Chapter 25
chapter
twenty-five
Jesse
Has anyone seen my headphones?
Adrian
Likely in whatever box or bag is currently hiding my tablet from me.
Colt
I swear this house is like a vortex.
Dante
How can we lose stuff so easily in a place that’s so small?
I can’t even turn around in the shower
Jesse
It’s only been four days.
I bet we’ll get used to it.
Adrian
You’d all adjust much faster if you grew some balls and started trying to connect with Bridget.
Dante
It isn’t my fault!
She’s* avoiding me*
Jesse
I keep trying to talk to her but the woman turns me into an idiot
Colt
You say that like it’s a recent development.
Dante
Don’t be silly, Colt.
Jesse’s known her since high school so he’s been an idiot at least* that long
Adrian
If you all think there’s only one idiot among you, I have bad news.
“So, uh…”
You know an awkward silence hates to see me coming. Usually, I smash that shit to bits—tell a joke, start a story.
But, um…
Jesse rubs at the back of his neck, surveying the scene in the living room. Namely, Colt, stretched across a full couch like an absolute asshole, and Bridget, sitting primly on the sofa opposite his. Arranging scrapbook supplies on a big foam board laid over the coffee table.
She does shit like that all the time. Painting designs on her bookcases. Building displays for her students. And now… putting pictures of random kids on this flower-covered poster?
All while listening to the DIY Network. Naturally.
The flatscreen arrived today, along with everything else our pack alpha bought for Bridget last weekend. Including her new nest and the little Mini Cooper.
And fuck. It is adorable .
Of course she picked the one car and color that would make me grin like an idiot.
Doesn’t she know I’m still trying to Scotch-tape my skull back together after she blew it off on Saturday night?
I’m still confused. How did we end up fucking like that out of nowhere? Why was it the most incredible sex of my life? And, given that fact, why the hell haven’t I said a word about it to anyone ?
Because it… meant something to me?
Colt totally knows. I see the way he sneers at me every time I stumble upon Bridget and start to freeze up. I noticed how he opened the French doors the morning after the world-class countertop sex.
He’s being a dick on purpose—sprawling out with Bridget’s asshole cat lying alongside him. Forcing Jesse and me to squeeze onto the other sofa with the omega doing everything she can to not notice us.
Is it bad form to kick a guy’s ass while he’s injured?
“We’ll just…” Jesse goes on, shuffling forward. “Sit with you? If that’s okay, Bee.”
Bridget offers him a sideways glance and nothing more. Her seafoam fingernails flash in the low light as she sticks the last photo onto her project. Acting nonchalant, even though her voice squeaks with nerves. “Knock yourselves out.”
Her attitude might be my favorite thing about her. Aside from her sense of humor… and her hair… and her ass… and her ? —
I shake myself out of my head to find Jesse hesitating like a little bitch. Shoving him, I follow behind and take the spot on the other end of the sofa. He stiffly lowers himself to the middle, his toasted sugar-and-salt scent spiking from her proximity.
While I watch, somewhere between commiseration and second-hand embarrassment, he gazes at Bridget’s profile. Stringing together a lame attempt at conversation.
“Is that… a project for school?”
Cristo . He even sounds like a middle schooler with no game.
Bridget offers a tepid smile, carefully picking the board up and adding it to an upright stack of them wedged between the back of her sofa and her bookshelves. “Something like that.”
Jesse watches as she dusts glitter off her hands and smooths her skirt down. His toasted scent gets a bit saltier. “D-did,” he goes on, stammering. “Did all the stuff we picked out get here in one piece?”
Bridget’s soft. I saw a little bit of it during whatever the hell happened between us. But it’s even more obvious now, as she notes my packmate’s anxiety and finally cracks a tiny smile. “Yeah, it did. Thanks, Jess.”
“DID YOU EAT YET?”
Dios mío.
What the fuck was that ?
I haven’t said two words to her all week and that’s my opener? Shouting a random question that has nothing to do with anything ?!
Bridget’s brows pinch as she tries to process my stupidity. “Nooooo. Adrian texted and told me he was bringing sushi home.”
“Oh,” Jesse puts in, fumbling for his phone, scanning the screen. “He didn’t tell us that yet. Maybe we should, like, make a group chat?”
Colt flashes a murderous look. “I’d rather iron my own hands.”
Bridget beams a deliberate, mocking smile back. “That’s a great idea,” she chirps at Jesse.
“Make sure you call it Bridget’s Blue Balls,” Colt mutters, going back to his book. “Or maybe The Dickless Wonders.”
Jesse swells up beside me, but before he can reply, my Alpha snaps out a defensive growl. Bridget seems more disturbed by that than Colt’s jeers, blinking wide eyes at me for half a moment before shooting him another saccharine smile.
“I like Option B,” she chips, standing up. “Given that not all of you have blue balls.”
Hell. She’s talking about me.
Jesse freezes until she stands and saunters out of the room. Leaving a dizzying, dazzling cloud of tart sweetness in her wake. Colt’s lip lifts in a sneer. My lungs stutter and cramp, turning my next dumbass question into a pant.
“Did she smell this good that day we met her?”
“Definitely not,” Jesse mumbles, still fixated on the exit.
“ Good? ” Colt balks, his own sea-salt-and-sandalwood aroma smoldering. He flicks me another I’m-stabbing-you-in-my-mind look. Either because he actually hates her scent… or he hates me for pointing out how amazing it’s gotten.
“Seriously,” I burst, desperate for corroboration. Proof I’m not, you know, insane . “I’m pretty sure it was different. More acidic, I thought…?”
Jesse nods his agreement. “For sure. Maybe she was having an off day or something.”
Or something .
Like three alphas showing up to ask for her hand without ever even talking to her .
Plus, this is her home. She’s relaxed here, for the most part. It’s possible this is her true perfume and has been all along. Which would explain why my Alpha’s been in dumbfounded shock since Saturday.
Because this essence?
This woman?
I don’t know why—but I know they’re mine.