Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 161

Strings of Fate

161- Subtlety and specially

The next hour passes peacefully. Megan and I go through tons of items of clothing and sort throughwhat we like and don’t like. I try to limit the number of items I say yes to, trying not to overdo it butMegan has no such scruples. Bellamy hovers around, tidying the kitchen and occasionally chiming inwith his opinion about specific items. Megan is just entering Bellamy’s credit card details which sheapparently has memorised when Bellamy comes and hugs me from behind. He seems more thrilledwith the purchases than I am, which is probably the reason I feel okay about it.

“It’s almost time for the meeting. We should go make sure the link is working properly and everything.”Bellamy says eagerly. I look up at him and I can see excitement on his face. I hadn’t realised he was soenthusiastic about this, but I suppose he is almost as invested as I am, he’s just not quite astraumatised and exhausted as me right now. Megan heads to the living room, letting me know that wecan just holler if we need her for anything while Bellamy and I return to his office to get set up.

I insist on moving a second chair behind the desk so that we can both fit in the camera’s

view.

“You could just sit on my lap.” Bellamy suggests with a cheeky grin. I roll my eyes.

“Yeah because that’s a good first impression.” I answer sarcastically. Bellamy shrugs.

“I’m pretty sure if I was meeting someone for the first time I would be impressed if they had a girl asgorgeous as you on their lap.” He points out. I choke out a laugh.

“I was talking about their first impression of me!”

“I already know they’ll love you. Who wouldn’t? Five minutes with any of our Shifters and they love you,why would these people be any different?” He reasons as he waves me away and moves the chairfrom the opposite side of the desk that is usually used by guests, behind. the desk next to his seat. Heshoves his chair to the side a bit so that my spot is more centred

to the camera.

“I’m fairly sure that not all the Shifters love me.” I object and Bellamy shrugs.

161- Subtlety and specially

“Okay, well maybe a few of them are jealous of you. But that’s only the ones you haven’t spoken todirectly and charmed yet. All the ones you’ve actually had proper interactions with

like you plenty.” He seems reluctant to admit that any of the Shifters don’t like me. But it is

true, I’m

realistic enough to know that. I also suspect the two men from this morning probably aren’t havingparticularly fond thoughts about me right now since I tore into them a bit. Not that I regret it, I only toldthem things that they needed to hear. But people rarely actually like to hear the truth. That actuallymight be why I get along so well with Harry. He’s always been willing to hear the truth. I settle into myspot and Bellamy sits next to me in his

seat.

“There should be an email with a link for the video call in my inbox. I had Alex set it up properly andsend all the invitations, just in case. I figured it eliminates the chance of me messing it up.” Bellamyexplains. I nod and open up his email program. As usual, he has a ton of emails. It’s the most recent

one that grabs my attention though. It came through maybe ten minutes ago and it’s from Shelly. Didsomething go wrong that she was too shy to tell us about? I click on it immediately.

Good Afternoon Alpha Kane,

I wanted to thank you for your assistance this morning dealing with Rick and Adrian. I really was at aloss on how to deal with them and you while this morning was obviously kind of awkward, at least it’sover now. I would also like to ask if you could please pass along my thanks to your houseguest Ryann.I really appreciate her input and I think she really got through to them.

I hope I am not overstepping when I say that I believe you have chosen very well and she is greatAlpha. She seems lovely and you deserve that. I am ashamed to say that I was initially uncomfortableasking you for help. Please rest assured that it isn’t because you’re not a good Alpha, you are. Butmore because it is a sort of sensitive matter that I had only really discussed with my close femalefriends. But when their fighting became public there didn’t seem to be any point trying to conceal theissue and keep it private any longer. Still, my point is that it is the kind of issue I would have been morecomfortable approaching a woman with. I thought it might be worth telling you that I’m actually not theonly one who feels this way. I did notice that you have yet to make any kind of public announcementregarding the female Alpha, but I was wondering if it would be okay to let some of the other womenknow that Ryann is around and that they might approach her for help occasionally if they aren’tcomfortable talking to a man…

161- Subtlety and specially

Thank you again for your help,

Shelly

I stare at the screen blank faced and Bellamy scoots forward a little so he can read the email

too. He frowns.

“I don’t understand, how did she know we’re together? Did I do something to give it away? I understandhow Rio figured it out, that was a stupid mistake on my part, but all I did was

introduce you as my friend.” He sounds honestly baffled. I’m about to answer when Megan yells fromthe living room.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS BELLAMY?” she comes thundering down the hall so loudly that if I didn’t knowbetter, I would have thought that someone twice her size was approaching. She skids to a halt in thedoorway with her hands on her hips..

“What?” Bellamy asks, an eyebrow raised.

“Are you stupid?” Megan asks bluntly.

“Excuse me?” Bellamy glares at her and Megan rolls her eyes.

“I’m sorry but it’s obvious to anyone who is paying attention that you guys are together. Bels, I meanthis in the nicest way possible… but you don’t really HAVE friends. Now suddenly you have a femalefriend who is staying with you for an extended period of time. Not to mention she is attending formalmediation meetings and is even contributing. You might think you’re being subtle but Bels, you wearyour heart on your sleeve and anyone who knows you can tell. that you treat Ry special.” Bellamy lookslike she’s punched him.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, in fact it is completely, sickeningly, disgustingly, sweet. But it is also veryobviously different to how you treat anyone else. As it should be.” She says with satisfaction. Bellamy isstill looking completely dumbstruck. I’m fairly sure he is mentally replaying everything that happened

this morning and trying to work out what he did that was so unusual. Megan whirls around anddramatically heads back down to the living room. Bellamy angles his chair to face me. He looks kind ofembarrassed, I can see a tinge of red flushing his cheeks and the tips of his ears. It’s sort of adorableactually.

161- Subtlety and specially

“I… I would have warned you or given you the option to stay upstairs if I knew that the meeting wouldbe such a giveaway. I thought I was playing it cool but… apparently I was wrong.” He sounds guilty. Igrab his hand and squeeze it in mine.

“It’s alright. You didn’t realise. Besides, I like that you treat me special. No one has ever done thatbefore. I told you when Rio found out. I don’t want either of us to lie or fake anything. I just don’t wanttoo much attention on us all at once.” I remind him. He smiles at me happily.

“Either way, I feel kind of bad. What do you want to do about her request?” He asks, his eyes flickingback to the screen. He looks… hopeful. I know what he wants from me, the question is if I’m ready forit.

“I’ll think about it. Just give me a little time.” I answer awkwardly. Bellamy nods supportively andglances at the time.

“It’s almost time, we should join the video call.” I nod and with my heart racing in my chest, I

replace the correct email and select the link.