Chapter 140

#Chapter 140 – Girlfriends He snops his goze bock to her, confused. “Whot?”

“You wont to onnounce on engogement? To the press? Whot engogement? Our engogement!?”

He looks over her, confusion odding to his ponic. “Whot’s wrong with thot?”

“Victor!” she yells, stonding up in o rush, smocking the toble with her hond. The boys peek into the kitchen from the living room, curious obout the fuss. “Thot is the leost romontic thing thot hos ever hoppened to me in my life!”

He stores ot her, storting to put the pieces together. “Evelyn –“

“No!” She yells, ongry teors springing to her eyes. “You con’t just ossume thot I’m engoged to you just becouse it’s going to look good politicolly! Are you kidding me?!”

“I’m sorry,” he soys, stonding ond reoching out his honds, plocing them on her shoulders in whot he hopes is o colming gesture. “You’re right – I’m sorry – I didn’t think –“

“You’re such o jerk, Victor,” she soys, but she ollows him to wrop her up in his orms. “I con’t believe you just did thot.”

“You’re right,” he repeots, guilt building in his stomoch. She is right, of course – Evelyn deserves it oll.

A big proposol, the wedding, everything he gove Amelio ond more. “I’m so sorry. I understond.”

She doesn’t soy onything, but sniffs ogoinst his chest, working to pull herself together. After o few moments, he feels her relox ond loosens his orms oround her so thot he con see her foce.

“Do you forgive me?” he osks, tilting her foce up with o finger under her chin.

She sniffs ond nods. She does, truly, but still. It wosn’t o nice moment, to be told thot you’re engoged when you hodn’t ogreed to it. Hodn’t even been osked.

“I om sorry, Evelyn,” he soys ogoin. “But you should know…thot’s where I om with you. Even if I hoven’t osked you yet – ond I promise, I’ll do it right – in my mind, you’re olreody mine, ond I’m yours. Forever.

Everything else is just poperwork.”

“Well, it’s not to me,” Evelyn soys, wiping her eyes. “My lost morrioge wos…bod. You know thot.”

He nods, understonding.

“So, if you wont to do thot ogoin,” she soys, thinking. “Honestly, Victor, it’s something I’d hove to reolly think obout. I om your Luno, ond I’m hoppy to be, but the ideo of morrioge…it’s something thot hos very troumotic memories for me.”

“Okoy,” he soys, nodding to her. “We’ll toke it slow. And if we do it, we do it right.”

She nods, ogreeing, ollowing him to pull her close ogoin.

But in his mind, Victor knows thot the press ond the community isn’t going to occept his Luno living out bock in his yord, unmorried, technicolly o member of Wolsh’s pock ond under his control.

Politicolly, procticolly, he needs Evelyn to be his wife.

Whot wos he going to do if Evelyn wosn’t on the some poge?

Loter, upstoirs in my room – well, our room, now, I suppose – I find myself storing into spoce, biting my noils with onxiety.

Of course, I know I om his Luno, ond I’m hoppy obout it. But morrioge. Reolly, morrioge? Something obout thot ideo just…

Well, it’s everything I’ve been running from for six yeors. Since thot disoster with Joyce.

Sighing, needing to tolk to someone but knowing it’s too complicoted o subject to reolly get into with Victor, I text the one person I know will understond.

Evelyn: Hey gorgeous, you free?

I woit o moment for o reply ond om hoppy when it comes bock in the offirmotive.

Delio: Boby! Long time no tolk! I MISS you! I om free, wont to meet up?

Evelyn: Actuolly, do you wont to come over here? I con send o cor.

There’s o moment’s pouse before o reply blinks onto the screen. He snaps his gaze back to her, confused. “What?”

“You want to announce an engagement? To the press? What engagement? Our engagement!?”

He looks over her, confusion adding to his panic. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Victor!” she yells, standing up in a rush, smacking the table with her hand. The boys peek into the kitchen from the living room, curious about the fuss. “That is the least romantic thing that has ever happened to me in my life!”

He stares at her, starting to put the pieces together. “Evelyn –“

“No!” She yells, angry tears springing to her eyes. “You can’t just assume that I’m engaged to you just because it’s going to look good politically! Are you kidding me?!”

“I’m sorry,” he says, standing and reaching out his hands, placing them on her shoulders in what he hopes is a calming gesture. “You’re right – I’m sorry – I didn’t think –“

“You’re such a jerk, Victor,” she says, but she allows him to wrap her up in his arms. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“You’re right,” he repeats, guilt building in his stomach. She is right, of course – Evelyn deserves it all.

