Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
brIELLE
O livia’s house is tucked into a small neighborhood on the outskirts of Creek Falls. The house is as unassuming as Hudson’s restaurant, the same small design touches that give both a warm and welcoming feel. As I pull up to the curb and get out of my car, Olivia opens the front door and stands in the middle of the front porch, her arms crossed and a large smile warming her face. Her hair is pulled back, leaving the silver bond scar just under her left ear visible in the midmorning sunshine.
Something uncomfortably close to jealousy twists in my stomach.
She waves as I cross the space toward her.
“How are you feeling?” I ask as she pulls me into a hug.
“Better,” she breathes. “Thank goodness. I was getting pretty desperate.”
She wordlessly ushers me into her home and toward the kitchen.
Melissa glances up from where she sits at the large island, a mug in her hands. Her eyes skate over me, catching on my throat, before her lips curl into a knowing grin. I’d spent ten minutes this morning trying to get the damn hickeys Caleb left covered. Are they perfect? No. But at least the average person I run into in town today won’t realize I was fucked within an inch of my life a few days ago.
I raise a single eyebrow and purse my lips, trying to keep her questions from starting. Not yet, at least.
Olivia passes me as I settle in next to Melissa, pulling a large charcuterie board and small pitcher from the fridge. She sets the board in the center of the island before grabbing a glass and filling it with ice. She brings both the pitcher and the cup with her as she sits on my other side, setting both in front of me.
“Melissa said you still like cold brew, so I had Joan make some,” she says in explanation.
I offer a smile and nod. “Thanks, Liv.”
She smiles and grabs a strawberry. She takes a deep breath before eating it, almost like she’s offering a silent prayer to the gods. Her face scrunches as she takes the first bite, though, and then she drops it and rushes to the sink.
“This is better?” Melissa asks, her voice filled with the same concern that has a frown pulling at my lips.
Olivia nods as she tilts her head back.
“Yep. I can actually keep down some foods now without medication.” Even as she says it, she reaches for a small pill container resting on the window sill above the sink. After a minute, she turns around and focuses on me. “But enough about me and this dang baby that’s already thrown a wrench into my life and won’t even be here for another six months.”
“What happened to never having a baby on a holiday?” I ask with a smirk. “And Christmas, no less?”
She sighs even as she grins. “A stupid, charming Alpha is what happened. It didn’t even happen during my dang heat. If it had , we’d be having a baby before Thanksgiving.” She purses her lips and leans against the counter. “Hopefully they’ll come late and we’ll have a New Year’s baby. That’ll be way better.”
I smile. “Yeah, we could use some good news for New Year’s.”
Her eyes dim and her smile falters. Ah, crap .
“How are you holding up?” she asks.
I shrug and focus on pouring the cold brew. I’m getting really tired of everyone asking that question.
An awkward silence stretches between the three of us, and I swallow back my frustration.
“I have some friends coming out in a couple weeks,” I offer. Olivia cocks an eyebrow. “They’ve found a cool spot near the Tetons to go camping. Melissa’s coming. I thought you and Hudson might want to come, too?”
She smiles and nods. “Mel brought it up when we were heading back from the rodeo. We’d love to join.”
I take a bite of a strawberry.
Melissa bumps her shoulder against mine. “Do I get to ask about that hickey you tried to hide on your collarbone? Or the one that’s almost blending in with your tattoo?”
My cheeks flush, and I duck my head, covering the flowers and adjusting my shirt to sit a bit higher. Olivia giggles and settles in the seat beside me again.
“I’d heard he’d taken you out. I wasn’t sure if I could believe it though. Joan heard it from Miranda who heard it from Molly. And it’s not like she’s a trustworthy source nine times out of ten.”
“Molly Bailey did not manage to find out,” I say, putting down the piece of cheese I’d been about to eat. “Please tell me I heard that wrong.”
Melissa laughs. “She always manages to find out.”
I groan and drop my head into my hands. The last thing I need right now is Molly freaking Bailey getting into my business. It’s bad enough that everyone in town knows I’m the widowed Omega. Them knowing I spent an entire afternoon with Caleb Taylor before he left for another round of piloting wildfires? I grimace as I imagine the looks I’ll undoubtedly get the next time I have to run to the grocery store.
