30. Icarus
Chapter thirty
This is the most awkward dinner of my life.
Slime made us plates and distributed them, but I can barely taste the food. After Jordan's story and Cyrus' violent outburst the tension in the air has me feel like I'm wading through mud.
"Jordy," Rafe says quietly, "how's work going?"
A safe topic. A smart pivot for Rafe.
He seems like the most level-headed of the trio.
Jordan puts down her fork with a soft sigh. "It's okay. Lanie, my assistant, has been weird lately. She didn't tell me when Cyrus was coming despite me having informed her all about you three. I think me presenting as Omega has thrown her for a loop." Jordan takes a sip of her second glass of wine, humming quietly. "But, the job itself is great. Everyone is saying print media is dead, but it's not. Billboards, magazines, newspapers, mailers… Sure, maybe not as much traffic as the internet, but still plenty. I wouldn't want to lead up the internet division, anyways."
"Why not?" I ask curiously.
"It's a massive department, for one, and it lacks the creative freedom. Okay, so I'm going to tell you what websites we will put your ad on and what click-through rate you can expect. Sure. Fine. However, I can develop a multi-pronged approach in print, with each pathway having a unique ad. It's like …," she sucks on her teeth for a minute. "Okay, it's like perfume samples. That was revolutionary. How can someone know if they want to buy a perfume without those little samples you can rub on your wrists? What if we could do that for other things?"
Cyrus sets his fork down and quirks his head to the side. "What else could you do something like that with?"
She taps her chin with the handle of her fork. "I wouldn't do any consumables, despite how fun it would be to have lickable paper or something, but a printing company could make their ad an insert on their paper. A graphic design company could put their stickers in a magazine. There's no limit." She pushes her barely-touched plate away, her mouth dropping dramatically. "Oh shit, Alphamatic!"
She hops up, looking around the unfamiliar room for something, before pinning her eyes on Slime. "Si, do you have a notebook or a whiteboard or something?"
Slime looks around, blinking rapidly. "You haven't changed a bit, peaches," he chuckles once he recovers. He's gone for only a second before returning with a notebook and a pen.
Jordan scribbles quickly, pausing only to chew the end of the pen, pacing as she goes. Watching her with that notebook cradled in her arm as she moves easily around the room, not even noticing the attention the men are giving her, gives me hope that maybe we can figure this out one day.
Maybe we can make this all work.
"Okay!" she says, throwing the notebook down on the table and startling us. "I think I have it." She sinks into her chair and takes a greedy sip of wine, eventually looking at the four of us strangely. "What?"
"Are you going to tell us what you have?" Cyrus asks with a smirk.
"Oh shit, right," she chuckles. "Nolan's goal is to encourage people to train at Alphamatic and get people to franchise it. Every one of his competitors does a free week or something in their ads. We don't wanna do that."
"Why not?" Rafe asks, leaning his head on his chin. "If it works, it works."
Jordan tosses her napkin at his face. "No, bad Rafe. That's not going to give a company an edge."
I try to smother my amusement at how quickly she shut the other Alpha down. "Okay, then, what?"
"Get a grip on fitness." She crosses her arms smugly.
We sit silently, waiting for her to elaborate, but she doesn't. Eventually, Slime caves. "We're gonna need context, peaches."
She rolls her eyes as if we're all idiots. "We can't see in your brain, sunshine," I remind her.
"Fine," she whines, drawing out the 'e.' "We put in an ad with Cyrus using a branded grip strengthener. The card is good for a free grip strengthener at any Alphamatic, getting them in the door. People who don't normally do gym memberships will still go because picking up the strengthener and giving your information enters you to win a dinner with Cyrus Stargazer."
We're all quiet for a minute, and Cyrus breaks the silence first. "You're going to raffle off dinner with me to drive traffic into the facility?"
She smiles smugly and crosses her arms across her chest. "Yup." The 'p' pops with the force that she expels the word. "Home workout people will go to get a free piece of equipment, even though it's small, and when they see the facilities, I think a lot would sign up for a membership. You'll also get superfans who follow your career going into the gym to enter. And women who want a chance to meet you." Taking another sip of wine, her cheeks growing red, Jordan smirks. "You forced yourself into this ad campaign, Cyrus. Did you think I was going to go easy on you?"
He swears under his breath, and I busy myself by taking a few bites of the food. Now that the tension has broken, I can appreciate the rich flavor of the mac and cheese and barbecue chicken.
"I didn't expect you to raffle me off," he grumbles, pushing the food around his plate. I tense. We were getting somewhere, and now he's pushing back on something so small?
"Oh, but I'd thought you'd be fine with it. You've done it before, after all," she says with an amused hum.
"No," he snarls, but there isn't much aggression. "We're not doing this again."
"Aw, what, Cyrus, you don't want Icarus to know about when our geometry teacher purchased a date with you in a school fundraiser raffle?" The teasing lilt of her voice is so youthful it makes my mouth slack.
