11. Finn
11
FINN
The door of the house slammed closed behind me as I stormed down Main Street.
If I stayed inside for one more second, I would murder Easton.
I still couldn’t fucking believe he’d done this. The three of us had run our business together for years. We didn’t make decisions without consulting each other, and certainly nothing on this scale. He’d applied for, and accepted, a massive government project that would take weeks, if not months, to complete.
I headed down the empty street with no destination in mind.
After our disastrous visit to the lighthouse this morning, Easton had returned home, discouraged that he couldn’t find the lighthouse keeper. I’d lost my shit on him, yelling that this was not how we ran the business. Lars had stepped in and told me to calm down. In that moment, I wanted to punch Lars, too. I’d escaped to my room, and that’s where I’d stayed the rest of the day.
I was embarrassed by my behavior. Easton was particularly sensitive to yelling. What he’d done was wrong, but he didn’t deserve that. It was just easier to yell than admit I was fucking devastated to have to witness, up close, someone else living in the lighthouse.
The town had offered me the lighthouse keeper position after my grandpa passed, but I had a job, a business to run, and… I’d been sc ared of what it would be like to live there without my grandparents. Would it always feel like their ghosts wandered the halls? Now I felt like I’d let him down. Someone else was in their space, in my home, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I didn’t understand why Lars wasn’t as angry about the situation as I was, but he’d returned from the lighthouse in a surprisingly good mood. And that just made it worse. I was alone, even in my own pack.
I wasn’t ready to talk to either of them, but I was going stir-crazy in my room, hence the current wandering around the quiet town.
The illuminated marquee of the Hollywood Cinema caught my eye. I was just in time for the 10:00 p.m. showing. Hopefully a movie would help me calm down so we could all have a more productive conversation tomorrow.
I headed inside, threw some money in the box in the lobby, loaded up on a shit-ton of snacks, and headed into the theater to watch whatever atrocious film Missy and Herbert had dug up. I’d never known people with such a talent for finding borderline-unwatchable movies.
The previews were already playing when I entered. I came to an abrupt stop when I saw a lone woman sitting right in the middle of the theater.
In my favorite seat.
I was about to turn around and walk out—I didn’t want to be around anyone right now—when the woman spotted me, let out a little startled squeak, and knocked over her full bag of popcorn.
Her soft “oh no” reached my ears, and she sounded so distraught I couldn’t leave. My alpha, who’d been dormant for a while, perked up as I moved to her row. I set down my large popcorn bucket and stack of candy boxes.
“Sorry for startling you. Let me help you with that.”
The woman was trying to pick up the spilled popcorn but paused to look up at me. The light from the screen illuminated her face, and my heart skipped a beat. She was stunning. My mouth grew dry, and in the back of my mind, I knew I was looming over her and should move, but my feet were rooted to the spot .
She straightened up, hands filled with popcorn. “Oh, it’s not your fault. I’m just clumsy.” She laughed a bit, but it sounded forced. “Is there a broom or something I could use to clean this up?”
My brain couldn’t quite catch onto what she was saying. Nothing mattered when the most gorgeous woman was in front of me. I couldn’t catch any trace of a scent—not for lack of trying; I was a fish gasping for air—but I was pretty confident she was an omega.
“A broom?” she asked again, shifting slightly from side to side. The light from the movie screen dimmed, and I couldn’t fully take in the shape of her round hips and stomach and breasts, and I held in a growl. I wanted to see her in the brightest light so I could take in her every curve, every freckle, every strand of hair.
She met my gaze. Did she feel the connection, too? The electricity in the air between us?
“Or not?” She broke eye contact and put the bits of popcorn into her small popcorn bucket.
Fuck. She’d asked me a question. I furiously tried to get my brain functioning again.
“There’s a broom out in the lobby,” I blurted out. “I’ll grab it for you. I know where the supply closet is.”
I practically sprinted away, my alpha clawing at my chest with every step. I was breathing heavily by the time I located the supply closet and pulled out the broom and dustpan. No one had ever made me feel this off-kilter. The strength of my feelings made me want to keep running straight out the door, and at the same time, urged me to wrap that little omega up in my arms and pull her to my chest so no one could ever take her away from me.
The broom handle snapped in my hand, and I swore. I needed to get myself under control.
