39. Dominic
Chapter 39
Dominic
Business trips are pretty standard when it comes to businesses like ours, but this is the first one I’ve been on with the other Alphas in my pack. A high profile company several states away insisted on us coming to them personally to discuss business, and the contract for their work would cost enough that it’s definitely worth our while.
We get a tour of their building and speak with their tech team. Tristan and Xavier take notes on the needs they seem to have, and I work on filling in the blanks of where we can help them. It’s strange that it’s become so easy to do this as a team.
All three of us have our strengths, and it used to be that those strengths just resulted in us butting heads constantly. We didn’t want to get out of each other’s way for long enough to get anything done.
Somehow, in the last couple of months, there’s been a shift. It’s easier for me to hear Xavier and Tristan out about things, and I don’t feel like they’re trying to step on my toes or make me look weak.
On the second day of the trip, we meet in the lobby of the hotel to go over our notes before heading over to the client’s office again.
“I think this is the first time I’ve been on this side of the problem with a client,” Tristan mutters, typing something on his laptop.
“What do you mean?” Xavier asks.
“Usually, my job is to convince clients to give these sorts of solutions a try. They’ve been dragging their feet about it for whatever reason, or they don’t believe it’s safe, or they have only just heard about it. But these people…” He turns his screen to face us, showing off the sprawling list of things they want.
Xavier snorts. “They’ve completely bought it. Maybe too much.”
Tristan nods. “We’ll have to scale this back. We can’t fully automate on this level, not with their security concerns.” He glances at Xavier, like he’s checking to make sure he’s right about that.
“Agreed,” Xavier says. “It would be risky to have someone running it, and there’s no real way to vet that kind of thing anyway. We’ll have to talk them down.”
“You’re advocating for talking a client down off something they want?” I ask, smirking. “What happened to the customer is always right?”
“I’m pretty sure I never said that,” he fires back with a grin. “It’s about finding the middle ground, Dom. And I see you’re not suggesting we just throw them out a window or something.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Barely.”
It’s so different from the way things used to be. The words we throw at each other now are teasing, and we’re all in good spirits. Even Tristan has a little smile on his face while he works to pare down the list of demands from the client.
There’s none of the anger, none of the antagonism that was always there before, and I don’t think any of us noticed it changing.
Apparently forming a pack actually worked.
The fucking board will be thrilled.
“All right, how about this?” Tristan asks. “We can handle their big asks easily enough, and everything else we’ll rank based on priority.”
“Make it look like we’re giving them more than we’re not,” Xavier says, nodding along. “Smart.”
“Technically that’s exactly what we’re doing, but it’ll help if they don’t see as much of what we’re taking away.”
“Ruthless,” I quip at him. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”
“I’m not Xavier,” he replies. “I don’t need everyone to like me.”
“Wow. I don’t know why I’m catching strays here,” Xavier laughs, holding his hands up. “Someone has to be the charming one when I’m traveling with you two grumps.”
“Of course,” Tristan says. “That’s why the woman at the front desk last night was tripping over herself to give you an upgrade to your room.”
“That’s just because she recognized my name. Or my credit card.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t see her offering anything to me or Tristan.”
Xavier shrugs, unbothered. “That’s because neither of you knows how to have a conversation with a stranger. Grunting your last name and practically throwing your card at her isn’t going to win you any free shit.”
“I didn’t throw it,” I say, trying to defend myself. “I was speeding up the process. They have to do that shit a thousand times a day. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to waste time on small talk.”
“He has a point,” Tristan agrees.
“Of course you’re anti-small talk,” Xavier mutters.
Tristan checks his watch and then closes his laptop, putting it away. “As fascinating as this conversation is, we have somewhere to be.”
We head for the rental car so we can go over to the client’s office together.
It’s a nice day out, and the good vibes continue when we get to the client and they hang on our every word as we present them with our plan for their data.
