55. Kelly
One Year Later
“ I told you, we’ll be fine with just one bedroom. It’s just gonna be her and her bunny. They don’t need that much space. Besides, I doubt she’ll even spend much time at the house. Sarah can’t hold still for very long.” Teddy’s following Sam’s pacing form across the living room, trying to get our alpha to relax. He’s been in a constant state of near panic, trying to make sure the guest bedroom is ready for when Sarah gets here.
“I’m telling you, Love. She won’t want a big fuss. She's dealing with some stuff right now, and she just needs to get away. The best thing we can do is give her a nice cozy room to rest in, let her have full access at the gym to work out her energy, and just be there for her if she needs us…um, me more than you, probably.”
Sam is shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Bear. I’m just worried about embarrassin’ you in front of your friend. Shit’s been hectic lately. I’ve had to take on more at the station since Joseph’s pack officially resigned. Not that I blame ’em. After everything with Brice, they want to spend as much time together as possible, just in case of a relapse. But nobody else was up to takin’ charge.”
Our alpha tugs on his hair as we bookend his big body. Teddy nuzzles the back of his neck, while I bury my face in his chest. He starts purring, one hand running over my hair, the other petting Teddy’s arms that circle us.
Tilting my head up, I meet his eyes. “Besides, I’ll totally volunteer Garret for extra duties. He needs to get out more than just the gym. I know starting a new business means long hours, but it’s been almost a year. If he keeps this up, he’s gonna look all swole and lumpy. I like him streamlined.”
Teddy chuckles against Sam’s back, and my alpha meets my eyes. He’s more sensitive to my moods, and I squirm uncomfortably. “Besides, you know I worry about him. He gets obsessed with stuff and doesn’t take care of himself, case in point.” I move my hand up and down my body, and Sam hugs me tighter.
“Well, Sugar, you’re worth obsessing over. Besides, I kind of get feedback from him through you, and this feels different than before. I think he’s just really passionate about helping people, and wants to make this a success. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him if it looks like he’s startin’ to push himself too hard.”
My arms squeeze tighter around his middle—not that I can squeeze hard enough to hurt him. Still, I want to make sure he knows how much I appreciate him. As much as I love Garret, he tends to neglect his own needs in favor of those around him. It turns out when you bond with someone and can feel their emotions; you have a good window into their mental health. He still needs help, but we’re working on it, slowly but surely.
Jake comes scrambling in from the kitchen, looking excited and running straight for the front door. It opens a moment later and Steve walks in, followed by Garret. They both look tired, but otherwise good. Steve has filled out considerably over the last several months. And while he still wears mostly long-sleeved shirts when he’s around other people, he’s slowly stretching out my danged T-shirts too with his now wide shoulders.
Maybe I should order him some of his own shirts for their birthday in a couple of months. Try to keep mine from being destroyed. Steve points over his shoulder. “Hey, I found this one at work again. Thought I’d bring him home to help get everything ready for Sarah to visit. Really hope she doesn’t try to make good on her threats.” He squeezes his thighs together and I realize I never did get a good translation.
They both kick off their shoes and hang them on the shoe rack by the front door that Sam made, before sliding on the slippers that are his concession to my habit to not wear shoes in the house. He said he can only clean his work boots off so well from the shop and doesn’t want to risk any damage with how clumsy I already am.
Garret crosses the room in long strides to plaster himself to my back. He’s dressed in his usual work clothes for the gym, which is just a tight T-shirt and shorts. Technically, it’s a uniform since it has the company logo on it—Carpenter’s Gym: Building Better Bodies—but it’s still hot on him. Yeah, the slogan’s cheezy as heck, but Teddy funded the thing, so he got to name it. He blames the slogan on me since I came up with our pack name, and they like to accuse me of having a dad sense of humor.
As much as I enjoy being the meat in an alpha sandwich, I’m gonna choke to death between Sam’s stress pheromones and Garret’s work sweat funk. Plus, having a slightly swollen knot grinding against my butt doesn’t help the situation. Still, when I tip my head back to look at Garret, he’s grinning at me, and I enjoy how much he shivers when I wiggle against him.
