The Alpha Triplets And The Rogue
Chapter 43

Erica’s POV

After Chris stormed out of his bedroom, I didn’t feel like doing anything. As I watched him slam the door behind him, it felt like a little piece of my heart was broken off. Ace and Bryce tried to assure me that Chris would feel better once he went for a run. Apparently that’s what he does when he loses his temper.

Seeing that I am stuck in a depressive state over Chris, Ace and Bryce refuse to leave my side for the rest of the day. The three of us sit awkwardly in the corner of Chris’s room. I keep looking at the door waiting for Chris to come back in. Surely he would come back to his own room after his run. All of his clothes are still in here.

“Can I see what you got today?” Ace asks as he tries to grab my attention.

“Huh?” I mumble.

Ace grabs the sides of my head and his blue eyes pierce into my own. “Look,” I can feel the frustration growing in his voice. “I understand that you are upset about fighting with Chris. But you have two other mates that are right here trying to make you happy.”

Deep down I know that he is right. I shouldn’t be taking my sadness and frustration out on Ace and Bryce. They haven’t done anything but support me.

“Come on,” Bryce says sweetly. “Let’s go down for dinner.”

My whole body tenses up when I think about having dinner with Luna Alice. She has been nothing but cold and rude to me since I arrived here and it has only gotten worse since she found out that the triplets are my mates. The last thing I want to do is to sit down and eat dinner with her.

Ace gives me a troubled look. “I know you don’t want to,” he begins, “But she is never going to get used to the fact that you are mated to all of us if you keep hiding out in Chris’s room.”

Throwing myself backwards on the bed, I let out a frustrated g***n. “She just hates me so much.”

“I don’t think she hates you,” Ace says carefully trying to navigate the situation. “She is just very protective of her sons.”

“Mhm,” I mumble, not believing a word that is coming out of Ace’s mouth.

“Ashley will be there,” Bryce says with a sneaky smile on his face.

I sit up in the bed and contemplate the situation. Maybe Ace is right. Maybe Luna Alice just needs to get used to the fact that all three of her sons are mated to me. And if Ashley is at dinner she will serve as a great buffer between myself and Luna Alice. Unlike me, Ashley is not afraid to speak her mind around Luna Alice.

“Okay,” I sigh. “I will go to dinner.”

Ace and Bryce both let out a sigh of relief at the same time and I realize just how unfair I have been to the brothers. They have done their best to make all of the concessions for me, the very least I can do is try to get along with their mother.

“Let me put on something a little nicer,” I say as I begin to dig through the bags from shopping earlier.

I pull out the light purple sundress that Ashley had picked out for me earlier today. I turn around and Ace and Bryce are sitting on the couch watching me carefully.

“You two aren’t going to leave while I change, are you?” I place my hands on my h**s and raise an eyebrow at them both.

“We are just enjoying the show,” Bryce wags his eyebrows at me.

Giving them both a little huff, I waltz into the bathroom and close the door in their faces. I click the lock on the bathroom door and I can hear Ace and Bryce grumbling about something not being fair. Chuckling to myself, I strip off my crop top and jeans and I slide the purple dress over my head.

I give myself a little spin in the mirror. Certainly Luna Alice won’t find something wrong with my attire. The dress has a high neckline and while it hugs my breasts nicely it flares out just before the h**s. Running my brush through my hair, I pull it back into a high, neat ponytail.

‘You look presentable,’ Envy says in my mind. ‘Very Luna like.’

‘I just hope it is enough to keep Luna Alice’s comments about my appearance at bay,’ I grumble back to her.

‘Just don’t give her a reason to argue,’ Envy tries to be the voice of reason.

‘That is easier said than done. I could tell her that the sky is blue and she would argue with me that it is purple.’ I laugh in my mind.

I open the bathroom door expecting to see Ace and Bryce waiting for me but they have disappeared. Instead Chris is leaning up against his bed in only a pair of gym shorts, scrolling through his phone. Sweat and dirt cover his torso and I know that he must have gone for a run. I try to say something but my voice gets caught in my throat. Sure I have seen the brothers without shirts on before but there is something so primal about how he looks right now that it is making me feel weak in the knees.

“It took you long enough,” Chris grumbles, not looking up from his phone.

“Sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t know that you were waiting.”

“It is my room isn’t it,” he replies shortly.

“You are right,” my voice shakes a little when I talk and I am afraid that I am going to start crying. “If you want I can move out of your room. You have been more than generous.”

“It’s whatever,” Chris mumbles as he pushes past me and walks into the bathroom.

“Chris,” I call out to him. “About earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chris says and he slams the bathroom door in my face.