Xavier handles smoothing over the rough parts, charming them with flattery and facts. Tristan explains things calmly, answering their questions and providing figures to back up his projections. And I come in at the end, to put a firm bow on it all, making promises for how we can help them and keep the working relationship fruitful on both ends.
“It all sounds amazing,” says the CEO grinning. He jumps up to shake our hands. “We’ll sign the contract as soon as legal has a chance to go over it, and we can get started.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I step away from them to check it.
It’s Penelope, and I frown, remembering the last time she called me when I was in a meeting.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, answering the call.
“Oh,” she says, sounding surprised. “I wasn’t expecting you to answer. I thought I would get your voicemail. I know you’re busy, and it’s not anything important.”
I raise an eyebrow at the way she’s downplaying whatever it is. “It was important enough for you to want to call,” I say. “So you might as well tell me what’s happening.”
“It’s nothing bad!” she assures me. “It’s just… it was a hard day, I guess.”
“Hard how?”
“Nothing went right! I’ve been trying to perfect all my recipes and speed them up a little so I can make a bunch at a time, and it’s just not coming out how I want it to. I know I can’t cut corners, or the quality will suffer, but I also can’t spend all day on one batch of Danishes or I won’t be able to make anything else. It’s just frustrating.”
I know first-hand how hard it can be when you’re trying to get a business off the ground, and I guess it’s probably even harder for Penelope, who has to make her product from scratch with her own two hands every day. She’s been working so hard to get ready to reopen her bakery, and I can hear the tiredness and frustration in her voice.
“It sounds frustrating,” I tell her.
She sighs, giving a small chuckle. “It’s nothing earth shattering or serious, like I said. Just me having a bad day. And then I went home, and…”
“And?”
She sighs again. “And the house was so quiet. I’ve been here by myself before, but usually you guys show up before long, and it doesn’t seem so… empty. It’s weird.”
“Did you lock all the doors?” I tease her. As if anyone would be stupid enough to break into our house, bristling with security the way it is.
“Yes, I did,” she teases back. “It’s not me being afraid to be here alone, it’s just that… I miss you guys.”
Penelope says it so softly, like she’s shy about it, and I can clearly picture the way she’d duck her head while her cheeks flushed pink. It’s cute and heartwarming, and something tightens in my chest.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I said those words to someone, but with Penelope it comes so easily.
“We miss you too,” I murmur back.
She’s smiling after that, I can hear it in her voice. “How’s the trip going? Are the clients sufficiently wooed by your skills?”
“It’s going well. We’re managing to get them to agree to everything we need and the contract should be signed by tomorrow at the latest.”
“That’s good! I knew you guys would crush it if you could get along for long enough.”
“There haven’t been any fights,” I tell her. “Scout’s honor.”
Penelope snorts. “Now you sound like Xavier. I think he’s rubbing off on you.”
“You take that back.”
She laughs and then goes quiet. “Okay, let me stop bothering you now. I know you have important CEO things to do. Tell Tristan and Xavier I said hi.”
“I will,” I promise.
“Thanks. Good luck with the rest of your trip.”
We say goodbye, and I hang up the phone. Tristan and Xavier are still talking to the clients, but I know they’ve had one ear on our conversation. They can tell the gist of what was said, and they look at me, both with similar expressions on their faces.
I don’t know when I started being able to read them so well, but I know from what I see in their eyes that we’re all on the same page right now.
“I forgot why I don’t do this,” Xavier says, groaning as he stretches his back. “It doesn’t matter how nice the seats are or how much leg room is promised, these long flights always suck.”
We just touched down back at the airport at home, and the three of us make our way through the crowd of people to get our bags.
“Jonas is outside,” Tristan says, checking his messages.
“Thank fuck,” I grumble. “I’ve had enough of people for the day.”
We step outside once we have our things, and Jonas is there as promised, standing at attention next to the car.
“I wasn’t expecting you for another couple of days,” he says, smiling knowingly.
“Plans change, Jonas,” Xavier replies, grinning back as he ducks into the car.
That’s all that needs to be said about it, and it’s a quiet drive back to the house.
