The Unfortunates | COMPLETED

Part 14

Once the main course is finished, there's a short break between dinner and dessert.

A number of mothers approach Avery, one or two concerned about her training tactics, another few asking her to keep an eye on their children.

One even tells her her son's allergy, which confuses her - they're training, not eating nuts. 

Avery is polite throughout all of the encounters, even with the one where an entitled mother says her son should get extra training.

"Excuse me miss," Avery begins calmly, "your son is clearly embarrassed by you showing him up like this. I am giving up my personal time to train all of these children, and I owe you none of it."

The mother tries to find something to scream about, but Avery sits in silence, staring at her. 

After two minutes of the lady staring at her, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, she walks back to her seat in silence. 

"My Chief Warrior would like to book an hour of your time tomorrow to organise a schedule for the week you're here, if you wouldn't mind," Roman states stiffly, and Avery nods.

"Of course, I'd like to have your Gamma sit in on some of the meeting, since he is the organiser. I would also like to speak to you after dinner, if you wouldn't mind, Alpha Roman," Avery responds, forcing herself to keep her tone level and pleasant.

The young girl serving Avery dessert twitches when she hears Roman's name, seeming shocked that Avery said it out loud.

Avery watches the girl carefully, whispering a thank you to her before she scuttles away.

She notices that only herself, Ryan, Carolyn, and young Michelle thank the servers for their work, which disgusts her. Manners aren't hard, and if a three-year-old has a good grasp on them, so should the adults surrounding her.

Eating her apple crumble with some aggression, she awaits a response from Roman about their meeting.

"That works for me, I have to go to the gym, so we'll have to have the conversation there," he mutters back, and Avery shrugs.

She isn't thrilled that she'll have to be in that room twice in one day, but at least she can collect her sweatshirt.

"I'll see you at around eight, then," Roman grumbles, walking out of the hall a few minutes later.

People gradually begin to leave, and Michelle clambers onto Avery's lap, taking interest in this new stranger.

Neither of her parents make any move to take the child back, so Avery puts her hand behind the child's back to support her. 

"Hello," Michelle beams, putting her face close to Avery's, and squeezing the woman's cheeks.

"Hello, yourself," Avery chuckles, pulling a face at the child.

"You look like paper," the child announces, and Avery laughs, shaking her head.

"Excuse you, I have bronzer on," Avery responds in a teasing tone, and the child frowns at her, her eyebrows furrowed.

"What's bronzer?" She questions, moving on to playing with the end of Avery's braid.

"It's makeup that makes your skin darker," Avery replies, scooping the last of her apple crumble into her mouth.

"Oh," the child simply nods, "bounce me!"

Avery looks at Carolyn, unsure of what the child means, but the other woman mimes lifting something up and swinging it.

Avery raises a brow, standing up, and moving away from the table, before lifting Michelle up, and throwing her a small distance into the air, catching her with ease. She does this four times, and Michelle ends up in hysterical laughter, which leads to Avery putting her down.

"You'll get a pain in your tummy if you keep getting thrown into the air, little wolf," Avery smiles, patting the girls head and standing back up. 

Michelle pouts for a minute, before Ryan scoops her up with a grin.

"Bed time for you, pup," he laughs, and Carolyn watches, amused, as her mate carries their child out of the room.

"You might be roped into babysitting at some point this week. You're able to amuse her, which is more than poor Roman can do," Carolyn laughs, only to hear the sharp clearing of a throat.

Amelia is sitting at the table still, glaring at Carolyn and Avery.

The two women shoot each other secret smiles, before hurrying out of the dining hall, trying not to laugh.

As soon as they get out of earshot, they burst into giggles together, before parting ways at the stairs.

Once Avery gets to her room, her phone starts to ring, her father's name coming up.

She answers without delay, closing her door and putting the phone on her bed on speaker while she changes.

"Hello, dear," Richard says nervously.

"Hey dad," Avery calls from the wardrobe where she has her pyjamas hidden.

"I'd like to apologise for my ridiculous actions," he begins gently, "I was stupid and entirely inconsiderate of your feelings."

Avery raises a brow, and rolls her eyes a little.

"It's okay, I understand why you did it, but you should have asked me. You always do stuff like that without telling me, and I won't put up with it anymore," she responds, slipping into a comfy set of plaid pyjama bottoms, and a tank top. 

"I know I do.. Exactly like I did the Alpha thing, too, and I realise it's wrong. Your mother is making me see the counsellor to understand the gravity of what I have done, and I want to understand. I just want to know that you're okay," he pleads, his voice cracking.

Avery raises a brow.

Good for Marie, Sonya snorts, making her presence known for the first time in a few hours. 

"I'm okay, dad. Thank you for calling. I'm still going to stay here for the week, I have everything I need," she shrugs, and she hears him gasping.

"Oh, this wasn't to try to convince you to come home, I swear! I just wanted to check on you. It has been years since we fought, and I didn't want to leave it like it was," he quickly adds, and Avery smiles slightly.

"Okay, dad. I need to go, I have a lot of stuff to do this evening," she smiles, then furrows her brows, "what time is it there?" 

"It's just after midnight," he sighs, and Avery nods. There was a six hour time difference, so she was going to sleep well tonight. 

"Right, give my love to mum and York, and tell them I'll ring them in the morning," she says with a smile, and after her father says goodnight, they hang up.

Avery walks to the desk in the corner of her room, and looks out the window for a few minutes, before sitting down and opening the file on top of her pile.