Chapter Twenty-NineEvan
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Evan
W hen I came into the kitchen, Jett and Bren were sitting at the kitchen table, talking and eating cookies while drinking wine. The smell of a delicious dinner hung in the air.
Brennan's eyes fell on the bags in my hands and grimaced. “More things for Grace?”
“Maybe I wanted to buy myself something at the home store.” I shrugged. Not a lie.
“No Ri tonight? Cookie?” Jett offered. They were crackly and covered in powdered sugar.
I leaned in for a kiss from each. Dropping the bags on the floor, I swiped one, and bit into the soft chocolaty goodness. Flavor exploded across my tongue. I didn’t know what they were, but they were tasty. “Wow.”
“I know,” Jett replied. “Grace made them.”
Brennan shrugged. “They’re okay.”
“You’ve eaten five,” Jett teased.
“They were there.” He shrugged again.
“Ri had an assignment to finish for art class. She’ll be here for Wes’ party on Saturday. I still don’t agree with having a cookout instead of the usual birthday dinner,” I said. Again. After all, Wes was turning thirty. We should be going someplace extra-special.
Brennan made a face. “Wes is happy with it. We saved you food. Do you want me to warm it up for you?”
“Thank you. I’d like that.” Dinner with my sister was a while ago.
“Is Grace even feeling up to us having a party here?” Jett asked as Brennan stood up.
“She spent all afternoon talking qubits with Spencer. I think she can handle dinner. Wes and I are going to take her out for her birthday,” I told them.
Okay, both Riley and Spencer had mentioned wanting to come. Riley also had a couple of expensive suggestions. But that’s what I got for sending her to a school where most of the teenagers had allowances the size of my paycheck.
Jett poured me a glass of wine. “We should do something for her. I need to wrap her present.”
“You, too?” Brennan made a face as he brought me my dinner and topped off his wine.
“It’s her birthday, ” Jett replied. “Everyone should feel special on their birthday.”
“How are things at work?” I dug into my food, not feeling like starting a fight.
We sat and caught up–something I realized we hadn’t done in a while. Jett was still on desk duty. Brennan had a property he wanted to snatch up–an old estate outside of town he thought would make a good event venue.
“Wow, you’re right. If you do it, Grace and I can get married there,” I told Brennan as he showed me some pictures.
“Why? Why do you like her so much?” His brow furrowed, confusion coming through the bond.
“Why do you not?” I countered. “No, think about it. Think beyond her not remembering, her timing being bad, her past with Wes being weird, or what Caroline did. Is there something Wes and I don’t see? If there is, I genuinely want to know.”
He could be intuitive when his stubbornness didn’t blind him.
Brennan crossed his arms over his chest. “She doesn’t load the dishwasher right and washes all her clothes on warm. Also, she eats ice cream with a small spoon instead of a big one and holds her mug weird.”
“Barbaric,” I teased. “Is that all you’ve got?” I wanted to figure out what his issues were so we could fix it.
“Are the other reasons really not enough? She’s hiding something,” he insisted. Jett squeezed his shoulder.
She was hiding something. When should we tell Brennan and Jett that she was from another world?
I put my dishes in the dishwasher and gave them another kiss. “I’ve got to get some work done. One of my cases is complicated.”
“Okay. Spend tonight with us?” Brennan ran his hand down my chest, reminding me of the quickie we’d had this morning.
“Mmmm, twist my arm.” I gave him a teasing kiss.
I dropped Riley’s stuff off in her room, then went down to the basement and tossed the stuff I’d bought myself in the washer. I picked up the bottle of soap and frowned. This wasn’t our usual laundry detergent. While we had de-scenting cleaning products, we didn’t use that sort of soap.
Huh. Maybe Riley brought it. Scents should start being more pronounced for her, and they might get overpowering at times. I put it back and found the kind I preferred. Perfect.
Wes and Spencer were in the living room deep in some sort of work conversation, both with their computers out. If Grace also worked there, what would dinner conversations be like?
Giving them a wave, I headed upstairs to look for Grace, with the things I’d bought for her.
One of the double doors of her room was wide open, and I spied her in the window seat, which was crammed full of pillows and blankets. She leaned over a notebook, scribbling furiously, with Wes’ tablet beside her, resting on a fuzzy blanket.
Relief filled me at seeing her like this. While she’d made big blanket piles on the bed in the hospital, I’d yet to see her make any sort of nest here. Not on her bed, or the floor, or using the giant beanbag I’d put in Wes’ office for her.
