Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
“This is inhumane,” Maverick whines, his head hanging upside down off the side of the couch. “Cruel and unusual punishment.”
I chuckle, tossing a pillow at him. “I don’t think Crystal having to work is punishment for you.”
“But I’m so bored!”
“She’ll be home in like, an hour or something. You can handle just sixty more minutes of boredom.” I close my tablet where I’ve been sketching tattoo ideas and lean my elbows on my knees to get a good look at him. “This can’t possibly be the first time you’ve ever had to wait for something.” I narrow my eyes. “You’re spoiled, aren’t you?”
He huffs, finally sitting up. His face is red from all the blood rushing to it. “I mean, I am the favorite.”
“Favorite or neediest?”
“Pahtaytoe, tomahtoe,” he dismisses with a wave. “My dad had a rough pregnancy with me, so…”
My brows rise at the admission. I knew his dad was an Omega, but not all male Omegas can carry kids or choose to. “So you’re the miracle baby?”
He beams. “That’s what they call me! It was so bad that my mom carried the twins. That’s why it was a shock they presented as Omegas, considering Pops is also an Alpha, and he’s their bio dad.” He musses his shaggy brown hair and then shrugs before flopping backward on Crystal’s couch. “Genetics are weird, and I won’t even begin to pretend to understand them.”
Talking about family always feels awkward to me. I don’t know my bio dad. All I know is he was never around. Mom wouldn’t talk about him at all. Maybe she was ashamed, maybe she didn’t know who he was.
It doesn’t change anything. It’s doubtful that he would’ve been a good dad, whoever he was.
“Do you ever wish you knew your dad?” Mav asks, echoing my thoughts.
“Nah,” I answer honestly. “Not really. I never felt like I was missing a masculine influence because I had my brother, Manny, and even Manny’s family. And then the foster homes…” I close my eyes against the onslaught of memories. “Let’s just say I am stoked with this whole pack development. I didn’t think I wanted one, but now that we’re here? It feels right.”
“Damn right, it does!” His smile is broad, stretching across his handsome face.
We fall into a charged silence. This is our first time alone at home together since we admitted there may be feelings developing between the two of us. It’s strange that we’re not discussing it at all. It feels like we’re just pretending like nothing happened.
Well, nothing did happen outside of some words. But still.
“Do you wanna talk about what we said? When you were in the shower?” I ask quietly. I know how hard that admission was for him, and I don’t want him to feel like I’m interrogating him.
“About how I think I’m developing feelings for you of a romantic nature?” He waggles his eyebrows.
A chuckle escapes my lips. “Yeah, about that.”
“Sure, but nothing’s changed on my end. I’m pretty sure you turn me on and make my chest feel fuzzy, so…”
“Pretty sure?”
He rolls his eyes. “Well, it started thinking about us together with Crystal and how fucking hot that’s going to be. I mean, pressed between us, at our mercy…” he bites his fist. “It’s going to be fucking incredible.”
Blood rushes to my cock as I imagine what he’s saying. Having the two of them together is like every one of my dirtiest fantasies coming to light.
“But then it wasn’t just her between us. It was you between me and her. And that was just as fucking hot.”
With his words, the images in my head morph, and I imagine what it would feel like to have his hands on me, his lips…
“Fuck, yeah, okay, that’s hot.” I groan, shifting to hide the semi I’m sporting. “All of it.”
“Right?” His eyes flick to my crotch, proving I didn’t hide a thing from him. “I don’t know, man, I just think there’s something there. Not just sexually, even though, holy fuck, I wanna try that. But emotionally, too. When I see you two together, I want you to look at me that way.”
A flush darkens my cheeks, and I have to look away from the intensity of his eyes.
Who knew that tattooing Crystal would lead to so much happening in my life? It started as a couple of snakes and flowers on a sad Omega, and now I’m in a pack and having a bisexual awakening?
Mind-boggling.
But am I bisexual, or am I just into Maverick? I’ve never felt this way about a guy, so maybe it’s just him, his massive personality, and how he has taken care of me from the beginning. No one has ever cared as much about maintaining a gluten-free environment before.
My stomach twists. What if when I kiss him, it’s super uncomfortable, and I realize that this was one of those things better left in fantasy?
The couch dips next to me when he joins me. I startle at the movement.
I wasn’t expecting him to get so close.
“Hey.” His voice is rough, and his brow is furrowed. “Did I make you uncomfortable?”
I clear my throat, shaking my head vehemently. “No, not at all. I was just thinking.” He hums melodically under his breath but doesn’t say anything. He crowds me, our arms pressing against one another.
We sit silently until I groan and throw my head back. “Can you just kiss me, Mav? Like kiss me, and let’s see what comes of this. We could be talking this to death, and then you kiss me, and you hate my beard and-”
He cuts me off with his lips on me.
They’re surprisingly soft.
And big.
He has a massive mouth.
How did I not notice this before?
I feel the tension bleed out of my body as I melt against the desperate press of his lips against mine. He tastes like the soda he was drinking, and his tongue tentatively brushes against my lips. I part mine reflexively.
A wave of arousal is settling in my stomach, weighing me down on the couch. When Mav snakes a hand to the back of my neck and yanks me closer to him, I finally accept that this isn’t just a passing fancy.
This is a very real attraction to the Alpha.
He rips his lips from mine with a groan and throws his head back. A noticeable bulge has grown in the front of his pants, matching mine, and I can’t yank my eyes from it.
What would it feel like to touch it?
Is jerking someone else off the same as jerking myself off? I mean, logistically? Like, I’m sure he likes it at a different pressure or whatever, but the motions are the same, right? Especially if he’s sitting beside me, because then my hand is in the same position as when I jerk off. But if he’s in front of me, do I need to do a weird little wrist twist?
Is there a “Hey, it turns out I’m bisexual, and I’m not sure what to do with a dick that isn’t mine” for dummies book? That’d be helpful right about now.
Tension lies over us like a blanket, both of us so aware of the arousal sparking in the air between us.
It’s broken by a text chime from my phone.
Crystal
Hey, I’m going to be like twenty minutes late coming home.
Everything okay?
Oh yeah it’s fine.
Just need to escort Walter to Prism because apparently they are in need of a doctor for totally legit and not at all questionable reasons
ah just another day at the office then
Bonus is that Emmanuel can come over now because my tail is heading to the club.
He should be there soon.
Pack party
Is it a party if we’re all just going to rot on the sofa
Maverick is reading over my shoulder and smacks me on the back of the head. “You’re texting her while she’s driving!”
“Oh, fuck,” I wince. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Read this at a stop light
Get home safe
Quit texting while driving
Or Mav will spank you
Now I really don’t wanna stop
But it’s voice to text, you worrywarts
Still want my spanking tho