6. Sesame, Smeshame
CHAPTER 6
SESAME, SMESHAME
Jace
A fter a night of Cameron texting with Sadie and Anthony rubbing it in all our faces that he got to work out with her, I was exhausted. I am so over Anthony flashing the picture he had of her leaning against his legs on her knees to all of us.
It was almost a relief when Paxton threw his phone against the wall in a fit of jealousy.
Now, I was ready for my morning coffee date with her.
I had missed it the day before because of an emergency at the job site but I wasn’t going to miss it today.
I knew her scent, knew we were a match. Seeing her would be the icing on the cake.
Arriving earlier than I had before and getting the seat in the back. I sipped on my coffee, watching the front door to the shop as I waited to see Sadie walk in.
Sadie usually arrived close to 7:30 and it was only 6:45 now. Way too early for her usual morning rush in but my gaze stayed on the door looking for her.
The brunette had captured all of our attention.
Something about her weird response when she had fallen had been so raw and real, just a foolish little saying that we had all joked about.
Until we were talking about her and one by one realizing just how beautiful she was.
It all made sense now that I knew we were meant to be together.
There had been times we had shared girls between us. Sometimes a beta on a random night to take off some of the edge of a rut or a stressful project.
Never an omega.
Never all of us together and nothing more than a night but it was this almost unspoken idea that with Sadie she would be more than this one night for us.
“Sadie.” Her name was called as her order was placed on the counter, my eyes checking my watch to confirm it was still before 7:00AM.
She was early today.
Taking her coffee back to the table I was at, I waited.
I watch her entera minute later, her eyes scanning the counter for her cup. The counter is cluttered with drink orders so it takes Sadie a moment before she looks up. Her eyes meet mine as if she knew I was watching.
Sadie looked exhausted.
Her blue eyes are hidden behind glasses that I didn't know she wore since she must usually wear contacts. She has on a pair of black tights with a black dress on top and a slouchy cardigan on top of it. Her brown hair is in a bun on top of her head.
A bit messy this morning like her omega instincts had her trying to feel comfortable as she battled to keep it all together for work.
Sweet girl needs a break.
“Mornin’ Darlin’.” She sits down across from me, stabbing her straw into the coffee and instantly taking a big sip of it. My eyes stared as her pink lips wrapped around the plastic and sucked hard.
I could get just a hint of her scent now that I knew what I was looking for but she had already sprayed blockers so that I couldn’t get the full scent like she had marked on Ant’s hoodie
Her eyes flash up after a second like she realizes I knew her designation now. She’s looking at me like she has a question to ask but doesn't know how to do it. I stay quiet, waiting for her to figure out whatever she has to say.
“What are you guys playing at?”
Whatever look I must have given her didn’t settle her because she shook her head, a snap of anger crossing across her face.
Anger on her was terrifying.
All this uncloaked emotion coming through as something akin to a snarl flashes on her face. It’s like she needs to protect herself and this is the only way she knows how.
Sweet fierce omega.
“Cameron is texting me all the time. Anthony took me to the gym last night. And you? You are here every morning with my coffee. What game am I to you? Do you guys just want to have me as a notch in your bed posts? Because if that’s the case, fine . Screw the fat omega and move on. Whatever game you’re playing, just make your frickin’ move so I can live my life.”
With her rant over, she stands up, chair scraping and making her flinch from the sound. She’s unsettled as she starts storming out of the coffee shop as I sit for a beat too long trying to figure out what Sadie just said.
What had just happened?
Jumping up, I move out of the coffee shop. I see Sadie heading into her work before I can get to stop her. The building doesn’t even open for another two hours for the public so I can’t just walk inside her job. Not with a raging omega.
What had happened?
Why did she just snap?
My phone rings, making me look away from where Sadie had vanished as I pick up the call from Anthony.
“Paxton is mad that you’re not at the site yet. Tell me you’re on your way and not sitting in the coffee shop waiting for little bro to show up.” I groan, of course Paxton was in a shit mood. He’s the only one who hasn’t tried to really bond with her like we all were.
But I couldn’t even think of him and his temper tantrums right now.
He knew we were chasing after Sadie so if he knew what was happening with our omega he would be less mad at me. Or mad if he thought it was my fault that she had stormed out.
Could go either way.
“Was Sadie okay after she left you the other night?” There is a quiet silence for a second and I hear a door close as Anthony probably walks away from whoever he is trying to get privacy.
It’s nice he’s taking this seriously. There’s so few things he does treat seriously. But he seems to understand the importance of having a scent matched with omega.
“She was happy with me. You saw the picture. What’s wrong with her Jace?” Heading into my car I switch him to bluetooth and I start driving towards the site we’re working on.
As real estate developers we just purchased a few acres of land so we could start building a community of houses in the underdeveloped area. We’re looking at profits in the multi millions from the homes. Currently we have plans for twenty houses in the area and are about halfway to that goal.
We’ve had larger scale projects in the past few years but this one feels like the one that we’re going to do and be able to live off of for the rest of our lives. Which means Paxton is getting upset when the smallest thing goes wrong because the man doesn’t know how to stay calm.
He takes everything so seriously and can mix up priorities when it comes to personal and business. He wants to take care of everything and everyone but comes across like a grump that no one wants to be around.
