Chapter 123

Soma’s POV

Watching Oliver freak out until I was done with my coffee and cookies was entertaining but now, I was faced with my store and my decision. I sighed getting Oliver’s attention, I knew he was going to ask me the same questions he did last night and I just had to be firm with my answers. As much as I didn’t want to give up my dream, it was the only way I knew how to let go of my past and the hurt that I faced.

My adopted parents abandoned me because of this store, and that hurt almost as much as what Detective Marks had done to me. I knew they were different pains but they still hurt no matter what.

“I think I am ready to go over there,” I said looking across the street.

“Alright.” He said getting up. “Micah we’re going across the street, if you need something mind link me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He said waving his hand at us. He was still grossed out by the gum thing and probably annoyed because he was picking it by hand and it was fun watching his face. But we needed to get things done so I figured we better start now.

“Are you sure you want to handle this now?” Oliver asked.

“No,” I admitted. “But if we don’t do it now, I don’t think it will ever get done, and then you and Micah will be forced to do what I should be doing,” I said as we got outside. “But if I change my mind don’t be mad, okay?”

“Of course, I won’t be mad.” He said pulling me closer to him. “I just want to make sure this is what you want to do. You don’t have to close, just let me get you some good help that way you can leave when you don’t want to be around, or if you want to be around people at least now you have people working with you.”

“No,” I said shaking my head. I knew having people around me wouldn’t be good. I liked working alone, but I knew as a pack member I would have to learn to share my time, and that was something that might be a lot harder for me when it comes down to it. But I knew I could do it, I used to work for others and had to be a team player.

“But you haven’t tried it, how do you know you won't like it?” he pressed on. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get me upset so I break down and not do this, or if this was something he thought I needed to hear. Either way, I was going to keep myself calm, close the store up, and turn in the keys.

Pulling out the keys to the store, I unlocked it and turned on the lights. It looked like someone hadn’t been here in years. I took a deep breath, everything about this place made me happy and sad at the same time. I wanted to turn around and leave, I wasn’t ready to do this.

“I don’t know if I could do this,” I said as tears formed in my eyes. “I mean I can, but I don’t know if I am ready.”

“We don’t have to do this.” He said pulling me closer. “I know you want to put an end to this, but you don’t have to. We can have someone run the store if you don’t want to be here and then we can close it soon enough.”

“But that’s the thing I don’t know if I want someone else running this place,” I said looking around. “I built this alone and now I don’t know if I want to see it crumble,” I said shaking my head. This was a mistake coming here, I thought I was ready but clearly, I wasn’t.

“We can come back another day, I don’t want you here because it’s making you upset, and this was the last thing it should be doing.”

The bell on the door chimed, I quickly turned and my worst fear was standing there. Detective Marks, smiled when he saw me.

“Oh no,” I said cowering behind Oliver.

“What are you doing here Marcus?” Oliver growled. “I thought we had an agreement to stay away?”

“We do, but I have some unfinished business with Soma, and I wanted to come here in person to clear things up.” He said looking at me and then Oliver. “I have permission from her father.”

“Oh?” Oliver said looking down at me. “Hear him out, this will be the last time he comes around I promise.”

“Fine,” I said taking a deep breath. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“You may not.” He said taking a step closer, Oliver moved almost in front of me. “I however wanted to apologize for everything that I did to you.” He said with a sad face. “When I was forced into doing that, I felt horrible afterward. I had the vampire King watching every move and I had to make it look real. I made it look too real sadly, and I am sorry.”

“It’s okay I forgive you,” I said pulling Oliver closer to me.

“I promise the only time you’ll see me is if you’re in London and your father invites us to come and visit other than that I promise I am gone.” He said bowing and leaving the store.

My heart was racing, I wasn’t sure if he was lying or telling me the truth. I knew what he did to me and it was hard enough for me to forgive him, but I said the words. I knew I had to go by what I said, he was forgiven I just will never forget what he did.

“You did well,” Oliver said pulling me into a hug. “I think he is serious about what he said. I don’t think he wanted to do what he did to you. He is the vampire King, a similar thing happened to him that happened to your father.”

“I know,” I said looking back at the door. “I just thought I would never see him again, so that was why I reacted the way I did. I feel bad because his words seemed like they were real. So have you heard from my father since we left?”

“No, I was supposed to call him once you woke up, but with everything moving so fast, I kind of forgot. Do you think he’ll be mad?” he smiled.

“I don’t know, you know him more than I do,” I said sticking my tongue out. “Maybe when we get home we should call and talk to him.”

“That might be wise, plus I am sure he is going to want to be here for your Luna ceremony.” He smiled. “We should get it done this weekend that way you can hear everyone in the pack and if you need something you can link someone to help you if I am not around.”

“Yeah maybe.” I smiled bringing my attention back to the shop. It was dusty and there were lots of things to clean up. “I guess we should get some boxes, there should be some in the back I think,” I said pulling myself away from Oliver, I went to the back area where the office was.

There were some boxes but not a lot, probably enough to get us through most of what I had. I didn’t know what I would do with most of it, maybe take it home and drink it for myself.

Oliver found me in the back, he grabbed some of the boxes, and I grabbed the others. We started to throw the tea in the boxes, well we made them fit nicely since we were limited to how many boxes we had.

I walked back to the office and opened the safe, I still had a lot of money in the safe, I was surprised that my store wasn’t taken away from me, but I was assuming Oliver had something to do with it. I would give him all the cash I had and hoped it was enough to make up for what he had to put up to keep my storefront.

“What are you doing? Hiding?” he mused.

“Yes,” I said sticking my tongue out at him. “How much money did you have to put out for my store?”

“Nothing, Micah knows the owner and told him what was going on.” He said crossing his arms. “The only thing we had to give him was a couple of boxes of your tea, he said he was a big fan. His wife a nice lady loves your store and begged us to keep it going.”

“Now you’re making me feel bad about closing,” I said with a sad face.

“Don’t be sad, I told him if this store did get closed that I would be sure to add tea to our stock so they could still come in and enjoy it, of course, it would be your sales for your store so you still have your dream.”

“So, you are going to start selling tea now?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Only if you let me.” He giggled. “But if you don’t want that to happen, I guess we’re going to have to keep you open here. That way your customers are happy, and you are hopefully having a good time too.”

“We can sell at your shop; I think it would be easier and better.” I smiled before walking back to the main area to finish packing the rest of the stuff.