She was just a woman. An omega. This wasn’t a big deal.
I kept a measured pace as I returned to the theater. The woman went to take the broom from me, but I didn’t want her to comment on the broken handle, so I quickly swept up the popcorn.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice practically a whisper. Did I make her uncomfortable? Should I leave ?
Just then, a loud sound burst from the speakers and the screen showed the movie’s title.
“It’s starting,” I said unnecessarily.
We both stood, staring at each other for what felt like approximately three hours before the woman sat down. Should I sit next to her? Or move far, far away? She probably didn’t want company.
I sat in the seat next to hers.
“You can have my popcorn,” I said.
“Oh, no, that’s okay.”
I placed the bucket in my lap so she could reach it if she wanted. All my muscles were stiff, but not with irritation. I’d wanted privacy tonight, but now I was having to hold myself back from getting to know this omega… from touching her.
I focused on the film instead of the storm of emotions inside me. Two high school sweethearts broke up to go to college. Years later, they were meeting back up at the school to see if they could make their relationship work. I munched on the popcorn as the couple on the screen started making out under the football bleachers. I definitely did not allow my mind to imagine what it would be like to kiss the cute stranger beside me.
The production quality was shit, but this was definitely the most normal movie I’d ever watched in this theater.
Famous last words.
Flashing lights filled the screen as something descended onto the couple with a loud mechanical noise. The screen went black, and then an alien appeared. A group of green aliens. I furrowed my brow in confusion, but I should have known. Herbert and Missy were incapable of showing a normal rom-com.
The head alien told the couple that the only way they could be together was if they went back in time and never broke up in the first place. If they didn’t, the world would explode in three days. I scrubbed my hand down my face. Who even made these movies?
The couple agreed to go back in time, and then the aliens broke out into a fully choreographed dance with song.
“What the fuck is happening?” the woman whispered, and that broke the tension between us. I let out a bark of laughter and settled back in my seat.
“The movies here are always unhinged.” I held out my large popcorn bucket, and she took a handful. “Candy?”
“Yes, please.” She also relaxed back in her seat, putting her legs up on the chair in front of her as she ate some Junior Mints. Satisfaction ran through me that I had provided for her.
She started humming along to the alien’s song. “This is pretty catchy.”
I laughed again. My chest felt bright and light… and I realized I was happy . The past six months, my chest had been so heavy with grief I’d forgotten what happiness felt like… had stopped believing I would ever feel it again.
The couple in the movie was rocketing through space until they landed back at their high school. “You think they’re going to save the world?” I asked.
“With dancing skills like that? Probably not.”
I snorted out another laugh, and this time, it was my popcorn flying all over the place.
“We can’t be trusted with popcorn,” she said as she grabbed another handful.
The movie continued to devolve into something increasingly incomprehensible, but I loved her snarky commentary. Every time I moved, my shoulder brushed against hers, and it made me feel like I was on fire. And then a weight rested on my shoulder. I glanced down and saw the omega had fallen asleep curled up on her chair. I slowly shifted down so my shoulder was a better angle for her to rest on. It wasn’t very comfortable with the armrest digging into my ribs, but I didn’t care. I would stay frozen in this position all night just to watch her sleep. Her eyelashes were dark and long, her cheeks pink and round. I could picture myself running my hand through her hair, kissing her face, and tucking her into my bed.
My chest turned cold at the intimacy of the fantasy, and I shifted away from her. I’d decided six months ago that I would never bond an omega. I’d always wanted a love like my grandparents had, but after seeing what it was like for my grandpa at the end, I knew I couldn’t do it. Easton and Lars still wanted an omega and to be a true pack, but it was becoming more clear to me that I wouldn’t be a part of it. Bonding an omega was too risky.
She startled as I moved her off my shoulder and sat up straight, cheeks flushing red. “Sorry.” She rubbed her face. “I usually go to bed a lot earlier than this.”
“No worries,” I choked out. Fuck, why had I done that? Now I wanted her head back on me. I wanted her entire body on me.
“Did I miss much?” she asked.
I blinked. I hadn’t been paying the slightest bit of attention to the movie.
“No,” I grunted.
I turned my focus back on the screen. The couple was being torn apart by the space-time continuum. I scrunched my face as the camera and boom mic appeared in the frame.
