The Beta Wants Me

Chapter Twelve

"You just want attention, you don't want my heart, Maybe you just hate the thought of me with someone new. Yeah, you just want attention, I knew from the start, You're just making sure I'm never gettin' over you."

                                   - Charlie Puth

                                       ( Attention )

KAI COACHMAN

[September 7th 2020]

There was batter everywhere.

The kitchen was a blinding mess with flour laying on the floor as well as the marble counters. Batter stained the apron Vera forced me and Declan to wear as sugar danced along the exterior of the sink. I don't even know how it got to be this bad but I blame Declan because he was touchy throughout the whole time we'd been trying to bake these damn cookies.

Vera wanted us to bake cookies for the children who were beginning there official pack training as of today, it was a remarkable moment from what I was told and they wanted to celebrate with cookies which the majority of the kids agreed to. Unfortunately, little Jaylin just had to get sick at this moment. I felt bad for little baby, and so Vera had to go see the pack doctor and left baking duties up to Declan and I.

I whined, telling Vera she could've had Marcus do this but she reprimanded me and told me Marcus had to take care of Kaylee so the only candidates for this were Declan and I.

Chris wasn't even to be mentioned in this because he couldn't cook to save his life, May was on an overnight field trip and Killian and Finnick were probably doing the deed again.

"Cub," Declan calls out and my head turns to look at him.

He tosses flour onto my face and my nose scrunches up as I'm pretty sure I'm now white with the flour. I glare as he bursts out with laughter and pulls his phone from the counter to snap pictures of me.

I grumble and try to snatch the phone away from him but he doesn't allow it as he takes a step back every time I attempt to come closer.

"Declan, stop," I whined as he continued his evil doing and backed away as he snapped continuous photos of me.

I grab his shirt and keep him still as I stand on my toes and reach for his phone to delete the ugly pictures he took. I hated taking pictures unless they were selfies and I could see if I looked hot or not. I would never allow anyone to have an ugly picture of me on their device because ugly wasn't in my dictionary.

Kai Coachman was a lot of things but ugly was not one of them, yes I'm speaking in third person.

He lifts his phone higher as if that were even possible and I groan in irritation. I stop trying to reach and glare up at him, my hands crossed as my eyes shoot rhetorical lasers at him.

"You're adorable, cub," he chuckles lightly as he bends down and places a kiss on my lips.

I move away from him, my insides were begging me to reattach my lips with his but I wanted to step my foot down and make Declan delete the pictures. Speaking of pictures, he most likely still had that picture he stole from the scrapbook my mom was showing him. I was suddenly curious as to which embarrassing photo he took.

He let out a short laugh and appeared in front of me again, hands reaching out to hold me by my waist. I continue to wear a glare and I knew I was acting like a drama queen but this is what comes with the Kai bundle.

Declan seemed to realized that as he brought me close to him and lay his face in crook of my neck. I shivered slightly, feeling his warm breath fan my neck and involuntarily drive me insane. He kissed the space between my jaw and neck and I gripped his shirt tightly between my fist.

"I'm never deleting them," he whispers teasingly and pulls away, a coy grin on his face.

I was about to knock the sense back into him when I hear footsteps enter the kitchen and I turn around to see a girl who looks pleasantly surprised as her eyes catch Declan. I look back at Declan and he slightly frowns, there eyes are trained on each other. My eyes travel back to the girl and I take in her appearance.

Her hair was a vibrant red, the color kind of reminded me of fire. Her eyes were a deep brown, the orange in her makeup really bringing out the color. She had slight freckles but I wasn't sure if they were natural or if she added them onto her features for design, though she had a deep brown dot under her right eye that I thought was natural. Her lips weren't too full but full enough and the color red grazed them.

Her style was chill as well as she wore a knit crop top with blue distressed jeans and a light green jacket on top that draped off her shoulders. She was pretty but jealousy ate at me with the way she looked at my man—I mean Declan...the way she looked at Declan.

