Chapter 16
Claire
He wiped my mascara off my face, made sure my friend was okay, and put his body between me and the woman who was going straight for my hair.
Forrest also didn’t bat an eye when I told him about my learning disability, or make my experience with Megan seem trivial. I’m sure to some people it seems silly. I’m an adult now and I should leave it in the past. But can’t an Omega hold a grudge against her childhood bully?
This Alpha doesn’t seem to judge me for it. In fact, I think it’s just made us closer. He doesn’t hesitate to lean down and kiss me, his scent calming me immediately as his lips crash against mine.
He’s so much larger than me, he’s squeezing my ass and lifting me up against his body so he doesn’t have to crane his neck.
The world disappears as we kiss, all the bad memories, the way Megan spoke to me. It’s all gone; it’s just me and my Alpha right now, and damn, does that feel good to say.
I thought I knew what I wanted, but there’s no way I could have seen him and Wells falling into my life, and now I can’t picture it any other way.
My back is up against the wall and I’m wishing that I didn’t wear such a tight dress.
I want to wrap my legs around his large form and feel his body pressed against my center.
I want him to undress me and fuck me against this wall so everyone here knows he’s mine.
Then when his knot is deep inside me, he can bite me and make it official.
“Fuck, Claire,” he groans, his beard lightly scratching my neck as he kisses down my throat before sucking the skin there. “Your scent is driving me fucking wild.”
The erection pressing against my stomach all but confirms that. My hands tangle in his hair as he squeezes my ass, his large fingers digging into my skin.
“Take me back to the room,” I’m able to pant out as I pull his head back and his lips become more demanding against mine.
I’m moaning against his mouth, wanting to tear off his clothes so he can be inside me as soon as humanly possible, when suddenly he’s ripped away.
I nearly tumble to the ground, catching myself by pressing my hand against the wall.
“You get the fuck off of her,” a deep voice I’m all too familiar with says.
I blink a few times. Did I fucking hit my head? Did Megan grab my hair and yank a few brain cells with it?
“Back the fuck off,” Forrest growls, the timbre of his voice making me wetter than I already was.
When I go to look over the side of him, Forrest shoves me behind his back.
“Forrest, wait,” I plead, finally able to glance over his arm.
There stands a pissed off Elliot. For real this time, not some figment of my imagination.
“Elliot?” I question, and I don’t miss the way Forrest’s back stiffens. I place a hand on the middle of his spine, hoping that it comforts him.
“This is enough, Claire. Come with me. We’ll get you back to your room for the night. I’ve arranged for flights back to New York when we get to Turks and Caicos,” he says matter-of-factly, his dark eyebrows pinched together as he shoots daggers at Forrest.
I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel; honestly this moment feels surreal, and definitely not what I fantasized about.
“I’m not going home,” I tell him as I come to Forrest’s side. He tugs me close to his body, and Elliot tracks the motion with his green eyes I’ve been obsessed with for as long as I can remember.
“Your whole family is worried about you. This ship is clearly not fucking safe from what I just witnessed. Seriously, letting Megan Moyer bait you into a fight? Nearly fucking this brute in the hallway,” he seethes, and I’m completely taken aback, like his words just smacked me across the face.
Forrest is nearly shaking at my side, and I know it’s taking every bit of him to keep his cool.
“This brute is going to be my Alpha,” I say sternly, and Elliot crosses his arms over his broad chest, shaking his head.
“Over my dead fucking body,” Elliot sneers, and my eyebrows furrow.
“That can be arranged,” Forrest mumbles, and Elliot takes a step closer.
I groan, stepping in front of Forrest, pausing both of the Alphas. My patience is gone. So gone, that everything that slips out of my mouth is like word vomit.
“Who do you think you are, Elliot Smith? For years I’ve pined after you, years!
You’re not going to come on this ship and demand that I need to come home when you’ve been keeping me from my happiness.
I’m here to find a pack, one that wants me back, and I’m not going to let you storm in here and have some hissy fit because my big brothers are worried about me.
I think you’ve hurt me enough. You should leave.
” As the words slip out, tears are filling my eyes again, and damn, I’m so over tonight.
Everything was perfect today. I was absolutely going to go up to Forrest’s room and sleep with him for the first time, and it was going to be magical. Instead, it seems like two ghosts from my past are adamant on making sure I stay miserable.
Elliot’s standing there, his nostrils flared, and it’s almost like we’re in a standoff. He doesn’t know what to say, so I speak for the both of us.
“You really flew to Miami and bought a ticket for this cruise. To what? Bring me back home safely?” I question him.
“I needed to make sure you were safe,” he says, his chiseled jaw ticking as he says the words.
“I can take care of myself,” I snap back and he scoffs.
“That’s it. I can’t take anymore of this,” Forrest says, scooping me up with one arm, keeping me on the opposite side of his body where Elliot stands.
“Put her down,” Elliot demands and I roll my eyes.
“I’m not going home, and I won’t let you ruin this for me,” I tell him over Forrest’s chest.