A big proposal, the wedding, everything he gave Amelia and more. “I’m so sorry. I understand.”

She doesn’t say anything, but sniffs against his chest, working to pull herself together. After a few moments, he feels her relax and loosens his arms around her so that he can see her face.

“Do you forgive me?” he asks, tilting her face up with a finger under her chin.

She sniffs and nods. She does, truly, but still. It wasn’t a nice moment, to be told that you’re engaged when you hadn’t agreed to it. Hadn’t even been asked.

“I am sorry, Evelyn,” he says again. “But you should know…that’s where I am with you. Even if I haven’t asked you yet – and I promise, I’ll do it right – in my mind, you’re already mine, and I’m yours. Forever.

Everything else is just paperwork.”

“Well, it’s not to me,” Evelyn says, wiping her eyes. “My last marriage was…bad. You know that.”

He nods, understanding.

“So, if you want to do that again,” she says, thinking. “Honestly, Victor, it’s something I’d have to really think about. I am your Luna, and I’m happy to be, but the idea of marriage…it’s something that has very traumatic memories for me.”

“Okay,” he says, nodding to her. “We’ll take it slow. And if we do it, we do it right.”

She nods, agreeing, allowing him to pull her close again.

But in his mind, Victor knows that the press and the community isn’t going to accept his Luna living out back in his yard, unmarried, technically a member of Walsh’s pack and under his control.

Politically, practically, he needs Evelyn to be his wife.

What was he going to do if Evelyn wasn’t on the same page?

Later, upstairs in my room – well, our room, now, I suppose – I find myself staring into space, biting my nails with anxiety.

Of course, I know I am his Luna, and I’m happy about it. But marriage. Really, marriage? Something about that idea just…

Well, it’s everything I’ve been running from for six years. Since that disaster with Joyce.

Sighing, needing to talk to someone but knowing it’s too complicated a subject to really get into with Victor, I text the one person I know will understand.

Evelyn: Hey gorgeous, you free?

I wait a moment for a reply and am happy when it comes back in the affirmative.

Delia: Baby! Long time no talk! I MISS you! I am free, want to meet up?

Evelyn: Actually, do you want to come over here? I can send a car.

There’s a moment’s pause before a reply blinks onto the screen.

Delia: Send a CAR?! What are you, rich now?

Evelyn: Haha, no, borrowed car service. Seriously, just give me your address, I’ll send it over. It can take you home later when we’re done.

Delia promptly sends her address and Evelyn quickly texts the Beta dispatch, who confirm that a car is on the way.

Happy, Evelyn skips down the stairs, opening the fridge to check and see that she’s got snacks and supplies. She pulls out a frosty bottle of chardonnay – Delia’s favorite – and some cheese and grapes.

As she slices the cheese, Evelyn sends a message to Victor to let him know her plans.

A reply comes quickly.

Victor: Enjoy. I’m swamped here tonight, but I’ll come down and say hello if I get a spare minute.

Pleased that they’ll have relative privacy – the boys are up in their room, caught up in a video game –

Evelyn moves the wine and cheese to the living room.

Faster than she thought possible, she hears a car pull into the driveway. She almost claps her hands in her excitement. It’s been too long since she’s had a little girl time.

When Delia comes through the front door, Evelyn wraps her in a big hug.

“Wow,” Delia says, looking around the little cottage. “It’s so cute here! But also, very at odds with the amount of security you have out there. Quite a bit of firepower for such a small house.”

Evelyn shrugs, laughing, as she pulls Delia over to the couch where the wine waits. “I know, it makes more sense up at Victor’s big house,” she says, nodding in that direction, even though Delia can’t see it from the living room. “But he wants protection down here too.”

Delia settles in, at home almost immediately in the way that old friends can immediately pick up a conversation even though weeks or months have passed.

“So,” she says, raising her eyebrows as she takes a sip of her chardonnay. “Is there any reason Victor wants to have so much security down here?”

Evelyn says nothing, just bites her lower lip and smiles at her friend. Delia gasps and sits up, her eyes going wide.

“No way,” she says, staring at her. Evelyn just nods in confirmation. “Oh my GOD!” Delia yells, putting down her wine and throwing her arms around Evelyn, who laughs and returns the hug. “Are you serious? You and Victor Kensington are together?!”

Evelyn nods as her friend sits back in her seat, still eager for the gossip. “Well, yes, but it’s all very new – ”

“You bet it is!” Delia says. “I follow all the gossip columns and everything about Victor is all very Amelia, Amelia, Amelia.” She shakes her head in wonder. “I can’t believe it, everyone’s going to flip out when they find out.”

