Chapter 251

The day after Noah’s pathetic attempt to cheer me up, I lay in our shared bed while Noah toured office buildings for something to rent for the firm he wanted to start. I wanted to tell him that he could just work from home until things really took off, but I knew that there was no point. He was as much looking for an excuse to be away from me and my depression as he was looking for a place to work.

That was fine. I needed space from him, too. All I wanted was to be alone.

I rolled over and reached for my phone, both my only source of comfort and my constant tormentor ever since I saw that video of Andrew and Princess Aurora’s announcement of their engagement. There were a million messages from Lily and Terri offering their condolences. I scrolled right past them.

One from Eliza mentioned how sad she and Nikolas were to hear that Andrew and I were no longer together and that Nikolas was not feeling too well. Although I felt bad about Nikolas, I could not get myself to worry enough to text Eliza back.

I redirected my attention to my social media feed. It was bombarded with videos of Andrew and Princess Aurora on public dates. I briefly wondered if there had ever been this many videos of Andrew and me on dates online at any given time.

I knew that I shouldn’t watch the videos. I knew that they would only make me feel worse about myself. Yet the masochist in me took over, and I turned up the volume on my phone and pressed play.

Andrew and Princess Aurora sat at a table outside of a high-end café downtown. She wore a light pink sundress, and he was dressed to the nines in a scarlet three-piece suit and matching tie. They leaned in close, holding hands across the table and smiling brightly at each other.

It seemed as though they didn’t even notice the paparazzi, as though they were the only two people in the world.

“Thanks for taking me here,” Princess Aurora said. Her tone oozed admiration for Andrew. “This is the best strawberry shortcake that I’ve ever had.”

“I prefer the toasted banana bread, but I’ve heard that the strawberry shortcake is good as well,” Andrew replied, his eyes darting to Princess Aurora’s dessert.

Princess Aurora smirked mischievously.

“Do you want a bite?” she asked, scooping a small mouthful onto the edge of her fork.

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Andrew moved forward and opened his mouth for Princess Aurora to stick her fork inside. He moaned quietly as he chewed the bite and swallowed.

“Delicious,” he remarked.

Princess Aurora raised her hand to her mouth and giggled.

“You have a little something…here, let me get it.”

She reached across the table with her cloth napkin and gently dabbed some of the strawberry juice/whipped cream mixture from just below Andrew’s lips. Andrew waited patiently for her to finish.

“That better?” he asked.

“Much.”

I turned off the video. I couldn’t take much more of that display. My stomach was already in knots, and I felt the need to throw up.

Then another video caught my eye, one in Howler Park. Tears gathered at the edges of my eyes. Since when had that become their place?

Anger and bile gathered in my throat as I started the video.

Andrew and Princess Aurora walked, arm-in-arm, down the path toward the water feature. She wore a blue-and-green halter dress, and he wore a navy-blue three-piece suit and matching tie. They stood so close together that every centimeter of their sides touched.

Princess Aurora opened her teal clutch and took out a coin. She closed her eyes tight, waited for a few seconds, and then threw the coin into the water feature. She smiled broadly up at Andrew, who smiled back down at her.

“What did you wish for?” he asked.

She shook her head and hip-checked him slightly, giggling with her hand raised to her mouth.

“I can’t tell you, silly,” she said. “Then it won’t come true.”

“Are you sure?” Andrew asked, wrapping his arm around her waist. It didn’t seem possible, but he seemed to bring her even closer to him.

Bright pink splashed across Princess Aurora’s cheeks.

“Not telling seems to be working so far,” she said quietly.

Andrew arched his brow at her.

“Oh really?” he asked. “Let me guess: was your wish for this…?”

He reached down and kissed her tenderly on the lips. When they pulled away, Princess Aurora’s smile had grown impossibly wide.

“Maybe.”

I took my phone and slammed it on the bed, face-down.

Dammit, I thought, what is wrong with me? Why did I throw that all away?

I fiercely wiped the tears away from my cheeks.

Why can’t I just be happy where I am? Andrew has found happiness without me, I should be able to do the same…

I buried my face in my pillow and screamed—a guttural, primal scream that shook me to my very core. I just wanted to be happy, Goddess damn it! Why could I not be happy?

“It’s never too late to grab for your true happiness, wherever that might lead you,” Jeffrey’s words echoed through my mind.

Grab your happiness.

Yes, that was exactly what I had to do. I couldn’t just wallow in my own filth, feeling bad for myself. If I was ever going to feel better in this new life, I had to grab for my true happiness.

I thought back to the conversation that Noah and I were having in the car just before the crash. I knew exactly where to start.

I slowly sat up, a little dizzy from the effort, and went out to the dining room. I sat at the dining table, where my laptop lay. I opened it and fired up an e-mail to our new Alpha, Serena Castella.

Dear Serena,

It’s me, Crystal Blanchard, your newest pack member. I wanted to open a branch of my wedding planning company, Ever After Weddings, in the Crescent Moon Pack territories, specifically in Crescent City. Could you tell me what that would entail?

Thank you for all your help so far adjusting Noah and me to our new lives.

Sincerely,

Crystal

I read over the e-mail a couple times, making minor adjustments for tone, grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and then hit the dreaded send button. I allowed myself a little smile, the first true smile that I had had in days. I actually felt like I had accomplished something, no matter how small it was.

I couldn’t wait to hear back from Serena. A part of me wanted to start searching real estate sites for vacant buildings, to start making plans for a physical location, but another part of me told me to wait until I got a reply since I didn’t want to do anything out of order. Still, I was a bit giddy at the thought of starting the process.

The buzzing of my phone pulled me out of my reverie. I looked down to see that it was Eliza. I frowned; she would only call if it were an emergency.

“Hello? Eliza?” I answered.

Eliza sniffled on the other end of the line.

“Eliza, what’s wrong?” I asked before she could answer me.

“It’s…it’s Nikolas…”

I could feel the color draining from my face.

“What’s wrong with Nikolas? Is he in the hospital again?”

“No, no, it’s not that…”

“What is it, then?”

“Crystal, Nikolas…he’s dead.”