A Broken Contract (Alpha's Secret Regret)

I scoffed. "Of course, he doesn't. You're not a jackass like the other one!"

He laughed and waved. "See you around, Sara."

Soon, he was gone. My dad stood waiting for an explanation.

"Yeah. He had my car "removed," I said, climbing onto the porch to head inside.

My phone started to ring. It was Avery. I was going to call him once I'd settled in for the evening. "Hey, Sara," he said.

"Hi," I replied. "I was going to call you back in a few minutes?"

"Is everything okay? You sounded weird," he asked.

"It's alright now."

"I'd like to buy you dinner."

"I promised my dad we'd eat together today. Can we do tomorrow?" I asked.

"Sure. How's Alex by the way?"

"He's with his dad."

"I see. Look, I know about the lawyer. I ran into her associate earlier. How are you feeling?"

"Not bad. I'll just get another lawyer. It may not even be necessary. I still have Miss Suarez from the agency. So I'm not worried."

"I really wanna see you."

When I didn't respond, he added, "I'm in the neighborhood. Just saw you talking to the hefty dude with the fancy haircut. He didn't leave with his car."

I turned around to look about the street. Sure enough, Avery's hyundai was parked on the next block only a few feet from our house.

As I approached, he got out of the car.

"This is called stalking, you know," I joked.

He smiled. "Look, I'm really sorry about Mrs. Montgomery."

"It's not your fault, Avery. It seemed like he really does need her services."

"Did you just defend him? Tell me you don't believe that," He frowned.

"I don't, not really. But I don't want to worry about anything right now. I have my son. There's no reason to fear that he'll take him away."

I rested my ass on the car, feeling exhausted from worrying about the Nick situation.

"I wanna help, Sara, please." He moved closer. "Promise you'll ask for my help if he tries anything funny."

"I don't want you getting in trouble. You know his pack, I mean family... they're powerful."

"Yeah, she is, I mean they are." His eyes grew distant as disgust flashed in them.

"Is that why you didn't want to go out with me all those times?" he asked.

"What? No. I'm raising a child."

I couldn't tell him that this would be my first real relationship.

"I wish you would stop using that sweet little boy as an excuse," he mumbled.

My phone buzzed.

"It's my dad. I have to go," I told him.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, taking my hand gently.

"Sure," I nodded.

He dropped a light kiss on my cheek.

***

I slept soundly that night feeling assured for some reason. All was well. I was looking forward to start the next day because Alex would be back home.

After work was delighted to rush

his

lot of

I to pick him up. He hade to s to tell. Apparentle wontent

father played ping pong.

I was secretly thrilled that he loved our new car. It didn't matter that he knew his "daddy bought it for mommy."

We arrived in the house at our usual time.

Something caught my eye as I held the door open for Alex to climb out of the car.

A nondescript vehicle sitting across the street. I shifted my glance to Lindsey and her partner who were now parked a block away.

If they hadn't noticed anything, maybe I was overreacting. But that thought had barely formed when Lindsey got out of their car.

Rushing towards us, she yelled,

"Inside, Miss James. Hey!"

As her partner went after the

suspicious car, the one at the

passenger side held up their phone

no hol.ne

and started taking photos of my child.