Erica’s POV
I sat at home and the kids played with their toys. I watched them but my mind had drifted far off.
Lorenzo his morning for his doctor’s appointment. Part of me was happy that he left. My wolf seemed uncomfortable around him though he had been nothing but wonderful to me.
I sighed. Maybe it was the guilt I felt for sleeping with Dante. It still haunted me and yet, deep down in my soul, I still craved him.
I had spent the night with Lorenzo. For the first time in many nights, we slept together. My skin crawled as he wrapped his arms around me.
My every instinct was to push him away. I couldn’t explain the relief that I felt when he let go of me turned over, and fell asleep.
I didn’t sleep much and spent the whole night being lost in thought.
Part of me didn’t believe Lorenzo but I had no evidence to doubt him earlier. It did make sense why he would be embarrassed to tell me and why he would want to sleep in a different room.
But, something was off. His eyes…they seemed shady and untruthful.
Ring! Ring!
My phone rang loudly and was rudely pulled from my thoughts. I exhaled and glanced at the screen.
“Oh my!”
My spirits jumped and I grabbed the phone as fast as I could and pressed the green button.
“Good morning, Miss Erica.”
“Clarissa, good morning. How are you?”
I forced myself to be cheery. Clarissa sounded a little nervous as well. I wondered what was wrong with her.
“I am quite alright. I called to tell you that we would love to come to dinner. My mate asked me to set a date and time with you.”
I smiled. I was happy that I was going to have something to keep my mind busy.
“Is Saturday good?”
“Yes. Saturday is excellent.”
“Great. I’ll make preparations with Lorenzo as soon as he gets home. I am so excited to meet your mate.”
The call ended and I set my phone down.
I was happy. At least I could get my mind off a few things. I also had to find the kids a sitter for the evening, even though I was certain that they could be fine on their own. Maybe I could ask Javier.
No.
I tossed the thought out of my mind. I didn’t want to bother him. He probably had a lot of work to do.
Ring! Ring!
My phone rang again. I glanced at the screen and I felt my heart flutter.
“Dante?”
He had been calling me nonstop and I had ignored all his calls. As I continued to stare at the screen, part of me was moved to talk to him.
The deepest parts of my belly churned as I thought about him. My lips began to tingle and my skin came alive and I could feel his finger trailing every part of my skin.
“No.”
I pulled my hand away from the phone. I wasn’t going to answer. It was for my own good. I was fixing things with Lorenzo. I wanted to put my heart into it, even though my heart never wanted to be there in the first place.
The phone continued to ring and soon, it was silent.
In the silence, I felt my heart slice in two. My wolf whimpered and crawled into a dark corner of my mind. If only she could understand that we couldn’t go back to him.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
My silence was invaded again and my arm moved of its own accord and grabbed the phone.
I looked at the screen again and my spirits dampened slightly. It wasn’t Dante.
I picked up the call and placed the phone on my ear.
“Hey, Javier.”
He sounded cheery and I sounded like I didn’t want to talk to him. He caught on quickly.
“Good morning, Erica. You don’t sound too happy to see me. Am I interrupting something?”
“No, no, no. I am just a little tired. I had a bad night and didn’t get enough sleep, that’s all.”
I was lying terribly. But it wasn’t all a lie. I didn’t sleep well last night.
“Well, you should get some rest. I’m sure the kids will be able to understand.”
I gave a weak smile and watched my kids who were still playing on the ground with the toys.
“I will. But I think I owe them some time. I haven’t spent much time with them lately.”
I exhaled deeply and Javier’s voice became an octave lower and was filled with concern.
“Are you still angry about what that bitch said to you at the meeting? Erica, you really don’t have to…”
“I’m fine, Javier. Really. I’ve gotten over it. I just want to spend some time with my kids.”
His voice lightened up slightly and I smiled just a bit.
“Well, I am glad that you are feeling better. I did also want to ask when our next meeting with Dante is going to be. Hazan is still a threat at large and we need to have a concrete plan on ground.”
As soon as I heard this, I felt my resolve melt. I didn’t want to see Dante and he had been calling me and I had ignored all of his calls.
Maybe he was calling me about another meeting but I just couldn’t bring myself to go to another one.
“It might take a while. Dante said he had other business to attend to. We will meet him once it’s all done. Hopefully, it should be soon.”
“Alright. Keep me posted about updates. I will be waiting to hear from you. I have been doing some research and as soon as I finalize it, I’ll let you know.”
The line went dead and I was back to sitting all alone, watching my child play though I was absent-minded.
Dante, Lorenzo, the thoughts about the two of them tugged at me like a violent game of tug-of-war.
My heart wanted one though it wasn’t right and the other was right but my heart didn’t want him.
I was definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Click.
The door opened and Lorenzo walked in with a nervous smile on his face. In his arms, was a bundle of colorful flowers.
I gasped. I had never seen so much color in one place before. Were…were those for me?
It happened like clockwork and the kids disappeared upstairs.
I watched them enter their room, though Elma waited a bit and cast Lorenzo an acid stare before she hurried inside.
Deep down, I was worried about her. Something was wrong and I hadn’t been able to figure it out.
Lorenzo turned back to me and walked to me with the beautiful bouquet.
“The doctor said that treatment is going to take a while. There are no positive results at the moment.”
I watched sadness consume his gaze. Something in my heart felt uneasy and a small pang of guilt stabbed at me.
He had been going through this and I had been frolicking with Dante. It was now that the weight of my actions began to take a toll on me.
Was all this accelerated by the fact that Laura was pregnant for Dante?
“I stopped by at a florist and got you these. I haven’t done this before but I thought that you would love them. The blue ones match your eyes.”
A blush spread over my face as I took the bouquet from him. I felt a slight warmth inside me that was made slightly stronger as he kissed my forehead tenderly.
This wasn’t so bad. Maybe…maybe I could grow to love him. Maybe it wasn’t too late.