Peaches

XXV

Suddenly, light peers through my flickering eyelids. I'm still on the sofa but buried in more blankets. It's daytime and all I can hear is yelling coming from the other room. It feels early, like too early for me to be awake and I groan, collapsing back onto my pillow. I look around the room and see other pillows and blankets that aren't usually there on the sofa's and I realise they must've slept down here with me. I smile at the thought. My men watched over me as I slept.

I try to resettle into the sofa but I can't as the shouting from the foyer is all I can focus on. Reluctantly, I pull myself from under the sheets and readjust my clothes, following the loud noises.

I approach them cautiously only to see something I was ridiculously unprepared for this early.

Anna was screaming at the top of her lungs while Adam took a stance in front of Raphael who appeared to be bleeding from his lip. Natalie stood behind Anna, begging her to calm down. Anna was screaming at everyone and everything. She was pissed. She was so angry i couldn't even make out the words she was screaming.

I make eye contact with Natalie who tugs Anna on the shoulder and points to me; I had all of their eyes on me now. Anna tries to approach me but Natalie holds her back. She yells across the room "I'm mad at you too y'know why would you keep so much from me! I've told you everything and yet it's like you're not even my best friend anymore. How could you not tell me any of this!"
I was confused. I made a puzzled face.
Natalie says "Reine I'm sorry, I told her everything she's my mate. I didn't know it would be such a big deal." She looks upset.
I stumble over my words and a croaky confused note escapes.
"Come on Anna you know you're being unreasonable here," Adam says attempting to diffuse the situation and take the heat off of me.
The realisation suddenly hits me. Natalie told her everything. Everything about me and everything about the twins. Anna was my best friend but I could never tell her. She was loyal to the pack and that scared me. I was a sinner... I am a sinner. I've done more bad things than I'd like to admit.
"I was always there for you Reine, you could've told me I wouldn't have told anyone," Anna says, her voice changing from angry to sympathetic. She was hurt. She felt like I didn't trust her.
"I'm sorry Anna, I was scared. I've done so many bad things and saying them out loud was admitting them. I wasn't ready for that. I love you okay. Please forgive me," I plead. I approach her slowly and cautiously and Nat let's go of Anna's arm. I look at Anna with loving eyes. "I'm sorry," I say. I embrace her, wrapping my arms around her in a hug and she reluctantly hugs me back until she embraces me fully. She whispers, "Don't worry I'm not mad at you, I'm furious with your boy toys but I could never stay mad at you."
I smile into her.
"You want proof I won't tell them, trust me Nat told me everything." She emphasises the everything and my body stiffens. "And no-one especially your boy toys needs to know what happened at uni." I relax but the reminder of him makes me shake. I was hoping the secrets were over but this one I'll have to keep. It'll never haunt me again. I can be happy now and I know Anna won't tell.

I let her go and ask " So what happened before I got here?"
Everyone's silent except Nat. Nat takes a deep breath and sighs. "So...during pillow talk this morning I was talking to Anna and begun to talk about you and just told her everything and then she pulled this weird face towards the end and got all red and I had to run after her just to get here. Verdomde meisjes man," she rolls her eyes. "Hoe dan ook, she angrily ran all the way here from our hotel and burst through the door, punched Raphael and started going all crazy. To be honest he deserved it." She sighs after unloading all the information.
I look over to Raphael who's lip's still bleeding like crazy. I walk over to him and examine the damage.
"I'm fine," Raphael mutters.
I take his hand and lead him into the kitchen while the others follow.
Once in the kitchen I wet some kitchen roll and clean the blood away from his lip. I then get some ice, wrap it in the kitchen towel and press it against his lip. I look over to a slightly guilty Anna.
"If you're expecting me to apologise I'm not going to. You should be grateful I didn't have a knife on me," she says.
"I don't expect you to apologise. If Nat ever did what... that to you I'd probably punch her." I say quietly and I can see the guilt surface on Raphael's face so I approach him and lean against his chest and he wraps me in his arms.
Adam attempts to diffuse the situation. "Breakfast anyone?" He asks.
"I could eat," Nat says.
"Great I'll start cooking," Adam says and he kisses my forehead as he walks past me. Nat drags Anna over to the counter and they sit on the stools together and start talking between them. Raphael looks down on me.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
"I know," I say. I kiss his cheek and hand him the ice before heading over to the stool and taking a seat by Nat and Anna.