Chapter 23
Jake
I can’t stop looking at her. She’s fucking stunning. I’m trapped in her web, and I never want to be let out.
She looks so carefree and happy right now. The smile that lights up her face makes my heart want to explode.
For the first part of our date, I take her to see the play Noises Off . It’s about people rehearsing for a play and everything that could go wrong, does.
I wasn’t sure what kind of play she would enjoy. I love all kinds, but I wanted something that would keep her interest for sure. This play is a comedy, so I felt like it was the safest choice. And I was right, because Savannah is laughing so much, her childlike wonder makes my heart hurt in the best way.
I’ve spent so many years looking for her, waking up each day praying that it would be the day I found her, only to be disappointed by the time I went to sleep.
I’m not sure how long it’ll take to sink in that she’s really here. Maybe a part of me will never be convinced.
My worry has gone from wondering if I’m ever going to find her to how do I make sure I never lose her again.
I try to enjoy the play, but I'd much rather watch her. I’ve seen it a few times, it’s good, but this view is much better.
When the show is done, we leave the theater. Savannah is laughing, her hand laced with mine. I’m in heaven right now.
She talks about all the things she loved about it, and I’m glad she enjoyed herself.
The play might be over, but our date isn’t. “So...” She grins up at me, grabbing my other hand and rocking back on her heels. “What do we do now?”
“Well, I was thinking we could grab a bite to eat, then I have somewhere I want to take you.”
“Oh, a mystery.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “I like it.”
We walk down the street, me silent and her talking a mile a minute about the most random things. I hang on every one of her words, smiling like a fool. I’m so focused on her, I almost trip over my own feet, and we nearly miss the taco place I want to take her to.
“Are you okay?” she laughs, looking up at me with her bright blue eyes.
My cheeks flush. “Yeah, sorry.” I chuckle. “We’re here.”
She looks around, and I watch as her eyes light up. “Tacos? Fuck me. Yes, please.”
She grabs my hand and tugs me into the building.
“Ugh,” she whines.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, brows furrowing.
“There’s so much to pick from. I don’t know what I want. I’d say all of it, but I know I won’t be able to eat that much.” She looks up at me and bites her lip. “Could you choose for me?”
She wants me to make the choice for her? Why does such a simple thing make me feel like I’m finally taking care of her as her alpha should?
“Okay.” I nod, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She sighs and snuggles into my side. I try not to laugh as she buries her nose into my chest and inhales. I also try to get my damn dick to chill the fuck out. Now is not the time, no matter how much I want my Omega.
I order us both some chicken tacos with all the toppings. I love this place and everything they serve. Never hated anything I’ve ordered from here.
“Jake!” A woman's voice greets me as we wait off to the side for our order to be ready. I don’t miss the way Savannah stiffens against me. Looking over, I find Emily, the taqueria owner’s daughter, coming around from behind the counter. “It’s so good to see you again.”
When Emily gets closer to me, Savannah slips her body in front of mine, and I’m shocked to hear a low growl that leaves her. “Back. Off.” She snarls.
Emily’s eyes widen, but this smug pride fills me at the possessiveness my sweet girl has for me.
“Oh...” She stops. “Hi. I’m Emily. I didn’t see you there.”
“Well, I’m here,” Savannah sasses.
“Who are you?” Emily asks, blinking. “I’ve never seen Jake with a girl before.”
“Maybe he was gay?” Savannah asks. “Ever thought of that?”
Emily’s brows furrow. “Are you?” she asks me.
“No.” I chuckle, then drape my arms over Savannah, pulling her flush to my chest. The height difference makes it a little awkward, but I lean down and press a kiss to the back of Savannah's neck. “Down girl,” I murmur.
She huffs but relaxes back into me.
“This is Savvy. My Omega,” I say proudly.
“Oh.” Emily’s shoulders slump, and I swear I hear Savannah huff in triumph. I bury my smile in her hair. “Well, it was good to see you. Bye.”
“Bye, Emily!” Savannah says a little too loudly and cheerfully, getting an odd look from Emily as she glances over her shoulder.
“You’re so fucking sexy.” I chuckle, spinning her around so I can grip her chin and kiss her. She’s putty in my hands. I love it. I can’t stop touching her, smelling her, tasting her. I’ve wanted this for so long.
“I don’t like when girls look at you,” she growls against my lips adorably.
