13. Steve
Chapter 13
G arret almost plows me over on his way out of the kitchen. Sam and Teddy have already started on breakfast, so maybe my brother is just feeling useless. He might also be worried since he’s about to leave Kelly behind in the possibly vain attempt to retrieve our belongings. I’d gladly trade him places.
Sam turns and wipes his hands on a dishtowel before nudging Teddy and nodding to me. Teddy drops the tea bag in his hand and turns, stalking towards me, and taking my arm to lead me out of the kitchen. He leads me into the living room and positions me beside Garret on the couch.
“So, Sam, he’s not good at…well, fuck. Here, see if they fit your phones.” He tosses us a couple of flat pieces of plastic. “If that doesn’t work, we can grab some cheap flip phones or so mething until we can get everybody upgraded.” I look down at the credit card sized item in my lap, and it has a smaller card to push out…oh.
“Anyway, he stopped at his service provider in the mall yesterday and put us all on his plan. I gave Kelly hers last night, so she should be good to go too. Your old numbers are registered, so you should be set once we see if these work.” Damn, I thought Sam was just taking a really long time to figure out his lunch. That was…sweet.
Garret already has the side slot of his phone popped open and is swapping out his old red card for the new green one. Is it really that simple? Once he slides it back together, he restarts his phone, then takes mine out of my lap and does the same again. Then I notice that the card in my lap has an S drawn on it in black marker. Ah, so they knew whose number goes where—gotcha.
Teddy stares down at both of us, scrubbing his hand over the back of his hair. “So…yeah. I’m gonna go help him out.” He turns and stalks out of the room, and I hear quiet voices from the kitchen a few minutes later.
Garret hands me back my phone, which is booting up. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his fingers flying over his contacts before he puts it up to his ear. It rings several times and no one answers. Fuck, time zones. I slap his arm. “It’s barely after 5 a.m. there.” He pales, hanging up just as the voicemail clicks over.
He covers his face with his palms. “Sorry, I’m just scattered this morning. Fuck…well, hopefully that doesn’t push Mr. Wa zowski over into not letting us get our stuff. Shit.” Patting him on the knee, I stand and follow after my omega towards the kitchen. He and Sam move around each other, Sam seems to be doing the cooking, and Teddy follows close behind, cleaning and putting things away as he goes.
Not knowing what else to say, I wave my phone at them. “It works…uh…thank you.” Sam grunts, but Teddy at least smiles and comes over to give me a hug. His breath is hot against my neck. “I don’t like having to leave either of you behind, but I have to do this. Like, legally, I should already be back at the center. The longer I delay, the more problems it could cause. I don’t want anybody to try to use this as an excuse for us to not be together.”
He looks over his shoulder at Sam, who’s staring at him tenderly. The big alpha finally leaves off cooking and makes his way over to wrap his arms around Teddy—trapping him between us and squeezing tightly. He lets go with a sigh. “Breakfast should be ready in a minute. I made up some scramble bowls…so, little of everything. Can you go get your brother to the table? I wanna get this show on the road, and I still need to show you how to do the floors in the nest.”
Garret comes walking into the room before I even have a chance to turn around. “Thanks, I…I heard.” My brother looks lost again, but I don’t know what to do to help him. Shit, some days I feel like I’m barely hanging on myself. Waking up this morning without Teddy and Sam nearly sent me into a fucking panic. The only reason it didn’t was because I saw Garret, and my brother and I didn’t sleep in the same bed until we came here.
I turn to grab plates, but Teddy’s already bringing out the coffee, and Sam has each plate already made up…filled with fried potatoes and a bunch of other stuff, an egg on top of each one. If carpentry fails, the man at least has a career as a short-order cook.
Breakfast is, as usual, really good. I still want him to teach me. Shit, part of me wonders if I could go back to school and learn to cook that way. Dad would shit a brick but fuck it. If I’m not having to do a business degree for him, I might as well do what I want. And right now, that involves me taking care of my new pack. Even the beta.
Kelly
I t’s almost nine when Sam walks into the office, followed by Teddy and Garret. Teddy and Sam walk behind the counter and wrap me in a big hug, squeezing me between the two of them. When they pull back, Garret is there. He looks like he’s just about had his guts ripped out, and I wish I knew how to help him feel better.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull up against him, giving him a quick kiss on the lips, and he melts against me. My name is nothing more than a soft sigh as his arms tighten around me. He slowly lets go, stepping back, as his eyes meet and hold mine. “Promise me. Promise me that you’ll stay safe. Steve may not like it, but if anything seems unusual, take him with you. He’s probably not much of a fighter, but I’ll feel better if he’s at least close by if something happens.”
