16. Arlo
Chapter 16
Arlo
M eadow laid her head on my chest as we tried to catch our breaths. Both our bodies were covered in a thin sheen of sweat, but I liked that. Her sweet lilac and white rose scent filled the room, and every time I took a breath, I could have sworn I could taste her in the air.
“Oh…my,” my beautiful omega said breathlessly. “ That was amazing.”
“That was fucking glorious,” I panted, gently grabbing her chin and tilting her head so I could kiss her. Despite the mind-blowing orgasm she had just given me, my cock was already starting to stir again.
I would never have enough of Meadow.
Thank fuck she was mine.
Well, ours, if you counted my pack mates, but in the tour bus bedroom, there was just us, so for the moment, mine.
As my lips molded to hers, I vaguely recognized the sound of the bus door opening, but I chose to ignore it. Much more important things required my attention. Namely, a beautiful naked omega of mine.
As I pulled her toward me, she swung her leg over me, her damp pussy pressed against my abdomen, and my cock was immediately back to full mast. Meadow was doing wonderful things for my recovery time.
Only, I really should have been paying attention to what was happening outside the bedroom, but who could blame me when Meadow’s glorious tits were dangling in front of me, just begging to be played with?
“Arlo, what the fuck was—shit!” Beckett’s thundering tone was cut off as he opened the door to the bedroom, finding a very naked omega sitting on top of me. He stood in the doorway, his mouth agape, looking at Meadow. Phin stood behind him, a dopey grin plastered on his face.
A panicked squeak escaped Meadow’s chest as she dove off me with impressive speed. If her intention was to land next to me on the bed, she failed miserably. She fell clean off the bed in a tangle of limbs, onto the floor, concealing herself from my—our—pack mates’ views.
When she poked her head up, she glanced between all of us with wide, horrified eyes as she clutched her chest, hiding those beautiful tits from me.
“Meet the rest of our pack, princess,” I declared happily, sitting up without a care that everyone could see my cock, still rock hard and glistening with her juices.
“Is this her?” Phin asked, despite the scent making it obvious, as Meadow scrambled to pull the blanket off the bed and wrap it around herself without exposing any more of her beautiful skin.
Why was she hiding? She was a knockout.
“We’ll…uhh, give you a few minutes to get dressed,” Beckett said, looking pointedly away. Stupid gentleman.
“Take him with you,” she growled, jerking her head toward me.
“What did I do? Other than rock your world?” I asked with a pout, sitting up straighter.
“You fucking dickmatized me! Let me get dressed in peace. Shoo!” She waved her hand in a dismissive motion. I wanted to refuse to move like a petulant child, but her scent was starting to turn burnt with stress.
“Fine.” I huffed. “Don’t take too long, or I’m coming to get you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” She frowned at me, but a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
Standing up, I didn’t bother to grab any of my clothes as I sauntered toward the door past my two pack mates into the main body of the tour bus. Meadow would have a perfect view of my ass, and I flexed a bit to emphasize it. I knew I had a damn good rear; there had been magazine articles published, praising the curve of my derriere.
Beckett and Phineas followed me as I threw myself onto the couch near the entrance to the tour bus.
“Dude, you should really put some pants on,” Beckett said, grabbing shorts and throwing them at me.
“I like the freedom, but I’ll do it for you.” I grinned at him and tugged the shorts over my ass. “Why’d you interrupt us? I was having fun getting to know our omega.” Of course they were eager to meet her, but I’d been enjoying myself and was feeling a little petulant.
“So it is her?” Beckett asked.
I nodded enthusiastically. “She’s actually really cool. As much as I hate to admit it, Hendrix has good taste. Her taste is somewhat questionable, considering she chose to sleep with our Henny Boy, but still, I can overlook her poor judgment because it brought us together!”
Beckett was looking at me like I had grown a third head. “You sound like you’ve lost the plot. She’s been sick, Arlo. She needed care, not a tour bus fuck!”
“Considering the situation you found us in, we know for a fact that she’s not opposed to a little tour bus fuck.”
“Arlo…” He sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We need to make her feel comfortable, not…whatever it is you’ve been doing!”
