Page 84 of Adoring Fletcher
Fuck Tank. Never again.
After six long months of uncertainty and anxious nights, our court date finally came around. We walked into that courtroom with hope in our eyes and fear in our hearts, because this was it.
This was the day of reckoning. Would I lose my mate forever, just like he almost lost me?
Thankfully, the judged ruled the case in our favor after looking over the evidence. Self-defense, case dismissed. The fact that she was an Omega probably helped.
I threw my arms around Fletcher as we stepped out of the courthouse, the sun shining brightly down on us.
Fletcher looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “Can we leave?”
“What?” I was taken aback by his question. “Of course, baby. Let’s go home.”
“No, I mean, can we move? Away from here? This place has too many bad memories attached to it now, and I want so badly to start over again. Start fresh.”
I couldn’t help but admit he had a point. I couldn’t even walk in my own front door without catching a faint whiff of Tank’s piss, even though we’d bleached the hell out of the porch.
“That sounds like a good idea, kitten,” I told him, hugging him close. “What do you think about joining a pack this time? Someplace where we’ll have backup in case anything like this ever happens again.”
“Safety in numbers,” Fletcher agreed softly. “I trust you, Adam. Find us a new home. I’ll go wherever, so long as it’s with you. I love you.”
“I love you too, but for right now, let’s call Aria and give her the good news that you’re not going to jail.”
Fletcher barked a laugh. “Yeah. Thatisa relief.”
Aria called us that evening over video chat. “I could come up? We could go to a bar?”
“NO!” Fletcher and I both practically shouted in her face. She blinked in bewilderment. We exchanged a look. I shook my head. “No bars. No clubs.”
“Okay, fine. Maybe I could bring over some wine? Girls night in?”
Fletcher wrinkled his nose. “How about pizza? Takeout?”
“God, you guys are needy!”
We all laughed.
I hummed. “Now that you mention it, Korean BBQ does sound fire…”
Aria heaved a melodramatic sigh. “Only for you. I’ll be there in an hour—with wineandtakeaway.”
“You’re the best,” I said.
She just smiled and said, “I know.”
55
ADAM
“Is that everything?”I asked as Fletcher came around the corner, toting a couple of small cardboard boxes, stacked one on top of the other, nearly so tall he could barely see over the top.
“Yep, these are the last boxes.” He carefully eased them down onto the counter and then straightened up, wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve. Catching my eye, he smiled.
I smiled back, tired but proud of what we’d accomplished on our own, without the help of anyone else. Maybe I was becoming a little bit paranoid after the whole Tank fiasco, but I didn’t really want anyone knowing where we’d moved to.
The house itself was a large ranch on several wooded acres, protected by the local shifter pack. I’d met with Gracie Howell, the Alpha of Rubydawn, when I’d first come to scope out the place, since it sat on her territory and I didn’t want to cause a pissing match. The last thing I needed was another enemy.
Thankfully, she seemed like a capable Alpha with a good head on her shoulders, and her pack was a sanctuary of sorts. After learning a bit about our past, she’d invited me and Fletcher to join Rubydawn.
