DEDICATED TO letmein33 :)

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Chapter 18 - "My Love Life Is One Huge Sob Story."

"Babe!" Francesca cried the moment Tatum and Angier reached their little group in the audience, grabbing Angier's tee by the neck and planting a kiss on his lips long enough to convey very clearly what she meant by it.

He's mine. Back off.

Tatum ignored the pang in her chest as the harsh reality sank in. As long as they were on that stage, the characters and the poetic lines and even the dummy props they used for the time being—all of them were very successful in helping Tatum lose herself in the romantic and magical fake-world. For those fleeting minutes, despite her inner turmoil and worries about self-preservation, the world had seemed almost perfect.

"Ahem," Seneca cleared her throat, grabbing her attention. Tatum immediately went red at the quick glare she shot her, and she pleaded with her eyes to Seneca to not bring it up then. Seneca gave her a dubious look, but complied nonetheless.

Thank Goddess.

"Great performance, today. If your first time rehearsing a scene was so good, I can't even imagine how the final play will turn out," Micajah, ever the peacemaker, grinned as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her slightly.

"Thank you." Tatum smiled.

"You're welcome. And, uh, I meant that for you too, Angier." Micajah said awkwardly as he looked away, and that finally made the kissing couple pull apart. Angier seemed confused for a second as he glanced at the three people staring at him, and then he flushed slightly, "Oh. Thanks, man."

"You're welcome, too." Micajah smiled again, then turned back to me with a questioning look, "So you told me you'll help me with that Insurance company balance Sheet. You free, now?"

Um, what? Which balance sheet?

Oh. "Uh, yeah. Sure. I can swing by your room. I'm sure Francesca can drop Angier off," Tatum shrugged, turning to look at Angier and his Mate for confirmation.

"Yeah, sure," Francesca answered, smiling excitedly and looking at Angier expectantly.

The guy in question seemed conflicted for a second, and then his features spread into a knowing smirk, "Or, for once I can join you guys without missing all the fun. I'm sure Fran wants to, too. Right, babe?"

"Uh," Francesca raised her dark blonde eyebrows meaningfully at Angier, shaking her head slightly.

Angier rolled his blue-green eyes, "Fine. It doesn't matter if she's not in. I'm in, though."

"Erm," Seneca interrupted, looking at him awkwardly, "Don't you have work to do at home, though?"

"Nope." Angier shrugged, grinning widely now. "I really wanna hang out with you guys. Feels like it's been forever."

Tatum didn't miss Francesca's subtle eye-roll masked under the guise of glancing at the ceiling, "You sure?"

"Yeah, you guys go ahead, I'll walk Fran to her car and be back."

Crap, Tatum thought, following behind the Mordecai couple meekly as they left—knowing full well that Angier's Mate must be glaring at her now.

~

"You better hurry the fuck up and explain." Seneca growled the moment they stepped out of the auditorium, and that made Tatum gulp nervously, "Um—okay. Yeah. We—uh, we—"

"Yeah, you cancelled our plans and kissed each other. We figured as much, so get on with it." Seneca rolled her eyes. "And don't worry, We were only able to do it because you told us already that it was gonna be your first kiss on that stage. I mean, it was obvious as hell that that wasn't the case anymore with the familiarity in your movements. So, even if I'm not sure, I think no one else would've guessed the truth, because they wouldn't know that you weren't supposed to have kissed before." She paused, then added almost as an afterthought, "They'd just assume that it's because you two have great chemistry and tons of experience."

"Yeah," Micajah chimed in, nodding gravely, "Hopefully, Angier hasn't mentioned the fact that it's your first kiss to Francesca in passing."

Uh oh. Tatum hadn't even thought about that.

Because if he had mentioned that, then Francesca would've seen right through their performance that evening and realized that they've kissed before.

"Do you think he would've?" She asked uncertainly as she glanced between the two of them, who shared an undecipherable look before turning back to look into her eyes with something like sympathy.

Fuck. The one thing Tatum hated almost as much as death in the world, was sympathy.

"Sweetie," Seneca started, reaching forward to place a hand on hers, and that gave Tatum a really bad feeling because she is not a person who uses endearments lightly, "You know that even if he doesn't tell her now, she's gonna find it anyway when he marks and fully mates with her, right?"

Two things registered on Tatum's mind at the same moment.

One, the thought of Angier and his Mate permanently Mated made such a shocking wave of pain and devastation course through her that she almost staggered back from the force of it.

Two, if they haven't already Mated, it meant that they hadn't had sex yet.

That relieved her more than she cared to admit.

