Knight Life In Vegas (Sin City Omegas #3)

Chapter 24

G uilt was an anvil on my chest. What right did I have to feel this much peace? The guilt doubled when I realized the ever-present hollowness that had formed with Emily’s loss was no longer there. I had lived with that ache for so long I hadn’t even realized it could stop.

Charlotte nestled in my arms, her purr sweet and steady, her scent a drug that infused every breath. The warm weight of her was an anchor while I wrestled with my demons.

My eyes burned.

Dammit.

Don’t fucking cry.

A thousand questions turned themselves into knots in my mind. I desperately wanted to know what Emily would think, but if she were around to ask, none of this would exist for her to give her opinion on. Would another scent match have triggered if she was still alive? I didn’t know how any of it worked: how fate chose matches, or when and how it thrust us into one another’s paths.

Charlotte let out a squeak, her purr stuttering. “You’re squishing me.”

I released my grip, not having realized how tightly I was holding her to keep the pieces of myself together. “Sorry.”

She stayed right where she was, and that was all the better. I was pretty sure if I looked her in the eye right now, I would break. I didn’t regret being with her, but I didn’t know how to escape the guilt of having taken this opportunity. I couldn’t run from the fact that I only had a chance with Charlotte because Emily was gone.

The symptoms I had been suffering since meeting Charlotte were gone. They had been screaming so loud that I didn’t know what to do with myself now that everything was quiet.

An alarm on Charlotte’s phone blared, breaking the silence between us. She sighed and reached out to turn it off. “That’s my reminder to get ready to pick up the kids.”

She sat up carefully, and my gaze was helplessly drawn to the smooth skin and curves I had only recently become acquainted with. Desire flooded me again, only marginally muted by guilt-driven nausea.

“What should I do?”

“Whatever you want. You can stay here, or come with me. If you’d rather stay at your rental you can go there, or visit Bryce.”

I couldn’t face my son right now. I was convinced he would sense my betrayal of his mother the moment he saw me, and I simply couldn’t stand it. “I’ll come with you.”

“I’m supposed to meet the others at the arena after their show. Did you want to come with me to that too?”

“Yes, please.”

I had very briefly met her other scent matches, but not in any real capacity. I didn’t know what Charlotte and I were now, but the foundations upon which I stood had irrevocably shifted the moment I’d tasted her lips. If I was going to return to my old life when my body finally settled, I should make sure the ones I was leaving her with were capable of taking care of her. I was going to make sure she had the best even though I couldn’t be with her long-term.

I glanced around her apartment. Maybe she would be receptive to a cash infusion to get her into somewhere more suitable? I didn’t dare suggest it right now, but I would like her to be in a space where she and her children weren’t tripping over one another.

She disappeared into the washroom and I sat on her bed, fists clutching her sheets as I waited my turn. I could only assume Emily would be okay with me making Charlotte’s life a little easier. She had always been so compassionate, volunteering her time, running charity drives, showing Bryce how he could make small differences in the world. All my son’s sweetness came from her. Charlotte’s children were still very young and chaotic, but it was easy to see they were learning it from their mother too.

Charlotte emerged, still blessedly naked, every luscious curve on display. “Bathroom is all yours.”

I took the opportunity to disappear. Loath as I was to remove her scent from my skin, I didn’t want to pick up the kids smelling like I had just tumbled their mother. I rinsed quickly, dried off, and returned to dress. Charlotte was already back in her tank top and tiny shorts.

“You’re going to start drooling if you don’t close your mouth.”

I snapped my mouth shut, not even realizing it had opened. It wasn’t my fault. Her shorts cupped her ass so perfectly I wanted to take a bite out of her.

I made quick work of my clothing. It only got a bit wrinkly, but I couldn’t imagine her children were so discerning as to care.

“Ready?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes. Do you want me to drive?”

“Depends. Do you have a car?”

“Not at present.”

“Then I’ll drive. When you get one, you can drive.”

I followed her down to the parking lot like a lost pup, nervously wringing my fingers as I sat in the passenger side. Her vehicle was omega-sized, so I had to push the seat all the way back to fit.

“Sorry, it’s a bit of a clown car. It was the cheapest option that fit all of us.”

“Don’t apologize for purchasing something that suits your needs. If alphas are an outlier in your life, it would be silly to buy something that accommodates them when this works better for your family.”

The drive to the school was fairly quiet. My mind turned over my decisions until Charlotte drew the vehicle to a stop in the pick-up lane and turned to me. “Feeling better?”

“Physically, yes.”

“I was hoping so. I felt a million times better when the others spent the night. Not sure exactly how it works, but my running theory is that my instincts can’t panic about abandonment if being with them has happened more than once.” She turned her hazel eyes on me, looking at me like she could see straight into my soul. “How are you mentally?”

I pressed my lips into a tight line and Charlotte took my hand.

“Nothing about any of this is ideal, but I don’t want you to suffer for no reason. We can all help each other and keep firm boundaries in place. I know you’re only here until things settle.”

I had to go back. Everything I had built was in New York. “You don’t have to be so generous with me. I know I haven’t handled any of this very well.”

She squeezed my hand tighter. “Beau, you went through something that a great many alphas would never survive. You handled things as well as you were able. It’s not like I’ve been doing things right either.”