"Declan," she says as a smile blooms onto her face, "I haven't seen you in forever."

"I wish you wouldn't see him in forever," I mumble to myself knowing it probably didn't make any sense but I didn't care.

"Well," Declan began but paused to scratch the nape of his neck, "we're in the same pack."

"Yeah, which is why it's weird that I haven't seen you much," she laughs slightly.

I was biting at my lip, disliking watching them catch up we if they were past lovers. It felt like I was invisible until Declan tore his eyes away from her and he looked at me and I saw the hints of regret light up in his eyes.

I was always curious about that. Sometimes he'd stare at me and there was some regret in his eyes but I don't know the reason behind it and it left me curious for days. A part of me didn't want to find out why he gave off the look but another part of me, the more curious part of me, did.

So I opened my mouth and asked.

"Who is this?" The question leaves my mouth fairly easily but there was the flavor of hesitation mixed in.

"This is Blake," Declan was about to say more but he closes his mouth and sighs instead, his hands moving to his back as he unties his apron.

"I'm pretty sure I'm more than just, 'Blake,'" the girl, Blake, chuckles softly but her tone was suggestive and I didn't like that at all.

I bit my tongue to keep the sass in my mouth even though it was very unlike me to do so.

"Well, you're nothing to me now so it doesn't really matter now does it?" Declan says with a harshness mingled in that threw me off guard.

"But I was something to you before," she says, eyebrows furrowing as she frowns, "I don't know why you're acting like this."

"Acting like what?" He snaps, glaring at her as he clutches the apron in his hand.

I swallowed, the pits of my stomach dropping into a bottomless abyss as I knew exactly what this was or what they were. But I wanted to hear it from Declan, despite what it would do to my heart, I wanted to hear it.

"Who is she to you?" I ask Declan as I look at him.

His previous animosity slips as he frowns deeply. He was wordless as I waited for him to tell me the obvious but that seemed to be to hard for me and so I clenched my hands into fist in irritation. I just wanted to hear it from him is all, I wasn't exactly mad at him because we all have an ex so I wasn't one to get mad over someone who was in his past.

I am his present and future after all.

I shook my head slightly, my heart beating fast at my thoughts. I was both surprised and scared at what I just thought and how I'd said I was his future. That was weird, even for me and what terrified me was how the idea of spending the future with him didn't seem like a gross or displeasing idea.

"She was a past one night stand," Declan says.

"That's bull Declan. We dated too," she genuinely looks slightly hurt.

"We didn't date," Declan denies, rubbing his temple as if getting worked up again.

"Whatever happened," I begin as I look at Blake with a small warning glare, "Declan is my mate so remain in your place. You are past, I am present."

She doesn't seem fazed by my glare, instead she nods and she offers me a small smile.

"I can respect that. Besides, I don't want Declan, I just wanted to catch up with him but it seems like the feeling isn't mutual," she says with disappointment as she walks past me into the kitchen and opens a drawer to grab a bag of chips.

"It's best to not catch up," Declan says after a while.

Blake sighs, looking at Declan before nodding in understanding and walking past Declan and back to me.

"It was nice meeting you Kai," she doesn't show much expression as she holds out her hand for me to shake.

I wanted to dislike her but she was civilized, so poised and just not a b***h which was what I was expecting because the ex is usually always a conniving b***h. But ma taught me to never trust someone with all my heart so I smiled.

"Nice to meet you too," I said, keep my hands to my side.

She blinks, understanding that she wasn't going to get a handshake and dropping her hand. She coughs before turning and waving goodbye to Declan who didn't pay any mind to her anymore but was now taking out the last batch of cookies we made.

I watch silently, allowing the air between us to remain tense, as he allows the cookies to cool before he adds them to the basket with the other cookies. He removes the mittens on his hands and leaves them on the counter before he releases a breath and looks at me.

"Kai, she's the past and you know that," he says.

"I know," I acknowledge, "I'm still petty."

From 1 to 10, how petty are you guys?

~xoxo, Babybird.