“I know.” I chuckle. “But girls are always going to be around me.”
Her eyes darken. “And why the fuck would they be?”
“Because I’m a teacher, and the school I work at has primarily female teachers.”
“Quit,” she demands without hesitation.
My eyes widen slightly, and I let out a surprised laugh. “I can’t.”
“You don’t need to work. Or... you can teach online.”
“Savannah.” I chuckle.
“What? That's a thing, right?”
“Yes,” I tell her, taking our order when our number is called. “But I like my job. I like working with the kids. In person,” I state pointedly as we move to find a table.
“Fine,” she huffs as we take a seat. “I’ll let you keep your job, under two conditions.”
“Okay.” I smile, humoring her. “And what would those be?”
“When you go back to work next week, I will come with you. You show me off, let the staff know you're taken. And who owns you?” She glares at me.
Fuck. Me. The idea of being owned by her turns me on.
“What else?” I clear my throat, shifting in my seat.
“To make sure there’s no way they mistake you for being single, I’ll mark you—” she leans over and my breathing picks up, pupils dilating as she brushes her fingers right next to my Adam's Apple. “Here.”
The thought of her marking me, claiming me has my eyes fluttering shut as I try not to fucking cum in my pants. What is wrong with me?
Opening my eyes, I lick my lips and nod. “Okay.”
Her smile is everything. “And... I want you to mark me.” She nods. “That way you can never leave me.”
She looks down at her food to begin eating, but I slide my fingers under her chin and grip it with my thumb, gently raising her head up to look at me. I want her eyes locked with mine when I tell her this. “I never plan on leaving you. I know you might not believe that. It might take some time for you to feel safe and secure with our pack, but I can promise you, we want you. You're it for me, for us,” I vow with all my heart. “And I’d be honored for you to wear my mark, for me to wear yours.”
“Okay,” she whispers, her eyes growing glassy.
Smiling, I let her go and we both eat our food.
We spend a good hour talking. She asks me about my life, how we met, what it was like for us in high school, and I tell her everything.
She asks a lot of questions, eager to know more about our past together, but anytime I mention anything about her life outside of that, she looks ready to shut down, so I try to avoid it.
I hope once Corbin is taken care of, she will feel safe enough to get in touch with her parents. They love her a lot and have been broken since her disappearance.
Her father knows I’ve been looking for her, too. He also knows that I’m her scent match.
When he asked me why I didn’t tell Savannah, I told him the truth.
He hugged me and told me he would be honored to have me as a son-in-law. Told me that Savannah always had a thing for me, but thought I didn’t feel the same for her. That broke me because I felt like I had lost so much time with Savannah and I worried for nothing. I could have had her from the very beginning and lost my chance.
Now that I have a second one, I’m not going to waste it.
We throw our trash away and head out.
Where I’m taking her next is just a few blocks down the street. The closer we get, the more nervous I become.
I wanted to go out and do something fun. Savannah is a free spirit, I can tell she doesn’t like to sit still for long. I was worried about the play, but she did awesome with it, far too engaged with it to be bored.
But will she enjoy this? Is it too childish for her? I mean, the woman kills people for a living.
As we round the corner, Savannah comes to a stop.
My heart pounds in my chest as I watch the back of her head. She’s looking at the big sign that says arcade.
She spins around, eyes big and bright. “Please tell me we’re going in there.”
The nerves leave me with her excitement. “Actually, we are.”
She grins widely and grabs my hand. “Let’s go!” she squeals, pulling me along.
Laughing, I go willingly.
“Wow,” she breathes with childlike wonder when we enter. It’s a little loud, but not overly crowded. The place has a life of its own. It’s bright and colorful, all the sounds of the machines going off at once, yet it doesn’t sound like it’s too much.
Going over to the counter, I get us two play cards loaded with tokens and hand her one. “What do you wanna do first?”
She spins around and smiles. “Everything.”
I immediately know that bringing her here was the right choice. She drags me from game to game, excited to play everything.
I also learn that she’s very competitive and will demand to go again and again until she wins. I don’t care if I lose to her, I just want to see her happy. And it’s building up our ticket points, so it’s a win-win.
We take a break, and Savannah gets some cotton candy. I’m not sure if it was a good idea, because she seems even more hyped up than before. It gives her an energy boost, and once we play every single game, we make our way around the room again for a second round.
