CHAPTER 447: A FIRST MEETING

While Andrew was drowning in the employees of the company trying to shower him with affection and gratitude, something else interesting happened in October.

A few of the anonymous true alphas from his therapy group reached out. Including Noah, who he had met at the Christmas party and seen videos and interviews of since, but hadn’t spoken to him personally.

Partly because he didn’t have his number, but also because he wasn’t sure if he should reach out. He didn’t want to make Noah’s situation harder, especially since Andrew had been keeping up with what was going on with his life, specifically.

Noah, after Andrew’s interview, had been pushed to the front of the Abraham family as a cover. He was forced to come out as a true alpha, like Andrew, and was also practically forced to get engaged to an omega as well. Noah had used that time to tell the truth, with Andrew appreciated, but that made his life harder.

Andrew had watched the news, with a grain of salt, but had seen how Noah was getting hounded by his own family for every choice that he made. The news, the media were saying that there were tensions in the Abraham family and every time that Andrew saw a picture of Noah he looked...exhausted. Andrew hadn’t wanted to add more to that.

So he was very surprised, but in a good way, when he found a few texts from unknown numbers on his phone one day in October. He had given his real number to the therapist who hosted the true alpha meetings because he was stepping away to go to a more personalized therapist. They had completely understood and wished Andrew well, and said that they wouldn’t hand out his information without caution.

It had been months since then, so Andrew wondered if they had had his number for a while and had hesitated to reach out, or if they had only gotten it recently? Either way, Andrew had a few texts, three to be exact, from three true alphas who were reaching out.

With a jarring realisation, Andrew found that two of them were related to him, and one wasn’t. It was a strange realisation, two know that he had two half siblings out there, and probably more. He hadn’t looked into his father. Hadn’t looked into how many siblings he had.

He knew that he needed to eventually, because the likelihood that he would run into his siblings going into the future was high. He probably had already, but they had just not told him. Then again, Andrew hadn’t seen that many people of colour when he’d been with Maxwell at events.

He had seen them, but they had not approached Maxwell when Andrew was around. With a jolt, Andrew realised that was probably what was going on.

They had intentionally avoided Andrew. Andrew wondered if it was an order from the Abraham family, or if it was their own concern. Andrew wasn’t going to be mean to them without cause.

They were innocents in the grand scheme of things. They couldn’t be held accountable for what the elders of the Abraham family did.

That, or they were fully invested in the same kind of ideals that the rest of the Abraham family and just didn’t want to interact with...the black sheep of the family.

Either way, Andrew stared down at the three texts. All of them cautious, but all asking for the same thing.

A meet up.

So, Andrew decided to do just that.

He told Maxwell, of course, and Maxwell refused to let him go alone. He couldn’t go with him, because he had several meetings and knew that Andrew would hate it if he dropped the meetings to attend Andrew’s own. With that being said, he would not budge on him taking security.

Maxwell also suggested that he meet all of them that day. The same day. Andrew thought that might be a little...problematic. What if he really enjoyed talking to one of them and ran into the time that he was supposed to talk to someone else? Andrew didn’t want to make them feel like he didn’t care to listen to them.

Maxwell just sighed, shaking his head.

He had to point out that unlike Andrew, these people came from true alpha families. They would probably feel more comfortable with set times. A starting point, and an end. They also probably all knew each other, unlike Andrew who was the outlier. They knew of Andrew, but that was the exact reason why they were reaching out to Andrew now.

They wanted to get to know him better, but they were also afraid. So, in Maxwell’s tested and proven opinion, he should set start times, and end times, and that would make them feel more comfortable.

Andrew didn’t fully agree with that, but he gave them options. They all loved the idea, at least he was pretty sure, as they readily accepted the times he gave them. Andrew gave Noah the last time slot because he just...had a feeling that they were going to talk the longest out of the trio who had reached out.

He set the first meeting for 11:30 am at the cafe below the A & D Firm. then, 1 pm, and after that, 2:30 pm. He wanted to give each of them enough time to talk to him, get their questions out, and not feel rushed. He started with his...second sibling, because he wasn’t sure what to expect.

They gave him a relatively female sounding name, Nicole, so he didn’t really have doubts that he was going to meet a female true alpha. There were also a few in the anonymous meeting as well. He wondered if Noah knew of her, if they both knew of each other.

He was curious how the Abraham family worked. How those who had been like him, betas, were treated? Were they all kept away from the main family, like Andrew had been? Had that been a choice on his Mom’s part? Or was that mandatory?

