Page 49 of Alpha Brock
I shrug. “Had a meeting.”
“I’ll see you girls tomorrow,” Astrid says over her shoulder as she breaks off from the others and starts toward me.
As she closes the distance, her scent hits me and my whole body tenses up. Why the fuck does she always smell so good? And look so good. I can’t help but drag my eyes up her form as she approaches, appreciating how her yoga pants and tight long-sleeve shirt hug her curves.
She runs a hand through her light brown curls, looking up at me expectantly. “Shall we?”
I grunt, nodding, and the two of us make our way out of the squad complex and to the parking lot. I glance over at Astrid as she slides into the passenger seat of the Escalade, my mind slipping back to our ride home from the bar on Saturday night. Pretty sure I’ll never look at that passenger seat the same way again. My dick’s getting hard just thinking about it.
“So how was your day?” Astrid asks as she buckles her seatbelt, flashing me a bright smile. This fucking girl, man. It’s like she’s immune to being in a bad mood.
“Fine,” I reply, backing out of the parking spot and starting for the road.
I feel Astrid’s eyes on me and I dart her a sideways glance, realizing that she’s looking at me expectantly. She wants me to ask her the same question, and fuck it, I’ll bite.
“How about yours?”
“Well,” she gushes, like she’s been bursting at the seams to tell someone, “it was pretty wild. I told Brooke and Quinn about how I’ve been having visions, and they asked me to try it on them. I didn’t think it would work, but it actually did! Turns out I can control when I have them, I still don’t know what the actual visions mean or why they’re so random but…”
“Slow down,” I chuckle, shaking my head as I glance her way again. She’s like an excited little kid, it’s fucking adorable.
“Sorry,” she giggles, drawing a knee up into her chest and turning to me. “I’m just so stoked about it. I mean, the visions were cool enough on their own, but the fact that I might be able to call them forward at will like that? It took me years to try to hone that ability with my intuition and it’s still hit or miss. Like… watch.”
Before I can protest, she reaches out for my forearm, grabbing onto it and pressing her eyes closed. I’d rather not have anybody poking around in my head, but the way she crinkles her nose in concentration is so damn cute that I don’t have the heart to stop her. Even when she sucks in a breath and her eyes go wide.
I’ve seen that look once before- a far off gaze, almost like her eyes are clouded over. It lasts about ten seconds and then she exhales, blinking, and I can tell she’s back. She draws her hand into her chest, looking away, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
Fuck.What did she see?Part of me wants to ask, while the other doesn’t even want to know what tidbit of my past she’s dredged up this time. My curiosity gets the best of me when I glance over at her again and she’s peering at me with those big brown doe-eyes, still not saying a word.
“What’d you see?” I grind out, knuckles clenching around the steering wheel.
“I…” Astrid starts, her voice coming out small. She shakes her head. “I don’t think I should say.”
I roll my eyes, heaving a sigh. “Come on. It’s worse not saying.”
She takes her sweet time, twirling a strand of hair around a finger and staring out the passenger window. Delaying the inevitable.
“I saw your ex again,” she mutters.
I grind my molars. Of course she fucking did. Apparently the only memories she can pull from me are the shitty ones.
“Yeah?” I grumble. “Well go on, what did Annalise do this time?”
She pauses again, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She really doesn’t want to say- this memory must be a doozy.
“She said… she saidI can’t do this,” Astrid breathes, swallowing hard. “And,you don’t know what you’re asking me to give up.”
Even though I asked her to divulge what she saw, her words catch me off guard, piercing me like a dagger to the chest. I know exactly what she’s referring to- one of the last conversations that Annalise and I ever had. Her recounting of Anna’s words brings me right back.
I can still picture her standing there in my dorm room at the complex, dressed in a little pink tank top and a denim skirt with her hair swept up into a ponytail. It was a scorcher that day, and afternoon practice with the squad had been called off, though I couldn’t find Annalise anywhere. When she showed up in my dorm room, I went to pull her into my arms and she didn’t smell like her- she fucking reeked of that recruit; I knew she’d seen him. And when I confronted her about it, that’s when she admitted that she’d been sneaking around behind my back for weeks. I remember the sharp sting of her betrayal like it was yesterday- it felt like my heart was being torn straight from my chest.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it. It wasn’t the end. It should’ve been, but I still believed in us. I believed her.
“Hey,” Astrid coos, reaching over to touch my arm.
“Don’t.” I recoil from her touch, flinching away. I don’t want it. Any of it. I don’t want the pain of the memory, and I don’t want the pain of going through it again. I just fucking shut down.
“Brock…” her voice is soft, kind, but I’m too far gone.