His forehead drops to mine as his eyes close. “I just found you…and you probably think it’s stupid, but I love you. You mean more to me than anything. I hate being away from you at all, but since we don’t know what’s going on with our dads…just…be safe. And call, call for any reason, even if you just want to hear my voice.” He pulls back enough to kiss me on the forehead before turning and abruptly stalking out of the shop.
Teddy and Sam both look stunned, so I can only guess they weren’t expecting the declaration of love either. It’s just kind of a shock. No one’s ever told me that, other than my parents. Sam comes back to the counter. “Well, this is awkward trying to go after that. But the kid’s right, if anything feels off, make sure you take Steve with you. He’ll bitch about it, probably a lot. But he can just fuckin’ deal. We already picked up a notarized copy of the pack registration from the courthouse, so we’re headed out. You have your phone?”
I nod my head, and he continues, “Alright, Honey. Just…be careful. Call us if you need anything. I can get somebody out there to help you. And please call me tonight when you get in from school, just to let us know you’re safe, yeah?”
I smile at Sam and Teddy. “Y’all realize my parents are just down the street, right? I’ve lived here my whole life. I can even call Xan or Gabe if Momma doesn’t answer her phone. Go, I promise I’ll call tonight. You be safe, you’re the ones with the stupidly long drive, and dealing with a bunch’a new people.”
My eyes meet Sam’s, and he still looks worried. Teddy gives me one more hug before pulling Sam out the door. I barely hear him as the door closes. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we get back. Let’s go.”
W ork finishes with no problems, and while Spencer insists on following me around campus to make sure I stay safe, the rest of the day goes by fairly quickly. He saw me walking in from the far parking lot and asked how Teddy was doing, so I told him they were heading back to the center to pack up his room.
He looks confused for a minute but then smiles widely. “Hey, do you think he knows any other omegas there, like…anybody who might not want to live in a big town?” Poor Spence, the closest omega center to Oak Flats is still about four hours away. We’ve never talked about if he has a pack or not, but I’d guess the courting process for that distance isn’t really plausible with full-time school and work.
“Well, I’m sure he knows lots of omegas, though I don’t know if any of ’em would want to move here. I even sort of met his friend Sarah on the phone last week. She was pretty…um…exuberant.” I’m not sure what all else to add to that. She’s his best friend, but she was also super loud.
Spence looks crestfallen for a few moments before grinning again. “Ah well, Kelly, it’ll all work out. Don’t stress out about it.” Unsure of why I would stress about Spence meeting an omega, I shrug it off.
He walks me to class and then meets me after each one to walk me to the next, and soon I’m done for the day. He insists on walking me back to my car, but it feels kind of awkward to have him just following me around. “Ok, well, I’m headed home. Ya think I should pick up takeout…or we can just do sandwiches. I don’t have Steve’s number to ask, but I guess we can just do sandwiches if his pancakes are anything to go by.” Spence grins at me again, not getting the reference, but happy for me anyway.
“Bye, Kelly! Give your omega phone hugs when you talk to him tonight! I’m sure he’ll need it!” His big arm waves over his head as I pull out. Seriously, you’d think we were best friends and I’m going away for a year instead of just heading home for the night. Still, Spencer is sweet, and I hope he finds his own pack and omega soon.
S teve is still working in the nest when I get home, and the floor looks amazing. I didn’t doubt that he’d be able to do it. But between the painting last night and this, you can barely tell it’s the same room.
Standing in the doorway, I watch as he sweeps up every bit of dust on the new floor, before using a damp mop to pick up any stragglers. He’s so focused, I don’t really want to interrupt him. Unfortunately, that means when he finally looks up and sees me, he lets out a screech that makes me jump in response. Now we’re both standing here, glaring at each other and hoping not to drop dead of a heart attack.
After a few deep breaths, I try to ask what I came in here for. “So, did you have any idea what you might want for dinner? It looks like you’ve been working your butt off, I thought I might take you out to the diner if you feel up to it.” One eyebrow goes up, and I don’t know why he's so suspicious of me. “I mean, if you’d rather, I can see what Momma and Daddy are doin’, and we could go over there. Otherwise, I can fix sandwiches.” I don’t want to mention pancakes since I worry he’ll think it’s a jab.
He stretches his shoulders, looking thoughtful for a minute. “Yeah…yeah, let me just go get cleaned up. Scooting around on the floor all day, I’m pretty stinky now.” I will neither confirm nor deny this statement, so I just turn around to let Jake back in and feed him, then shoot a quick message off to Sam that I made it home, and we’re about to go grab food.
A short time later Steve meets me downstairs—and he’s wearing my shirt. It’s fine, it’s one of my older ones, but still, it makes me wonder about this guy who seems to hate me half the time stealing my clothes.