31. Lain
lain
I stare after Maisie for a long while?
What in the fuck just happened?
Filled with confusion, I enter the tavern and Greer is behind the bar as I sit down.
“Where’s Maisie?” he asks and I give him a curious glance. Does he know something?
“She said she wants to meet all of us at our house tomorrow night at eight.”
Greer’s brows furrow, and he grabs hold of the bar top.
“She’s going off her deodorizers,” he says in a flat tone.
Luckily I didn’t have a drink in my mouth at that moment, because I probably would have spit it out in excitement.
“When did she tell you this?”
“This morning,” Greer says, mindlessly wiping down the counter as if he’s trying to piece something together.
“And she wants Callum there?”
“Aye. I think they connected while in Oban. She said she kissed him.”
I blink at Greer and well, we have the source literally a few feet away. Before I know it, I’m out of my seat and heading back to the kitchen. The door swivels behind me and a neutral-faced Callum looks up at me from where he’s sautéing something in a pan.
“What?” Callum asks.
“What happened in Oban?” I blurt it out and Greer groans next to me. Whatever, I’m over the Callum coddling; he’s a big grown-up Alpha and we’re not going to walk around on eggshells our whole fucking lives.
“Is there something you’re asking me about in particular?” he asks, not even losing momentum in flicking the hot pan.
“The part where Maisie said you kissed, and she’s asking to meet us all at our place tomorrow at eight,” I tell him.
That gets an expression out of him, and he sighs. “Ginny, can you take this over for me?” he asks the other chef. She nods and Callum looks back at us. “Can we talk about it up in the office?”
We all head up the stairs and all stare at each other for a long minute.
“Well, what the fuck happened?” I say impatiently.
“Fiona and her pack came to the bar we were at. Maisie pretended to be my Omega to make things less awkward,” Callum says.
“And then what?” Greer asks, trying to pull more information out of our stubborn pack mate.
Callum rubs his hand over his beard with a sigh.
“Then Graham and her sister locked themselves away in my room like two horny teenagers, leaving me and Maisie alone, in a hotel room with one bed. One minute we were watching a show and then the next minute we were making out.”
“So that’s all you did, you just kissed?”
“Well. No,” Callum says and Greer and I look at each other, both of us confused as fuck. Wasn’t he telling us to not get involved with her, along with calling us dumbasses?
“She seemed different when she came back,” Greer says. “Did anything else happen that would have upset her or have her acting this way?”
Callum scratches the back of his neck and paces. “It was confusing, okay? She’s beautiful and different from who I thought she was. When she kissed me, it felt right, and I missed touch so much. I knew I should have pushed her away when she’s leaving town soon, I know that, but I didn’t.”
“You knotted her?” I say too loudly and over dramatically.
“No. I just, how is this any of your business what we did? We both freaked out after. The drive was awkward. She got a call for a job offer on the way home and immediately after said she felt sick.”
“So…you like her too?” I confirm.
“Yes. But is there even a fucking point? God, we’re all going to be so fucked up when she leaves, even worse than before,” Callum says while he continues to pace.
“I think she wants to stay,” Greer says, the most confident of each of us.
“She told you that?”
“I asked her to extend her trip, and she seemed a little scared of the idea, but open,” Greer says.
“She’s usually a planner. This is overwhelming for her,” Callum agrees, showing a side of himself I haven’t seen in ages. He actually cares about her and doesn’t that solve at least a quarter of our problems?
“We need a plan, then. Show her we’ve thought this through, that it’s not some flash in a pan Highland romance, that it’s real.” I’m nearly pleading with them, because I need Maisie to stay more than I need my next breath.
“We all want the same thing, then?” Greer says, both of us facing Callum.
His hands are on his hips as he looks back at the two of us.
“Yes, okay. Fucking yes, I want her to stay,” he says it in such a pissy tone before walking back down to the kitchen, but I know Callum, he’s just mad that he was proven wrong.
“Tell me you have a plan?” I ask Greer.
“I think I do. Have you talked to Graham or Arran about how things are going with her sister?”
“Besides catching them fucking at the farm, no.” Greer rolls his eyes at that.
“Check in with them and see how they’re feeling. I’ll get started on the PowerPoint,” Greer says.
“PowerPoint?”
“It’s Maisie’s language. We need to be transparent of how we see things working—what life would be like if she stayed with us.”
I nod along with his logic, because it’s actually really sound. “Is there anything else I should do?”
“Maybe pick up the spare room so we can show her we’re serious that she has a place here.”
“What about the nest?”
“We cleared that out forever ago. We leave it as is so if she agrees to stay she can do whatever she wants with it,” he says.
“This is why you’re pack Alpha,” I say with a grin, smacking his ass before making my way out of the office. “What do you think she smells like?” I say as I hold on to the door frame.
Greer looks up from his laptop at me and smiles. “I don’t know, but I imagine it’s something that perfectly suits her.”
I leave the office with that thought.
Maybe I’m full of too much hope and I need to be more realistic about everything, but a part of me knew when I saw her on the side of the road that she was going to be something special. The first time I kissed her, I wanted her to be someone important to me.
She’s being exceptionally vulnerable, letting us scent her, and I don’t want her to feel like that trust is misplaced.
I don’t care what I do, even if I have to beg, but I need Maisie Taylor to be a permanent fixture in my life and anything short of that would break my heart into a million little pieces.
“I’ve gathered you all here today—” I start and Jamie holds up a palm to stop me. The Alpha who owns the coo farm is fucking huge, and has always been a right to the point kind of guy.
We invited them all to Greer’s to have a little brainstorm to see how we can make the Taylor sisters agree to stay.
“Yes, to convince Birdie and Maisie to stay. I don’t think this will be complicated in the least,” Jamie says in a no nonsense tone.
“They have lives back in Chicago,” Callum says and the three men in front of us just shrug like it’s not a big deal.
“I’m making a PowerPoint,” Greer says, and Arran snickers at that.
“Don’t need a PowerPoint, mate,” Arran says. The Alpha has always been overly confident.
“They’re staying, I know it,” Graham says and Callum wipes a hand down his face, his irritation with his brother obvious.
“Yeah, and how can you be so sure?” Callum asks his little brother.
I feel like I’m getting whiplash following everyone’s conversation. Perhaps this council of simps wasn’t the best idea. Birdie and Maisie are very different people and the roadblocks we have aren’t the same that these guys have.
“Actually…has Birdie said she wants to stay?” I cut through the conversation.
“She doesn’t need to say what’s obvious,” Jamie says, and I rub the bridge of my nose.
“Not directly, but I know she wants to stay,” Graham says confidently.
“Yeah, seems like you guys are the ones with Omega problems,” Arran says and Greer rolls his eyes. “What, just stating the obvious?”
“We just wanted to get an idea on how you were feeling about Birdie staying. We think her staying will help Maisie make a decision,” Greer says, ever the pragmatic one.
“I know Birdie would want Maisie to stay as well,” Graham says, sipping on the dram Greer gave him. “What can we do to help?”
I give him a smirk and look over at his brother. God, I love my grumpy gigantic pack mate. I show him this by tossing an arm over his shoulder. He makes a grunting noise, but doesn’t throw me off.
“We keep each other in the loop and we do whatever we have to for these sisters to stay,” I say.
Graham looks the most antsy out of all of us, but gives a firm nod. Alright then, at least we know we’re on the same page.
Operation make Maisie stay is in full force.