5. Tara
I dabbed on what had to be about my thirtieth layer of lip gloss in the passenger’s seat’s flip-down mirror, rubbing my lips together nervously as I looked between my somewhat overly sticky lips to my carefully applied eyeliner and back.
I wasn’t usually nervous when it came to meeting new people… not really. I mean, when you considered that for the most part, I spent my days undressing for about half a dozen cameras to fuck myself in front of an audience that was mostly made up of strangers—and to my absolute horror, a few guys I went to high school with—it made it difficult to be particularly.
But that was the thing, Charlie wasn’t a stranger.
At least not to Jesse.
I’d heard my boyfriend talk about his best friend since the beginning, so many times that I’d likely be able to recite the entire situation from memory—hand gestures and cute, overly excited vocal inflections and all.
It was cute, their closeness reminded me a lot of me and Eva. She was my rock, and even now was texting a string of reassurances that lit my phone up in my lap every few seconds.
Eva_Aft3r: You’re going to crush it!
Eva_Aft3r: No alpha on the planet has ever met you and not liked you!
Eva_Aft3r: Please god let him be hot to go along with being rich, I need a BOYFRIEND!
Jesse’s hand wrapped around my thigh, just below the hem of the sinfully short pleated skirt of my sundress.
I’d opted for dressing pretty casually at his insistence that Charlie was ‘no big deal’ and ‘wasn’t someone I needed to show off for,’ which meant I’d worn a fairly natural half-lash and my low-top Converse to balance out the cleavage-heavy dress.
Part of me was relieved that Jesse’s parents lived pretty far away, moving once he was old enough to live on his own. Getting ready today had made me realize that I didn’t own a single piece of clothing that would be appropriate for that sort of meeting. But, luckily for me, it wasn’t really that common to meet each other’s families. Now, if we were pack? That would be a different story.
Note to self, order a turtleneck.
“Nervous?” Jesse asked, looking at me sidelong at a red light.
“Yeah, a bit,” I admitted, even if it wasn’t easy. “But I’m not sure how much of that is like, real nerves or just that heat is getting close, and being in a loud arcade sounds sort of like torture.”
One of the things I loved the most about our relationship. We were always honest with each other. Even when it was a little uncomfortable.
“Do you need me to change up the plan?”
“No way, this is like, the ideal setting,” I assured them, reaching to the floor to hunt for my bag.
Jesse was everything that I’d dreamed of as a partner. Thoughtful. Caring. Incredibly comforting in a way that I’d only ever experienced in stuffed animals before I’d met him. And now that I had him, I wasn’t willing to let him go.
So, today had to go flawlessly. Even if that meant wincing at the bang of an air hockey table.
I knew it was either impress Charlie or I was going to find myself swiftly out the door with my relationship over faster than a game of OVWatch with no healer. Same deal if Jesse didn’t get on with Eva, they were our packs even if it wasn’t through bonds.
I wouldn’t let that happen. Not with me and Jesse. I loved him too much. Loved our life together too much.
Jesse’s hand found mine where I was digging around in my criminally small handbag for my mascara to apply yet another coat, a squeeze of his fingers drawing my eyes to his.
“Baby, you look perfect. Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable in a quiet coffee shop?”
I offered him an anxious smile that didn’t quite meet my eyes. “I’m sure. Is the scent-cancelling body wash working? I feel like all I can smell is fruit gone off like alcohol.”
“I can’t smell anything, at least nothing unusual,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder, his other hand lazily resting over the steering wheel as he turned into the parking lot. “Besides, I’m sure he’ll think you're cool even if you’re smelly. Everything about you is kinda…”
“Please don’t say perfect, Jess. That’s so much pressure.” I sighed, narrowly keeping the omega whine out of my voice. God, heat was close . “I’m literally just a girl, he could hate me for all you know.”
“You aren’t just anything,” the beta said with a roll of his sweet blue eyes. “And it’s impossible, Charlie loves me, I love you, it's basically a match made in heaven. No doubt in my mind that you’ll get along great.”
I took a deep breath, letting Jesse’s subtle citrusy scent calm me, half covered by my typical cherry and lime where he’d been so heavily scent-marked by me that a single shower wasn’t nearly enough to get it all off.
It wasn’t that I’d done it entirely on purpose.
Only partially on purpose.
I wanted, even if it was only for a few hours, for Charlie to understand what I already knew—that Jesse was as much mine as he was his.
And with my heat so close, yeah, I was feeling a little territorial.
Jesse and I had only been officially together about six months, but I’d become increasingly more attached to the beta as time went on. This whole friends-to-lovers pipeline was no joke, we already knew each other so well that it just felt natural to let our relationship move faster than if we’d just met.
Jesse parked the car, killing the engine before turning towards me. “He’s going to love you,” he said for about the hundredth time.
I pulled out my powder, eyes carefully on the mirror as I dabbed the sponge into the pan to press under my eyes and into my forehead. “I know.”
“Baby, put the makeup down,” they urged, flexing their fingers and jiggling my thigh.
I shook my head. “Just a little more…”
“Okay, fine. Let's do this, what’s the worst-case scenario?”
It took me a moment to understand what he said through the nerves buzzing in my ears. “Huh?”
“What’s the worst thing you think could happen right now?”
“That’s silly,” I said, trying to put my compact away, shoving it into my way-too-overfull bag.
