Chapter 67

Aria

I hesitated for a moment but then nodded, following Darren as he led me to a fallen log near the edge of the clearing. He sat down and gestured for me to join him. I sat, but kept a small distance between us.

“Listen,” Darren began, “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said the other night.”

My chest clenched at the reminder of that night. “I’m sorry for snapping at you,” I blurted out before he could continue. “I was out of line.”

He shook his head. “No, you had every right to feel the way you did. And I realize now that maybe I haven’t been as fair as I thought.”

I glanced at him, surprised by his admission. “What do you mean?”

He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. “I never intended to give you special treatment, Aria. But looking back, I can see how it might have seemed that way. Subconsciously, perhaps I was softer with you.”

“Darren, I—”

“Let me finish,” he said gently. “It’s hard not to be, considering our history. You saved my life as kids, and then there's... the mate bond.”

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of it. We rarely acknowledged the bond out loud, but hearing him bring it up made my stomach flutter in ways I wasn’t prepared for. I kept quiet, though, curious to know what he had to say.

“And Lucas adores you,” he continued. “Seeing how happy he is when you’re around... it affects me more than I realized.”

I looked down at my hands, fiddling with a loose thread on my sleeve. “So you’re saying that you have been treating me differently?”

Darren was silent for a moment. When I glanced over at him, he was staring at the ground in front of his feet.

Finally, he murmured, “Yes. Without meaning to, I’ve been treating you differently from the others. And I’m sorry if my actions made things harder for you. From now on, I’ll make sure to treat you like any other employee.”

Surprisingly, his words actually seemed to lift a weight from my shoulders. That was all I ever wanted, mate bond or not; I just wanted to be treated fairly. Not better, not worse, just… like everyone else. Or at least as close as possible to that, considering our differences in… nature.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “I appreciate that. And I really am sorry for yelling at you like that the other night. I was... overwhelmed.”

He offered a small smile. “Consider us even, then.”

…

“Finally!” Bella exclaimed as I opened the door. She was already dressed in her pajamas, two wine bottles in hand. It was Friday night, and I had only just gotten home from work. But it seemed she’d been ready to hang out for hours now.

“What, the three seconds it took me to open the door was too long for you?” I laughed as my friend scurried past me, kicking off her shoes and haphazardly tossing her coat over the back of a barstool in the process.

She giggled impishly. “I keep telling you to just give me a copy of your key.”

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help but laugh. “I already told you, my landlord won’t let me make copies. And I’d rather you not try to climb in through the window like that one time you got the cops called on you.”

Bella grinned in response to that old memory, already pouring us two glasses of wine. She held one out to me.

I settled beside her, taking the offered glass. “Thanks.”

“To surviving another day in the adult world,” she toasted.

“I'll drink to that,” I replied, clinking my glass against hers.

We sipped in comfortable silence for a moment before Bella turned to me, her expression turning serious. “So, how was work this week?”

I let out a long sigh. “Where do I even start?”

“That bad, huh?”

“It's just... office politics,” I said vaguely. “Lily’s still giving me the cold shoulder, and apparently, some people think I’m getting special treatment.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “Are you?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “Well, maybe. I don't know. Darren and I talked about it, and he admitted that he might have been a bit... lenient with me.”

“Hmm,” she mused, swirling her wine. “Well, at least he acknowledged it.”

“Yeah, but it’s more complicated than that.”

“Isn’t it always?” she teased gently.

I leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Obviously, I couldn’t tell her about the mate bond, even though I wanted to more than anything.

As if on cue, my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I glanced at the screen, expecting it to be Darren asking me to babysit Lucas over the weekend. But instead, an email notification from the university I’d applied to popped up.

“Holly shit,” Bella said, sitting ramrod straight once she noticed the sender. “Well? Aren’t you going to open it?”

My heart pounded in my chest. “What if it’s a rejection?”

“Only one way to find out.”

She was right. Taking a deep breath, I unlocked my phone and opened the email. My eyes scanned the words quickly.

“Dear Aria,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into our night class program...”

A grin spread across my face. “I got in!”

Bella squealed, throwing her arms around me. “I knew it! Congratulations!”

I hugged her back tightly. “Thank you.”

“This calls for a real celebration,” she declared, jumping up and heading to the kitchen. “Do you have any champagne?”

“Do I look like someone who keeps champagne on hand?” I teased.

She rummaged through my fridge. “Well, we’ll have to make do with more wine.”

I laughed as she returned with the bottle, refilling our glasses. We settled back into the couch, and Bella’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “So, when do classes start?”

“Next month,” I replied. “It’s going to be a bit of a juggling act with work, but I’m ready for it.”

“You’ve got this,” she assured me. “And who knows, maybe this will help smooth things over at the office.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. “At the very least, it can’t hurt, right?”

We chatted for a while longer, the wine loosening our tongues and lightening the mood. It felt good to relax and forget about the week’s worries. Even if things went to hell in the office, at least I always had Bella. Although I tried not to think about the guilt around not being able to tell her the truth about just how crazy my life had gotten.

“Oh! That reminds me,” Bella said suddenly, reaching into her bag. She pulled out a glossy flyer and handed it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked, scanning the page.

“There’s a charity masquerade event coming up tomorrow night,” she explained. “I think we should go together.”

I raised an eyebrow. “A masquerade? Isn’t that a bit... fancy for people like us?”

“Nonsense!” she scoffed. “It’ll be fun. Plus, it’s for a good cause.”

“I don’t even have anything to wear,” I pointed out.

“That’s easily fixed,” she said with a wave of her hand. “We can go shopping tomorrow morning. My treat.”

I hesitated. “I don’t know, Bella...”

“Come on,” she pleaded. “You just got accepted into your program. You deserve to celebrate. And it’s been ages since we’ve gone out together.”

“We went out, like, last weekend.”

“Ages,” she emphasized, her brown eyes going big.

I looked at the flyer again. Honestly, the thought of elegant masks and ridiculous dresses was inviting. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try it out.

“Alright,” I relented. “Let’s do it.”

She clapped her hands excitedly. “Yes! It’s going to be amazing.”

“But we’re going just for fun,” I warned, wagging my finger in her face. “No setting me up or trying to play matchmaker like you always do.”

She feigned innocence. “Who, me? I would never.”

I gave her a skeptical look. “Bella...”

“Fine, fine,” she conceded with a grin. “But who knows... maybe your next CEO husband will be there!”