“It obviously went well, then.” Melissa’s voice is full of smug curiosity. When I lift my head, she’s smirking and tracing the rim of her mug. “I haven’t seen you covered in hickeys since college.”
I grimace again and shove away all of the memories that single sentence brings up. I’m not thinking about Brett today. Not when I’m still sore from Caleb knotting me even days later.
The memory of him covering my body with his own causes my scent to explode, and I sigh. Melissa laughs, dropping her head back and letting her shoulders shake with her amusement. Olivia smiles, her eyes full of her own laughter. It fades after a minute, though, as the acrid edge of being touch-starved sours my scent. It had faded after being with Caleb, but apparently even just a few days without his touch is enough to have it getting bad again.
“You all right?” Olivia asks.
I shrug. Being touch-starved is not something I want to discuss. Ever.
“Better,” I offer.
A set of footsteps cut off whatever Melissa’s about to say. Hudson pauses a few steps from the landing, his eyebrows furrowing.
“Everything okay?” he asks. He’s dressed in jeans and a plain black tee and looks terrifyingly similar to Caleb, even more so than when I’d seen him at the rodeo. The only real difference is Hudson’s well-groomed beard—and the lack of visible tattoos.
Olivia hums in answer, and he cautiously crosses the room, running a hand across her shoulders before kissing her temple.
“Bri invited us to go camping.” Olivia smiles at Hudson. He raises an eyebrow as she laces her fingers with his and presses her cheek into his chest, breathing deeply. “There’s a group of us going, just south of the Tetons.”
“Us?” he asks, amusement weaving through his voice.
“Yes, us,” she says, pursing her lips. She pulls away from him and pokes his stomach. “You promised you’d take a few weekends off this summer. I want to spend time with Bri.”
Hudson’s lips tip into a barely-there smile, and the similarities between him and Caleb become even more obvious. Caleb had smiled like that when he left me on the porch of Emily’s guest house, breathless and perfuming for him all over again from his kiss.
My scent surrounds me before I have a hope of controlling my body’s reaction, the sour edge more intense this time. I grab the lotion from my purse.
Shit, I need to get better about wearing my scent blockers from now on. Clearly the lotion isn’t enough now that I’m off the suppressors. Hudson freezes, and Olivia wraps her arm around his waist.
“Caleb didn’t say anything about you being touch-starved,” he says, a growl in his voice. An Alpha responding to my body’s siren call of need, different from a heat but just as dangerous in the wrong crowd. A bonded Alpha, luckily, is about the least dangerous option available.
I swallow and focus on getting the lotion on every piece of skin I can see. It’s not perfect, but it cuts through the worst of it, dulling the lavender until the sour feel of it isn’t noticeable anymore. Not to me, at least.
“Don’t,” Olivia says, her voice hardening. “I’ll make you take a vow of silence, Hudson Pierce.”
Hudson frowns, his gaze flicking between me and his Omega. After a long stretch of silence, he nods, his eyes landing on me.
“You’ll tell me if you need help,” he says, not an ounce of give in his voice. “I promised Caleb I’d watch over you before he left.”
A warmth spreads through my stomach. He’d told someone to make sure I was safe while he was gone?
I offer a small nod.
“Why didn’t he ask Ethan?” Olivia asks. “Since they’re the same pack, wouldn’t it be easier for him to watch over Bri?”
Melissa grabs my hand, her grip so tight it borders on pain. I breathe carefully through my nose to keep my reaction from showing on my face.
Of course he didn’t ask Ethan. Ethan hates me, has hated me for nearly a decade. I was never more than a summer fling for him, something to pass the time. No matter what I felt about him. No matter what I might feel about him now.
I shove the feelings down until I can barely feel the memory of them.
Hudson shrugs before kissing her temple again. “Not sure, darling.” He focuses on me. “If you’ll text me the information, I’ll make sure to have the restaurant covered for camping.”
He disappears out the back door before I can offer any kind of reply.