Chapter 15 Faye
FIFTEEN
Faye
“What’s she doing with that?” Damon’s angry voice rouses me. “That’s mine!”
“She needed it,” Cole hisses. “You should’ve been here!”
“We all know it’s better that I wasn’t,” Damon snaps.
“Shh.” Ren tries to silence him. “You’ll wake her.”
I keep my eyes squeezed shut, pretending to sleep.
“Look at the three of you! We don’t even know her!” Considering how loud he’s ranting, Damon is pissed. “She’s just a random omega who seems to know nothing about safety and keeps putting herself in dangerous situations that inconvenience us! Text me when she’s gone.”
His stomping fades away, followed by a slamming door. Shit! I can’t stay here. I still have some lingering cramps and uncomfortable prickling over my skin, but luckily, I can now think beyond my need for a knot.
A few seconds later, I feign waking.
Ren grins down at me. “Hello, beautiful.”
As lovely as it is to wake up in his arms, I’ve already outstayed my welcome. Damon’s made that quite clear. I sit upright and shuffle to the edge of the sofa. “I should go.”
“You don’t have to.” Ren’s face falls. “You’re welcome to stay.”
“I think it’s for the best. The patch is working; I’m feeling much better.” I scramble to my feet, already looking around for my shoes.
“Don’t you want to stay for dinner?” Laz offers. “I can order in whatever you’re craving.”
“Thank you.” I look down at my hands. “But I’ve already been enough of an inconvenience.”
I look up in time to see Ren frowning. “You heard Damon, didn’t you?”
“I really am sorry for everything.” I ignore his question. “You’ve all been so kind, but it’s time for me to go.”
“You’d never be an inconvenience, Faye,” Cole insists, but I don’t believe him. I’m sure they all had better things to do than babysit an omega through early heat onset.
“Ignore Damon,” Laz huffs out. “He acts like a dick, but he’s actually a teddy bear when you get to know him.” He must notice my look of disbelief because he then says, “Well, maybe not a teddy bear, but he’s not a total asshole.”
“He’s right, though,” I say. “You don’t even know me, and I’ve caused you nothing but trouble.”
“We may not know you properly yet.” Cole bends forward, elbows on his knees. “But we’d like to.”
“Really?” At my question, all three of them nod enthusiastically. “But I’m a mess. I keep going into heat whenever I see you, and you smell…” I sigh. “You all smell too good. I can’t describe it. It’s like—”
“You can’t control yourself?” Ren finishes for me. “Like you can smell us from a mile away?”
“That your body seems to act of its own accord when we’re around?” Cole adds.
“And you feel really fucking horny.” Laz wiggles his eyebrows. “Like, more than you’ve ever felt in your life.”
“How do you…” I shake my head. “Is that normal?”
“Why don’t you sit back down?” Cole motions to the couch. As soon as I’m seated, I let him take my hand. When his fingers entwine with mine, my hammering heart slows. “We were talking while you were asleep. Ren has a theory, which I think may be right.”
“A theory?”
“We think you’re our scent match, Faye,” Ren says. “Our omega.”
“But…” My head is spinning. “We can’t be, can we? Scent matches are so rare.”
What are the chances of me meeting the alphas, who are my personal scent crack, within my first few weeks of starting SVU?
“I didn’t believe it at first. In fact, I didn’t even think scent matches truly existed,” Ren confesses. “Until we met you.”
“We?” I’ve only known Cole for mere hours, and every time I’ve met Laz, I’ve either screamed in his face or cried. “You all think so?”
“Hell yes,” Laz replies without missing a beat, his tone reverberating with unwavering confidence.
“We’d like to get to know you better. If you’ll let us?” Cole squeezes my hand. “No strings, no catch. Whatever this connection is that we’re all feeling, we’d like to try to understand it.”
My thoughts are whirring a thousand miles per hour. Almost as fast as my life is changing. I’ve gone from sleeping in a tiny bedroom above Blooming Brew to becoming a Stella to narrowly stopping my heat with the sexiest alphas I’ve ever seen who now claim we’re scent matches?
“I need to go.” This is all too much. “I… I… I need…”
“You need time to think.” Cole nods in understanding. “That’s okay. We’ll be here whenever you want to talk. There’s no rush. We’re not going anywhere. We’ve been waiting years to find our omega.”
“Thank you for … everything.” I jump up from the sofa, thinking I may die of embarrassment when I see the slick patch I’ve left behind. “I’m s-sorry for the mess.”
“You have nothing to worry about.” Laz laughs. “That’s liquid fucking gold, Faye. We’ll be fighting over who gets to clean that up when you’re gone.”
He’s gotta be joking, right?
