*Heartache warning* (get your fish ready! ???????? Look at the past few chapters comments to understand)

I nodded before standing along with Cam and Sean. I hugged both of them before leading them to the door and seeing them off.

As I came back in, Marie came downstairs and smiled sadly towards me. "Once she finished her bottle, she was out like a light." Marie took my hand and led me to the kitchen. She sat me down at a bar stool and sat in the one beside me. She suddenly hugged me tightly and began rubbing my back. "Just let it out."

Without any other words, my entire demeanor shattered and I began bawling into her shoulder. She quietly held me and allowed me to cry until I wore myself out. Once I let go of her, she got up and began making coffee.

"So those guys....are they friends of yours?"

"In the past. We only recently got back into contact."

"Was one of them Hunter?"

I froze as she glanced to me, "what?"

"Relax. The twins mentioned an Uncle Hunter a couple times so I was just curious."

"No, neither of them are Hunter."

"So I know your hormones aren\'t out of whack, at least not due to your pregnancy with Addie. If it was, it wouldn\'t look like that. You\'re genuinely shook up."

Marie brought over a cup of coffee that I sipped on as she sat down beside me, "I messed up."

Marie froze, "you\'re freaking me out. I need more info."

"I didn\'t cheat, but I feel like Jayden might take it like I did."

"What happened?"

I fought not to cry again, "a crazy situation happened last night, nothing harmful but pretty bad mentally. An ex, the only other guy I\'ve ever loved and wanted to spend my life with, he took advantage of the situation."

She grabbed my hand, "did he attack you?!"

I shook my head, "not exactly. All he did was touch my neck and face and kissed me."

She let out a large sigh, "thank god that\'s all it was. Was Jayden upset?"

"I called him last night but he wasn\'t able to talk. He said he would call me, but I haven\'t heard a thing."

"Well he will understand what happened. You didn\'t kiss the guy or reciprocate."

I leaned my forehead onto my hand as I put my elbow on the counter. "There\'s a lot more that is going to upset him." She looked to me curiously as I stood and took out the envelope I had hidden in a drawer. I sat down and began opening the envelope. "I met with his brother."

"Jayden\'s half brother?"

I nodded, "he sent these to me." I placed the pictures out on the counter. She looked at them closely before looking to me with shock. "He\'s claiming that Jayden is cheating on me and has a female Alpha fiance."

Marie\'s eyes turned to sadness, "there\'s no way he would do that. He is insanely in love with you. He wouldn\'t cheat!"

"That\'s what I told his brother and was all I planned to do when we met. But I didn\'t talk to Jayden about it before I went. He\'s going to be really upset."

"Well I\'ll just have Ean tell Jayden to call you! Then everything can be solved!"

I shook my head as I put the pictures back into the envelope. "He\'s busy. He promised to call me when he can, so I will wait." I took her hand in mine and squeezed slightly, "PLEASE, Marie. Don\'t tell Ean about this. It would just make things worse."

She smiled confidently, "I promise. Now, don\'t stress, he would never do that." She hugged me tightly and I fought not to cry again.

It will all be okay. He will understand and he will fix this misunderstanding. Everything will work out.

All night, I played the role of my typical self, except I checked my phone every few minutes. Once the kids were asleep, I went into our room and just stared at the phone.

I had overheard him talking to Cora three times tonight and, each time the kids brought him up, she seemed to avoid the discussion. When my phone suddenly rang, I felt my heart soar and rushed to answer it, not even looking at the caller i.d.

"I\'m glad you finally called."

He cleared his throat, "you were waiting for me to call?" I trembled as Asher\'s voice filled my ears. "Will," he whispered and I fought not to choke up.

I should hang up! Jayden would want me to hang up. Asher forced himself on me yesterday! I have no reason to listen to him.

"I\'m sorry about yesterday...I...ugh...I really messed up big time. I shouldn\'t have done that to you and can\'t even believe that I did it. I never meant to, I swear! But the moment you were beside me, my mind went numb and I acted without thinking."

I began to tremble as my heart raced and I felt his genuine care. "We shouldn\'t be talking to each other. We\'re strangers at this point."

"Please," he whispered as he choked up, "please don\'t say that. I love you, Will. I will ALWAYS love you, regardless of everything that has happened. I want you to be happy and..." He took a deep breath before choking up again, "if you think he will make you happy, I will try to accept that. But I want to be part of your life."

I began crying and choked up. He will accept Jayden? But he still loves me...I can\'t trust him.

"Can\'t we go back to the way things used to be? We could be friends again, nothing more. I just want to support you and be part of your life. Please Will... please."

I took a few deep breaths, "I need time. I just... I need some time."

"Okay, I understand." I heard him smile slightly, "I\'m just happy that I got to hear your voice. To know that you\'re okay, that\'s enough for me right now. Please call me after you decide, either way. I want to hear your choice from you, no one else."

"I need to go."

He sighed deeply, "okay...I lov..." he cleared his throat, "I will talk to you later."

I hung up the phone, placed it on the night stand, and turned off the room light. I laid down and hugged Jayden\'s usual pillow tightly to my ċhėst. While crying, I finally fell asleep.

As I woke up, I checked my phone to see a text. I rushed to open it and saw it was from Cam reminding me to let him or Sean know if I need anything. I took a deep breath before getting out of bed with confidence.

I am not weak, I can take care of everything by myself. I\'ve done it for years, so why change now? I will go back to my old ways of strength until I can talk to Jayden. Right now, I wonder if I can fully be supported by him. I may need to reassess our roles in this relationship because I can\'t handle being depressed just because he can\'t contact me. That\'s not me.

I got up and came down to see the twins eating along with Cora, who held Addie and fed her. I looked to Chase and Emit as they came over to me. "Good morning," I said with a smile.

Chase came over and kissed my cheek, "are you feeling better? You look more like yourself."

I turned my smile to one of pure confidence, "yeah I\'m feeling good."

Emit came and kissed my cheek before looking to Chase, "we better get going." As they left, I got the twin\'s stuff, and brought it into the room. They rushed over to get their stuff and I looked to Cora as she got up with Addie.

"Jayden called earlier and wanted to let you know he should be home by 8 pm."

I looked down to the twins, "I\'ll have to see him when I get back tonight. Chase and Emit are watching the kids for me until I get back."

Cora looked to me with shock, "going out? That\'s unusual. Are you going out with Marie?"

I smiled to her, "no, some old friends. I\'m not sure when I will be back, but I\'ll be back when I can."

Cora came closer to me, "but Jayden wanted to see you tonight. He said that you wanted to talk to him about something."

I nodded and did not lose my smile, "it\'s nothing urgent. He\'ll probably be tired anyway."

Her head tilted slightly, "he shouldn\'t be. He\'s going to have all day today to rest until his flight."

I gulped, "oh, did his flight get changed?"

"No, that was always the plan."

I felt my heart plummet and my emotions rise. None of this adds up. Not because of the pictures, but this time Cora is telling me things I usually wouldn\'t know since she\'s here without him.

"We should get going." I began walking to the door with the twins, "oh, Cora. Could you watch Addie while I drop off the twins? Otherwise she and I will be out until we pick up the twins after school. Then I probably will have to leave to meet my friends a little while after that."

"Uh, sure."

"Thanks," I mumbled before heading out the door.