The lights are all off, which makes sense seeing as it’s nearly one in the morning when we get there. We move quietly, putting our things in our rooms and changing out of our plane clothes before meeting up outside Penelope’s room.
None of us even discussed the plan to do that with each other, but it’s just second nature to gravitate to her now, to seek her out after being away from her for any length of time.
Tristan eases the door open, and we look in on her. A shaft of moonlight falls through her window, lighting on her hair and making it glow in the darkness. She’s curled up in the middle of the bed, face cushioned on a pillow. Her eyes are closed, and she breathes gently, her lips slightly parted. There’s a furrow in her brow, like her frustration from the day carried over into her sleep, but even with that she’s perfect, and so fucking beautiful.
I’m sliding past Tristan to move across the room before I know it, drawn to her like a moth to a goddamned flame.
The other two follow quickly, and we climb into bed with her, settling around her as we make ourselves comfortable.
Penelope stirs, blinking in confusion for a few seconds before her sleep addled brain catches up with what’s happening.
“Am I dreaming?” she mumbles, reaching up to rub her eye. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“And yet, here we are,” Tristan says, reaching over to stroke her hair back from her face. “We didn’t mean to wake you, angel.”
“I’m glad you did. And I’m glad you’re back, but why are you back? Is everything okay?” She looks at me and then turns her head to look at the others.
“Everything’s fine,” I tell her. “You needed us, so we came back.”
“Oh.” The moonlight highlights the blush on her cheeks. “I mean, I would have been okay. You didn’t have to?—”
I cut her off, pressing a hand over her mouth gently. “We missed you too. And we wanted to be home. The deal is done anyway, so there was no reason we needed to stay.”
Her eyes waver for a moment, and it looks like she’s going to argue some more, but then she relents, and I lift my hand away from her mouth. She smiles, looking a little bashful. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”
“And we’re glad to be here,” Xavier says. “You have no idea how bad the coffee was at the hotel we stayed at. And the client had these desserts catered in, and they were nowhere close to being as good as yours. We were desperate.”
That makes Penelope giggle, and she reaches over to poke him. “I knew you only wanted me for my lemon bars,” she teases.
Xavier mimes being shot in the heart dramatically, gasping and nearly rolling off the bed.
I roll my eyes at him, but it’s more fond than actually annoyed. “How do you have this much energy this late at night?” I mutter.
“I don’t,” he answers, yawning. “This is my last gasp before I pass out.”
Penelope laughs, and it’s nice to see the way she snuggles down between us, all traces of the frustration from her earlier phone call disappearing. She seems happy, and it’s a relief to breathe deeply and inhale her scent, letting it wash away the tangle of smells that always comes along with plane travel.
It’s a quiet night, and Xavier teases some more before dropping off into sleep.
“He’s like an excited puppy,” Tristan murmurs. “Tires himself out and then passes out wherever he is.”
“At least he’s in a bed,” Penelope offers.
“I think we all would prefer to be in your bed, given the choice.”
She smiles at him, leaning into it as he keeps stroking her hair.
It’s been interesting watching Tristan grapple with his feelings for her. Xavier and I leaned into them a while ago, giving up any pretense of not wanting her, but Tristan was clinging so damned stubbornly to that emotionless mask of his.
Whatever passed between him and Penelope lately has opened him up, and that has made Penelope happy in a way that radiates to all of us. It’s like a dam has broken, and all the things that were being held back—feelings, emotions, gestures—are just rushing out. And no one is complaining about it.
Tristan falls asleep soon after, leaving just me and Penelope awake.
I take over stroking her hair, and she leans into me, resting her forehead against my chest.
“I didn’t want to sound needy on the phone,” she whispers, the words moving against my skin. “I know you guys have important business to deal with, and I wasn’t trying to tear you away from it.”
“We know that, little bird,” I murmur back. “We made the choice. Being here with you is important to us.”
She hums, clearly pleased. “Thank you. For saying that. For coming back. I was not looking forward to the next couple days without you.”