“A car is waiting for you outside.” Cole stands to join me. He’s 6’4” and makes me feel tiny by comparison. “Our driver, Frank, will take you back to Stella House.”
“It’s okay, I can walk,” I say. “You’ve done enough for me already.”
“You are not walking home,” Cole insists. His don’t even question me look makes me think twice about arguing. “It’s too dangerous.”
Laz licks his lips. “Especially when you smell like melted honeycomb and ice cream.”
“Cole’s right,” Ren says softly. “You’ll be safe with Frank.”
“I’ve already put all your things in the trunk,” Cole adds.
I nod dazedly, unsure of what to say next. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
Laz winks. “For now.”
“We hope to see you again soon, Faye,” Cole says as Ren takes my hand to lead me out.
He pauses at the front door and kisses my cheek, sending an electric shock through me.
“I’ll text you later, if that’s okay?” He doesn’t give me the chance to respond before continuing. “I hope you don’t mind, but Sabs gave me your number.”
With serotonin flooding my brain, all I can do is nod before stumbling down the path to their waiting car, where an older man—presumably Frank—is waiting for me.
He’s in his late sixties or early seventies with plenty of wrinkles and twinkling eyes.
He’s a beta who smells faintly of peppermint and Old Spice.
He’s the opposite of what I expected the Silverwood’s driver to be like, yet I instantly like him.
“You must be Miss Faye!” He bows when he sees me. “I’m Frank, at your service.”
He rushes to open the car door. I’m about to tell him I can get it myself, but he seems so excited that I stay quiet.
“Get yourself comfortable, little lady!” He has a thick, warm Southern accent. “I’ve been given strict instructions to get you back to Stella House safely. Miss Sabrina will be pleased to see you.”
Once we’re all buckled in, Frank sets off, launching straight into conversation.
“I’ve known Miss Sabrina since she was real small.
A talker, that one. She’d take on any alpha in a fight.
Oh, ho! And I’ve seen her fight. Scrappy young thing she was growing up in a house of boys.
She’d beat ‘em all!” Frank has an easy way about him; I could listen to him talk about nothing all day.
I also get the sense that he’s incredibly perceptive, that he’s talking to put me at ease, which is working.
“Oh, the fights they had! Let me tell you!”
“It’s so cool that you’ve known Sabrina and Laz for such a long time.”
“Cole too.” The skin around his eyes crinkles when I meet his gaze in the rearview mirror.
“Laz and Cole were best friends in school. Thick as thieves, those two. I never had my own family, see. I worked for the Mavericks for years, so when Mr. Silverwood—Cole—started college, he offered me a new position. I was ready for a change. My wife died a few years back—some painful memories in that place, you know? I wanted a fresh start and, between you and me, who else would hire an ancient fossil like me?”
Hearing Frank’s story only makes me think more highly of Cole. He could have hired anyone, but he wanted to help this sweet, old widower.
“You’re only as old as you feel,” I say. “Or so my gram tells me.”
“Your gram sounds like a wise woman, little lady!” Frank flashes me a toothy smile, drumming his hands on the steering wheel.
“I don’t feel a day over thirty when I’m behind the wheel.
You know, you’re the first girl Mr. Silverwood has asked me to drive anywhere.
Unless you count Miss Sabrina, that is.”
“Really?” I shouldn’t be digging for information, but I’m surprised. “None?”
I saw how other women reacted to them at the club. The Silverwood alphas are gorgeous. I assumed they had women falling at their feet.
Frank chuckles. “There’s more to the Silverwood Pack than meets the eye, little lady. They have kind hearts. Loyal to the bone, they are. Couldn’t find a better pack anywhere. You’re lucky to have them.” He winks at me. “And I’m not just saying that because they pay my wages either.”
“Oh, we’re not…” I turn my head to look out my window, avoiding the inquisitive eyes that when not on the road, are studying me. “I mean, we’ve just…”
Frank laughs, a hearty laugh right from his stomach, as we come to a stop at the Omega Village gates. When he lowers the window to have a quick chat with Margie, sparing me from having to explain, the muscles in my shoulders loosen.
“Even an old fruitcake like me needs special permission to come through here,” he says as we pass through the open barrier. “Look there.” He points at Stella House. “It’s Miss Sabrina!”
Sabs races down the steps to greet us and wrenches the door happen.
“You’re in safe hands now, little lady.” Frank turns then tips his cap at me. “You take care of yourself. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you.”
“It was nice to meet you,” I reply as Sabs hauls me out into a hug.
“Faye!” She squeezes me so tight that I can hardly breathe. “I’ve been worried sick! Laz called me in a panic, blathering about towels or something. I’ve never heard him like that before. I barely understood what he was saying! Are you okay?”
“I… I think so,” I squeak. “The heat patches worked. Thank God.”