The thought of saying goodbye to the omega after the movie seemed… unacceptable. Maybe she would be open to a casual hookup?
“Oh good, another song.”
I hid my grin behind another mouthful of candy. My movie partner was funny. She bopped back and forth as the aliens and couple did a dance. Then she jumped and let out a little squeak as an explosion erupted, turning everything dark and gray. Words displayed across the screen: Not every mistake can be fixed.
“The end?” the woman shrieked, sitting forward in her seat. “That was the end?” She turned to me, lips parted in shock.
“I’m guessing this is your first time watching a movie here?” She nodded as she fished out the last of the Junior Mints. “One thing you can count on is that every movie at the Hollywood Cinema will be the most bizarre thing you’ve ever seen. Missy and Herbert are staunchly against showing anything resembling a Hollywood movie.”
She let out an adorable snort. “Interesting choice of theater name.”
I grinned. Having her eyes on me was like magic. The lights were dim as the credits played, and the air between us was electric. Nothing felt real in here. It was just me and her, wrapped in the darkness as dramatic electronic music played.
I wasn’t sure who moved first, but then our lips crashed together. Her fingers gripped my shirt, trying to pull me closer, and my hand cupped the back of her neck. I growled at the armrest keeping us apart. I gripped her waist, lifting her to place her on my lap. Her core pressed against my hard cock, and we both let out a moan.
“You need this, sweetness?” I asked as she ground against my hard-on.
She let out a sweet little moan. “What can I say? Aliens and the end of the world get me really hot.”
I pressed my smile into her throat. My mouth watered with the urge to bite her, mark her as mine, and I pulled away quickly. This was an anonymous hookup, nothing more. I wouldn’t let my alpha instincts push me into something I didn’t want.
I tugged on her leggings as she unzipped my pants. We were a flurry of desperate movements and gasping breaths. Her small hand surrounded my cock right as my fingers sank into her heat, and we both groaned.
“So fucking drenched,” I gasped.
“All for you. Well, you and the aliens.”
I snorted a laugh but was quickly cut off as she squeezed my dick, spreading precum down my shaft. I was going to come embarrassingly quickly but refused to come before she did. I roughly thrust two fingers inside her, curving them until I hit her omega spot. She cried out, throwing her head back, and fuck, she was beautiful. My other hand gripped her hip, my fingers digging in tight as I rocked her in a steady rhythm.
“That’s it, ride me, pretty girl.”
I swore as she ran her thumb along the tip of my cock, pleasure shooting through me like lightning.
She was whimpering now, grinding her clit against the palm of my hand as she continued working my cock, and then she let out the sweetest cry, her pussy gripping my fingers hard. Her eyes were closed, lips parted, and she looked like an angel as her orgasm washed over her in waves. Seeing her come pushed me over the edge, pleasure rocking through me with my release. I soaked her hand and the front of her sweater in my cum.
My alpha was fucking thrilled that she was marked with our scent.
She collapsed into my chest, and we lay there, breathing hard. My fingers were still inside her, and I didn’t want to pull them out. My other arm was wrapped around her back, keeping her tight to me. A burst of sweetness filled my senses, complex and spicy and mouth-watering. In my post-orgasm haze, it took me a minute to identify the scent: pumpkin spice.
The omega pulled back enough to meet my gaze, her expression soft as a smile played on her lips, but I felt like I was going to throw up.
This was just my fucking luck. Here I was, trying to have a casual hookup with a woman, and she happened to be the omega Lars had been obsessed with for years. He would want us to be a pack, and I just couldn’t . The presence of this omega in our town meant the end of my pack life with my brothers. They would choose her over me. I’d known this outcome was inevitable. I just didn’t realize it would happen so soon.
I pulled my fingers out of her. I wanted to lick her slick off them, but resisted, reaching down instead to grab a crumpled napkin. She must have sensed the change in mood because she moved off my lap, pulling up her leggings.
I busied myself with picking up my trash, doing my best not to look at her, but I still caught her wiping up my cum with some napkins. Her scent was fading, but what lingered in the air had a bitter note to it. My alpha urged me to fix it, to pull her into my arms and take her home. Instead, I looked around to make sure I had all my trash.
I cleared my throat. “It was nice meeting you.” And then I fucking fled like a coward.