“I can assure you she’s been very comfortable. In fact?—”
My words were cut off when the door to the bedroom opened and Meadow stepped out in her leggings, but instead of the shirt I had torn off her earlier, which was still on the floor by our couch, she was wearing a large graphic black tee. I was pretty sure it belonged to Beckett, though his eyes widening to saucers was my biggest clue.
She looked far too good in my pack mate’s clothing. Maybe we needed to burn all her own clothing and insist she only wear our stuff? That seemed like a good idea.
Then again, those leggings clung to her ass in a way that made me want to get on my knees and worship.
They could stay.
“I…uh…I couldn’t find my shirt,” she admitted, worrying her lip. “So I just grabbed the first one I could find. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize!” Beckett rushed to say, his eyes still wide. I suppressed my laughter. The fucker was getting a hard-on seeing the pretty omega in his clothing. She hadn’t noticed, but everyone else on the bus had. “I’m Beckett and this is Phin.” He gestured between them. “I know you’ve met Hendrix and Arlo.”
“We would have been even better acquainted if someone hadn’t disturbed us.” I pouted, crossing my arms.
Meadow’s face turned a delightful shade of pink at my words, her scent intensifying.
“Stop that,” Beckett scolded me, before turning back to Meadow and gesturing to the empty couch opposite me. “Why don’t you take a seat? I imagine we have a lot to discuss…”
Meadow nodded, going out of her way to take the path to the couch that avoided us the most. Beckett was an idiot for suggesting that sofa. My omega needed to be with me.
Standing up, I went to move toward her, intending to pull her into my arms. The conversations we needed to have could easily happen with her sitting in my lap.
Meadow’s eyes widened, and she scooched back. “No! You stay over there. We need to talk without you guys doing any of that mind-messing matey touchy stuff. It makes my brain turn to mush, and I don’t want that right now.”
My chest puffed up. I made her brain melty!
“Fiiine.” I drew out the word as I held my hands up in surrender, returning to my seat with a grin. I could have a grown-up conversation…for a few minutes.
Then all bets were off.
Phin sat down next to me, his eyes never leaving her. Beckett remained standing, hands on his hips like a disapproving mother.
“So…tell us a bit about yourself?” Beckett asked, his tone unsure.
What was one supposed to ask their omega whom they had never met but who was bonded into the pack?
Meadow groaned, resting her head in her hands. “This situation is so fucked.”
I agreed with her there, but I was happily along for the ride.
“It’s…unconventional,” Phin said. “I’m Phin, as Beck said. I’m the drummer. Out of all of us, I’m the most relaxed and clearly most handsome.” He beamed at Meadow, and it did the trick. She cracked a smile at him. “What do you do?”
“I’m a student…getting my master’s in journalism. I’ve only got one more year and I’m done.”
Smart girl.
“Are you from Seattle, or were you just there for the concert?” Phin asked. For a stoner, he really did ask all the important questions.
“I’ve lived there my whole life.”
I glanced over at Beckett, who was frowning slightly. Seattle was a long way from our home base in LA. Given the situation, living apart wasn’t exactly an option. If she had been feeling the distance anything like Hendrix was, staying away from her would be downright cruel.
“Where do you guys live?” she asked after we didn’t reply.
“LA,” Beckett admitted.
Her eyes widened as she nodded, probably calculating the miles in her head.
Would she be willing to abandon her studies, at least temporarily?
“And you guys have been a pack for how long?” she asked, her voice wobbling slightly.
“Years. We all grew up together, and we were a pack long before the idea of becoming a band was a thing,” I replied. “I mean, who can blame these fuckers for forming a pack with me? I’m fucking amazing!”
Meadow snorted but didn’t respond.
“How are you? I mean, with the baby and everything?” I asked, confirming for the others that we’d been right about the pregnancy.
“It hasn’t exactly been easy. The nausea has been brutal.”
Beckett headed over to the fridge for a moment and came back with one of the veggie trays that only he ever ate and a bottle of water. Placing them on the table next to her, he nodded toward the food, an invitation to eat.
Gingerly she picked up a stalk of celery and nibbled on it, her nose wrinkling. “Clover keeps making me eat veggies too.”
