Alpha Aidan's Rejection Chapter 105

TARA

　　Jenna and I stood in front of the pack's retreat complex on an already sunny Saturday morning, seeing Nadia off to her first day of football practice, and well, it was quite an interesting morning. Jenna was all smiles, encouraging Nadia to crush all her teammates even if it was just her first practice, and I was an entire other case. 

　　Nadia had suddenly picked up the interest the evening after we ran into Aidan here, and I wouldn't have been as shocked if the new hobby interest was cheerleading or even football with a team of girls, but Nadia had stuck to her desire in playing football with all male kids team.

　　I was not going to stop her from trying out what interested her, but it made me ask myself some questions, as most mothers would, seeing as this wasn't the first time Nadia was choosing to do something that most young girls at her age wouldn't be interested in.

　　"Come on," Jenna said, pulling me by my arm away from the complex entrance, and out of my thoughts. "We don't have all day, and Nadia will be fine. Don't be a Mom."

　　With a confused frown, I replied. "I am a Mom. Her mom, Jenna, and you sound as if we've booked an appointment to one luxurious hotel or something when we're only going to have brunch," I snickered, and Jenna's offended eyes found mine, causing my earlier worry to settle in a far corner of my mind as the smile on my face widened.

　　Jenna spoke. "Well, hurry up because that doesn't matter. We're catching up, so we have to do it at the right spot, and if they get sold out, we'll just be two sad and grumpy women talking in an abandoned booth at the back of the restaurant with no food in front of them," she finished. "Do you want to be that woman?"

　　I shook my head once, indulging her.

　　Such drama.

　　We fell quiet for a few seconds, crossing to the side of the road where the restaurant stood just by the corner of the next street until Jenna spoke. "The diner is good, yes? You didn't have to close up just to have this day with me, right?" Jenna asked for the second time that day, and I gave her a look.

　　"Relax, Jen. Riley's got it, and we have new help too. Now, get me an ice cream cone, please?" I said, chafing the topic as my eyes found the truck. 

　　Jenna's face squeezed, but I knew that my friend was interested too.

　　"Before food?"

　　"Yes," I replied, and Jenna nodded.

　　Before long, we were chatting away at the restaurant, and all was well since Jenna had not only secured us the best booth in her but also their famous bestselling recipe.

　　"How's work been? Anything particularly interesting happening lately?" I asked as we dug into our food.

　　Jenna waved me away, red hair falling into her face as she took a bite. "Work is boring as hell, but that's a good thing in the line. It's better to be cautiously watching the borders than actively fighting to keep attackers away."

　　It still amazed me how his pretty petite woman's line of work was something as crucial as some men wouldn't do, and she spoke about it like it was a piece of cake.

　　I admired it.

　　We fell into an easy conversation, and I loved how quiet the day was going for us. We didn't have to be screaming our lungs out to have fun after everything life threw at us on a daily basis.

　　That was my line of thought before a familiar prickly feeling crept up my back as I felt a presence behind me. I knew I wasn't imagining things when Jenna, who was sitting on the other side of the booth across from me, looked up from her plate to take in whoever or whatever was behind.

　　My head snapped back, and the feeling made a lot of sense now. The feeling that always pushed me to make sure that all my affairs were in order and that Kayla wasn't trying to ruin one good thing in my life or the other,  but right now, all I saw when I looked at her was pathetic.

　　Kayla approached, and I frowned, turning back to face Jenna. I saw the question on her face, so I offered a short explanation before she voiced her question.

　　"Kayla."

　　The most that Jenna knows about Kayla was that she attacked me and left me for dead all those years ago, so it was only normal that an animalistic growl rumbled in Jenna's chest as she heard the name, tossing the food that was halfway to her mouth down on the plate.

　　Kayla reached our booth, her signature smile in place, lips stained in red lipstick, dressed in a branded two-piece set with the sharp tip of her heels glaring at me.

　　"Ladies," Kayla's voice came through, and I almost shut my eyes, shuddering when I heard the familiar voice again, but that would have been an unwise move in front of someone as diabolical as this woman. "You aren't going to introduce me to your friend," she said, turning to Jenna whose anger had reached her neck now, that visible skin was turning red.

　　Kayla seeing that she wasn't fooling anyone, turned back to me.

　　Tears after I ran away from Attica Pack with my baby barely hanging on to me, the only thing I could see when the name 'Kayla' rang in my head, was how dangerous and scary she had looked when she attacked me that day, eyes wide with unbridled rage as she almost went through with her mission to get rid of me.

　　Right now in this diner, the opposite was the case. All I saw was a pathetic woman who still hadn't given up chasing whatever had been her goal for a decade. A goal that obviously didn't care to be chased.

　　Her presence irritated me more than scared me, so I snapped.

　　"Cut the bullshit, Kayla. You can't fool anyone anymore. I know you were the one who sent that stupid text, and I don't care, neither do I care about you. I'm not asking you why you're here, I'm asking you to get the hell out and stay the fuck away from me."

　　Kayla looked taken aback by the statement, but only for a split second before she asked with a clueless look on her face. "What text?"