Olivia’s POV
I woke up to the feel of a soft hand brushing over my face. I stretched, opened my eyes slowly, and saw a face bent over mine with a blurry smile.
It took a while for my vision to clear up, but as soon as it did, I smiled at the smiling face and raised my hand to stroke it.
“Good morning, sleepy head. Hope you had a nice rest.”
I chuckled and sat up, but I was pushed back down to the bed with a steamy, wet kiss.
I groaned and raised my hands to bring them closer, but he backed away and planted a kiss on my forehead.
“You must have been really tired yesterday, weren’t you?”
I gave a nod as I rubbed my eyes and sat up, allowing the bed sheets to roll off me, uncovering my bare body. I had tried my best to dance and enjoy the party festivities. Still, everywhere I went, I got hideous glares from people as they continued to question, with their eyes, the possibility of the relationship between Andre and I.
He whispered into my ear, and his breath tickled my lobe.
I blushed, and Andre leaned in for a kiss. However, my stomach immediately began to growl violently.
Before I could think about what was happening, a salty taste filled my mouth, and I began to feel sick and nauseous.
I covered my mouth with my hands and jumped out of the bed as fast as I could, dashing to the bathroom and slamming the door behind me.
“Olivia, are you all right?”
I wanted to reply to Andre, but my head was bent over the toilet, and I expelled all the food that I had eaten yesterday.
The painful lurching of my stomach made my eyes water, and my gut contracted painfully.
“Olivia?”
The bathroom door opened roughly, and Andre rushed to my side, grabbing my hair and holding it back while I continued to throw up. Finally, it was over, and I tried to relax.
“Olivia, are you all right?”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked at Andre with my watery eyes.
“I’m okay. I think I ate too much at the party yesterday. But I’m fine now.”
My reassurance did nothing to quell Andres’s worries, and his eyes washed over me in concern.
“You need to rest. I will ask for the maids to make you some soup. After that, I want you to relax in bed.”
I stood up and washed my face while he continued to fuss over me in the most adorable way.
“Andre, I’m fine. I actually don’t want to sleep in today. I want to go to school and see my friends. I haven’t even seen Jaxon ever since I got back. He’s probably worried to death about me.”
Andre’s concern evaporated as I finished talking, and I watched his jaw and fist clenched in anger.
“Andre?”
“Why do you have to see that bastard? He was the reason you went missing in the first place. No, I don’t trust him around you.”
His anger was genuine, and I was scared for a few seconds, but I was able to reel myself in and calm him down.
“Andre, I know you don’t like Jaxon, but he is my friend and helped me. Besides, I still have much to learn about my wolf, and I loved learning from the Academy. I also really need to know why my pheromones are out of control. It might help me to understand my wolf better.”
I saw his eyes soften, and he exhaled. I couldn’t help but smile softly. I knew that I had won this battle.
“Fine. You can go to school. It’s not yet late, and I’m still sure that you can catch up with the day’s classes. I will ask Pierre to drop you off.”
I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Thank you! I love you so much.”
I pulled away and saw a smirk on his face.
“You don’t get to thank me yet. We still have one thing to sort out.”
I picked up the seductive troll in his voice and played along.
“Really? And what could that be?”
****************************************
When I got to school, I immediately began to regret my decision. As soon as I pulled up to the parking lot with Pierre, all eyes were on me. The weight bore heavily on me, and all I could do was walk in with my head to the ground.
The students’ snickering was without shame. They made their disgusting thoughts loud enough for me to hear.
“Eww! She’s a whore. I can’t believe that she’s been fucking her stepdad.”
“I heard that they are fated mates…”
“Bullshit! If she’s a whore, then she can be a liar too.”
My heart broke, but I could say nothing in my defence. I should have just stayed home. Why did I bother to even come?
I slinked to my class and sat in my seat, hiding my head and covering my ears. I didn’t want to see or talk to anyone. It felt so embarrassing. My cheeks were burning and…
“Olivia?”
I heard the familiar voice and looked up. It was Jaxon. He said nothing and plopped himself in the empty seat beside me.
“I’m not going to ask too many questions. I’ve heard the bad things people have been saying about you all day, and I’m sick already. But was this why you left? Because of all this?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“It’s pretty obvious at the moment.”
I blushed and looked away.
“Yeah, you’re right. I really do love Andre, but I know that not everyone will agree with our relationship. I was afraid of all the backlash and snickering. So, I decided to run away from my problems. But see where that got me.”
A short silence hung between us, and for the first time, I noticed that he wasn’t happy at all. I didn’t expect him to be anyway.
“I… I… I understand. Sometimes, life doesn’t give you what you want. But what are we going to do about it?”
As he spoke, I saw his eyes dim and sorrow clouded his handsome dark eyes. It was a look I had never seen on him. He looked distant and wistful. What was wrong with him?
I looked away from him and turned my gaze to the wooded desk.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“Oh my God! What are you doing back here?!”
We both looked up and saw Jaxon’s fan girls standing next to my seat.
“You should have stayed home. You disgust us. It wasn’t enough for you to steal your own mother’s husband; now you want to steal Jaxon, too. You filthy seductress! Trying to entrap Jaxon into your little harem with your vixen-like behaviour!”
I snarled. These bitches were going to get it…