Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 76

Ashley pov

Is it possible for one’s heart to stop and burst open at the same time? And not just burst open in a regular meaning - I mean explode from beating too fast, pumping through too much blood and overdoing it to no end? It feels like I have an atomic explosion happening in my chest.

Thankfully, there’s no one but Everett in the classroom and he is the only one around to see how I get closer to an actual mental breakdown.

My breathing comes in shallow pants and my head spins, thoughts, fears and anxiety taking control of my whole being.

Everett places his hands on my shoulders and shakes me a little. “Ash, breathe. In and out, deep breaths, focus on the sound of your breathing, ignore everything else.”

I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why he’s being so nice after having a secret like mine just tossed on him like that. Sure, he wasn’t actually supposed to be a part of my fantasy, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s far too calm and sweet to my liking.

“Why aren’t you screaming? Why aren’t you beating me up, or better yet - running off to expose me?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper, stuttering so bad, I barely glue together the sentences.

Everett sighs and tightens his hold on me. “That’s something we can discuss later. For now, I need you to breathe, I need you to focus on my voice and find whatever balance you can grasp within yourself. The last thing we need is for you to freak out and expose yourself to the whole school, okay?”

I nod, frantically, and attempt to suck in a breath, but my lungs are on fire, protesting the movement every time I try to force some oxygen in them. Not to mention that some of those breaths get stuck in my throat too, as if feeding the lump that has grown inside it.

Seeing how I can’t pull myself together, Everett gives up on his attempts and pulls away. I have a half mind of what might happen next, but I don’t expect what he actually does.

Everett places his hands under my arms, pulls me to my feet and in one, swift move, manages to lift me to toss me over his shoulder. For some reason, he emphasizes his strength by landing one, hard slap on my right butt cheek and chuckles. “Let’s get you some fresh air, shall we?”

I want to scream, to bang my fists against his insanely huge back, but there’s no energy left to fight. At this point, anyone could challenge or attack me, and I wouldn’t do a single bloody thing about it.

“Besides,” Everett starts as he stops at the door. “I would rather have this conversation somewhere more private. Walls have ears, you know, and it’s best if we stay away from anywhere that could have traitorous personas around. You can’t know your enemy if you don’t see them. Sounds decent?”

“Yeah,” I choke out and close my eyes, giving in for good.

Majority of my life has been dictated for me, decisions made for me and choices were taken away from me anyway. Nothing has changed, even now.

I don’t pay attention to where Everett carries me even when some of the students stop him to have a quick laugh and he comes up with stupid, generic excuses to explain my predicament. Some of them get “Ash lost a bet” while others buy “Ash is out cold, magic class got the kiddo.”

As much as I hate being called a kid, I don’t react to Everett’s words. For as long as I’m being left alone and no one bothers to question me - I’m fine.

Once there’s no one to distract him, Everett starts walking again. I briefly think of where he might be going, but soon realize it really doesn’t matter. What does is the fact that Everett wants answers. Now.

Answers I’m not really ready or willing to give.. It’s too soon.

Anno knows because he’s my best friend, Rose is close, and a woman, so I can share my secret, Elias knows because of that stupid injury and Nathan knows because I can trust him. But Everett? He will join my small circle of sworn secrecy because he cheated - because he chose to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong at all.

Just as suddenly as he tossed me over his shoulder, Everett lets me back on my feet and I realize he has taken me to a quiet spot between what looks like garden sheds. This is the first time I see these on the property, so at first, I pay more attention to our surroundings than I do to his mouth, which is clearly frantically moving, spitting out questions I don’t hear.

“Ash?” He raises his voice and snaps his fingers in front of my face to pull me back to reality. “Are you even listening?”

“I’m not,” I blurt out without thinking. If nothing, at least I’m speaking the truth, right?

“Goddess have mercy on me,” Everett hisses and runs a hand through his wild hair. No idea why I’m suddenly so drawn to the action, but I notice how the muscles in his arms move as he does that and the frustrated, flushed look does look good on the privacy invading asshole.

“Listen,” he sighs and drops his hand to his side. “Let’s just talk, okay? I’m not demanding millions of answers or even explanations about why you’re here, how this came to happen and the rest of those things. If you’re ready to share your truth, if you want to do it, I’m willing to be the shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen, but that’s beyond the point. For now, all I’m asking is one question - is anything you just told me true, or is that some twisted shit my fantasy created?”

He’s giving me the perfect out here. I can suck in a breath, make a brave face and lie to him, but the longer I look at him, the harder I find that task. The desperation in his eyes nearly breaks me.

Sucking in a shaky breath, I look into Everett’s eyes and brace for the worst as one, weak word leaves my lips, “yes.”