“You’re being too forgiving of me.”

“Let’s start fresh, then. If you wish you had done things differently, do your best to make that happen going forward.”

Before I had a chance to respond, Sammy and Ollie were sprinting to the car, hand in hand, and Charlotte was stepping out of the vehicle. Was I supposed to get out too? I felt entirely too awkward to remain sitting. Both boys froze when they saw me.

“Hello, Samson, Oliver,” I greeted.

“Boys, Mr. Carlton is going to be visiting more so you’ll probably see him around the apartment sometimes.”

“Oh,” said Sammy. “Do you do anything fun like Mommy’s other new friends?”

“They ride horses!” Ollie yelled. “We get to pet them tonight.”

“I’m afraid I’m not that exciting. I run a business, but that’s not very fun for children.”

Ollie pouted. “A horse business?”

I chuckled softly. “No. We build safe housing complexes for omegas.”

“Like Mommy?” Ollie asked.

“Exactly like your mother. I’m looking to expand to Las Vegas, so maybe you’ll live in one soon enough.”

“Do they have pools?” Sammy asked.

“A pool could definitely be arranged. Seems like a requirement when it gets so hot.”

Charlotte took each of their little backpacks and passed them to me. “They usually go on the front seat, so you’ll have to hold them.”

She helped each of the boys into their booster seats in the back, making sure they were secure before we slipped back into our respective seats. I held their backpacks on my lap, feeling oddly domestic. It all reminded me so much of when Bryce was young. I’d been trying to build an empire at the time, but I usually took a late lunch so I could pick him up from school while Emily would take him in the mornings.

“Did you two have a good day at school?” Charlotte asked her children.

“Jimmy brought his pet frog in!” Ollie yelled.

Heaven help me, I’d forgotten how loud children could be in confined spaces.

“I bet the frog didn’t appreciate that,” said Charlotte.

“No, his mommy had to come get it. Teacher said backpacks are not a good home for frogs.”

“Do you like frogs?” Sammy asked me.

“I haven’t seen one for a very long time, but I liked them when I was little. We would go camping in the summer and look for them.”

“Mommy, can we go camping?” Ollie asked.

“We’ll see,” she replied, getting us back on the road to their apartment.

“That means no,” Sammy informed me.

“It means we’ll see,” she insisted.

“You need a lot of supplies to go camping,” I told them. “There’s nowhere to store them in your place.”

Charlotte gave me a sidelong look, a little smile on her lips, as I fielded the children.

They asked me a million questions during the drive, and Charlotte expertly navigated them when we returned to the apartment, getting them washed up and sitting down at the coffee table with some activities to practice their penmanship while she threw together a meal.

“This looks much more substantial than a snack,” I pointed out, caught hovering between her and the boys, unsure what to do.

“We have dinner right after school. They’re always hungry so there’s hardly any fights about getting them to eat. They can have snacks later if they need to.”

“I never thought of that with Bryce. He always gorged himself on snacks and then it was all-out warfare to get him to eat dinner.” I watched her brown ground beef, admiring the way she kept an equal eye on the food and her boys. “Do you actually want me to stay here?”

“Only if you want to.” She poured a tin of tomatoes, some extra water, a box of macaroni pasta, and spices into the pan before covering it to simmer. “I’m sure you would prefer your own space, but the offer is there.”

Now that I’d had her, I didn’t want to go anywhere. Maybe the guilt would be worth it to go to sleep next to her and wake up the same way. “The rental I wanted wasn’t available, so the one I’m in for the week is nothing special. I would rather stay here.”

Charlotte nodded, moving to stand close enough to me that our sides brushed. “I’ll clear out a drawer for you and we can move the family schedule into the living room so you can see.”

“Family schedule?”

She disappeared briefly into the boys’ room and returned with a poster board that had the day broken up into chunks including times for wake up and bedtime, school, activities, and meals. “It’s our lifeline. We all do better when we know what’s coming.”

Charlotte taped it up in the hallway and I slid into the kitchen to stir the concoction on the stove.

“How do you feel about chores?” she asked.

“I…usually hire out for those.”

“We don’t do that here. What chore do you hate the least?”

“Cooking. But honestly, I would be happy to pay for assistance.”

“This place is a shoebox. We don’t need help.”

I fought the urge to puff up my cheeks at her stubbornness. “Can I handle meals or is that your preferred chore?”

“I do it, but it’s definitely not my favorite.”

“A fair trade, then. Most of my clothing requires dry cleaning, so I won’t be contributing much to the laundry load. You have to let me pay rent, groceries, and utilities, though.”

She opened her mouth like she was going to protest and I gave her a hard look.

“Charlotte, you’ve invited me into your home. I am not going to make life more difficult for you.”

“Okay, fine. You’re in charge of dinner, then. It just has to cook until the pasta is done.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed my cheek.

My body hummed with pleasure at the simple caress of her lips on my skin. Her smile was unfairly beautiful as she got herself a flavored sparkling water from the fridge and went to sit down with her children.

Did she have any clue how gorgeous she was? She probably had no more idea of that than I did about how utterly doomed I was going to be sharing quarters with an omega of such perfection.