Page 57 of Alphas Never Hide

Ididn’t think he was lying to me. “Doyou really think they won’t know my dad was mundane?”

“Theymight judge you for yourT-shirts,”Haydensaid, “but they won’t care about your parentage.”

Iglanced down at whatIwas wearing.Itfeatured a cup of coffee with squiggly lines coming up from it like steam and the wordEnergize.

“Hey, myT-shirt is amazing.”Iswatted at him.Andafter being joyously reunited with coffee this morning,Ithought it was appropriate.

Hegrinned.

Someof my anxiety eased whileIwas talking with him, but it spiked again whenIglanced toward the pub.Therewere a lot of supes on the other side of that door. “Areyou really sure?Idon’t want to cause problems.”

“I’msure.Butif you feel uncomfortable, we can leave.”

“Iwouldn’t want to drag you away from your friends,”Iblurted. “I’llgo if it gets weird.”

“Ryley,” he said, shaking his head.

“What?”

“We’lldo this together.”Hisgaze held mine, as if he was willing me to see his sincerity.

AndIdid.Itwas like a warm hug.Hetrusted his friends, but if things went sideways, he would have my back.Hewouldn’t abandon me.Isucked in a shaky breath.Hadanyone else in my life done that for me?Icouldn’t remember a time when that’d happened.Notone instancewhere someone said they’d stand with me.Theburning sensation in my eyes grew more intense, soIlooked away and blinked rapidly.Regularpeople didn’t get emotional going to a pub andIshouldn’t either.

“Ifyou want to leave, let me know,”Haydensaid quietly. “I’llgo with you.”

Anyother protests or worries faded.Theydidn’t go away completely, butIstraightened my shoulders and nodded. “Okay.Let’stry this again.”

Haydenslipped his hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’mgoing to be right beside you.”

Andthat made it easier to step through those doors again.

Chapter Twenty-Three

HAYDEN

Thepub was surprisingly busy for a weeknight.And, given the way most of the people stared atRyleyand me when we walked through the pub doors that second time,Ihad a pretty good idea what had drawn them all out tonight.

Nosybastards.Thewhole lot of them.

EvenDaphneRiverswas here, sitting with a bunch of other well-seasoned gossips.Ishould have expected as much whenI’dseen two of her sons in line at theFlyingRowanthis morning.

Normally, that would make me growl, but today it didn’t.WhatIsaid toRyleywas true.Noneof these people were malicious.Theycared about each other, and, for some reason, even afterI’dmessed up so badly, they still cared about me, too.

Thedeeper we walked into the pub, the more the feeling of rightness settled over me.HowhadIneverrealized how calming it was to be surrounded by these people?TalkingtoRyleyabout these people had cracked something inside me and now everything was just…More?Different?Better?IsqueezedRyley’shand, hoping he sensed it too.

Myeyes were getting watery.Iswallowed hard and hoped no one noticed.NotthatIcared if they saw me cry, but becauseIwasn’t ready to talk aboutwhyIwas crying, not untilIunderstood what all of this meant.

Andwho knows?MaybeIwas just feeling this way becauseIwas tired.Yeah, okay,Ididn’t think that was the real reason.

Asurge of energy rushed through me as if people’s affection for me was a tangible thing.Ididn’t deserve their caring and goodwill, butIneeded to quit fighting it.IfIworked hard, somedayImight be able to redeem myself and be worthy of it.

Inodded to several of the regulars asIled us across the room to where the guysRyleyhad already met were sitting.They’dpushed a couple of tables together, soIsuspected more people would be coming.Ihoped it wouldn’t be too overwhelming for him.Likealways,Jeremywas sitting in the middle of the group, scribbling madly in one of his many, many notebooks.Adrianwas at his side, watchingJeremylike he was the center of his world, whichIguessed he was.

Dillonwas looking atAshthe same way.Thebig hellhound had his mate tucked under his arm.Ashwas in another of his pink sweaters.Hemust wear nothing else.Justpink sweaters.Everypink under the sun.Although,Imostly woreT-shirts in various shades of gray, so maybe it wasn’t all that different.

Surprisingly,OgdenandSimonwere there too.Simonhad changed a lot since he’d met his mate, grown more confident and settled, but right now he looked ready to shift and hide.Hismate whispered that he didn’t need to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with.

Itwas the same type of thingI’dsaid toRyley.Shit.Wasthat another sign he was my mate?Maybeit was better not to think about that too much right now.IfJeremysensed something, he’d start asking ten thousand questions about it.