Chapter 63
Lucy
Horoscope Pisces
Pisces, you beautiful, sensitive romantic. Your love and empathy are your strengths, but don’t forget, there’s a whole world out there.
The mattress shifted beneath me and I whined, tightening my hold on King, who was trying to get away from me.
“I have to get to my meeting, baby girl,” he murmured.
I shook my head and pressed my face into the hollow of his neck.
He cupped the back of my head. “You can come with me.”
I growled in frustration. It had been five days since Leo and King had carried me out of the hospital and driven me home. I’d stayed in my nest ever since.
I needed to pull it together. Wilder and I weren’t bonded. Hell, he’d only come into my life a month ago. So why did it feel like there was a gaping hole in my heart? Like the loss of him was destroying me from the inside out?
Leo shifted on my other side, and a bolt of panic shot through me. He had to leave to fulfill a large flower order, and my arms weren’t strong enough to keep both of them in bed.
“Come into the shop with me, jigaram. We can set up a little nest for you in the back room.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want them to go, but the thought of leaving my nest was worse. My omega was sad and bruised, the blankets and pillows around me my only shield.
Leo groaned and squeezed me to his chest. “I’m worried about you. Maybe we should go to the fire station—”
“No.” They’d gently suggested we call Wilder or even track him down and force him to talk to us, but I’d refused. If Wilder didn’t want me, I wasn’t going to try to convince him to love me.
I’d spent the entirety of my last relationship doing that.
I knew if I really wanted Leo and King to back down, all I had to do was tell them Wilder had used his bark on me. I didn’t quite understand why I hadn’t, except that I knew it would turn them against Wilder, and for some inexplicable reason, I didn’t want that.
I released Leo and King. “I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Lucy,” King’s voice was devastatingly tender.
“I promise. Just come back as soon as you can.”
He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “Always.”
I stood in front of the open fridge with unseeing eyes. My layers of clothing—Leo’s sweatpants, King’s T-shirt…and Wilder’s flannel—kept me from feeling the cold air.
With Leo and King gone, there was nothing to distract me from how much I missed Wilder. I didn’t know if I wanted to run across town to scream at him or hug him.
I was a good multitasker. I could do both.
My phone vibrated on the counter, but I ignored it. It was probably a text from my friends. Or my moms. They’d all come over when they found out the news, but I’d refused to see them.
Once again, I was the failure omega who couldn’t keep a pack together.
I closed the fridge without taking anything out.
I’d been repeating this dance for the past few minutes.
Getting Blossom her lunch was the only thing that had dragged me from my nest. She was happily munching away at her salad while I wandered aimlessly around the kitchen.
It was stocked with premade meals and snacks, dropped off by Summer, Tara, my moms, Carmen, and Harry, but nothing sounded good.
I rested my forehead against the closed refrigerator door. I didn’t know how long I’d stayed standing there, eyes closed, when the downstairs doorbell rang.
I didn’t move.
It rang again.
And again.
I lifted my head with a scowl. The shop was closed, so I was guessing this was a meddling friend visiting and not a tailoring emergency.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Blossom nudged my ankle and I picked her up. “Should we go back to the nest and hide, or see who’s at the door?”
Ding. Ding. Ding.
I let out a frustrated screech and stomped down the stairs, stopping short when I glimpsed Parisa through the window.
Shit. I was a mess—eyes red and puffy from crying, tangled hair, drowning in men’s clothing—and was tempted to ignore her and head back to my nest. But that felt too rude and probably wouldn’t work, anyway, since she was still ringing the doorbell.
Parisa smiled when I opened the door, pulling me into a tight hug. “I’ve missed you. Ready to go? My mom made lunch, so I hope you’re hungry.”
I ran my hand through my hair, my fingers catching on the tangles. “What? Did we have plans?”
“For lunch, yes.”
I racked my brain, trying to remember, but came up with nothing. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember—”
“Oh, I made the plans like twenty minutes ago. I texted to let you know.”
“I don’t think that’s how plans work. And I’m not really feeling up to being social. Sorry you wasted your time.”
“It wasn’t a waste,” she said easily. Before I knew it, she had taken my hand, pulled me out of my store, and closed the door behind me.
Parisa’s alpha Amir opened the car door for us. “Nice to see you again, Lucy.”
“I think I’m being kidnapped.” I said as Parisa half shoved me into the car. “I could have you arrested.”
She cocked an amused eyebrow. “Who’s going to arrest me? Blossom?” She scooted in next to me, leaning over to stroke Blossom’s ears from her spot in my arms. “And don’t worry, today’s a girls’ day. Amir is just here as a chauffeur.”
“I know my place.” He grinned, his tender eyes meeting his omega’s in the rearview mirror, and it made my heart hurt. I wanted to demand we turn back around, but fighting Parisa would take too much energy. I took a deep breath. I could pull my shit together, if only for this afternoon.
The sun warmed my face as I curled up on the comfortable outdoor sofa on the Azad family patio.
We’d moved out here after eating one of the best lunches I’d ever had.
Parisa was sprawled out beside me, Bibi reclined on the sun lounger smoking hookah from an elaborate copper pipe, and Tara was deep in conversation with Blossom.
It was a bit of a one-sided conversation, but Blossom looked riveted all the same.
“Blossom and I need to learn Farsi.” I wanted to know what Tara was saying and to communicate better with Bibi. She spoke English, but it was clear she wasn’t nearly as comfortable speaking it as the rest of her family.
“I’ll practice with you,” Parisa said. Her eyes were shut, the sunlight turning her skin golden.
Tara beamed. “Moosh bokhoratet. We’ll all help you. Won’t we?” she cooed at Blossom.
“What does that mean?”
“It’s something you say when you think someone is cute,” Tara responded.
Parisa snorted. “That’s what it means, but the literal translation is may a mouse eat you.”
My eyebrows flew up. “What?”
She shrugged. “No clue. Farsi has lots of weird little sayings that don’t really translate to English.”
Hmm. Leo had called me something new this morning, but I hadn’t been in the right mind frame to ask what it meant. “What does…jeeg…uhh, I can’t remember what it was.”
“Jigaram?” Parisa asked.
“Yes, that’s it.”
Tara’s hand went to her heart and she sighed. “Leo said that to you?”
My omega preened at her reaction. “What does it mean?”
“Listen,” Parisa started. “I promise it’s actually very meaningful. But technically, it means my liver.”
“Did you say liver?”
“You cannot live without liver,” Bibi said.
Tara and Parisa nodded sagely.
“Leo called me his liver? And that’s romantic?”
“Yes, of course,” Tara said. “You should tell him jigareto bokhoram.”
Oh god. The phrase was pronounced with that back-of-the-throat sound I had no idea how to make. “What does that mean?”
“I love you,” Tara responded at the same time Parisa said, “I would eat your liver.”
A laugh burst from my chest, and it felt warm and strange after the hollowness I’d carried with me the last few days. “I guess I can’t judge too harshly. Swedish has some phrases like that. Sotnos is like sweetheart, but the literal translation is sweet nose.”
“Eh,” Bibi said as she got up from her seat. “Liver more important than noses.”
Blossom squeaked and jumped off Tara’s lap, her nose twitching as she landed softly in the grass.
“Blossom might disagree.” Parisa grinned.
“Azizam, come with me.” Bibi gestured for me to follow as she headed toward the greenhouse, my little bunny on her heels.