Steve heads straight towards Teddy, but since he’s behind Sam, I can only guess he’s giving a similar hug. A few minutes later, his head pops around the side. “Oh, Xan asked me to tell you that JJ said her first word this weekend and while Lexi apparently isn’t interested in talking, he’s had to baby proof everything that’s not nailed down now that she’s walking.”
I extricate myself from the alphas, hopping up and down as I circle around to talk to Steve, so I’m not yelling over bodies. “Wait, aren’t they only about ten months old, isn’t it a little early for that?” Sam heaves a sigh and the group hug dissolves. The guys know by now that once we start talking about Candice’s kids, we’re gonna be busy for a while.
They were about a month premature, but they’ve caught up really well. Everything was crazy at work for the first four months or so. Doctor Leo was the only one who wasn’t freaking out, though I still wouldn’t exactly say he was calm, either.
“Oh, Officer Josh also stopped by today for an oil change.” Steve’s rapid change of subject grabs my attention back. He obviously brought it up for a reason.
“Oh, how’s he doing? Haven’t seen him since Spence brought him to the gym around Christmas.” Josh is pack adjacent to Spence. They’re the same age and best friends, and he’s also Paul’s younger brother. Paul and Spence are in a pack together with another alpha that I’ve only met a few times since Spence started working for Steve and Garret at the gym late last year.
Steve may hate all the business classes he took, but he still learned how to run one. Teddy’s our gym rat from hanging out with Sarah for almost ten years. My kinesiology and Garret’s medical degree aren’t as useful, other than in trying to keep people from injuring themselves.
I may go back to school in a few years to be a physical therapist, and Garret may look into residency at some point, but for now, we’re focusing on the present. Being together, building something new, and dealing with our issues.
Steve nods. “Yeah, no. He’s good. He wanted to tell me and Xan that all the charges against Paul have been dropped. You know, Dad’s…Marc’s goons got extradited pretty quick since they had warrants out for assault back in California.” I nod my reply, bending down to give Jake a good scratch behind his floppy ears.
“Well, I guess there was some sort of issue with them testifying after so long and from out of state, so it took a while. But yeah, everything’s clear now. He was setting up a celebration for this weekend at the diner and said we were welcome if we wanted to stop by.”
Officer Josh is, apparently, also a fan of One Punch Man, so when he stops by the gym and Steve’s there, neither of them gets anything done. Spence banned him from coming in unless it’s an emergency or a holiday, saying he’s worried he's going to lose his job for his family monopolizing one of his bosses’ time.
Steve only really works weekends at the gym now, anyway. He’s taking morning classes at the college and works in the afternoons at the garage since I moved full time to administrative stuff at the gym. It’s not what my degree’s in, but I know paperwork and none of these guys seem to be able to multitask worth a darn.
The gym is co-owned by the whole pack, kind of like Gabe’s Garage. So we all work there as needed. Lots of the high school girls like to come in and ogle my alphas, but I haven’t slapped anybody yet, so that’s a win.
Sam’s head pops out of the kitchen. “Hey, it’s Tuesday. Are we doing tacos, enchilada casserole, burritos? Somebody make a choice. ”
“Tacos!” yells Teddy.
“Burritos,” I shout simultaneously.
“You guys suck, I want quesadillas,” pouts Steve. “Oh, we learned a new recipe at school today, for chicken quesadillas.” He jogs towards the kitchen.
Garret walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my shoulders. He trails his tongue over the shell of my ear before grinding against me again. His voice is a breathy whisper against my neck. “I could go for a taco right about now.”
It wasn’t very quiet though, as Teddy bursts out laughing. “Fuck man, it’s a good thing you two are already mated. Nobody else would fall for that bad of a pickup line.” He cackles all the way into the kitchen after Sam and Steve.
Garret nuzzles me again. “I told you it was a terrible joke.”
Giggling, I turn in his arms to face him. “It was, yeah…but you love me anyway, even with my terrible jokes.”
His smile is bright enough to light up the room. “Of course I do, you’re mine.”