I nod, twisting a lock of her hair around my finger. “This is all new to me, you know,” I say, not sure what’s compelling me to bring this up. “All this… affection and warmth.”
“Yeah?” She lifts her head, looking at me in the dark.
“Yeah. My family… I don’t talk about them a lot.”
“I remember at the wedding, Xavier said they weren’t good people.”
“They aren’t. My father was cold and demanding, and my mother just… didn’t care that he didn’t love me. They’re business people through and through, and just like you have to work hard to turn a profit in a business, my father made me work hard for every scrap of affection I ever got from him. If I didn’t make perfect grades, I didn’t get to eat dinner with them. If I ‘embarrassed’ them in front of their friends, I had to go to my room for the rest of the night. If I complained to my mother about how hard my father was being on me, she’d just give me this distant look and say, ‘you know how he is,’.” I swallow hard, biting back the anger that I still feel because the way I grew up.
“Dominic…” Penelope whispers.
“I always had to be the best, and he kept moving the goal posts, so I had no idea what it even meant to be the best after a while. Anything less that perfection was a waste of time, and my father didn’t hesitate to tell me that I was a waste of time too. Everything was conditional, transactional, and I knew that even when I was on his good side, it wasn’t going to last.”
Penelope’s eyes are big and sad as she looks at me, and she traces her finger in idle patterns on my chest. “That sounds horrible,” she says. “Who could treat their child that way? And your mother didn’t do anything to protect you?”
I laugh, but it comes out bitter. “Oh, he treated everyone that way. Even her most of the time. She was determined to keep up appearances, so everyone would think we were the perfect family. We all had to be on our toes all the time because anything less was complacency, and that wasn’t allowed.”
“Trading success and looking good for your family’s happiness. What a concept.” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
I shrug. “It is what it is. I don’t like how it sounds when I say it made me who I am, but I guess in trying to distance myself from their bullshit, I turned into the person I am today.”
“A good person,” Penelope emphasizes. “Someone who cares about people.”
“Not always,” I whisper. “I have their exacting standards sometimes. But the thing is… I don’t want to be like them when it comes to affection and making sure the people in my life know that I care. I don’t want you to have to wonder what hoops you have to jump through to keep me wanting you. I want you to know how much you mean to me, and to never have a reason to doubt it.”
Penelope licks her lips, and her expression is earnest. “I do,” she says. “I know. You show me in so many little ways.”
“Good.” Something in me relaxes. Something I didn’t even realize was tense.
She leans up, and I meet her halfway in a tender kiss that lingers for a moment. Her lips curve into a smile against mine, and she shifts her hand up to press over my heart.
“I think you’re just a big softy inside.”
“Don’t push your luck,” I tell her, but the smile on my face is definitely at odds with my words.
She laughs and it ends on a yawn, so it’s not surprising that she drops off to sleep just a bit after that.
The bedroom is quiet, except for the soft breathing of the three people in bed with me. I look at Penelope, her face so relaxed now that we’re back, now that we’re here with her. My eyes fall on Xavier and Tristan as well, on her other side, both of them sleeping deeply.
The three of us have been business partners for a good bit now, but it’s not just that anymore. Now this goes deeper than business. Even if Vantage crumbled tomorrow, we would be bound by something more. By Penelope and our feelings for her, and by the respect and care we feel for each other.
It hits me all of a sudden that this is pack. This is family. This is something that I managed to build on my own, apart from the expectations that were always placed on me.
It might have started with the merger and the need to not have our board lose their shit on us, but it’s grown into something much more.
I’ve been solitary since I left my parents behind, but this feels so much better. It feels like being a part of something I know I can trust, and that’s new and different for me, but that doesn’t make it bad.
I reach out and touch Penelope’s cheek gently, gazing down at the woman who brought us all together like this. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” I whisper, the words barely audible, like a secret in the dark. “I think I’m falling for you. I think I have been since the first day I saw you.”
No one stirs at my words, and after a second more of looking at her, I finally lie down to sleep myself.