86. Chapter Eighty-Six

Chapter Eighty-Six

Beth

C atherine's all caught up when Jack arrives with the pizza, but I did spare her the details since she prefers not to dish those out, and, honestly, I can kind of see where she was coming from on that now. I'm too into my mates to want to share any of our intimate moments with anyone else. Those moments are private. They're between me and them.

I see my sister trying to check Jack's face for the shiner I mentioned he got when my ex showed up. Yeah, I told her about Rourke. I may have skimmed some details to avoid talking about him too much, but considering she wasn't living with Mom and Dad when I was dating him, she only knows who he is by who his famous parents are.

Jack sets the pizza boxes down on the coffee table and takes a look around the room.

"Nice apartment," Jack compliments. "And this building is the most secure place in the area."

"I also got a nice deal on the rent," Catherine tells him. "I do my landlord's taxes for free, and he does not know how to use a computer. Like seriously, he shows up here with a box of receipts every month, and I give him a rent check along with a bill. He doesn't cash the check until he's paid the bill. Works out pretty well for me."

"I did not know about that," I confess, kind of impressed at how enterprising my sister is being.

She shrugs. "Everybody haggles in the city. There's always some way to get a better deal."

"She's not wrong," Jack tells me when I look his way. "I got us a discount on the bar install yesterday afternoon, by offering the guy a bunch of vouchers for free meals. Enzo had just made soup and gave him a cup to taste test. That definitely sold him on the vouchers."

"When is he doing the install?" I ask, wondering how soon we'll be ready for customers.

"Friday, and he assures me it'll be completed on the same day. He did also hint it would come along faster if some food was served at noon. Oh, and I got confirmation that the signs are being installed on Friday, too."

"I wonder if we can be ready to open up on Saturday?"

"That seems ambitious," Catherine says.

"I guess I'm ambitious."

She laughs. "Okay, come on. I want to see what the big deal is with these pizzas."

I nod and Jack spreads the boxes out, spins them and opens them, lightning fast.

"One spicy vegetarian, and one meaty pepperoni."

"They're both amazing," I assure Catherine.

She takes a good look at both before picking up a slice of vegetarian.

"You're not into pepperoni?" I ask, just curious.

"I can feel myself putting on weight just looking at it."

"You only live once," I remind her.

Jack grabs a slice of pepperoni and sits down on the edge of the armchair my mom pulled forward. "So, there are a couple of things I should update you on."

"Didn't we just do that?" I ask, before leaning forward and picking up a slice of pepperoni.

"For renovation updates, yeah. We did. But that's not the stuff you really need to know."

"It's not?"

What else could he mean?

Did I miss something while I was sleeping like a rock?

He takes a bite of his pizza, chews, swallows and sighs. "Okay, I don't know if you want me to tell you this stuff in front of your sister or not, no offence, Catherine. It's pack related, and there's been … I guess you could call it an unexpected development."

"I can leave the room," Catherine offers.

I shake my head. "Unless it's a sex thing …"

"I'll start, and you tell me if you want to go out of the room, okay?" he asks, setting his slice down on the edge of the box.

"Sure," I tell him, before taking a bite of mine.

"You were asking where Enzo was before, and I didn't tell you because Arrow's in heat. It's a regular thing with Omegas and it's not a big deal. It's just something you should know. Gio was with him when it … well, I guess after it came on … Anyway, he's fine, but we all agreed you should be told. Gio and Enzo are going to be kind of busy with him until his heat breaks."

"Should we be with him?" I ask, knowing he needs his Alphas right now, but I'm not sure how that works when it comes to his other mates.

"It's not a requirement," he says. "Since a heat comes on every four to six weeks, life is bound to get in the way at least some of the time, so Arrow's used to not having all of his mates around him the whole time. We make up for that whenever we can."

"How long do they last?" Catherine asks, shrugging when I look at her. "Just curious."

"A few days, usually. It varies a bit."

"So, where's the unexpected part?" I frown at him.

It all sounds pretty standard to me.

He smiles wryly. "Arrow was in the kitchen when his heat came on. While the rest of us were in the dining room talking plans and contractors. He had this feeling, and he had the same feeling the day before, when he saw this guy outside, staring at the restaurant."

"Okay. What was the feeling?"

I know Omegas are highly intuitive so whatever he felt was likely valid, but the information so far isn't adding up to anything explosive.

"He felt another mate, the fifth one for him, after you."

I blink at him. "What?"

"I told you it was unexpected, right?" he asks.

"So, Arrow has another mate. One we haven't met?"

"That's where it gets kind of murky," he admits. "You've definitely met him. I've definitely met him, and now Arrow has, too."

The information sinks in slowly, and once it hits me who he's talking about, I feel all the blood draining out of my face.

"Rourke? You've got to be kidding."

"Unfortunately, I'm not." He picks his slice of pizza back up and starts eating.

We fall into silence, eating together without saying a word.

Half of the pizza is demolished before Catherine clears her throat.

"You know who Rourke's parents are, right?"

I realize she's looking to me for the answer and I nod. "Of course. I told you who they were."

"What do his parents have to do with this?" Jack asks.

"They're a power couple," Catherine says. "His father's in the business world, and his mother was a model and an actress who quit while she was still young and beautiful. Beyond their regular business, they supply a lot of funding to colleges, along with a bunch of other extremely wealthy friends of theirs. Places like Cressidan City College."

"Oh my God," I murmur, remembering what Rourke said to Chelsea at his party.

He said he could make sure she didn't get into any college, anywhere.

"Well, there have always been rumors that they manipulate these colleges to make sure their kids get the best grades, or the rules get bent for them, whatever. They understand that a good education can give most people a leg up in this world and they'll use their influence over these places to make sure their kids are the top students."

"I spoke to his mother once," I admit. "She asked what I planned to do after high school. I told her my plans. I didn't think anything of it."

"How did she react?" Catherine asks.

"I don't know. She kind of didn't. It was like my answer bored her, so she tuned out."

"Sounds lovely," Jack jokes.

"Rourke told me she was a narcissist."

"Narcissists like to manipulate people," Catherine says.

"I thought … When he broke up with me, I thought he'd been playing me all along. I thought the way he treated me before that was the lie. I didn't for one minute think the breakup might be the lie."

"I'm not saying it definitely is," Catherine says. "But maybe if he's been looking to explain things to you, it wouldn't hurt to let him do that?"

Wouldn't hurt? I'm already aching inside that we might have broken up over a threat his mother made to him, because she decided she didn't approve of his Beta girlfriend.

It makes way too much sense.

That woman hurt him for years, making him jump through hoops and never once showing any sign of affection toward him. He told me when he was a kid, he used to ask God why his mother didn't like him. It broke my fucking heart.

Why the fuck didn't I see it was her?

I feel like an idiot.

"Are you okay?" Jack asks, raising his one visible eyebrow at me.

"Not really, but I will be."

Just as soon as I get the truth out of my ex.