40. Teddy
Chapter 40
S am has a lot of game systems down here for one person. Considering how busy he sounds, it doesn’t seem like he’d have much time to play. I open a drawer in his console storage and, sure enough, it’s filled with game cases–over half of them, including the newest Legend of Link, are all still in the sealed packaging. Of course, I want to take it out and play now that I’ve seen it. I haven’t really had much time to myself to relax with school and everything.
Would it be wrong to open his games and get things set up if he isn’t here?
Maybe after I’m properly marked.
Until then, I still feel kind of like a guest, even with the paperwork.
Of course, now with Vee and Garret here…
Can I give Vee up again if Kelly's a sticking point for him?
She accepted me, all of me, even without a history.
Shit.
I wish I had my guitar here.
Jessie.
She always helps me relax.
Makes my brain zone out.
My fingers twitch like they’re running over her strings. A quick riff playing across my mind to distract me. I sometimes make up songs, but usually just do covers. It takes too much out of me, letting my mind drift to stop and write down notes and words.
A mishmash of footfalls draws my attention to the stairs. The light ones are obviously Kelly, the heavy might be Sam or Garret, no way would Steve be hanging out with her. And then the scrambling claws on the wood announcing Kelly’s ever-present shadow, Jake. His legs are so long and gangly, I’m not sure how he makes it down the stairs without tumbling and taking them both down with him.
They find me sitting on the floor with a stack of games scattered around me, and Kelly immediately crawls into my lap and starts shuffling through the cases. It astounds me how comfortable she's become with Sam and me over the last few days, especially considering how reluctant she was to start with. I know we haven’t officially bonded, but it just feels so right having her close to me—there’s no way I’m giving this up, even for Vee.
She zeroes in on the same game I was contemplating earlier, a huge grin splitting her face. “Hey, do you think Sam would mind…?” She trails off, bouncing excitedly, and looking hopeful. My cock stirs as her ass wiggles around on it, and she doesn’t even notice how hard I’m getting having her pressing against me.
Make a guy feel inadequate over a video game, why don’t you?
I kid.
Mostly.
Unfortunately, Garret can be kind of a killjoy. He clears his throat, bringing both our attention around to him. He reaches down to offer his hand to Kelly to help pull her out of my lap. “We were sent to find you to tell you breakfast is ready. Kelly was getting stuff out to make pancakes, but I sidetracked her. So Steve tried to make some. However, I believe that Sam is the one that actually succeeded in doing so.”
Oh, I love pancakes.
Steve knows that.
I wonder if this is supposed to be some sort of reconciliation from him being a douche earlier.
Once Kelly’s up, she offers her hand to help me up. I don’t want to risk pulling her back down though. I love this girl, but she's the most uncoordinated individual I’ve ever met.
Garret heaves a put-upon sigh and offers his hand as well, which I have no problem taking, and need more than a little restraint to keep from yanking him down onto the floor with me. He’s still on my shitlist too.
Kelly leads the way up the stairs, followed closely by Garret and me, vying for who gets to walk directly behind her and watch her ass sway from side to side. We both lose when Jake shoves us out of the way, almost knocking us both down so he can press his cold wet nose against the back of her knees, causing her to squeal and stumble.
Garret’s there before I have a chance to react, scooping her into his arms and out of Jake’s reach. He makes it to the top of the stairs in three long strides and sets her down, safe on the flat surface. He must have noticed that she’s uncoordinated too.
Jake prances in front of us, leading us all into the dining room, and Kelly grabs the table, pulling it away from the wall so Vee and Garret won’t be so wedged in this time. She stares back and forth between Garret and me, holding her finger up to her lips in the universal sign for quiet. Her smile makes my chest ache. It’s so sweet, and it seems like Garret feels it too.
She turns and walks into the kitchen, and I hear her ask Sam if he needs any help. Vee’s voice answers back something snarky, but Sam’s growl is loud and clear in reply, followed by, “I appreciate it, Sugar. But you go relax. He made this mess, he can clean it up. Breakfast’ll be ready soon. Oh, can you please ask Teddy what kind of tea he wants this morning?”
There’s the sound of someone snorting, and then a smack. Finally followed by Vee’s voice in a whiney, “Sorry, Kelly.” So, I guess Sam got tired of his shitty attitude towards our beta too. Good to hear it.
K elly’s lips blow across the top of her cup of coffee as I stare longingly at it. Fuck, I miss coffee. They mostly had decaf at the omega center—we’d sometimes get to go out in groups to the mall where they have a Starbees—and fuck me but I would give just about anything for a fucking double shot espresso right now.
She smiles sweetly at me, blowing another cool breath across the steaming surface. Then she starts giggling. “Sorry, Teddy, I couldn’t help myself.” She giggles again, putting the cup on the table. “This is yours if you want it, I picked up decaf at the store yesterday. It’s instant, ’cause I’m pretty sure everybody here needs their caffeine fix. I wanted to tease you with it...but I can’t if you keep looking at my drink that way.”
“Looking at it what way?” Ok, yeah. I’m still staring at the mug, the little curl of steam coming off the top.
“Like you wanna make slow, passionate love to my coffee. Whisper sweet nothings into its bitter black deliciousness.” She’s back to giggling again as she runs her fingers over the rim of the cup.
Well, shit. She’s probably not wrong. I can’t see my face, but I’m sure there’s some longing there.
Fuck.
“Just give me the fuckin’ cup, Pixie. Especially if you want me to do any of that to you later.” Her giggles cut off with an abrupt choking sound and three growls start up around the table.
Gods save me from possessive alphas.
