39. Easton
39
EASTON
“Why are you crying, baby?”
I held Olive close as tears streamed down her face. She was on my lap and we had just finished lunch, but she was still having a hard time. Lars had filled us in on what happened on their date, and Finn and I had rushed over.
I hated seeing her like this, especially because the issue was hormonal and there was nothing I could do to fix it, except be here with her.
It didn’t feel like enough.
Maybe I wasn’t enough.
My mother’s angry voice echoed in my head, telling me how useless I was. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath against the fear that I was failing Olive, that she would leave me.
My mom’s words weren’t true. I had a place here. With my brothers. By Olive’s side.
“I don’t know,” she blubbered. “I’m just sad. And my hair looks awful.” She started crying harder.
“Your hair looks beautiful, sweet girl,” Finn said, leaning forward to run his fingers through her waves, which maybe looked just a little unkempt and frizzy. Not that it mattered, but Olive cared about her appearance .
“Why don’t we take a bath together?” I suggested. “It will be nice and relaxing, and we’ll wash your hair.”
“But then I’ll have to dry my hair,” she sobbed.
I caught the briefest flash of a smile on Lars’s lips before he schooled his expression. Our omega’s distress wasn’t funny, but her dramatics were cute and in such contrast to how reserved she usually was.
Lars leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “Come here, sweetheart. I’ll dry your hair afterwards, okay? You won’t have to do anything.”
“Really?” she asked, eyes wide and glassy, as if there were any doubt we would do anything for her.
Lars just nodded and picked her up, carrying her to the bathroom. It was a cramped room with a small tub, and I had visions of replacing it with something large enough for all of us. On second thought, that might just be the size of a pool. Okay, a bathtub at least big enough for two of us.
Finn started the bath, and I looked through the cabinets for bath oils. I frowned when I saw they were practically empty. We needed to get her bath bombs or something. She deserved to feel special.
Lars put Olive down on the bath rug, and the two of us gently stripped off her sweater (mine) and got her in the bath.
Her scent turned sweeter once she was in the water, the tension draining from her shoulders. But then a little frown marred her face. “Why am I the only one naked?”
The three of us were off the floor and stripping immediately. I hesitated before pulling off my boxers. I was half-hard and didn’t want her to think I expected anything. My cock only saw a gorgeous naked goddess in the tub. He really didn’t have a sense of occasion. But if she wanted us naked, who was I to argue?
I sat down on top of my sweater so my ass wasn’t against the freezing floor. Lars massaged the shampoo into her hair, and her eyes drifted closed.
I leaned forward, my lips brushing against her ear. “Look at you, doing whatever you can to get your alphas naked.”
The tiniest smile tugged at her lips as she brushed her cheek against mine, scent-marking me. The gesture soothed the part of me terrified of abandonment. I had been the one to make her smile because I knew Olive. I had peered into the deepest parts of her soul, just as she had done to me.
She entwined her fingers with mine. “I would never be that diabolical.”
“Sure, sunshine. Whatever you say.”
Night had fallen and the four of us were in the lighthouse control room, bundled up again in thick sweaters, empty pizza boxes stacked to the side. Olive sat in the main chair, looking out of the large windows at the storm. The static of the radio and intermittent announcements cut through the heavy patter of rain and thunder.
“It’s been a while since we got a storm like this,” I said. “Remember that one a few years ago that damaged the market?”
“Cut the power to half the town, too,” Finn said. “What a mess.”
Lars stood behind Olive, running his fingers through her dry hair. “Want me to give you a couple of French braids?”
Olive blinked up at him. “You can braid?”
“Lucy trained me well.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
Her blanket had slipped down her shoulder, and I adjusted it. It was cold in this room.
“We should get some space heaters up here, especially with winter coming.” The idea of my Olive being cold was unbearable. I didn’t want her to live alone in the lighthouse cottage this winter or any other time. How long did we have to court her before we moved in? I needed to see what the internet had to say about it.
Lars started working on Olive’s braids. She leaned into his touch as he tenderly parted her hair, moving with her when she leaned forward to adjust some controls.
“What is it you’re doing?” I asked. The three of us had spent plenty of storms up here with Fredrik when we were teenagers, but we’d never paid much attention to what he was doing. We would bring up pillows and card games and music to keep Fredrik company during long nights, and he’d seemed to love it. He and Carina had always seemed to love spending time with us. It had made me feel so fucking special.
“In bad storms like this, I’m in touch with the Ocean Rescue to ensure everyone in the water stays safe. Starlight Grove’s marina is small, so the rescue boats don’t usually launch from here, but they can if it’s the most proximate location. I also keep track of communications with ships in the water, adjusting the flash sequence of the lantern, using the foghorn, and sometimes even Morse Code messages through the light and radio so they can orient themselves.”
Lars pulled a small hair tie from his pocket and tied off Olive’s first braid. “Where did you learn all of this?”
“I trained in open ocean rescue once I turned eighteen, and I always read the meteorological reports for the lobster boat.” She shrugged as if it was nothing, as if she wasn’t incredibly impressive. “But the lighthouse stuff, I learned from that.” She pointed at a large binder on the desk in front of her.
Finn flipped it open and swallowed hard. “My grandpa wrote this.”
“Yeah. Fredrik. I feel like I’ve gotten to know him as I’ve read through it all. It’s pretty funny, too. He put lots of little commentary notes throughout the manual.”
“I wish I had paid more attention to all this growing up,” Finn said, his voice thick.
Olive reached out to grab his hand and squeezed. We lapsed into a comfortable silence, squeezing close to our omega as we watched the storm roll over us.