He had a lot of questions, but he didn’t want to overwhelm them either. This was probably a lot scarier for them, then it was for him. Andrew was nervous, for sure. He had no idea what they were really wanting from him. A part of him worried if it was going to be like when the Proctors wanted to speak to him.

Were they going to be accusatory? Were they asking to meet with him to get him alone? Andrew would never have thought these kinds of thoughts without Maxwell pointing out the dangers of meeting with strangers.

Even now, Andrew wanted to see the best in people. It was probably good that Maxwell pointed it out.

Maxwell hung out a little bit later than normal, gave Andrew a bunch of kisses, made sure Andrew had his tracking on his phone, and the security was ready to move with Andrew as soon as he left the house.

Maxwell was clearly more anxious about Andrew meeting people than Andrew was, initially. Andrew could only hug, cuddle and kiss him in return. He also made sure that Kim and Jenny knew what was going on, and that seemed to help Maxwell with his anxieties.

The more people that knew where Andrew was, the better Maxwell felt about it.

Since the last time that Maxwell had relied solely on himself, Andrew had been kidnapped. Andrew hoped that this interaction would help with that anxiety inside of him. Andrew wouldn’t get kidnapped again. At least, not like that again.

So, Andrew saw Maxwell off, before making his way towards the cafe a little while later. The team that he had with him were the same team that had helped Andrew when he’d passed out in the gym. They were serious, stone faced, but also let Andrew get them some drinks while they were waiting in the cafe.

Andrew sat nervously. The cafe here wasn’t big, more on the small side, and he hadn’t realised that it would be so busy at around 11 am when he got there. He only found a small table by the windows a few minutes before Nicole was supposed to arrive.

Andrew didn’t have to question their relation when he saw a sleek, black car pulled up, stop at the door, and a black woman got out of the car. She was in a thick, black coat, fur on the trim, and her hair done nicely. She was wearing a pair of fur gloves, at least, that’s what they looked like from a distance.

She glanced around, almost appearing nervous, before she rolled her shoulders back, took a deep breath, and marched into the building. Andrew watched as she stepped inside, her face stoic as she scanned the room. Taking in the obvious security detail, her shoulders seemed to relax at the sight of them before her gaze turned and landed on Andrew.

He got up, giving her a smile and a wave as he saw her, and watched as she flinched. She looked as if she was going to wave, but stopped herself. She gave a tight smile, before she took a deep breath and made her way to Andrew. She took his offered hand, giving a firm handshake, and Andrew gestured to the line.

"Would you like something to drink?" He asked warmly, and watched as the woman stared at him. She seemed shocked, entranced in a way, and Andrew was not expecting the words that left her mouth.

"It’s so shocking to see his face smiling so openly." She said softly, and Andrew felt his body jolt, and her eyes widened in horror. She slapped her gloved hand against her mouth, looking mortified. "I am so sorry! I didn’t mean-" Andrew gave a tight laugh, shaking his head slightly.

"It’s okay. I...I understand, truly. My Mom always told me that I look like him." Andrew said, his smile tight, and Nicole looked pained. She shook her head, her own brown eyes going amber in distress.

"No. I shouldn’t have said that. I was often told I need to keep my mouth shut, but I really shouldn’t have said that. You’ve made it clear to the media that you don’t want to be compared to him, and I just had to go say that as soon as I met you." She looked like she was going to cry. Andrew, while hurt, could tell that she was getting more upset. The smell of pheromones slowly filling the air told him that.

She was a newly manifested true alpha too. If Andrew remembered correctly, she often had to stay isolated wherever she lived because of her inability to control her pheromones.

Andrew reached out, squeezing her shoulder. She flinched at the contact.

"Nicole, it’s okay. You aren’t the first who said that to me, and you didn’t mean it in a bad way. You weren’t trying to demean me, were you?" Nicole’s amber eyes widened and she shook her head, aghast.

"No! Of course not! I was just-I was just shocked. I don’t go to parties anymore, so I have only seen photos of you, or videos. I’m sorry for making you feel...uncomfortable." She looked absolutely miserable. "You probably don’t want to speak to me anymore, do you? I can leave." She said, and Andrew just couldn’t let the girl leave.

There were signs, so clear, so obvious, that she had not been treated well. It was either that, or she was a great actor, but Andrew just couldn’t believe that. He hadn’t even been around the man that long and Andrew had as much trauma as he did.

He couldn’t even begin to think about what she had suffered if she had been kept closer to him.

"Nicole, it’s alright. You haven’t upset me more than anyone else has. Come on. Let’s get you something to calm your nerves." Andrew told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze again. Nicole continued to look like she was going to cry, but this time, in relief.