21. McQuinn
21
McQuinn
“ H ey, need a spotter?” Meggie is standing over me when I look up. I’ve got 250 pounds over my head and really don’t want to be distracted, but hell, she looks gorgeous. She's wearing short jean shorts and a fitted tee that shows just a touch of her toned stomach. I can’t look away, and it just makes me steaming mad at myself. Fucking blue balls.
“Like you could spot me,” I grunt, lowering the bar and glancing up again just in time to see her flinch from my harsh comment. It’s like a slap to my alpha instincts. I’m supposed to protect and care for my pack, especially our omega, and more and more, it seems like Meggie is going to become ours. Or at least, theirs. I doubt she really wants me. She’s gonna decide I’m not worth the trouble, and then she’s gonna take Nils from me. It’s like I’m seeing history repeat.
She puts her hands on her hips. “Enough. I’m tired of you being a jackass. What is your fucking problem with me?”
It’s kind of adorable when she swears like that, with her cheeks all tinged pink and those little creases in her forehead. She’s not quiet or subtle, and a few of the other athletes turn and look at us.
“Nothing to see here.” I sit up and wave away the attention, then wipe my face with my towel. “Let’s talk about this later.”
“No,” Meggie says, slightly quieter, but firm, standing her ground. Fucking woman. Why does she have to be so hot when she gets like this? “You totally ditched us during lunch today. We’re talking about this now.”
I stand up, forcing her to take a step back. “You’re in my way.”
She studies me with a look that’s too keen. Too smart for her own good.
“You don’t just mean right now, do you?”
“I mean what I said.” I brush past her and cross to a mat in the corner to stretch out. The gym is always fucking packed. Massive dudes throwing weights around and toned ladies stretching like they want to turn themselves inside out. I’m lucky there’s a mat open.
“Do you really think me being on the team will keep you from getting a medal?”
I huff out a breath. “If I thought that, you wouldn’t be here. I agreed to let you on the team. Just like everyone else.”
I pop a squat on the mat and try some simple toe touches, but Meggie doesn’t back off. She sits cross-legged at my feet and puts her pretty face inches from mine.
“Is this about Nils?” Her touch on my arm makes me jerk away and switch positions into a low lunge.
“I’m not trying to get between you two. Nils really cares about you, and I’m happy for you. This doesn’t have to be a competition.”
“Everything’s a competition.” I get a sense of déjà vu, remembering saying the same thing to Nils a few days ago. The words come so quickly, so naturally. They’re like a creed built into my soul.
“You don’t really believe that, do you?”
She’s so persistent. It’s annoying. Damn sexy, too. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.” Her cool hand lands on my knee, as much a plea as her words. Why the hell does she have to keep touching me? It’s unnerving.
When I sigh, my breath moves the little strands of hair around her face. She’s too fucking close, and it’s clear she won’t back off until I give her something. But if I’m going to tell this story, I’m gonna need to move.
Taking her hand in mine, I stand and pull her to her feet. “Come on.”
Leading out of the gym, I make a path out the building and towards the river. I’ve always found water comforting. Maybe it’s that fire sign in me needing a counter balance.
“I’ve got seven siblings.” I speed up, needing the motion to keep myself talking. “All alphas. Until the youngest. My sister. An omega.”
Meggie’s quiet, but she keeps pace with my fast steps. It’s bright out today and I have to shield my eyes with my hand and keep my gaze straight ahead, which makes this a lot easier. I don’t want to look at her while I tell her this.
“When Sadie was born, everyone in the family doted on her. Of course, we didn’t know she was an omega, but there was just something about her that wrapped everyone around her little finger. Everyone except me. I don’t know what it was. Maybe the fact that I had been the youngest until she came along. Maybe our personalities just clashed, but the two of us always had a difficult relationship. I was never her favorite, and by extension, I lost my brothers. They spent more and more time protecting and caring for Sadie, and less and less time hanging out with me. I became the black sheep.”
Meggie squeezes my hand. The Seine comes into view. Little boats dot the water, tourists trying to get a look inside the Olympic Village.
“I started spending more time with my friends and less time with my family. I had a good group of friends. Or I thought so.” Now that I’ve started the story, it comes more easily, like something’s unlocked in my chest and everything inside wants to escape. I’ve never told any of the guys this. Not even Nils. I’m not sure I’ve talked about it with anyone.
Meggie takes my hand, like she knows I need the support to continue. Sometimes I think the pain I still feel about it isn’t warranted, like I’m overreacting. Lots of people have gone through harder rejections and more painful experiences. I tell myself I shouldn’t talk about it, don’t deserve to dwell on it, because it’s not that big a deal. But to me, it is. And Meggie’s hand in mine makes me think that maybe she’ll understand that.
“There were four of us. We were tight throughout high school and always planned on starting a pack together. But then, when we were nineteen, things just sort of fell apart. One of the guys met a girl and bonded her. Fast, too. They’d only known each other a few weeks. He didn’t even know her designation since it hadn’t come in yet.”
I remember the day he told us so clearly. It was December, and he was wearing this stupid red shirt with mistletoe on it. He was so excited he spilled his coffee on his shirt and I gave him mine. I never did get that shirt back.
“He told us it wouldn’t change anything. That we’d still be a pack, just with another member. But she didn’t like the rest of us, and it wasn’t long before she convinced him to form his own pack.”
“What about the other two?”
