Chapter 153: Drink With A Friend
Angel found herself completely trapped inside the dark, quiet cabin of her grandmother’s fishing boat docked at the harbor, her body trembling as she was utterly soaking in tears.
The poor Alpha just couldn’t control her heavy, painful tears anymore, so she had been forced to leave her girlfriend completely alone at the campsite just so she could hide inside the boat and cry her heart out in private.
All of the perfect, beautiful portraits she had carefully built inside her mind for their future had suddenly gone completely blurry. Her girlfriend didn’t want to ever have a baby with her simply because she was deeply terrified of any kind of change happening between them.
April had single-handedly changed that once-broken Alpha in so many wonderful ways over the past 10 months that Angel couldn’t even recognize her old self anymore whenever she looked in a mirror.
But despite everything, Angel truly loved her new self.
She was actually happy now for the very first time in her life and just desperately wanted to expand that soft, warm happiness with a family of their own.
Now, Angel felt like she would never ever get to see those beautiful imaginations come through in real life.
They were all just going to remain a fucking useless fantasy in her head.
To make matters worse, even the idea of getting married was technically a massive change in their lives too, which meant that would probably never happen either.
Angel kept sobbing quietly on the small narrow bed where she lay curled up in the dark cabin.
Then, through the quiet sound of her own breathing, she caught the faint creaking sound of heavy footsteps coming from directly outside on the wooden deck.
Angel quickly wiped her wet face and forcefully manned up to go outside and see who on earth was trespassing on her family’s boat at this hour.
She grabbed a flashlight from the wall, and the moment she pushed the cabin door open and stepped outside onto the deck, her eyes landed on Benny standing there.
Angel instantly clicked the switch on and flashed the bright beam of light straight onto the girl’s face.
"Hey, will you please turn that damn thing off right now? You are literally going to blind my eyes," Benny complained, raising her arm to cover her face from the blinding light.
"What do you even want from me right now... and why the hell are you following me around?" Angel demanded, her voice raspy from crying.
"I am definitely not following you around," Benny replied, adjusting her jacket. "I was already sitting inside that other boat over there, and I happened to see you walk up. This is honestly the first time I’ve ever seen you out here at night."
"What are you even doing lurking around here anyway, scentless Beta? Aren’t you supposed to be at home with your in-laws or your wife?"
"I am just taking a little personal break right now," Benny muttered, shifting her weight awkwardly as she used the toe of her worn sneakers to make imaginary drawings on the wooden floor. "Maybe trying to catch a quick nap inside one of these quiet boats... I actually have some good cigars and a full bottle of rum with me, and I was wondering if you wanted to drink with me for a bit."
"Where is the cigar?" Angel said plainly, clicking off her bright flashlight.
A few moments later, the two of them found themselves sitting together inside the larger cabin of the boat. The small space had soft lights turned on and looked almost like a cozy mini barroom, complete with a round wooden table and two old chairs.
Benny poured a generous shot of dark rum into a glass and placed it directly in front of Angel.
"Where is the cigar you promised?" Angel asked, setting her hands on the table, because that was honestly the main reason she had even agreed to come inside and sit down with her in the first place.
Benny reached into her pocket, pulled out a thick unlit cigar, and dropped it onto the table surface.
"I am actually asthmatic, so please don’t light that thing up in here while I’m sitting next to you," Benny said, pulling her chair out. "Maybe you can go ahead and do that later when you’re alone..." Benny said right before sitting herself down.
Angel picked up the cigar, inspected it briefly, and slid it safely inside her jacket pocket.
Then she grabbed the glass of rum and drank the entire heavy shot in one single, harsh go, letting the alcohol burn down her throat.
"Hey, take it easy," Benny warned, her eyes widening slightly as she watched her. "Don’t choke yourself on that stuff..."
"I am definitely not going to choke," Angel said, setting the empty glass down with a heavy thud. "I just really need a lot more of this tonight, and I desperately want to completely forget about everything that happened tonight." She reached out, grabbed the glass bottle by the neck, and poured herself another overflowing drink.
"I heard from the town gossip earlier today that today is supposed to be your six-month dating anniversary with April," Benny noted, tilting her head. "Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere romantic with your girlfriend right now, celebrating your special night?"
"And aren’t you supposed to be fast asleep inside a warm bed beside your sweet Virgin Mary wife right now?" Angel shot back coldly.
Benny’s neutral expression instantly fell, turning into a deeply sad look.
"I have actually been sleeping out here inside this cold boat for several days straight now..." Benny confessed, staring down at her own hands on the table.
"What exactly happened between you two?" Angel asked, taking another sip. "Is there fire on the mountain back home? Did your sweet wife suddenly stop loving you or something?"
"No, Mary still loves me a whole lot, and I honestly love her with everything I have too," Benny explained, letting out a heavy, tired breath. "But coming to live in this town was a very big mistake on my part. I just wanted us to have a quiet, simple, normal life together, and now every single day when I wake up in that mansion, all I hear are heavy guns clicking, someone firing a trigger outside, and so many dangerous men walking around holding guns and even more guns... Just last week alone, my wife literally shot a man straight in the forehead without showing a single drop of remorse, and her scary aunt just stood right beside her and kept praising her for it."
"Oooh, I see," Angel said, a small, bitter smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "So your precious Virgin Mary has officially transformed into Bloody Mary... Benny, please don’t sit there and tell me you didn’t fully know what you were signing up for the moment you decided to get married to a literal Carrillo."
"I signed up to marry Mary Sanchez, not Maria Sanchez Carrillo!" Benny argued back, her voice rising in frustration. "My wife is turning into a fucking cold-blooded killer, and I am really not happy about it at all. I genuinely thought this town was supposed to be a safe, peaceful place for us to start over. I truly thought I knew every part of her, but now she has completely changed on me, and I don’t even know who the hell I married anymore."
"So what if she has changed a little bit on the outside?" Angel challenged, leaning forward against the table. "She still clearly loves you with everything she has inside her. What on earth is wrong with you people always wanting the exact same static product forever and refusing to accept an upgrade? Upgrades are usually very good things for people."
"No, they are definitely not good things," Benny snapped back, shaking her head. "I don’t really understand what personal stuff you are talking about right now, but I genuinely don’t like my wife’s dark, violent side at all. It’s fucking scary to be around. I literally had to lie to her face tonight and pretend that I was working late overtime at the docks just to avoid going back to that house..."
"Look at who is sitting here talking about being scared of a dark side..." Angel scoffed, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "When you literally grew up under the exact same roof with a total psychopathic twin sister."
"Mind your words..." Benny warned softly, her tone hardening. "I am absolutely nothing like Anita."
"I will actually choose to believe you on that one," Angel said dryly. "Because unlike you, your crazy twin sister actually knows how to handle heavy weapons without flinching."
Suddenly, Angel’s entire posture shifted. Her heavy face changed completely as she temporarily forgot all about her own crushing relationship problems and focused all her attention directly on Benny.
"Was it actually true?" Angel asked, her dark eyes narrowing with intense curiosity.
"Was what true?" Benny asked, frowning back at her.
"There’s this famous, secretive military school built specifically for Alphas who have been very, very bad," Angel said, her voice dropping into a low, serious tone. "It’s supposed to be a brutal place where they try to forcefully reform them. By the way, that place never really worked on anyone. But I heard a rumor about what your sister did back then... Is it really true that Anita Goodman was an actual school shooter?"