Beckett was probably resisting the urge to beat his chest with pride over the fact he provided our omega with food, even if she didn’t seem all that fond of it.
Alpha instincts were awesome. Feed omega, fuck omega, protect omega, and cuddle omega.
“The, uh…distance made all my symptoms worse,” Meadow added. “Hence, me coming here.”
Beckett cleared his throat. “So, the baby is Hendrix’s?”
Meadow stilled, turning to face him with fire in her eyes.
Oh, the fucker had just stepped in it.
It was a valid question, I supposed, but you couldn’t go questioning paternity with a pregnant, hormonal, cranky omega.
“Who else’s could it be?” Meadow asked in a tight voice laced with anger.
Beckett didn’t hesitate. “You could have already been pregnant with another alpha’s baby when you bonded Hendrix. How far along are you?”
I could have sworn I saw Meadow’s eye twitch before she grabbed the pot of ranch that came with the veggie tray and hurled it with impressive strength right at Beckett’s head.
“You really think I would be here if the baby wasn’t Hendrix’s?” she snarled, standing up and advancing on Beckett, who looked shell-shocked, even though the projectile missed him, making a mess on the wall of the tour bus.
“Well…I…I mean,” he stuttered, “it wouldn’t be the first time in history someone tried to pass off someone else’s baby for a celebrity’s.”
Meadow hissed. “Go fuck yourself, you absolute fucking ass!”
I strode over to her and picked her up from behind with ease—I loved hauling my sweet little spitfire omega around.
Life was fucking good.
“Come on, princess. Beckett is being an ass, I know, but let’s keep the maiming to a minimum, okay?” I nuzzled her hair. “I believe it’s Henny’s baby.”
She grumbled in my arms but made no move to break out of my grip as I sat down again, keeping her firmly in my lap. She could probably feel my boner through the shorts, but I didn’t care, and judging by the way her ass wiggled against me, neither did she.
“I’m sorry!” Beckett held his hands up in surrender. “I had to ask.”
“Even if it wasn’t his baby, which it is , it’s his fucking bond mark on my throat.” Meadow growled in my lap, and I hugged her closer to me, humming happily. “And I’m fifteen weeks along.”
“Have you seen a doctor?” Phin asked.
Meadow nodded. “Yeah. They recommended I find Hendrix, and I wasn’t too keen on the idea.”
“Why weren’t you keen?” I asked, kissing the top of her head.
“Because when I woke up, there was a random woman in the bed with us who wasn’t there when I fell asleep.”
“Oh, I remember her from the morning,” I told her. “I wonder if she broke into the bus. Hen’s definitely had more than one person in that bed with him before, but he’s never added someone out of nowhere, and we’ve definitely had groupies break into the bus before.”
“Certainly preferable to the alternative.” She sighed. “It’s all so shitty. One little mistake and I’m bonded to him!”
“He’s a good guy,” Beckett assured her.
“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think he’s touched another woman since you,” Phin added. “The bond has been fucking him up.”
Meadow nodded. “Okay…well, we have to get to know each other no matter what now. He’s been sick as well?”
“As a dog!” I declared happily. “His own fault! We’ve got so much catching up to do…”
She was sweet as a button. I wanted to keep her.
As she told us about the last few weeks, I listened intently, trying to commit every word she said to memory and learn as much about her as I could.
The tour bus door opened again after a while, and everyone turned to look at Hendrix as he ambled up the stairs into the bus. He was breathing deeply, like he had literally run from the VIP meet and greet. A strong cloud of sweat and scent followed him.
“There you guys are. What the fu—” He cut off when his eyes landed on Meadow. “Hey.”
She stared at him, eyes wide.
I wanted to snort with disbelief. Hendrix was finally meeting the omega he had banged, bonded, and made a baby with, and the most he could say was hey ?
Meadow, on the other hand, looked nauseated.
“Why the fuck do you smell like other omegas?” she growled, jumping to her feet and leveling Hendrix with a glare.
“I…uh…” He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the words and failing miserably.
I probably should have helped him, but what dumbass would come meet his bonded omega after having a bunch of women crawling all over him in the VIP room?