Chapter 2

One year later

MY EYES ARE SWOLLENand puffy from crying. I tried to hold it together, I tried to be strong, but how could I possibly be able to do that when my whole world is crashing down around me?

"Jelly Bean, please don't cry. You"re killing me here." Griffin pulls me into his arms, and I wrap mine around him, burying my face in his chest. Everything hurts. I feel like someone has reached into my chest and is holding my heart in the tight grasp of their hand, and the moment these three walk away, my heart will be ripped from my body.

Today is the day, all three of them are leaving me.

Zane's eighteenth birthday was two months ago. There was no time for the good morning cupcake we get each other every year because as soon as morning came, Charles burst into the guys' room and practically dragged him out of the house.

Not physically because there's no way he could touch Zane, but Charles told him that if he wasn't out of his house in a half hour, he was calling the cops.

His bags were already packed, waiting by the front door. I wanted to kick that asshole in the balls so damn bad, and I could tell Everett and Griffin wanted to as well.

We tried to follow him out, but Charles said he needed us home to do yard work. The guys were ready to tell him to eat shit, but they kept their mouths shut because they knew it was putting me at risk of being moved to another foster home, and the guys weren't risking that when they still had a few months left with me before they would be kicked out too.

Because it was only May, Zane stayed nearby, sleeping on one of his friends' couches. He went to school every day, and that was the only time we really got to see him.

Charles and Karen kept us busy, mostly me, giving me the most pointless tasks around the house. I had to lie, telling them I got detention or that I asked to stay after class to get help with work. When really, I was going to the music room every day after school with the guys like I always did.

Karen would call me stupid and get pissed off because I was becoming nothing but a problem. But because she was under the impression it was for school, she didn't tell me no.

One after another the other two left too, also crashing on their friends' couches, until it was only me left.

They stayed around for the rest of the summer because of me, to spend as much time as we could together before they had to leave. But now that summer is coming to an end and school is starting back up, the guys are leaving.

They worked their asses off, saving money from their summer jobs to get bus tickets out of Las Vegas and to cover the first three months of rent in LA.

"It's not going to be forever, Tiny." Everett rubs his hand up and down my back, soothing me. And then he purrs, fucking purrs, and God, I love it. But it only makes me cry harder.

I was right. Each of them ended up presenting as an alpha. Then, like I knew they would, they decided to become a pack. They talked about it for years, but it made things more real, more official, even saying that when they got the chance they would go to the courts to officially file as a pack.

But they were waiting for me. For me to age out of the system and be free to start my life with them.

I want that more than I need air. I need them more than anything in this world. I've fallen madly, hopelessly in love with each of them, even more so over the past year.

They have never once given me the impression they wanted to be more than just friends. Maybe they're waiting, biding their time to see if I become an omega.

The fucked up part is that I resigned myself to my pathetic fate. I can't stand the idea of being without them. If they didn't want me in that way, I'd take anything they would give me. Even if that"s just being their friend.

Call me stupid, but telling a teenager in love to be realistic is pointless. We think and do as we please and only learn the hard way.

Griffin hugs me from behind. "We will call every day. And come visit on holidays if we can afford it," he murmurs, burying his face into my hair and sandwiching me between him and Everett. And then he starts to purr, a deep vibrating sound that has my body going lax. I feel the stress melt away.

The announcement that the bus to LA will be leaving in ten minutes has the panic clawing its way back in.

"We're going to do it, Tiny," Everett reassures. "I have a good feeling. Our TikTok has been blowing up, people are using our songs for sounds. We're even in talks to meet with some very important people. We're going to get that deal, make that money, and in two years, you"re going to be out of this shithole and with us where you belong."

"We will keep your phone plan topped up too. We will text all the time," Griffin adds.

I insisted on coming to the bus station with the guys. Karen told me no, but I told her to fuck off. I didn't care what she thought, didn't care what my punishment would be when I returned home. She made my life hell for years, taking away the time I had with the only good thing in my life. There was no way I'd be letting them leave without seeing them off. I needed every last second with them.

She could send me to a new home, into a group home, for all I cared. It wouldn't matter either way because they wouldn't be with me.

"We gotta go." Zane's hard voice sounds from a few feet away.

"Fuck," Griffin curses. He and Everett hug me so damn tight it pushes the air out of my lungs, but I don't mind. Their scents—pumpkin spice, lemon and blueberry, cinnamon, and clove—surround me as if they're telling me everything will be okay. That Everett is right, this won't be forever.

When they step away from me, my body feels cold. That hand that's wrapped around my heart pulls, and a sharp pain crashes into my chest as I watch my best friends leave.

"Goodbye, Jelly Bean." Griffin's voice is thick with emotion, unshed tears swimming in his eyes. He turns around, as if looking at me hurts too much, and heads toward the bus, throwing one of his bags over his shoulder.

