300 Days With The Alpha Beta Triplets
YOU LOVE ME?

Bella:

"What the hell were you thinking?" I yelled, pacing around the room while Ryder sat on the bed calmly.

His attitude was driving me nuts, and I couldn't understand this weird obsession with his mom that he couldn't let go of. I loved my father so much, but I had learned to deal with it.

"Bella," he called out calmly, but I wasn't having it, so I didn't respond. "Bella, you are not even listening to me."

"Listening to what, exactly? I get it! She betrayed you, but is it worth beating an innocent kid? You are seventeen! A year to being an adult, and you could have gone to jail! We were in a different pack, Ryder, and anything could have happened!" I screamed with every vein in my body popping out.

"And why does that bother you so much? You wouldn't be going to jail with me or getting into trouble."

I glanced at him when he said this, then I scoffed, walking over to a table to lean on it with my palm placed on my forehead. This was more draining than I imagined.

"It does not bother me at all," I said in a calm voice, trying to distract myself from the voices in my head.

I was bothered the entire day because I wanted him to speak to me, but he seemed comfortable enough without me the entire night. Too comfortable that he felt throwing punches solved his problems.

"Then why do you act like you care? Why are you making a fuss about it?" He asked.

"Because your father asked me to babysit your grown ass! I don't even know why I'm here. You're older than I am, and you hate me! So why am I the one that has to babysit your ass? I fucking hate everything and everyone! I'm the hated one, and yet you all want me to fix everything. Get off my dick!"

The rage in me spoke before I could calm it. My entire body had been frustrated, and I didn't know what I was carrying in me, but letting it out made me feel relieved and worse at the same time.

We were young and foolish, but he seemed to make the worst decisions-even worse than I did, and he was supposed to lead the entire pack someday.

There was a long silence after I spoke, and Ryder said or did nothing but stare. I scoffed, walked over to the bed to sit, then placed my head in my palms.

"Bella," he called out in a low tone, but I didn't answer.

After a while, I felt his huge figure around me, and I could tell he was in front of me, but I wouldn't look up still. He crouched, causing me to turn my face away to the side. Then he took a deep breath.

"I do not hate you, Bella."

When he said this, I pushed him away, getting to my feet.

"Don't preach to me now, Ryder. Your actions are enough, and..."

"I asked my father to force you on this trip!"

When he said this, my lips became automatically sealed, and my eyes became glued to his.

He began yelling.

"You can judge me for being selfish! Judge me for putting you through all this, but I don't even know why I am doing anything. It's like I have lost myself! And all I can think of is you! But you can never love me, not with everything I have done to you, and you have done nothing but show me kindness. You think that doesn't prick my soul? When I knew you were my mate, I cursed the moon goddess..."

He stopped yelling, then swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I wanted you badly on this trip, and I craved to be with you, Bella. To hold you, but..."

"I didn't turn out to be the girl you expected?" I questioned, intensifying my gaze. "You didn't expect to meet me untouched, but you did, and now you regret being on this trip with me."

When I said this, he kept mute. I turned around.

"I thought as much," I muttered, attempting to walk away.

"Then you thought wrong, and I wished it were true, because then there wouldn't be this stupid urge in me." I paused in my tracks when he said this.

"All you have done is bring me peace, Bella, and sometimes I don't even know why you were given to me." He said, closing the space between us.

"The thought of you haunts me, and every day I try to be better because of you. I think of you all the time, and just your thought makes me happy. I can barely control myself when I am around you, and maybe if you had stopped to look at me tonight, then you would know that I craved your comfort."

Hearing him speak made my heart soft. It was as though this was what I had longed for in a long time, but I had been in denial. But I wouldn't give in-not yet.

"Yes, I didn't know you were a virgin, but that is the least of the reasons I stopped. I couldn't bring myself to do it-being the first person to have you. This is because I know myself, and I didn't replace myself worthy of you, despite loving you."

I turned around once he said this, and he didn't look away for once.

"You... you love me?" I stuttered, and he scoffed.

"I have tried to tell myself that I do not, and I convinced myself to hate you so much because of something that was my mother's fault. I blamed your mother, and I tried to hate you for it, but it didn't work, not even once. As kids, I always looked forward to when you would visit, and I hated myself so much because the thoughts of you consumed me even as a kid. When I heard you would move in with me, I feared losing everything, and the only way I thought would help was being rude to you in the worst way. Maybe that was why the moon goddess thought us a pair; it was my only chance to ever have you, and..."

Before he could finish, I pressed my lips on him on impulse because that was what my heart wanted. He loved me, and even if I didn't know what I felt at the moment, I wanted to feel as I did earlier today.

"Bella," he gasped, pulling away, then glanced at me briefly before claiming my lips at once. His tongue fought to claim mine, and I opened up for him...