My Genius Mate

Chapter Three

I sit there, dumbfounded, as Katie strikes up a conversation to settle the mood. My heart is racing as I take a breath to look up at Gabe. "Can you hand me a drink?"

He opens the cooler and peers inside. He scrunched up his face. "Oh, sorry, I just took the last one, but there are more in the truck I'll go grab real quick."

"I'm going with you." I stand, ready to remove myself from this conversation.

"I'll come too." Ronan stands, but I hold up my hand to him.

"No, stay here and be with your girlfriend. We'll be right back." I smile, although I feel like I'm on the verge of tears.

I turned my back to walk with Gabe when I heard a loud gasp, and my gut wrenched. I knew this is how Ronan must be feeling as my mate looking at my gruesome scar. "Ew, how did she get such an ugly scar?"

Ronan growled, and I felt Christ jump. "Don't fucking say that!"

My heart ached, and my legs wobbled the entire walk to the truck. My knees gave out as we reached the truck. I sobbed aloud as Gabe rushed to my side, holding me and rocking me on the ground. "It's okay, it's okay, it'll be okay. Calm down."

I let out heartbreaking sobs into his chest. Everything hurt. My chest burned, my stomach threatened to empty itself at that moment, and my limbs went numb, trying to hold myself up. This was the most amount of pain I had ever been in.

I was grateful for Gabe at this moment. He smelled like cocoa butter and something sweet as I released my emotions into his chest. He leaned against the truck on the ground with me as I sat in his lap. He held and rocked me, again whispering to calm me down.

"Hey, you're okay. Calm down, big breaths."

I listened to him and took deep breaths, gaining control of my breathing again. I slowly stopped crying, wiped my eyes, and snot down my nose. My face was red from what I could tell in my reflection, and I did not look good. I was a mess. I felt like a mess. I wasted so many things on this moment to get here, to be with Ronan and be his mate. Every long light studying, every test aced, every redo on work to get an A instead of settling for a B-plus, every single decision I have made up to this point has been for nothing.

I stood up and gave him one last hug, one deep hug that helped put the pieces back together. I looked up at him and nodded, seeing he was questioning my mental status. "I'll be okay, but I really need a drink."

I got into the truck and found my bag of clothes, putting my shorts and spaghetti strap tank top on. I grabbed a blanket and Katie's clothes, knowing she would want to change as the breeze next to the water gets colder than you think. Gabe packed up the cooler and threw it over his left shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yes." We took a few steps, the music from the party getting louder and louder. "You shouldn't carry it like that. You'll get a shoulder injury."

He blew air out from his teeth in a scuffing way before rolling his eyes at me. Before he could say a rebuttal, a guy I remembered from elementary told me he was happy to see me and handed me a shot. Usually, I would say no. He was technically a stranger; I hadn't seen him in so long. I didn't even remember his name, but I took that shot and downed it right then and there. He whooped at me, and I went on. Gabe was pushing me, thinking I was an idiot for sure. We took a few more steps, and a girl whose face looked sort of familiar also held out a half drink for me. I brought it to my lips and took a few chugs before pushing the empty cup back to her. Gabe pushed me along more. "Easy there."

The entire walk through the crowd, I kept getting handed drinks and cheered on as I took the shots or chugged the beer. I almost chugged a keg if Gabe hadn't kept pushing me. I giggled as we left the large group of people, and I was holding a beer I didn't remember getting. I took a swig and nearly fell over. Gabe laughed and held me up. "Thank you, Gabriel."