Chapter 5
Five
MALCOLM
Sprawled out in my porch swing in nothing but low slung joggers, I blow out a breath. Well, we fucked that up royally. The four of us have been in a funk for the past two days, and it’s fucking up our supposedly “relaxing” weekend.
“I never thought we’d even have a scent match,” Brice mumbles, coming out to join me with a beer.
The garden and our part of the back yard is completely enclosed, allowing the tiny house to sit alone off to the side with another gate surrounding the property. It gives our current tenant the illusion of privacy, while we have ours.
She’s quiet, sticks to herself, and is very polite.
It makes me happy we decided to let her rent.
We told her that it’s something we often do, but that was a white lie.
We don’t. But when she posted in Omega’s Link that she was looking for a rental or camping ground for her van, I saw it and convinced my brothers to rent the tiny house to her.
That’s the kind of pack we are, not this bullshit posturing we gave to Hollis.
“Well, we do,” I sigh. “Not only that, we were absolute dicks to her. Do you really think she’s with those other alphas?”
“I don’t know,” Brice sighs. “I couldn’t see any bond bites on her skin, and her dress was…”
“Fucking amazing,” I growl. “Is it awful that I almost creamed my pants when she licked her knife?”
“Who says I didn’t?” Felix asks, joining us. He sits in one of the other chairs, dropping his head back as he drinks in the sunlight. “Hollis is…”
“Going to make us insane,” Remy grumbles, pushing his hand through his dark hair. His hazel eyes look tortured as he follows his brother and collapses into the chair across from Brice and I.
“So we fix it,” I decide. “We’ve built a business, gentlemen, when no one thought we could do this. So let’s put our dicks away and start brainstorming.”
My words always get a bit more formal when I’m stressed out, and this isn’t any different.
“Yes, sir,” Remy grumbles, making me smirk slightly in amusement. It’s fun being the older alpha. “Flowers are cliche, right?”
“Only if they’re flowers she doesn’t like,” Brice says. “At least, that would be my reaction to ‘I’m sorry’ flowers that weren’t what I liked.”
Once Brice got over his hesitance of being with me, I celebrated fucking his brains out with tulips, because they’re his favorite. I regularly buy them for him just because he enjoys it. I want to plant a few different types in our garden, I just haven’t had a chance.
It may be too late as we are getting into the winter months, so I may leave it for spring. Maybe I’ll do the same for Hollis, if we’re able to make her ours.
Taking a breath, I pull out my phone. It’s time to do a little research.
“No talking,” I growl, calling Aisling. God, I hope that she picks up. I’m well aware that it’s a Saturday and I’m taking liberties with our professional relationship.
I just don’t care.
“Hey, Malcolm ,” she says with a smile.
I’m the face of The Naughty Tote, while Brice is the calming voice of reason when we get people who are angry at us for existing.
He does our press releases when they’re needed, and calms any ruffled feathers.
He also does amazing things for our public relations when people like Emilia Richardson crawl out of the woodwork.
Thinking of her makes me shudder in disgust as I think about what Hollis told me. The woman is a true menace to society. What my pack and I do is most certainly not.
Therefore, I’m the one speaking to Aisling, even though Brice and I tend to talk to her about various things that she might need.
“ Malcolm ?” she asks. “ Did we get cut off ?”
Taking a breath, I shake my head to force myself to focus.
“Hey, Aisling. No, I’m here. I apologize for calling on the weekend?—”
“ Oh you’re fine. I actually was going to call you,” she says.
Well, she doesn’t sound pissed off so that’s good…
“Oh? Please tell me what I can do for you,” I say smoothly.
The guys smirk, but honestly it’s easier to segue into other things if we’re already talking about business. I need to warm up to this.
“ Yes, well you see… The private rooms have been doing well during our omega’s heats, but I would like to extend the concept into a heat spa for the public,” she says. “ I still want to keep it free, because we have the host club helping now, and don’t want anyone to accuse us of ? —”
“ Prostitution?” I ask, chuckling. “I think that’s wise, Aisling.”
I can practically see her cheeks burning now. I’m not an asshole, I swear it. I’m considered the one who is too nice, which is why Felix was so angry earlier this week after the butt plug fiasco. Yes, it was as traumatic as it sounds.
“I really like the idea of extending this service out on a wider scale,” I admit. “Where are you going to have it?”