I hope he doesn’t do that with Sadie.
“She was a little disheveled this morning. Tired. Angry. She said that we were all messing with her and that we needed to just make a move to fuck her and then leave her alone.” I think about the way she was so hard on herself and swallowed down. It doesn’t feel right that one of us isn’t with her, “I think it’s confusing her how we all just bombarded her. And I don’t like that she is upset.” I admit to him.
Usually, I’d talk to Paxton about things like this, but he was stressed out enough about working on this project. He had mentioned going after our omega but it was going to be hard for him to stop in the middle of this project to do it.
Paxton had a lot of baggage he was going to have to unpack if he wanted to be a good alpha for our omega. And as his packmate I’d help my brother anyway I could be the best for her.
Cameron would talk to her if I asked but I could already see Cameron dropping everything, getting distracted by the fact that Sadie was upset if I told him. He wouldn’t be able to compartmentalize his feelings and would want to fix it. Which would make him upset and then we’d have two people spiraling.
Not ideal.
He saw himself in her too much. It made him want to protect her, to fix things for her, and save her from her feelings. Which was a good alpha quality to have if he could compartmentalize his feelings instead of over emphasizing.
Sadie was good for him, brought him out of his usual shell, but she could break him too. There was a risk in all of us going for her, especially because it was clear that we were getting addicted to her quickly.
We all had a lot of work to do so that we could be the best pack for our mate.
“She was upset in her car yesterday. I didn't want to push but something is going on that we don’t know about.” Anthony admits to me, “We’re just getting to know her. She might open up to Cameron. She’s talked to him the most but if he knows she was upset-”
“I know.” I blow out a sigh, “Let's just keep this between us. We can circle back around to it later today when we know more.” I promise to be at the site in a couple minutes and hang up.
Seeing Sadie upset ruined my day and now I need to figure out how to fix it. How to make her trust us. Give her a reason to trust us. Because I know she’s perfect for us and we can’t lose her.
Cameron is working in the office on making digital blueprints for the homes. He’s creating 3-D walkthroughs of the homes we’re building so we can start advertising and selling them .
The sooner we’re able to start selling the homes we’re going to build our books will balance out and maybe Paxton will stop freaking the hell out.
Anthony gives me a look as he leads a plumber by me. His eyes darted to the living room so I knew where Pax was.
We created a model home first.
This home is for potential clients to walk through and get a feel for what their home will look like. Paxton is going to go fully gray from the stress he is putting on himself over the house.
It seems like everyday he wants us to be weeks ahead of plan and thousands of dollars under budget. He knows better than anyone that quality takes time and funds to be done correctly. We’re already lucky that all four of us are putting our own sweat equity into the building, cutting down on labor costs.
“Jace?” I step into the living room and watch Pax sigh out in relief that I’m here. “The kitchen is all set. Anthony is doing a walkthrough with the plumber now to just make sure everything is all set before the city comes by to check it. The kitchen is all set but is there any way we can hire a cleaning service to come in this weekend? I’d like to have photos done next week and then Cam can do some of his magic with the setup before posting it online.” He pushes his hand through his hair as he lists off things.
The past few years have made us comfortable in this field. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing him confident in the projects that we do. For the first time I wonder if we bit off more than we can chew.
Now we were going to add an omega to the mix? Was that fair to Sadie? Didn’t she deserve alphas who could pamper her not only with gifts but with time?
Maybe we weren’t ready for her yet.
“I’ll call the cleaners we used before. I’ll add photography to Ant’s schedule next week as well as making sure Cam blocks off time for the staging photos.” I list off the tasks he needs done and the delegation of them so he knows the steps are getting done, “I’ve also ordered books for the rooms where people can pick any changes they need in the homes. The wine fridges and sink options we talked about before. Small things like that in each room so they can get a better idea .
Pax nods his head. Eyes darting to the door before he pushes at his hair again.
Something else is on his mind.
“Did you see her this morning?” He asks, turning away from me. It’s like he can’t handle the fact he cares or he’s afraid someone will tease him about it.
He won’t be getting any gruff from any of us.
“I saw her get her coffee. Didn’t really have the time to talk to her. She seems,” I don’t want to lie to Pax about Sadie but I know if he knows that she looked exhausted and was upset his mood would just get worse. “Like she needs the weekend. He lets out a huff of air.
“Don’t we all?” He turns back to me, “We can plan this weekend. Figure out what we need to do to start courting her.” Swallowing, for a second he looks a little out of his depth, “You know, after everything we’ve all been through, I didn’t expect to have an omega. Never mind a scent match. I want to do right by her and our pack. I know scent matches are supposed to be perfect but it’s important we get to know her. Really make sure that she’s right for us.”
He seems to feel relieved to get it out. Like now he can breathe a little easier now that the worry he had been swallowing down has come out.
I nod my head, like I agree with him.
But in all honesty, she is perfect.
Not only does she have Anthony being responsible but she has Cameron smiling. That is a miracle worker in my books. And just a sign that Sadie is the perfect match for us.
“We can talk this weekend, Pax. We’ll do this right.” He nods his head, the topic over now.
We’re left to our day of work and I try to not think about how upset Sadie was this morning but I can’t get it out of my head.
I need to fix it…but how?