“They were always closer with each other than with me, so over time, I became the third wheel.” I risk a glance at Meggie and find her looking back at me. “It’s fine. I’m not upset about it anymore. It just feels like…”
“No one’s ever choosing you.” She stops walking, steps in front of me, and takes both my hands in hers. Her head tilts to the side like she’s trying to figure something out. “I think we all know where this is going, and I don’t want you to doubt that you’re a part of it, McQuinn. I want you to be a part of it.” The look on her face is so intense and sincere it makes my throat feel tight. “I choose you.”
“Why?" I ask. "You don’t even like me?”
Her smile is radiant. “I like you a lot when you’re not being an asshole. You’re passionate and ridiculously loyal. You’re funny. You drink too many salted caramel mocha frappuccinos and you need better taste in music, but you have great taste in books, and you’ve got perfect freckles and a smile that changes your entire face when you let it out.” She gets an adorable little smirk. “And you’re hot as hell.”
“You don't really know me.”
“That can be changed.” Her eyes dance with mischief, and she tugs on my hand, pulling me down the path. “Let’s change it now.”
For a second, I think she’s going back to our little apartment, but she heads towards security instead.
I pull my athlete's pass out of my pocket. “Where are we going?”
“To have a little fun.”
***
“This is lame.” I try to go with the flow when Meggie drags me out of the Olympic Village and into the streets of Paris, but I’m hot and sweaty and I’d really rather just go back to our apartment together than be around all the strangers and their baguettes.
I’m trying not to be a cranky Aries, but I am who I am. She’s not running away, but I’m still having a hard time believing this is happening.
“Quit complaining.” She shoots me a grin and pulls harder on our clasped hands as she drags me down the cobblestone streets. “We’re here!”
I look around at the old church behind us and the stone buildings. “Hmmkay?”
Meggie huffs her exasperation and stomps a foot. “Look down! We’re at Paris Point Zero.”
Dipping my head, there’s a coppery-gold multi-point star in the stone ground. Point Zero Des Routes De France is engraved around the star, and a sprinkling of coins dots the area.
“That’s Notre Dame,” she gestures to the old church behind us, “and this is the center of Paris. It’s a superstitious place. It’s supposed to be lucky!”
My heart does embarrassing little flips. Without thinking, I slide my hand into my pocket and rub the rabbit’s foot I always carry with me. Meggie sees me. She could have taken me anywhere in Paris and she brought me here. Shit, man. I’m falling stupid hard for this girl. How did I not see it before?
Her smile is fucking sunshine as she stands before me, each of us on one side of the bronze star. Her touch slides down my arm, and she pulls my hand from my pocket to intertwine our fingers.
“I want you to be the first to bite me,” she says, her eyes alight with so much feeling.
I shake my head, disagreeing or disbelieving. I’m not sure which. “You can’t mean that.”
“Yes, I can.” She squeezes my hands tighter. Other tourists pass us by, none of them paying us any attention, even though, to me, this moment feels monumental. “If we all decide we want this after the Olympics, I want it to be you first.”
“Shouldn’t it be one of the other guys? Nils or Ellis or something?”
“They’ll get their chance.” She glances down at the star on the ground between us before looking back up at me. “I want you to always know, without a doubt, that I choose you, McQuinn. I want you. Just as much as everyone else. You’re important to me. Even if you act like a giant ass sometimes.”
Her smile is wide and playful and so genuine. It melts everything inside me. She’s offering me exactly what I’ve wanted my whole life, that elusive connection that’s always seemed just out of reach, even with Nils. A bond.
I have a hard time believing it, but I want to trust her. More than anything else in the world, I want to trust her. Following my instincts, I pull her close, scoop her up, and kiss her right over the star that marks the center of Paris.
Meggie wraps her legs around my waist, and I don’t give a damn what Harrison said about not being physical. This woman just told me she wants me to bond her, something no one has ever said to me before. It makes me feel a bit like I’m flying and drowning all at once. And when she kisses me back with an enthusiasm that nearly knocks me on my ass, I feel like I’ve finally come home.
With her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, I grab her ass and scrape my teeth along her bottom lip just to hear her gasp. Fuck, why haven’t we been doing this all along?
“Believe me now?” She asks, lips still touching mine.
I grin back at her. “I might need a little more convincing.”
She giggles and gives me a peck on the cheek, sliding her legs down so her feet return to the earth. “Later, right now, we still have to soak up all the luck we can from point zero.”
“I was getting pretty lucky already,” I smirk.
She lightly smacks my arm. I rub it, pretending it hurts. “Tell me what to do. I’m all yours.”
Her smile gets even bigger and brighter. “Well, I didn’t bring any coins,” she motions to the coins at our feet, “But there’s another way to make a wish.”
With Glenn’s threats hanging over my head, the upcoming games, and Meggie’s status as an omega, we need all the luck we can get. I give her a nod to go on.
“So, you stand on one foot, on the star, and spin in a circle.”
“Like a ballerina?” I’m sure my smile looks completely stupid, but my girl is making wishes with me in Paris and I can’t keep a straight face if I try.
“A French ballerina,” she clarifies with a grin before she steps into the center of the star, lifts one foot up, and twists herself around in a circle on the spot.
“What did you wish for?”
She pops on her toes and kisses my chin. “Can’t tell you or it won’t come true.”
Stepping off the star, she pushes me onto the spot. I catch her eyes and soak in this moment together, our first genuine moment together, then I close my eyes and spin.