked over at Mom. Her lips were pursed, and she didn't say another word to me. I grabbed the ice pack from the couch and limped to my room.

Over the next few days, I was literally holed up in my bedroom.

I didn't want to get out for anything. My fathers would call me for hot chocolate and movies, but I would still not come out. I only left my room in the middle of the night to grab food without anyone there. I was lying in bed right now, staring at my phone. I hated leaving my room, especially when my mother was out there. She hounded me constantly of why I wasn't being productive.

Regardless of how Caleb treated me, thoughts of him and his pack flooded my mind constantly. There were a hundred voicemails from them on my phone which I didn't dare check. A constant ache in my heart and my soul that nothing could soothe. I'd wake up crying and mumbling without realizing it. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Not even Keera or any of my friends. That would require a lot of energy that I just didn't have.

But I knew I couldn't keep going on like this forever.

So when I saw the text from my cousin, Shanna, on my phone- I lit up a little. She wanted to go dress shopping for her wedding, which was apparently not canceled anymore but delayed to next year. I agreed to go shopping with her and a couple of her friends later today after she said I had great taste. It would have been evil of me to refuse.

As I worked up the energy to get off the bed and into the shower, I tried not to think of Caleb and his pack. I couldn't let my thoughts go there. It was the only way I'd be productive today. Heartbreak was real for me now on a whole other level.

"That dress is the one," I breathed as I gazed upon my cousin walking out of the dressing room. Her two friends gasped upon seeing her in her strapless dress covered in rhinestones. My cousin was a beta, and she was marrying a beta guy who she's been madly in love with since high school.

"So beautiful, Shanna," gasped her friend.

"Do you think so?" she asked, looking into the tall mirror, her face glowing. She was so lucky to be a beta and not have to worry about the heats that omegas went through. The only thing that sucked for her was that she was only with one guy. Betas were normally envious of the fact that omegas had two mates or more to get through heats.

"It's stunning. For real," I said. "Do you like it, Shanna?"

"I'll go with this one," she said happily, twirling in the mirror as she looked at herself. She had refused too many dresses, so we breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. "I love it."

Shanna bought the dress, and as she was getting sized for it- she wanted to know about what was going on in my trainwreck life.

"Nothing much," I said. "Just been busy at work, that's all."

"You look sad, though, and you haven't been talking as much," said Shanna as the shop owner measured her arms next. "Your normally bubbly self- deflated or something. I can't explain it."

"Well, I met an alpha pack," I said, deciding just to tell her and her friends. "The alpha leader wasn't serious about me, and I slept with him."

"So?" asked Shanna. "Doesn't that happen all the time?"

"She caught feelings for him…" said one of her friends who was more astute than her.

"I did," I said.

"Did you tell him how you feel?"

"A few times before, yeah," I said.

"If they hadn't fought for you, then they're not meant for you," said Shanna. "I suggest getting on with a new pack."

"You're probably right," I said, determined to let it go once and for all. I couldn't keep torturing myself over the fact that Caleb didn't want me. As I drove to my parent's home, I started feeling better after I had talked to my cousin and her friends. They were right. I could continue painting and doing all the things I loved to do. If all else fails, I'll apply for another nurse position at a different clinic.

When I got to my parent's house, I was in for a major surprise when I got inside.

Caleb, Dravin, Nick, and Bruce were all in the living room talking to my parents. I couldn't back out and run since they'd all seen me already. I wanted to sink into the ground and die for not seeing their truck on the side of the road.

I was so stupid.

"What the hell are you all doing here?!" I said.