Unattainable Fruit

Comfort and Findings

James' POV

     I'm looking at the table, deep in thought as I try to calm down Sloan and I, but one person's anger and another person's panic is a bit to control at once.

      'Why couldn't she just stay away.' Sloan whimpers to me and uncontrollably, scenes and memories from when we were younger flash in our collective mind. I remember the fishing trip when I was eight, where I couldn't catch on fish, and my dad threw me in the river, telling me that real men could do it. I remember almost drowning that day and when I returned home I went to school with a bad cold and I soaring temperature. Because real men don't whine about being sick, you get over it and work through it. Anything else makes you soft.

     I'm so lost in the endless spiral of pain and suffering, I almost don't hear Cody come back into the room. He clears his throat a foot or so away from me and the sound still makes me jump, tearing me from my depressive thoughts.

   I look up at him only to see a soft pretty smile on his face, his cheeks still flushed from his angry outbursts and as inappropriate as it might be to say, the sight of him cussing at my mother was sexy as fuck. He comes closer now that my attention is on him, and I see him hesitant to touch me making Sloan whine in loss. I hold my hand open, palm up, my throat too thick with emotions to tell him what I need right now.

      He places his hand in mine and comes closer to me to give me a kiss on the forehead, soft and sweet just like him. "Come on." He tells me, pulling away to tug on my hand.

      I reluctantly get up form the table, leaving my phone there as I follow my tiny Mate through the now quiet house and to the back. Though, I'm confused, I don't say anything, trusting him to take care of Sloan and I for once, needing him to at the moment.

He opens the door and leads me down the steps and past the pool. I look around in surprise, never having gone this far back until we get to a large swing set that surrounds a fire pit. For now the swing is empty and I look at it in awe, the vibe in the area calming as Cody leads me to one of the swings.

He pushes me down into the seat before settling his cute butt in between my legs, throwing his own to the side of me. He wraps his arms around my torso before he lays his head on my shoulder making me sigh before placing my arms around his softly.

We sit there like that, entangled in each other as I begin to calm down, the stifling atmosphere gone out here in the calming evening breeze. Sloan has calmed down and I put him down for a nap, needing my own space in my head so I can feel okay as well.

      "I didn't know this was out here." I tell Cody after a forever of just sitting there quietly, allowing my legs to push and pull us softly on the swing.

     "It's fairly new. We got it a few months ago. It's mostly the omegas that use it, though the teenagers that live here like coming here too." He tells me and I chuckle at his choice of words.

       "You always say 'teenagers' like you're not apart of the group." I tell him and he giggles against me softly.

      "Well, technically I'm not. I keep to myself. Well I did before a big old teddy bear flirted his way into my life." He mutters and I gasp at what he says.

     "So you did know I was flirting with you?" I ask him and he laughs at me before he answers, the topic making the last of the tension fall away in the face of one of my favorite things to talk about.... him.

     "Looking back at it yes. But at the time no. I just thought you were randomly being nice to me because I was an omega and you thought I was a charity case." He explains your me and my mouth rounds in an 'oh'.