A nest was crucial to an omega’s emotional and mental wellbeing.
They provided comfort and safety. I had a couple throughout the house for me to relax in, filled with soft things covered in scents that comforted me–like those in my pack.
I’d even snagged a couple of pillows from Wes’ room that smelled like Grace.
Not all gammas made nests–and the urge to make yourself a cozy area or roll up in blankets wasn’t only for omegas.
But I wanted Grace to feel at home. To me, her creating a little space for herself, even if it wasn’t a nest, was a sign that she was feeling safe and comfortable here with us.
I’d even been cycling blankets and pillows through Wes’ room, then leaving them places for her so she’d have things with our scents if she wanted them.
With everything Grace had been through, I wanted her to have that stability, that comfort.
Feeling unsafe could not only destabilize an omega’s mental state, but it could wreak havoc on omega hormones. An omega who felt unsafe might not go into heat, because they sensed it would be dangerous to bring children into the world. A lot of those things still applied to gammas.
It took over a year for my hormones to properly stabilize after Caroline.
I knocked on the open door, peeking in. “Anyone home?”
“Hey, how was shopping?” She looked up and grinned at me.
“Brought you some things. Can I come in?” I held up the bags.
“Of course.” I leaned in and gave her a kiss.
“Mmmm, please sir, I want some more.” She grabbed the collar of my work polo and dragged me in for another kiss.
There she went, calling me sir. Mmmm. My dick strained against my pants. I never felt the urge to top anyone–except her.
I caught equations on the papers. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to recall my parallel world research. It’s not going well.” She sighed and moved everything to the windowsill. Jett should build her a shelf in the window so she had a place to put things.
“Are you going to try to get home?” I didn’t want her to leave.
She scooted over and moved the blankets. “Sit.”
“You want me to join you?” I asked. An omega’s nest was sacrosanct. Her wanting me to come in with her meant everything.
“It’s a pile of blankets, not a marriage proposal.” She grinned, patting it again.
“Oh, it is, and I accept.” I laughed as I squished into the nest with her.
She covered us with a blanket that smelled of Wes.
Pulling her to me, I hummed as I looked out the window into our landscaped backyard, which was illuminated by subtle lighting.
This was exactly what I needed after a long day–a delightful meal, a glass of wine, some cuddles with Grace, and a hard fuck.
“Trying to get home could be long and complicated.” She closed her eyes.
“Then stay. Work for Spence. Marry me in a rose garden.” I meant every word.
Grace hummed. “That sounds amazing. But I don’t think I’m smart enough to work for Spencer. You’re so much more advanced here when it comes to qubits–and this simulator? I’m not this good. I want to be part of it, but I’m used to things being pure theory without even the means to prove it.”
“Spencer’s actually going forward with that? He’s been talking about it forever, since–did he tell you why?” I asked.
“He told me about his dad, and even gave me one of his old notebooks to look through,” she replied. “But the company is amazing.”
Wow, Spencer told her about his dad. He’d been wrecked after the accident, even tried to continue his research for a bit.
“Grace, you’re enough. Spence knows how to recognize talent, and he wouldn’t have made the offer if he didn’t believe in you.” I tipped my forehead to hers.
“What would it look like if I stayed?” Her voice went soft as her eyes pleaded with me, asking for reasons to stay.
“This.” I gave her a kiss, pouring all my desires into it.
She giggled. “But what about everyone else?”
“Brennan will come around. While he’s a stubborn, hardheaded alpha, he can be trained,” I grinned. “Speaking of hardheaded alphas, tomorrow night, or even Saturday morning, will you help me make a birthday cake for Wes? I’ve got his favorite recipe, but it’s a little much for me.”
Her face lit up. “Is this the recipe for Wes’ grandma’s lemon sponge? Oh, I’ve heard about it so much. I’d love to. I… I don’t have a present for him.”
“Birthday sex is always a good one. I have ideas.” It was a good thing this window seat wasn’t very big because the need to get handsy was growing. I’d have sex with her in it if she asked. Shit, I’d have sex with her anywhere.
She laughed. Oh, I loved that laugh. It was like champagne bubbles popping.
“I meant an actual something.” She frowned. “I don’t know what would be good–or even have any money.”
Which I understood. One thing that had caused me anxiety early on was that I made the least of everyone in the pack–not that Jett made that much more.
While packs took care of each other, balancing out the finances so everyone could do something that made them happy, it still made me feel like I wasn’t contributing enough. That I wasn’t enough.