Welcome Home Mate
Chapter 16

ROXIE

Sofia took a seat on the bed next to me.

She smiles at me. "You know you can talk to me Roxie," she says.

I stared at her; I had to start opening up to someone.

"Bex," I said to her. "Stay close and let me know what you think."

Bex looks at me and nods.

I looked at Sofia, pushed myself off the bed, and walked over to the chair. I removed all the clothes I had placed there while sorting out the closet the other day.

I placed the clothes on the floor next to the chair and looked back at the bed, where Sofia was staring at me.

"I don't know where to begin," I said to her.

Sofia smiles and looks toward the box of diaries. "I was shocked to learn that Jason read one of your diaries. I know it was an invasion of privacy, but you told me no one had read them." "No one has," I said to her, making her look back at me with a confused look.

I sighed. "I know what diary Jason read," I said to her. "I knew he and my dad would snoop if they were worried about me, especially when Alexander started to act weird. One evening, I found an old diary I had as a child. I remember thinking that I needed a good hiding spot for my diaries, and I found one. But I knew my dad and Jason would turn my bedroom upside down looking for something that I would write in."

I leaned back in the chair as Sofia got comfier on the bed.

"I started to write in a pink diary, the one he was downstairs. I thought I would put certain things in that I wanted them to know, so I started writing a few short versions of what went on, well, little lies. I knew one or both of them would read the book. I never wanted them to read what truly went on," I said to her.

"So you lied about your feelings about Lex," she asked.

"No, I did put some truth in there, but not a lot," I said.

I looked at her. "The diaries you caught me reading are my true ones. Can I give you one to read," I asked her.

She nods as I get up from the chair and walked over to the box. I quickly grabbed the first diary that I could get my hands on.

"The diaries are dated at the top, but most of them are the same," I said as I got up and walked over to her. I handed her the book and glanced at the bathroom.

"Look, why don't you read some while I have a shower," I said.

Sofia looks at me and nods.

Sofia opens the diary and starts to read. I needed to change, especially after my encounter with Alexander. I walked into the closet and grabbed some fresh clothes.

I walked into the bathroom and placed my clothes on the side. I closed the door behind me; I knew Sofia would be reading something horrible as I knew the diary I handed her was the last one I was reading, which was more graphic. My daily day at school, the bullies and even some names she will know.

I switched on the shower and stripped out of my clothes.

I glanced down and looked at my p-anties; they had my come all inside them.

The image of Alexander having me up against the tree came flooding my brain like a tidal wave. I still can't believe he got me off by touching my core and rubbing it through the material.

"You liked what he did?" asked Bex as she looked at me.

"I did, but that doesn't change how I feel at the moment," I said to her.

Bex looks at me. "I know, and I know you will let him win as the mate bond will work wonders during the sparring tomorrow," she says.

I smirk.

Thinking about his hands on me sends shivers up and down my spine.

"I think we should show him half of what we can do and let him win," she says.

I climbed into the shower and stood under the water. I start to wash.

Bex looks at me and smirks.

"Your planning on letting him win," she says.

"I might want to see what he does first, but I need him to realize that we are not a pushover," I say.

She nods and glances out through my eyes.

"What do you think Sofia will think about the diary?" she asks as she looks back at me.

I sighed. "I think we will replace out soon," I said to her as I carried on washing.

After fifteen minutes in the shower, I climbed out and started to dry.

Once I had dried, I put on all my clothes and looked at my reflection in the mirror.

"Bex, stay close," I said to her. She nods.

I placed my hand on the doorknob and closed my eyes.

I have never let anyone read my actual diaries before, not even uncle Keith.

I opened my eyes, letting go of my breath, and pulled the door open.

I walked through and couldn't help but glance at Sofia. Her eyes were pricking with tears, and she looked up at me as a tear slid down her face. "I'm so sorry Rox," she says. "I can't believe you went through so much."

I looked at her and then at the diary; she was halfway through it already.

I know there was much more in there that she hadn't read, but what she must have read must have made her realize something.

"There is more," I said to her quietly.

"I know, but something tells me they are all similar and worse than what I have read," she says.

I gave her a little smile.

I walked over to the chair and sat back down.

Sofia looks back at the diary, but she closes it. She closes her eyes but opens them and looks back at me.

"Why didn't you tell your father what was going on?" she asks.

I sigh.

"I would have, but he was overbearing as it was. He let Jason do whatever he wanted without consequences, but I had to be watched whenever he was around," I said as I leaned back in the chair. "My father never noticed anything, as Bex helped me cover up my emotions by being close by. She watched everything unfold but couldn't help as many people didn't know she was there."

Sofia furrowed her eyebrows, "How did she do that?" she asked.

"Bex can hide our scent from people when we want, but that only happened when we were younger, as she came when I was nine," I told her.

Her eyes went wide. "You had Bex when you were nine, Jason never said," she said as she pulled her legs up onto the bed and crossed them.

"Jason doesn't know," I said. "The only one that knew was my father. I shifted earlier as I was the one who was there when the rogue attacked and killed my mother. I shifted in front of them just as my father came home to save me. Bex wouldn't let me shift back, as she wanted to protect our mum, even though she was dead."

Sofia's eyes were softened. "Roxie, I'm so sorry," she said.

I shook my head. "It's okay, and I wasn't alone. My father kept my secret safe, and he never told Uncle Keith. Well, not until he came for his visit. He never trusted anyone around here with that secret."

Sofia nodded. "I guess everyone here makes assumptions about everyone before they know the person," she said.

Hell, ain't that the truth? No one ever got to know me; they only wanted to know Jason or Alexander.

I looked at her. "That's so true. No one got to know me; they only wanted to get close to Jason and Alexander. No one thought about my feelings," I said.