Ok, well, Sam’s doesn’t sound possessive exactly, at least not in an angry way.
Kelly smiles at me and slides the cup to Sam, who passes it on to me, along with a sugar bowl and bottle of heavy cream. “Sorry Teddy, I forgot to tell you when I was unpacking groceries yesterday.” It’s ok, I can forgive him, more so after I finally get to drink this. I add two sugars and a splash of cream and moan when the flavor finally hits my tongue. Shit, I sound like I’m doing something naughty with this coffee.
Oh, well, fuck it. I missed this.
Sam gets up and goes to the kitchen, returning with a platter full of pancakes. Vee already brought out plates and butter and syrup, then a few jars of jams and jellies. He leaves those beside my spot, so I move the whole lot to the server so everyone can have access. I don’t want to bogart the strawberry preserves...I don’t even like strawberry preserves on my pancakes, so who knows what’s up with that. I thought for sure he’d remember that I only like butter and maple syrup. My whiny inner omega pouts a little that he forgot. Shit, it’s been long enough, I shouldn’t be surprised.
Still the look on his face is kind of smug when he sees me set all the extras away from myself, and he throws Sam a snarky look.
Nope.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Just going to eat these fucking pancakes.
Eat these pancakes and not deal with crazy alpha bullshit.
Nope. Sam put four of them on my plate, two look delicious, tall and fluffy, and they smell so damned good my mouth waters. The other two look more like half cooked dumplings. They’re pale and look gummy. I glance around the table, and no one else has these horrors on their plate. When I meet Sam’s eyes, he just nods and focuses back on his own plate. Vee watches the exchange blatantly, not even trying to be sneaky now.
I feel bad wasting good syrup on the abomination pancakes staring back at me from my plate. Better to get those out of the way first and use the others as a palate cleanser. Pouring a healthy dose of maple goodness over the top I try to cut into one, and it’s like trying to saw through a flip-flop with a butter-knife. You know you’ll make it eventually, but it’s probably not worth the effort. Finally, I just give in and stab the entire damn thing, I can tear it apart with my teeth easier than this.
Raising it to my mouth I take a bite and it feels raw and doughy on the inside as hard as old boot leather on the outside. But the taste. Dear gods. It tastes like straight baking soda. That overly bitter slightly-soapy sweetness that makes my gag reflex react just from the flavor. What the ever-loving hell did Sam just feed me.
My eyes water as I spit the bite I managed to tear off into a napkin and head for the kitchen to throw it away and get water. It takes two glasses to finally get the flavor out of my mouth, and I lean over the sink praying to the cooking gods that it’s not going to make a repeat performance.
When my eyes finally stop watering, I walk back into the dining room, giving Sam the hard glare he so justly deserves. Instead of responding to me, or even acknowledging my return he gives Vee a hard look. “And that, little boy, is why we use a recipe. I don’t care if you pull the fucking thing off the internet. Don’t go throwing random ingredients you find into a bowl and call it cooking. Maybe after a few years of experience with it, you’ll have enough of an idea of what works to try that. But for now, stay the fuck outta my damned kitchen.” Sam shoves another bit of fluffy pancake into his mouth, chewing purposefully.
Vee's devastated gaze turns to me, he looks like he’s about to cry as he pushes away from the table and mopes to the kitchen with his still mostly full plate. Sam meets my hard glare now but doesn’t let me start talking. “Your boy there wanted to make you pancakes. Don’t worry, I checked what he put in; flour, water, baking soda, and some vanilla. Thankfully, he left out the eggs...but also the sugar. He was also only making them for you, so there wasn’t too much batter. Still, if he’s plannin’ on sticking around, you might want to work on his attitude. If he’s gonna be part of this pack, it’s the whole pack. He doesn’t get to exclude people he doesn’t like.”
Sam shoves a last bit of pancake into his mouth and stands up before I can reply. I don’t want to defend Vee. Not exactly. That was awful, but he looked so upset. Still, I’m both shocked by Sam’s offer to let him stay and understand his point of view about all of us working together. Garret and Kelly are the only ones left with me at the table, and Kelly gives me an encouraging smile while Garret continues to stare longingly at her. Seriously, it’s actually kind of creepy now.
When I just sit there staring, she grows impatient and gestures with her fork in kind of a ‘go on’ motion. I realize her other hand is being held captive by Garret. Heaving a heavy sigh I stand up, the good pancakes have already soaked up all the syrup on my plate, and gotten cold, but I’m tempted to sit here and eat the damned things anyway.
Shit.
Taking my plate with me, I walk into the kitchen. Sam stands at the sink rinsing off his plate while Vee is by the stove, his shoulders slumped and looking defeated. I’m torn between wanting to go to him—he’s mine, he’s been mine since we were kids—and thinking he deserves to feel like shit after everything he put me through.
I don’t get a chance to anyway before Sam turns and wraps him in a hug, tucking Vee’s head under his chin. “I’m not tryin’ to be an asshole here, Kid. I just need you to learn that your actions have consequences. Embarrassin’ yourself at breakfast is a small consequence in the grand scheme of things. What you did to Teddy, rejecting him. That’s gonna have some big fuckin’ consequences. You gonna man up and accept ’em? Try to make it right? No more of this half-assed bullshit?”
As I watch, Vee nuzzles into Sam’s neck, his shoulders relaxing by increments against the larger man. I must make some noise, because Sam turns his head to look at me. He shakes it once and I think he’s trying to let Vee have some semblance of privacy. Turning as silently as I can, I walk back to the dining room, put my plate down on the table, and head to my room to get a shower and try to figure out the weird swirl of conflicting emotions in my chest.