Why didn’t I bring a bigger one? Was it really that big of a deal if Charlie thought I was a high-maintenance omega? I was, so, it was just the truth…
“I’m serious,” Jesse said, taking my comfort fidget bag away and zipping it up easily. I would’ve taken it back and fished out my lip gloss again, but he kept it tucked beside him.
Rude .
“What’s the most catastrophic thing that could happen?”
I blew out a sigh as I picked at my purple glittery nails, the only thing I had left to focus my nervous energy on.
“I guess I’d say the wrong thing and Charlie thinks I’m not right for you and convinces you to dump me before I even get to eat my soft pretzel.”
His eyes widened with a long, slow blink. “That’s… incredibly specific.”
I groaned, covering my face with my hands. “I’ve been thinking about a terrible bar pretzel all day,” I admitted. “Maybe I miss Eva?”
They shrugged, narrowly stopping themselves from laughing as he leaned in to kiss my temple. “I get it, they’re a guilty pleasure. You know I love the cinnamon sugar one.”
“And you know I think that’s an incorrect opinion because you’re a freak who doesn’t get the caramel sauce.”
“You do miss Eva,” they teased, a hand finding my shoulder. “Pretzels aside, none of that would happen. What could you possibly say?”
“I don’t know!” I whined, throwing my hands up, and letting them fall back down, smacking my lap hard.
“Charlie knows how I feel about you, and unless you were going to tell him you cheated on me, or like… hated him as a Calypso main, then I think we’re all good.”
I laughed at that. Who could hate Calypso? They were the best healer in the game. “We’re marked safe there. I don’t have the time for two partners.”
“Then I think you’re in the clear.”
I couldn’t help the smile his casual confidence drew to my face. “Thanks, baby.”
“Of course,” Jesse returned, leaning in for a soft kiss that made me want to slide right across the console and sit in his lap.
The beta's face lit as he pulled away, features going boyish with his bright smile as he turned the radio up, raising his voice to speak over the excitable pop tune. “Hey! Look at that! It’s our song! I told you, sweetie pie, it's a sign! Today is going to be—” he broke off during the chorus, singing so loudly and with so much enthusiasm that I couldn’t help but follow along with him, our voices mingling in the compact space of the car along with the radio sounding a hell of a lot more like caterwauling than singing.
I’d managed to secure a lot of talents in my life, but karaoke was not one of them.
“Come on, we’re going to be late,” I said, moving to prepare to get out of the car.
Jesse grabbed my hand, entirely unbothered by our potential rudeness, using it as a microphone.
I couldn’t help it, terrible vocal cords or not, I sang along.
When the song was over I slid out of my seat, taking Jesse’s offered hand and shutting the door with my hip.
He’d dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans with a pair of high-top sneakers. Gamer chic, given our chosen location for a meetup. It was, admittedly, perfect . The sleeves of his top just tight enough to hug his deliciously built arms.
Jesse was more of a sit-on-the-couch-and-smoke-a-joint guy than a gym bro, but that didn’t stop him from clocking hours racking weights anyway.
And how I loved a man with range.
I was one of those hideously annoying, blissfully in love people who felt everything that their partner did was perfect. The honeymoon phase had to end at some point, I was sure. But for the time being? I was delightfully surprised it’d lasted this long. The worst part about being the annoying person who was grossly in love? You never wanted to stop.
Jesse swung our hands as we made our way towards the door of the barcade I’d found after a quick search online, situated on the far end of a spooky-as-hell strip mall.
Half arcade. Half bar. The half-decent chance that the tetanus you caught here would kill you and you could use the lawyers next door to sue before they moved you to the funeral home at the far end of the building. What wasn’t to like?
Jesse grabbed the blacked-out door as the wind kicked up, rustling my skirt. I instinctively released his hand to catch it, stepping into the glowing gloom of the arcade with several long blinks, trying to get my eyes to adjust in comparison to the sunlight outside.
A few spare streaks of sunlight fought their way through the chipping paint on the glass door, the space deceptively nice in comparison to the bonafide murder motel vibes of the facade of the building.
I’d picked it because it was far enough from downtown that I hoped it wouldn’t be too busy, especially since they had a full section of VR shooting games. I figured we’d want to spend more time playing than waiting this way.
Plus, it was the exact sort of thing that I needed to get my blood pumping and forget all about my nerves—and the high stakes—of this totally casual hangout.
Do or die. Impress the best friend or consider myself history.
The bar wasn’t dark, per se. But it wasn’t exact light either—matte black painted walls soaking up the lights from the various cabinets that filled the warehouse-sized room, their lights glittering and sounds popping as they tried to entice players forward to try their luck at beating high scores.
I wasn’t much of a vintage cabinet girl, preferring more modern games with updated graphics and quicker reaction times. Well, unless you counted pinball.
I fucking loved pinball.
“Jesse!” A deep, husky voice called, making my head turn.
“Charlie!”
I smelled him before I saw him, decadently buttery with a heavy wash of sweet fruitiness. Blueberry pie.
Deliciously heady and too strong in my sensitive nose.
A whine tried to claw its way out of my throat, thighs pressing together as my body placed the scent before my mind, hindbrain pushing to the front in a demand.
Familiar, dark chocolatey eyes met mine, his strong jawline half obscured as Jesse pulled the alpha into a hug.
I would’ve recognized him anywhere.
The alpha that’d haunted my deepest, most secret fantasies for the last year.
The one who’d taken my virginity and my number only to ghost me.
Mr. Heat Hotel.
Fuck .