“ I want to continue to have the immediate rooms that I have available for the shelter because it’s in such close proximity. However, I am looking at another property a block away to allow space between Omega’s Haven and the spa,” she explains.
“It will maintain the anonymity of the Haven,” I agree. “Where do we come in? Would you like us to increase our care packages for this? Do you need any spicy books or movies?”
Yes, part of what we do is partner with sex workers who fucking love what they do and buy rights so we can help distribute their work. Remy and I are working on a paid channel for them so we can widen their reach and help increase what they’re making.
My pack and I have a very nonchalant attitude about sex, fantasies, and carrying them out in a healthy way. It’s why we also have books on our website that range from personal growth to the psychology of sex to How-To guides.
Our warehouse is here in Minneapolis, and we are responsible for keeping a lot of people employed. We also have a call center for The Naughty Tote, which helps for any user error or questions about their orders.
Felix actually trains them himself.
This is all why I’m so disappointed in how we let ourselves fall down the path of pettiness. Our egos were dinged, even though Hollis clearly didn’t think it was that serious. It’s not, the issue lies in us.
Our families expect grandchildren, and it’s becoming a distasteful subject lately.
Especially knowing that we may need to see them over the holidays.
It makes me grateful that they’re all a four hour car ride away.
It’s just far enough that they have to announce before coming to Minneapolis, though it's rare that they bother.
“ Actually, yes,” Aisling says. “ Movies would be a really good idea, especially as heat sets in. I want to make sure they have everything they need.”
“It’s yours,” I promise. “Do you want to theme any of your rooms, or maybe offer a dresser with drawers for different toys and impact play items? Or… maybe keep it to light bondage play.”
“ I think bondage play and toys would be great,” she says.
“ Though, I was considering a room with solo play for those that know they want to go through their heat alone in a protected space. If an omega lives in an apartment during her heat, it’s possible for her to throw all the alphas into a rut. It also may be dangerous for her.”
“That’s true,” I murmur. I’m ignoring my pack as we work through this, but I am closely involved in product development.
It’s one of my favorite parts of our company.
“We have a masturbation device that has a saddle-like seat. The idea is that you can use different dildos with knots, and fuck yourself on it. There are also settings where it all vibrates as well, and some thrust.”
Remy hides a smile as I discuss this in a very clinical manner while Brice shrugs. I need to know what she wants for the heat spa if we’re going to provide it.
“ Does that exist ?” she whispers in awe as I chuckle.
“It does,” I say.
“I figure we’ll start with six rooms ,” she says. “One of those devices would work, right?”
“Let’s go with two,” I suggest. “I’ll go through our knotted toys, and put together different sizes for what you’re looking for.”
“This could be so uncomfortable, and you’re so easy to talk to about this,” she sighs. “Thank you. Seriously .”
“It’s really no problem,” I say. Everything is tax deductible, but my pack believes in the good that she’s doing.
Which by that merit, means that we should have believed in Hollis’ vision too. We are absolute dog shit. Really, like the shit that eats the dog shit. Whatever that is, that’s what we are.
“Now, what can I help you with?” Aisling asks.
“I don’t know if Hollis told you,” I drawl, “but we are creating gift bags for the Cupid’s Call dating mixer happening in November.”
“ No, I hadn’t heard,” she says. “ That’s amazing though. Honestly, this event is so important. I’m so happy you’re helping her with it. It’s been quite the endeavor.”
“It just fell into place this past week,” I reply. I guess that’s sort of true. “I noticed something when we went by. Does she do everything on her own?”
“ Meaning, does she have staff?” Aisling asks.
“Yes,” I confirm.
“ No, no. She manages the entire ship on her own. Hollis is a Wonder Woman. She’s tireless, she works hard for her clients, and there’s zero judgment,” Aisling says vehemently.
I say that I don’t judge, but I’m an extension of my pack. What we do reflects the integrity of each other. We definitely judged, especially when Felix called Hollis an “alpha pimp.” If I could crawl under a rock, I would.
“It’s admirable,” I force out. “I think I would lose my mind without my assistant. Anyway, I wanted to send her something nice for taking a chance on The Naughty Tote and allowing us to help. Do you know her favorite flower?”
I take a breath after saying all of that way too quickly.
“Her favorite… ” Aisling drifts off for so long, I start to sweat. I think I made a very large mistake. Again. “ Malcolm Ledger, what the hell did you do?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck a duck! I should have known that she’d figure me out.