Mated to my Rival Beta

Chapter 17

Authors note
Thank you for your patience whilst waiting for this update. Covid definitely gave me a good kick in the ass, but thankfully I'm finally feeling good again. I've got 3 more days of work before I get a month break! Obviously with Christmas and the new year coming up I'm going to very busy with family & friends. If I don't get to update prior to this, I wish you all a Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and a happy New Year with loved ones <3

~

The familiar vibration of Blaze's phone buzzing on the bedside table broke him out of his sleep. Still half-asleep, Blaze reached over with his left hand to grab hold of the phone, bringing it up to his ear. With his eyes still shut, he focused mainly on simply listening to whoever decided to ruin his sleep this early in the morning. He must've made some incoherent half-sleep sounds in greeting since the first thing he heard on the other line was, "Blaze? Don't tell me I woke you up. It's 9 am, you're always up by 8 am?" Arabella's voice sounded.

And she was right, Blaze practically never slept in. Only if he was hungover, or had no zero motivation to get up. But this morning he was neither. Instead, this morning he had Kai's head resting on his chest and arms wrapped around his waist, preventing him from getting up. Blaze attempted to sit up as best as he could, only the movement made Kai unconsciously grab hold of him more.

"It's holidays Arabella. Let a guy get some sleep," Blaze argued, hoping she wouldn't push further.

Arabella hummed, "I guess so. Speaking of holidays, how's your lovely trip with our best friends?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm at the end.

If only she actually knew. Blaze let out a small sigh, "Uh, honestly, not too sure how to answer that one. How's your vacation? You haven't talked much about it since you've got there." He quickly tried to change the topic, not wanting to talk about himself or this trip.

Arabella groaned, "I'm so ready to come home. This place sucks." Blaze could hear a thud on the other end of the phone, probably Arabella dropping onto her bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blaze asked, his hand finding its way into Kai's curly brown hair, gently brushing through it as Arabella talked into his ear. Blaze guessed it should've felt strange to play with another person's hair. He'd never done it before, but oddly enough the action felt calming to him. Even more surprising, it seemed to soothe Kai's unconscious self as well, as he breathed a little deeper into his sleep.

"Well, I told you my dad remarried, right?" Honestly, Blaze had no idea. These past few days have been a blur to him. "Anyway, so my stepmother is alright. She's actually trying pretty hard for me to like her. But she's not the issue, it's her daughter. I swear to god Blaze, this bitch needs a good kicking up the ass and I'm going to be the one to give it to her," Arabella began ranting and Blaze couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

Once Blaze calmed down, he spoke up, "She can't be that bad?" Blaze asked with a smile spread on his face.

"Ooh, no!" Arabella exclaimed, "She's the bane of my existence. She acts like a prissy princess with a stick shoved up her ass. And worst of all, she wears these fake eyelashes that look like the literal end of broomsticks!" Blaze was pissing himself again. "And she's like two years younger than me! She only turned 17 two months ago, yet she's acting as if she's more grown than me." Blaze continued to listen to Arabella's ongoing rant, occasionally adding comments that only led him to laugh more.

"Pup, shhh," Kai's half-asleep voice broke Blaze out of his laughter, making him pause. Kai grumbled something else, but it was too incoherent to comprehend, before continuing his deep sleep. Arabella must've also heard it because she stopped ranting mid-sentence.