I was just being brave. I had to tell Carter about the omega test substitution, and, naturally, it was better to do it behind closed doors, not in the hallway, where there could be strangers. Or even cameras.
"Will you answer me one question?" I looked around. As it turned out, this entire floor was occupied by Carter's apartment, and we were now standing in front of his door. "Or rather, probably even several."
"Ask," Carter put the card in the lock. The door opened.
"Why did you need to meet me?" I shuffled my feet, but still went in. I had no choice.
But I shuddered when the door slammed behind me.
"We have something to talk about," removing his hand from the steel handle, Carter took a pack of cigarettes out of his sweatshirt pocket. It was crumpled and even a little torn at the edges.
"I don't think so. Regarding the past, we have nothing left to talk about," I answered, shaking my head negatively, but, not paying attention to my words, Carter lit a cigarette and walked deeper into the apartment, silently indicating with his eyes that I should follow him.
A little wary, but I followed the alpha. But before going out into the corridor, I glanced once more at the spacious hallway, noticing a separate room next to it. A dressing room, and through the half-open door, I noticed Kely's shoes there.
The corners of my lips twitched, and I drew my eyebrows together. I had heard earlier that Kely often spent the night in Carter's bedroom in his fraternity building. Sometimes he spent nights with her in Kely's bedroom, in her sisterhood.
But, naturally, as already engaged alpha and beta, they must have their place to live. A place where they spent their weekends.
This apartment was theirs.
I pursed my lips and looked around again. So far, I had only seen a tiny part of the apartment, but that was enough to understand that it cost much more than a fortune. And close to the university. Moreover, you can't buy a separate house in this area.
There were no vacant lots here. Only high-rise buildings. And so Carter bought an apartment in a new, expensive complex, and Kelly, judging by everything, began to drag her things here. Well, of course, they are almost husband and wife. This is normal.
Such things did not affect me. What happened between Carter and Kelly did not concern me. So I just turned around and walked on.
"So what exactly did you want to talk about?" I asked when we both entered the room, which was more like a living room, and I, having slowed my pace a little, barely restrained myself from freezing completely. There were huge panoramic windows, and the view that opened from them took my breath away.
But still, shaking my head, I continued:
"I won't hide the fact that in childhood you became more than just a part of my life, but we are far from being in a situation where we can sit down and sweetly remember the past," I picked up a strand of hair with my fingers, tucked it behind my ear, then, exhaling, said: "It's unusual. Right? I mean, standing like this and talking about our childhood."
"Yes. It's unusual," Carter exhaled smoke. So far, I couldn't understand his emotions, but the alpha's gaze burned more and more with each passing moment. His words completely slashed my consciousness.
Even now, when the hood fell off his head, I saw several veins appearing on the alpha's neck. It seemed that Carter's fangs had become a little longer, and his eyes had something creepy. Breaking.
Nervously crossing my arms under my chest, I decided to go to the panoramic window.
"In childhood, our communication with you ended on a very bad note," I continued, looking around the streets. "And now I want to know what you want from me. To finish what you started, then? To finish you off completely?"
I bit the tip of my tongue, remembering how Carter had said he would never forgive me for what I had done. But to be honest, I still didn't regret it at all.
If this situation arose again, I would do it again, because I thought it was right. And I don't care that Carter gave me something worse than hell after that.
It just turned out that we were incompatible. And there could be no friendship between us. Time put all this in order and showed.
"I have no intention of hurting you."
"Are you saying that you are leaving our conflict in the past?" I asked, doubting it for some reason. Something didn't add up for me.
"And you? Do you still hate me?" Judging by his voice, Carter came closer, but I still didn't turn around to look at him. Now I was looking at the pool in the courtyard of this complex. My life was at rock bottom, and looking at the water, all I could think about was how cool it would be to swim there.
But still, Carter's question hit me. Hard. And what kind of answer did he expect?
"Let's put it this way, I remember everything you did to me perfectly well, and I will never forget it."
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and rubbed my eyelids with my fingers. Even though his energy permeated the air with a scorching heaviness, I did not feel any hostility. At least not towards me.
So, I shouldn't be exacerbating either. I should have asked for help.
"But we were children then, so it's probably true that it would be better to close our eyes to past conflicts. If that's what you want too," I felt like biting my tongue as I said these words. It turns out that stepping over hatred is not easy. Moreover, there were not only past conflicts between us, but current ones as well.