Sofia gave me a sympathetic look. "I read about Naomi. What she and her friends did to you was disgusting. Why didn't you tell Lex?" she asked. "He would never have done the things he said or done."

I looked at her. "Alexander knew what he wanted to know, and he would never have believed me. He was in love with Naomi; they were in a relationship with one another even up until he found out about me being his mate," I said.

She looked at me, her eyebrows raised. "He never told me that; he said he kissed her in front of you and never did anything else with her."

I can't believe the lying piece of s**t.

"Well, he lied. He doesn't know that the evening he told me I was a stupid young b.rat he would never fall for," I said. I watch as Sofia's face changes slightly. I guess he told them a different version of what he told me. "I was told to leave; I packed up my things and was already in my uncle's car. But I forgot two things. I thought I had packed them, but they were not in my bag. I told my uncle to leave the car by the packhouse, and I would go back on foot to get what I had forgotten. He was reluctant, but he agreed. I walked back into my house; everyone was having drinks and fun. I walked back to my room and found the stuff on my bed, not where I left them, but something told me that I needed to go. I headed back downstairs only to hear moaning in the study. The door was ajar, and there in all their naked glory was Alexander and Naomi having s*x on the couch."

Sofia's eyes widened, but I carried on. "I didn't stay as long as you could imagine, as Alexander always did things like that. Bring women over, f**k them, and I would have to be nice to them as they left the next day. But as I was about to leave, Naomi asked him if he loved her, and he said yes. Naomi knew I was there; as she was asking him, she was looking straight at me." "b***h," shouts Sofia.

I raised my eyebrows at her, but she looked at me.

"Sorry, I have heard Lex talk about a few things, and most of the information I got was from Jason," she says.

I nodded.

"I guess Alexander never told my brother half," I said.

Sofia nods and looks at me.

"I have to ask, why did you hold back in training?" she asks. I looked at her confused, "What do you mean?"

Sofia looks at me for a moment but pulls out her phone. She goes through it, and once she replaces what she was looking for. Sofia gets up off the bed and walks over to me. "This is you right," she asks as she hands me the phone.

As soon as she begins the video, I instantly know what she has in front of me.

I looked up at her and stared. "Where did you get that from?" I asked her.

Sofia smiled. “A friend from your uncle's pack, Dylan. He came here with your uncle and wanted to show me it. I didn't know what to make of it as Jason never told me that you were an ultimate fighter," she says, but I cut her off. "He doesn't know, not even my dad," I tell her. "No one in the pack does, well except Alpha Frank, who mentioned it when we were training."

Sofia looks at me. "Why haven't you told anyone?" she asks as she crosses her legs and sits on the floor next to me.

I look at her and sigh. "Over the last six years, I had to put up with people bullying me, treating me like s**t. I had enough when I got to my uncle's; I wanted to change and learn how to fight. My uncle is one of the elite fighters, and he trained me. I trained every day," I told her. "I held back as my uncle wanted me to; I shouldn't show my hand unless needed."

Sofia nods. "That's fair," she says, but a smirk forms on her lips, "what about Lex tomorrow?" she asks. "Are you going to take it easy on him?"

I looked at her with a smile. "I might; I don't know. But if I let him win, I have to go on a date with him," I said.

I told her about the whole forest incident, including him getting me off.

Sofia smirks. "I guess that's what I could smell when I came in," she says, but I couldn't help but blush. "I don't know what I want to do yet; I think I will see what comes out of his mouth first before I begin."

Sofia laughed. "That's fair, Jason told me why you punched him, and in all fairness, I would have done the same if Jason told me that," she said, which I couldn't help but laugh.

Sofia looked at me but glanced back at the diaries. "Are they all like the one I read?" she asked as she looked back at me.

I nodded.

"Yeah, some are okay with some tales of Jason, but others are a lot worse," I said to her.

She stays quiet for a moment, but I watch her.

"She's talking to her wolf," says Bex as she stares at her through my eyes.

After a short few minutes, Sofia shakes her head and looks back at me. "Sorry about that, my wolf Carly wanted to talk," she says.

I smiled at her.

There was silence in the room. "You are the first person I have ever let read my diaries," I said to her out loud.

Sofia looks at me. "I'm honored, Roxie," she says.

She stared at me for a few moments. "If it's okay with you, I might stay here tonight. Jason is with Lex for this evening, but I wonder if you fancy having a sleepover with me," she asks.

I nodded, "I never had one; well, I have, but the girls were always in Alexander or Jason's room," I said.

Sofia growled, and I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that with you," she says. "I know your brother was a player back in the day, but it still hurts to know about it, especially when there are constant reminders everywhere you turn."

I looked at her. "I know what you mean," I told her. "Alexander was the same but worse. I think I know everyone he has been with, well till I moved away, that is."

Sofia looked at me with sorrow. "I think you need to tell him or even show him the diaries."

I stared back at her.

"That won't be happening anytime soon," I told her.

She looks at me but nods. "I understand. But can I ask one question?" she asks. And I nodded. "Can we read some of those diaries tonight? Or should we have a girlie night?"

I looked at her. "I have obviously read them, but you can, but I would like to watch a film first," I said, "before you read anymore."

Sofia nods.

The rest of the night was fantastic; we talked more about the ultimate fighter and the diaries. But we also got to know more about one another.

It was nice to have someone to open up with, Sofia, maybe my brother's mate, but she is now my sister.

I will never admit to my uncle that he was right to his face, but he was right.

I needed a friend, and I got that in Sofia; she is my friend and family.

After a few long hours and around eleven, we fell asleep in my room.

Jason and my father never came back, which was weird.

I knew something was up, but I didn't know what.