"Yeah, I know. It's his problem to deal with. He was the one who kissed me, if we're being technical."

The two of them stared at her as if she'd grown another head.

"What?"

"So . . . if we're not being technical?" Micajah questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh," Tatum felt her cheeks suffuse with color, "Okay, I—I kissed him back."

They had just reached the building of the dorms, and Micajah and Seneca had climbed the first step on the wide entryway, but Seneca froze and turned back around at that, blocking Tatum's path, "Tatum, I really don't know any better way to put this, but you do know that this will end up in heartbreak no matter what, right? I mean, either they'll Mate and you'll be miserable for another period of time like—" Seneca stopped herself quickly before saying the words, but it was clear as day what she'd meant, like when your Mate died, "—or Angier will have to reject his Mate, which will make both of them miserable, and in turn make you miserable because it might end up being all for nothing."

Tatum didn't have a reply to that, so instead, she said what she thought might be most relevant, "Look, he only kissed me because he didn't want me to kiss a random guy. I know how ironic that is, considering he's had his fair share of experience and I certainly didn't go around, kissing him to stop that, but I can't deny that he's right. I have to get my own experience too, but not so rushed and not in the span of one weekend."

Seneca remained silent in response, so Tatum continued, "And hey, I will be devastated no matter what. I'm already in too deep, this is not just some infatuation, remember? It's feelings built up over almost a decade's time. So what if we kiss a bit now? I cried myself to sleep for years after Llew died, and then the night Angier found his Mate and—" Tatum stopped herself just in time before she could reveal just how much their PDAs had also taken out of her, "What I'm saying is, I'm pretty much used to it, now. I'm gonna be doing it again in a while when he completes the Mate bond, I guess. But I'd do it anyway even if I didn't have feelings for him out of hurt that I'll never have a Mate. My love life is pretty much one huge sob story."

Seneca exchanged a grim look with Micajah, turning to her with an almost guilty expression. Tatum's stomach clenched painfully when she noted that her eyes looked glassy for a second, but thankfully she blinked it away.

Now, Tatum was the one feeling guilty for having said all the things she'd planned to never, ever admit, out loud.

"What do you mean 'Llew'?" Seneca asked, clearing her throat, "I mean, I heard that he died when you were twelve. I didn't know you knew who your Mate was for sure."

"He did," Tatum confirmed, her voice catching at the reminder of that night even after all these years. She realized at that moment that she might never be truly and completely over it. She'd never had a chance to get closure and all the 'what ifs' and possible scenarios would torment her for life.

"I just had my Dad do a little search and find out about all the deceased Wolves in America that night. Since our kind is very few in number, it was just 3 of them and I could narrow it down to possibly him. But hell, I know it could've been probably wrong—that it might not have been Llewellyn Carter, that it could've been anyone in the world, but I guess it gives me some semblance of a satisfaction to imagine a probable version of him, at times. Like what I would be doing right now if he hadn't gone; just mediocre, everyday stuff like that."

"Oh, Tate." Tatum's heart jumped at the sudden voice and just as she spun around in alarm, strong arms wrapped around her and slammed her into his rock hard chest, neatly tucking her close to his body as he let out a sad, sorrow-filled breath.

"Um, I—" She started, hoping to ask something indirectly that would let her know just how much he had heard.

"Shh," Angier shushed, interrupting what would've probably ended up being a verbal-vomit. "Don't say anything." And then, he switched over to their mind-link, 'I know how much it hurts. I don't ever want you to relive it more than you already do,'

"No, I just wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have brought it up," Tatum forced herself to pull away from the temporary safe haven of his arms, avoiding looking at Seneca and Micajah's eyes because she was sure there would be some sort of accusation in them after just seeing the way he had hugged her. That's why she prevented touching Angier as much as she could get away with, without being glaringly obvious, because the way he touched and hugged and looked—it was all way too personal and spoke of an intimacy that sometimes showed just how much he had lived through her pain with her.

She didn't want to expose that to the world and tarnish the purity of it.

It was the only thing that was hers, and hers only.

Tatum saw the way Angier's eyes lit up with anger the moment she said that she wanted to apologize, and she knew immediately that he was gearing up to give her a lecture about how she shouldn't keep it bottled up and how they were all friends and that they would help her and all that sentimental bullshit he'd been repeating over and over, throughout the years.

So she hurried to talk before he could even open his mouth, "So, who's up for some balance sheets and pranks?"

~ * ~

Read on to Ch 19. DOUBLE UPDATE because of the delay! :) So please forgive me :)

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