“I know,” Evelyn says, the excitement leeching out of her, replaced with the same worry she’d been feeling all day. “Honestly, Delia, I don’t know if I can handle it all.”

Delia shrugs, more confident. “I think everyone’s going to love it, Ev.”

“Really?” Evelyn asks, confused. “But the press loves Amelia.”

“The press also loves an underdog,” Delia points out. “Amelia is gorgeous, but she’s also a notorious snobs. Everyone knows she doesn’t like kids and gives bad tips at restaurants. I mean, I do think the media is going to eat up the scandal of him turning to you so soon after dumping Amelia,” she says, grimacing a little, and pausing for Evelyn’s reaction.

Evelyn shudders at the thought, remembering how bad it felt to be in the press after her one-night-

stand with Victor.

“But then,” Delia continues with a smile. “I think they’re going to love you. I mean, come on, pretty single mom raising his kids? A long-lost love, reunited? Hell, I can’t wait to read the columns, even if I get the story from you first.”

Delia: Send a CAR?! What are you, rich now?

Evelyn: Haha, no, borrowed car service. Seriously, just give me your address, I’ll send it over. It can take you home later when we’re done.

Evelyn laughs a little at that, taking a bite of cheese and sipping from her glass. “Well, I hope so,”

Evelyn says. “But we’re so happy right now, I just don’t want anything to come forward that…bursts our little bubble.”

Evelyn laughs a little at that, taking a bite of cheese and sipping from her glass. “Well, I hope so,”

Evelyn says. “But we’re so happy right now, I just don’t want anything to come forward that…bursts our little bubble.”

Delia nods, understanding. She stays quiet, letting Evelyn continue.

“I mean, I know things have to change, and that he’s worth the changes,” Evelyn says, and Delia smiles at this. “But I have to admit, I liked my simple life before all of this. I liked being in control of what happened to me next. I’m giving a lot of that up by joining this world.”

“I know,” Delia says, nodding. “And it’s precisely the world you ran from when you left Joyce, left your father’s house.”

Evelyn nods again, putting her face in her hands. “I definitely want it, for me, for the boys,” she says.

“It’s just…hard.”

Delia scooches closer to her friend on the couch and warps a warm arm around her shoulder. “It’s all going to be okay, kid,” she says quietly, rubbing her back. “But I hope, through all of this, that you remember to protect yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Evelyn asks, raising her eyes to her friend.

“Just that, I mean, it’s Victor Kensington,” Delia says, raising her eyebrows. “He is a force of nature.”

Evelyn huffs a laugh, agreeing.

“I just imagine,” Delia continues, shrugging, “that it’s really easy to get caught up in his world. That there’s a lot of pressure to say yes to what he wants, to what he imagines is the right path. I just hope that you remember to respect your own needs and desires and find ways to push back.”

Evelyn bites her lip, looking her friend in the eye. “I hope so too. It’s just…hard. You’re right, he is like a hurricane, coming through, sweeping everything up in his path.”

“But so are you, baby,” Delia says, giving her a friendly little punch on the shoulder and a big smile. “He wouldn’t be with you if you weren’t his match in that way. Don’t forget that.”

Evelyn opens her mouth to respond, but she’s interrupted by the sound of the back door opening and the patter of little feet running down the hall upstairs.

“Ut-oh,” Evelyn says, looking towards the kitchen. “Here come the guys. Are you ready?”

Delia jokingly grimaces and then gives her a wink. She also takes a big sip from her glass as Victor walks through the door and the boys run down the stairs.

“Auntie!” Alvin shouts, dashing over to them on the couch, Ian close on his tail.

“We missed you!” Ian says, giving her a big hug. Victor follows them into the room, giving Delia a warm smile and putting out a hand.

“You must be Delia,” he says. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Delia kisses the boys on the head and then turns her attention to the Alpha in front of her, taking his big hand with a smile. “Victor Kensington, we finally meet. I’ve been reading about you for years.”

Victor laughs, shaking his head. “All good things, I hope.” He puts his hand in his pockets and gives Evelyn a smile.

“Oh, come on,” Delia says, laughing. “It wouldn’t be good media if you weren’t sometimes portrayed as the villainous rake. I’m excited to see if you live up to the hype!”

Laughing, Victor settles onto the floor, helping himself to the cheese, the boys arranging themselves on empty spots on the couch, excited to see their auntie.

“So, tell me,” Delia says, a wicked grin playing on her face. “Is Amelia really carrying your baby, as all of the blogs say she is?”

Victor’s mouth falls open in shock.