I don't hold mine back, a sob bubbles up in my chest as tears stream down my cheeks. I don't care how I look, if people are staring. I don't care if snot is running from my nose, I'll just use the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe the tears away. Nope—Zane's hoodie, which he gave me last night.

"Be good, Tiny. You"re so fucking strong. Time will go by fast, and then we will have a lifetime together. Just remember that, okay?" A tear slides from the corner of Everett's eye. He leans in, kissing me ever so gently on the forehead, that tear landing hot on my skin.

Without another look, he turns on his heel and joins Griffin on the bus.

Pulling my bleary eyes away from the bus, I turn to Zane. He hasn't said anything since we arrived at the station and was quiet the whole hour we hung out before coming here. He has a stormy look in his eyes like he's starting to shut down.

I hate it. I want to hug him, to tell him everythings going to be okay. To tell him that he and the guys are going to take this world by storm and become something big. Tell him not to be sad, but instead, be excited for the fact that they are now free of this life we've been forced to live.

They have a chance to make something of themselves but it doesn't change the fact that I want to beg them, plead with them to stay here. Not to leave me in a world where I don't get to see their faces every day. I don't, though. Because that would be selfish of me. I'd hate myself if I was the thing that came between them and something life-changing.

Wrapping my arms around my trembling body, I watch as he slowly steps in front of me. His eyes are so intense, I can't look away.

He grows closer until he's towering over me, forcing me to tilt my head back. "I need you to know something before we leave here tonight, Trouble," he says, his voice is nothing but a soft rumble.

His large, warm hands move to cup my cheeks. I gasp as if a spark inside me was ignited at his touch.

"You are single-handedly the best thing that"s ever happened in my life. That night, when you found me on that rooftop... you don't know this, but you saved me. I was looking up at the night sky, thinking of a way I could end everything. My mother died not too long after I was born. From then, I bounced around from foster home to foster home. I had no one. No friends, no family, no one to love me. I never did. Until you. A pretty little redhead with eyes that matched her name. You didn't see a broken boy. You saw me as a person, and never once did you ever look at me as anything but."

My breaths come out in short, choppy pants, my eyes flicking frantically back and forth between his. My mind whirls, trying to process everything he's saying.

"I love you, Jade. I have from the moment I saw you. It's killing me to leave you here, with those shitty people. But I'm doing this for you, for us. I'm going to give you the whole fucking world, Jade, because you deserve it. Nothing less will do. This isn't a goodbye, this isn't forever, this is just for now. We'll come back for you, always remember that."

It's like time stops, everything around Zane and me fades away as he slides his hand from my cheek to the back of my head, cupping it as he brings his lips to mine.

It's my first kiss. And with a man that I love. In that very second, everything is perfect as he moves his lips against mine, kissing me like I'm the air that he needs to breathe. My body hums to life, everything in me telling me to wrap my arms around him, to deepen the kiss.

But he moves away; it's over too soon. I want to pull him back to me, beg him to keep kissing me.

Zane takes a step back, the look on his face utter destruction, before he gives me one last look and turns around. He doesn't walk, but jogs toward the bus, boarding it just in time. Because as soon as he's on it, the doors close behind him, taking my heart and soul with him.

Did I hear him right? Did he just tell me he loved me? Me, Jade?

How could he confess something like that, something so damn huge, and just walk away? How could he tell me he loved me and just leave!

I stand there, my fingers touching my lips where they still burn from his kiss, watching in shock as the bus backs up and takes off down the street. I watch until I can no longer see it.

And then I'm crumbling to my knees, deep, heavy sobs finding their way free from my chest.

I'm alone. There's no one left. I have no other friends, no family, nothing. The only people who've ever been there for me just left. And now, it's just me.

I'm not sure how long I sit there and cry, but eventually one of the workers comes to check on me. They ask if I need help, if they could call anyone to come get me.

That just reminds me all over again that there's no one. So, I shake my head, do my best to stand on my wobbly legs and walk back to Karen and Charles' house.

With each step, I grow more and more numb. I feel my inner light starting to dim as I begin to shut down.

By the time I get to the house, I feel nothing. I'm an empty shell of myself.

Karen starts in on me the moment I open the front door, but I ignore her, walking up the stairs. I don't go to my room, but instead, find myself at theirs.

Standing in the doorway, I stare at their empty beds. All of their personal things are gone, the room being stripped down to just the mattresses.

The wall once covered in posters is now a naked white.

My feet move again, guiding me to the bed. I let myself fall forward, face down, into the mattress.

It still smells like them, a mix of their scents. It's faint, though, fading away much too quickly.

Moving my head to the side, I lay there, staring out the window.

The words Everett spoke last night come to mind. We were sitting in the tree house, watching the stars. He put his arm around me and told me that whenever I felt alone, whenever I missed them, to just look up at the moon and he'd do the same. Because no matter where they were, we shared the same moon.

Was he looking out the window of the bus right now, eyes on the moon, as mine are?

Doesn't matter because no moon will bring them back. No moon will make my life any less fucked up.

I am alone now, and no moon can change that.