Chapter 97

Hannah

The kids all looked up in unison at the sound of the voice. One little boy gasped: “Alpha Drake!”

Indeed, there he was: Drake, in all his glory, standing against a nearby wall with his hands in his pockets. He had a grin on his face as he pushed away from the wall and approached.

“Hannah,” he said, stopping a few feet in front of me. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

I rose and wiped my hands off on the front of my pants. “I could say the same thing about you,” I said, walking a little ways away with him so we could have some privacy and avoid riling up the kids even further. “I wouldn’t guess you’d take part in something like this.”

“Is it really so surprising?” Drake raised an eyebrow, but the smile on his lips remained. “I saw the advertisements for this and decided to contribute to the fundraising efforts.” He held up a bag of muffins.

I couldn’t help but smile in return. “That’s very kind of you.”

Drake merely shrugged and reached into the bag, breaking off a piece of a muffin and popping it into his mouth. “I’m really just being selfish because I wanted something sweet for breakfast. Want some?”

I shook my head and held my hand up to stop him. “Thank you,” I said, “but I’m alright.”

Peering past me, Drake nodded his head toward the children, who were now busy making paper turkeys using the outlines of their hands for the bodies. “You seem to be good with kids. Not that I’m surprised, after how you treated Adam at the acceptance ceremony.”

“I love kids,” I said, following his gaze. “They’re… innocent. Untouched by decades of misery.”

Drake cocked his head at me. “Spoken like an angsty teen,” he teased.

Rolling my eyes, I waved my hand at him dismissively. “I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “It’s just… It’s nice to have a positive impact on children—to give them those happy memories so that our next generation can be better than we were.”

Drake paused, seemingly absorbing my words for a moment, before he nodded. “Well… You’re certainly doing a good job of that,” he said. “With Adam, too; he loves that Optimus Prime toy you gave him. It’s like his favorite thing. I never got to thank you on his behalf.”

“Zoe is letting you see him?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

He shrugged, and for a moment, his eyes took on a faraway look as a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Occasionally. Not enough.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come. It wasn’t just that I felt bad for Drake since he couldn’t see his son as much as he liked—it was also that, someday, Noah might be in the same situation.

But Noah deserved it, I kept telling myself. He would only view our child as a key to his lineage, anyway, and besides… If he was really sleeping with Zoe, then I wasn’t obligated to feel sorry for him. Not now, not ever.

“Well… You know he’s with his grandparents right now,” I said.

Drake’s eyebrows shot up. “He… Why?” he blurted out.

“You didn’t know?”

“No,” Drake said, slowly dropping the second piece of muffin back into the bag with suddenly-slack fingers. “What, did something happen?”

“Nothing too serious.” I shrugged. “Zoe had her appendix out the other day. She had Adam sent to stay with his grandparents while she recovers.”

Drake’s mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water, his eyes swiveling back and forth. I could see a look of hurt pass through his gaze, followed by anger.

“And she wouldn’t ask me to take him?” he growled. “His own father?”

I didn’t know what to say; I hadn’t expected Drake to be so hurt, but then again, I supposed that was naive of me. Of course he would be upset that the mother of his child wouldn’t reach out to him in a situation like that. If I were in his position, I would have been furious.

Finally, with a huff, he folded his arms across his chest. “You know, I really thought we might have been getting somewhere at that competition,” he said softly. “I thought she was finally beginning to come around. I guess I’ll have to double my efforts.”

I frowned, placing a hand on his arm. “Drake.”

Drake snapped his eyes over to me, his muscles tensing as he likely prepared some kind of retort. But then his shoulders slackened, and he let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I know, I know. I can’t strong-arm her into falling back in love with me,” he said, then paused, licking his lips. “You know, that whole thing was my aunt’s idea—not mine. I told her it was too far, but…”

“It’s alright. There will be other opportunities. Less… intense ones, maybe.”

Drake nodded and pulled the piece of muffin back out of his bag. “You’re right. Something that will show her I miss her without making her feel like I’m cornering her. And—”

Suddenly, before Drake could finish, my stomach growled. Loudly. I instantly placed my hand over my stomach, my face reddening, as I realized that I still hadn’t eaten a bite of food all morning.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, looking away. “That was embarrassing.”

Drake merely chuckled. “Here. Eat.”

I turned to look at him, seeing that he was now holding the piece of muffin out to me. For a few moments, my eyes flickered to him and to the muffin, then back to him. It did look good. It smelled good, too.

Finally, unable to resist, I leaned forward and took a bite.

My lips brushed his fingers, but I didn’t mean to; I only noticed the sweet taste of the blueberries, the hard grains of raw sugar on top, the fluffy dough.

“Wow,” I said, placing my hand over my mouth as I chewed and swallowed. “These muffins are delicious.”

Drake grinned. “I told you.”

By now, we were nearly at the door. I stopped, turning to Drake, and offered him a warm smile. “It was good seeing you.”

Drake nodded and gave my arm a squeeze. “We should hang out again sometime,” he said, then paused, looking a bit embarrassed. “Not just to fulfill our plan with Zoe and Noah, but… as friends. I enjoy your company.”

“I enjoy your company too, Drake,” I said, leaning forward to hug him. “I think it would be nice to spend some time together.”

…

My feet were sore as I flopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh. I had spent the day running around town—driving Noah’s car to the mall, to the coffee shop, to the nail salon. I had even picked up Viona to join me on my adventures, who was currently sinking down into the armchair across the room with a sigh of her own.

“You didn’t fill the tank, did you?” she asked, peering at me over the top of her phone.

I giggled and shook my head as I flipped through the TV channels. “Of course not. If he’s going to cheat on me, then I’m not buying him gas.”

Viona grinned. “Good girl.”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes as I tried to find something good to watch—I was craving something cheesy and romantic tonight. Something to take my mind off of the reality of my own romantic life.

But just as I was about to get up to make popcorn, Viona gasped and nearly dropped her phone.

“Hannah!” she breathed, rushing over to me and shoving her phone in my face. “Look at this!”

Frowning, I took her phone and peered at the picture on the screen; and instantly, I felt my stomach drop straight through the floor beneath me.

There, plastered on the front page of a local tabloid, was a photo of me and Drake taken the moment that I had eaten the muffin out of his hand, my lips brushing his fingers.

“And there’s another one,” Viona breathed, scrolling down to another picture: this time depicting us smiling at one another and hugging.

I felt as if I might be sick when I read the headline.

“Alpha Drake and Luna Hannah: Sordid Affair?!?”