It’s single-handedly the best night I’ve had in a very, very long time.
We’re relaxing for a moment, leaning up against the wall as we take a snack break, when the sound of laughter catches our attention.
Over by the basketball game, there’s a group of boys. They’re laughing at a smaller boy, and I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I know it’s not anything nice based on the way the smaller kid looks ready to cry.
My heart hurts as flashes of my own past hit me. Kids can be so damn cruel. I’ve been that smaller boy more than I’d ever liked.
When the biggest boy steps forward and pushes the little boy to the ground, they all start to laugh at him like it’s the funniest thing in the world, and the boy starts to cry.
I’m about to go over and say something. It took me a moment, but I recognize those boys as students who attend the school where I work. We might not be on school grounds, but I’m not going to stand by and allow anyone to be bullied. I don’t tolerate it.
Savannah is faster than me, and in a blink of an eye, she’s over to the group of boys.
I know I should go over there too, but I don’t, waiting to see what she does.
The bigger boy lifts the basketball to take a shot, and my eyes widen when I see Savannah pull a switchblade out of nowhere, flick it open, and stab the basketball.
It makes the boy’s head snap over to her, shock taking over his features. She leans in, hand up with the blade still in the deflated ball, and whispers something to him.
I’m not sure what she said, but it has him running out of the room like a kicked dog with his tail between his legs, his little friends running after him.
As Savannah bends over to help the little boy who was crying on the ground to his feet, I start to walk over to him.
“If they give you any more trouble, you call me, okay?” she asks, slipping him a piece of paper.
He smiles brightly through his tears at her and nods. “Okay.” When he looks up and sees me, his smile turns shy. “Hey, Mr. Holloway,” he says. Damn it. My heart breaks even more when I see it’s Carter Rockwell. He’s a little boy who's been coming to hang out with me every lunch hour for the past two years. I didn’t recognize him with the longer hair.
Was this the reason why? Was the bullying so bad that he felt like he needed a teacher to protect him and didn’t know how to ask?
I know his home life isn’t good. His parents are jokes if you ask me. Shouldn't even be allowed to have kids. But I can’t do anything about it. And, believe me, I’ve tried. The best I can do is give him a safe place when he’s at school.
Would it be too much of me to ask if Caleb could pull some strings? Would getting CPS involved make his situation worse?
“Hey, Carter.” I try to hide the lump in my throat. “How’s your summer going?”
He bites his lip, wiping at his eyes. “I’m excited to go back to school.” That hurts to hear.
“Same.” I grin. “I’ve missed our lunchtime hangouts.”
His face brightens, and I try not to get choked up. “Me too! Can I come back again this year?”
“Heck yeah, my door’s always open.”
“Awesome.” He smiles and looks up at Savannah and then at me. “Do you know her?”
“I sure do. This is my Omega.”
“Wow,” he whispers. He leans in, covering his mouth with his hand, and not so quietly says. “She’s a badass. But don’t tell my mom I swore.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “I think she’s pretty badass, too.” I wink. “Don’t worry, your secret's safe with me.”
“I have to go. I’ll see you at school, Mr. Holloway,” he says and looks up at Savannah. “Thank you. I hope I get to see you again.”
“Bye.” Savannah waves after him as he goes. When he’s out of sight, she spins to face me.
“What did you say to that boy?” I ask her, crossing my arms with an amused brow.
She pulls the switchblade out of the basketball, tossing it behind her before closing the blade and placing it in her bra.
“I told him that if he keeps bullying people, there’s always bigger and badder bullies. And if he didn’t stop, one was gonna find him.” She grins.
“Please tell me you didn’t threaten to kill him?” My eyes widen in horror.
“No,” she scoffs. “I’d never hurt a kid, I’ve told you this. Even if he’s a little fucking shithead who needs a taste of his own medicine. I did however tell him I’d find someone to deal with him if he didn’t fuck off.”
“Savannah,” I groan, bringing my face into my hands. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Kiss me and tell me I’m pretty.” She laughs. “Maybe take me home and fuck me, mark me, and make me yours.”
Heat fills me as I lift my head to find her watching me with pure lust.
“Really?” I ask, nervous flutters in my stomach. Is this really happening?
She nods her head and holds out her hand. “Come on, big boy. Let’s go home.”