"Oh my God, I forgot about Ms. Ryan," Rafe says with a snort. "She was obsessed with you."
"It wasn't like that!" Cyrus insists, crossing his arms. "All we did was rearrange her classroom. She wanted me for my strength."
Slime's eyes light up with delight. "Nah, she wanted you for your muscles , Cyrus. I can see why you'd get confused."
Jordan cackles as Cyrus hides his face in his hands. Though I feel strange being on the outside of their joke, it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. This is the first glimpse I've gotten into what my life could be like if we can make this work.
I like these Alphas. I won't tell Jordan unless she asks me directly, but I can see myself in a pack with them. I can picture the four of us working together seamlessly to make Jordan happy.
It's like Rafe can read my thoughts through my expression because when I look up and catch him watching me, his smile is so grateful and hopeful.
When everyone is done making fun of Cyrus and the plates are cleared, Slime gives everyone a slice of lemon strawberry shortcake. Of course, they don't have tea, so I enjoy a glass of wine while the others drink espressos over dessert.
"So, Pack Stargazer," I say, looking at the three Alphas around the table. "How did that name come about?"
"I'm surprised Jordan hasn't told you," Slime says shyly.
"I don't know why," my Omega responds quickly. "I have always wondered, but I just assumed it was y'all being goofy teenage boys since we spent so much time under the stars."
Rafe raises a brow at her. "You didn't make the connection?"
Once again, my Omega looks between the Stargazers with confusion. She pushes her dessert away after two bites and rests her chin on her hand. "You're being so cryptic. No, I have no idea."
"Stargazer lilies," Cyrus says quietly. "We named the pack after your favorite flower."
There is a long, quiet pause as his words sink in. At sixteen, they were so sure they'd end up with Jordan that they named the pack after her. Maybe they did mean well when they pushed her away. I've seen how much it hurt Athena to be rejected by her pack after so long.
Maybe they really were trying to protect Jordan.
They went about it stupidly because they were nineteen-year-old boys and didn't think to mention their plan to a single person who no doubt would have stopped them, but their hearts were in the right place.
Jordan breaks the silence by bursting out into a peal of laughter, clutching her stomach and laughing so hard that tears fall from her eyes.
"Oh holy shit," she says through gasps. "You didn't."
The men look at each other, confused at her outburst. "What?" Slime asks softly. "Why is that funny?"
"Because stargazer lilies are not, and never have been, my favorite flower." She rolls her lips inward to keep from laughing more but fails, her head hitting the table as she collapses into laughter.
Cyrus looks devastated, his eyes wide as he stares at the hysterical Omega. "What do you mean? You had that painting of them you did and kept in your room. I took a picture of it and…"
"They were tiger lilies!"
"Okay, I'll bite," I say, interrupting their moment. "What's the difference?"
"Tiger lilies represent strength and good fortune, something I desperately needed at sixteen. They look similar to stargazers, but they're different varietals. And they aren't my favorite flower either. I just liked the symbolism." She looks around the room at the confused faces of Pack Stargazer. "What made you think they were stargazers?"
"We took a picture and took it to the florist…" Rafe says, shaking his head.
"Hold the fuck on," Cyrus says, pushing to his feet, "are you saying we could've been Pack Tiger? That's so much cooler than Stargazer! Do you know how much grief we've gotten over our name?"
Jordan pushes to her feet, crossing her arms. "Hold on there, mister. No one has consulted me on this name. You never said anything to me about it. You could've asked me about the flowers!"
The two appear to be equally stubborn, glaring at each other across the table. Despite their stormy expressions, I don't feel any malice from Jordan through our bond. If anything, it almost feels like affection.
No, wait.
Nostalgia.
That's a better word for the emotion she pushes through the bond.
I stealthily scoot my chair closer to Slime. "Have they always been like this?" I whisper.
He chuckles, pulling a knee to his chest and awkwardly resting his foot on the seat of his chair. "Yeah, always. It was hell on me and Rafe to keep them from chewing each others' heads off sometimes."
Jordan and Cyrus are arguing back and forth now, but I don't think it's about the name anymore. My mate's red hair flies everywhere, and her arms are gesturing wildly. The massive Alpha has his arms crossed over his bulky chest as he wrinkles his nose at her.
"Tiger is a shitty name too, Cyrus! No one would've taken you seriously with that, either. Why couldn't you just have gone with one of your guys' names?"
Cyrus throws his hands up like Jordan is the most frustrating person he'd ever met. "Are you kidding me right now, Jay? Like, be fucking serious. Are you really asking why we didn't take one of our names as a pack name?"