“Well, I’m not leaving until you come with me. Get whatever this is out of your system like you always do and let’s go home.”
His words sting while also having alarm bells going off in my head. How much has Elliot been paying attention to me? All this time he’s acted apathetic, yet here he is, alone, demanding I come home with him.
Forrest puts me safely down, and crowds into Elliot’s space.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I mumble as I grab him by the wrist. He doesn’t budge as he gets right into Elliot’s face.
I might be seething mad at Elliot right now, but I definitely don’t want Forrest to hurt him.
This is just how Elliot and I are. We can get on each other’s nerves, sometimes say things we don’t mean, but then we’re always fine the next day.
We’re allowed to rib each other since we’ve known each other our whole lives, but even I can admit that last dig was too far.
Why does Elliot want to punish me so badly?
Forrest doesn’t punch him, instead he points his finger at his chest. Forrest grins at him, which somehow is equally terrifying. My eyes are wide, looking between the two Alphas when Forrest finally speaks.
“It’s eating you up inside, isn’t it? That I’ve only known her a few days and had her pinned against the wall and she’s claiming me as her Alpha?
You’ve known her what? Her whole life? She could have your bond mark on her throat right now, lounging in some perfect fucking nest in the Upper East Side.
But she’s not, is she? She’s here with me.
You had your chance, and you didn’t fucking take it,” Forrest says rather calmly.
Meanwhile now I’m worried about Elliot hitting Forrest as his chest rises and falls.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” Elliot growls back and I’m standing here stupefied.
“Don’t I? It doesn’t get any better than Claire. Only a fucking dumbass would let her go,” Forrest says, which is really sweet. I’ll tuck that away for later when tensions aren’t so high.
“You don’t think I fucking know that? Why do you think I’m here?” Elliot blurts out and Forrest finally takes a step away.
I’m slow blinking at the man I’ve known all my life, the one who hasn’t given me an inkling that he likes me back.
He knows it doesn’t get any better than me? Has this Alpha been body snatched?
“What?” I question him and he rubs a hand down his face.
Forrest looks downtrodden next to me and I’m trying to keep up with everyone’s emotions here, but hell, I don’t even have a grasp on my own.
“Can you please just come back home with me and we can sort everything out?” Elliot asks.
“No. I’m not leaving,” I tell him. He doesn’t get to storm onto this ship making demands of me when he’s had years to admit he has some sort of curiosity toward me.
Plus, I’m in too deep with Forrest and Wells. I’m not abandoning ship, literally, because Elliot may or may not have come to his senses.
Elliot sighs, and I guess he realizes I’m serious about staying.
“Fine, then, like I said, I’m not leaving. Wherever you go on this ship, I go.”
“Good luck getting into my room or hers, asshole,” Forrest says and I groan.
“You won’t be following me around everywhere I go.
I think we all just need to cool off from tonight.
We usually get breakfast around ten on sea days.
If you would like to calmly, and respectfully, have a discussion, then maybe I’ll listen.
But you’re not going to come on this ship and come between my relationships that I’m forming here,” I tell him, steeling my spine.
God, I can’t wait to call Shiloh tomorrow and tell her how bad ass I was.
Elliot doesn’t seem convinced, eyeing Forrest up like he would when he works a security job.
Instead of waiting for a response, I grab Forrest’s wrist and wave my wrist over the Omega only elevator. Elliot goes to follow, and I hold up my bracelet and point to it.
“Can’t get to the floor without one of these, or one of these,” I say, pointing to myself as the elevator doors shut.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my central nervous system. Elliot is onboard, and he hasn’t made his intentions clear at all. But he said he’s not leaving without me, and I have no idea what that means for any of us.
The elevator chimes to the twelfth floor, and both Forrest and I check in with security before walking to my room. As soon as we enter, Forrest takes a seat on the couch.
“Who does he think he is? Getting a last-minute ticket? How the fuck did he even get one, anyway? The cruise was sold out. And he what? Expects me to drop everything and fly back home with him? He’s out of his mind,” I ramble, pacing back and forth.
“He’s in love with you,” Forrest says. His face is hard to read as I pause my pacing and stare at him.
“He’s not. He had all the time in the world to make me his, and he didn’t. This is some sort of effort by my family to get me to come back home. They sent him because they knew at least he had a chance.”
Forrest rests his elbows on his knees and runs his hands through his hair.
“I’m ready to fight for you, Claire, but if in your heart it’s already him over us, I need to know now. I can’t stay on this ship pining for you, falling for you, if Wells and I don’t really stand a chance,” he says, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his brown eyes look up at me with defeat.
I shake my head and approach him until I’m standing between his legs.
“I’m not sure if you missed it back there,” I say, running my hand through his hair.
“When I said you were going to be a part of my pack, I meant every word. Maybe he has feelings for me, maybe he doesn’t.
But what I’ve felt with you and Wells over these past few days has become my new standard. I’m all in.”
He grips my thighs, squeezing the muscle before moving his hands up to my ass.
“Then I’m going to need you to take this fucking dress off.”
Maybe the night is saved after all.