Payback Sucks, So Do You!

Chapter Nineteen: Tristen's Tourney

"Unless you love someone, nothing else makes any sense."

-e e cummings

Payback Sucks So Do You

Chapter Nineteen: The Truth

            He has been staring at me for like ten minutes. I think he has stage fright. But we aren’t on a stage. Or he has gone into shock. Should I get him a blanket?

            …Okay! This is ridiculous! A fictional character could answer the question faster than he could and he was the only one who knew the answer! “Oh my god, Beck! Just answer the damn question before I leave you for Captain America.” He released a growl, “Don’t you dare growl at me, Mr. Rejecter. I am the victim in this situation.” I yelled at him then slapped him upside the head.

            He gave me a look, “Oh don’t look at me like that. Now answer the question or I will Photoshop pictures of you and my crazy cousin Layla—the one that is obsessed with you—together doing icky things. And I will post them around the pack house.”

            “Fine, fine.” He sighed, he took a few deep breaths then began to tell his story. “So as you know. I am a few months older than you, and when you are sixteen your bond with you mate forms. So I knew you were my mate before you did.” I jumped up to start shouting at him but he cut me off, “Before you start swearing and making references to things I don’t understand, just let me explain. So, it was a week after my birthday over the summer and you had just gotten back from camping with your family and you were hanging out with Adora and Maddie. And for some reason I just wanted to be with you, and I saw you smiling and I wanted to be the one making you smile. I didn’t understand why I was feeling this way. I was terrified. And you know that I wasn’t a huge fan of you back then. So I went to confront you and I touched you and felt the shocks, but you couldn’t feel them. So I ran.

            “I spent every day trying to think of a way to tell you. I was going to tell you on your sixteenth birthday but…I chickened out. I just kept thinking back to the day when we were kids and you told me you didn’t want a mate. I wanted to tell you. But I kept thinking you would reject me.”

            Now, I was the one silent and staring. I tried to keep my temper under control, remember how you felt when you thought he was dead, I chanted to myself. “Beck, I was nine when I said I didn’t want a mate. I still covered my eyes during kissing scenes! Of course I didn’t want a mate back then! I was a tomboy! I saw guys as my friends. When I was fifteen I wanted a mate! Eryx had Maddie, Adora had Dustin. I was the only one who didn’t have someone! We were the only single ones and you never hung out with us so I was forced to hang out with Tristen. Why do you think we are so close? That’s also why I didn’t move into the pack house! I suffered with my family and friends because you were too scared to tell me we were mates! You are a horrible person! Worse than Voldemort or Jafar! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME YOU SON OF A MONKEY’S ASS!?!” I screamed at him and then began to take a few deep breaths feeling a lot better about getting all of that off my chest. “Now, explain to me you and Hanna.”

            “Hanna was a friend of mine from childhood. I knew you weren’t friends with her so I could trust her not to tell you. I didn’t really except her to fall for me. Or to reject my brother for me.”

            “Dude, Beck. You’re hot. What did you honestly except? You are a hot idiot with apparently inferiority problems. Girls love that.” I rolled my eyes, “Why did I get cursed with an idiot as a mate?”

            “Could be worse.” I raised an eyebrow at him, “You could have Kody as a mate.” I cracked up laughing, “No seriously, he has told me about his past relationships. They all have ended tragically.”