She wrinkles her brow, confusion painting her pretty features. Rafe and Slime have moved closer to me, their shoulders touching, giving the quarreling pair a wide berth. "Yes? I mean, I asked you guys constantly why you picked Stargazer, and all you ever said was -"
"We'll tell you when it's time!" he roars. "We were going to tell you it was a placeholder name until you became our Omega."
She stumbles backward as if slapped. "Excuse me?"
He sinks into his hair, pulling his long, curly hair from the elastic he had it knotted with. "We thought we'd take your name as a pack when it was time, so we put that name as a silly placeholder. And then we had to let you go and -"
"And you never changed it."
"We never changed it. Didn't feel right to." Slime and Rafe shuffle uncomfortably beside me, the only confirmation I need to know that this is all the truth. Cyrus reaches for Jordan, but she pulls her hand back. Hurt flashes across his features momentarily, but he steels himself. "I need to tell you how sor-"
"Don't apologize."
"For fuck's sake, woman. Let me talk for once in your life!"
A growl rumbles in my chest, and I shoot to my feet. "You do not talk to her that way!" I shout at the Alpha, rounding the table to put myself between him and Jordan. "She has done nothing to deserve your ire."
"Vick," Jordan says softly behind me, touching my hip. "We've always spoken to each other like this. It's not new."
"I don't like it," I respond, glaring at the other Alpha.
"I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to trust that I will speak up when I cannot handle something."
Reluctantly, I kiss her forehead and move away, giving them space even though it goes against all my instincts. Once I've moved, Jordan presses a finger into Cyrus' chest.
"You do not talk to me that way! You have not earned the right back. You forfeited it when you lied to me and left me."
"I know I have, okay?" he says quietly, his massive body collapsing into itself. "But please, I want you to know it was all my idea—the lying about the scent match thing. Don't take your anger out on the others. We don't want you to get sick."
"The others went along with it." Her voice is strong, but I feel the pain radiating through the bond. I think our time here is coming to an end for the evening. I can tell my girl needs an emotional break from all of this.
"We did," Rafe interjects. "And I'll regret it every day for the rest of my life. It destroyed us as a pack. Sim—er, Slime left us, and Cyrus and I lived separately."
"I don't know if there will ever be words to express just how much I regret what I did." Cyrus clenches his fists, clearly trying to stop himself from grabbing her. "And I know you may not believe me, but I have always lov-"
"Nope. No." She jumps to her feet, wagging her finger at Cyrus. "We're not doing that. Not saying that. Not now."
"Jordan." He moves fast for a big guy, quickly grabbing her hands. She refuses to meet his gaze but sinks into his touch. "Give us a chance, please."
Tears well in her eyes and the despair she feels punches me in the chest. I place my hand on Cyrus's, and he immediately releases her.
I pull my Omega to my chest, purring until the tension drains from her. After a few quiet moments, she stands up, a look of resigned determination on her face. Like she doesn't want to be strong, but she knows she has to be.
Turning her attention back to Pack Stargazer, she continues as if Cyrus didn't almost confess his love to her. "Rafe, I haven't scented you yet, and please don't try to get close enough to me so that I do. The longer I go without scenting you, the lower my chance of scent sickness."
His shoulders slump, the rejection a physical weight, but he doesn't protest.
"But Cyrus and Simon," she pauses, looking at the biker. "Do you want me to call you Slime?"
The green-haired Alpha shrugs. "As long as you call me, I don't care what name you use." The light-hearted joke starkly contrasts the tear stains on his cheeks.
"That was lame," she huffs. But she can't hide the sweet joy that bubbles up within her from me. She clears her throat and continues. "Cyrus and Simon, I would like a piece of worn clothing, please."
"A gym shirt, preferably," I interject. "For the pheromones in the sweat."
The two Alphas nod and disappear, returning with t-shirts that they fold and hand to me. I place them on the table in front of Jordan, letting her decide whether to carry them out herself or have me do it.
She picks them up and clutches them to her chest. I think she thinks she's being sneaky with the way she inhales deeply from them, but we all catch it.
"Thank you for having us," I tell the three of them, meaning it. "I think it's time we get home." I place a hand on Jordan's lower back, guiding her to the door.
"Will we see you on Friday, Icarus?" Slime calls after me.
Jordan comes to a screeching stop, confusion marring her features. I was going to discuss Friday with her after gauging how the dinner went. But it looks like we're going to have this out now.
Nerves bubble up inside me, and she lets out a quiet purr, obviously feeling my stress through the bond. The tension between my brows loosens. "The guys invited me over for a… What did you call it?" I look back at Slime.
"A pack party!" he says with a grin. "Video games, pizza, beer… Just an Alpha hangout."
My Omega locks down the bond, her emotions no longer reaching me as she curiously examines my face. "And you want to go?" she asks me quietly. The other guys can probably hear her, but they're decent enough to pretend we have privacy.
"I think I do," I respond. "Is that okay?"
She gives me the softest, most gentle kiss and nods. "He'll be there."