Chapter 36
chapter
thirty-six
“Hi!”
No.
Not today.
I mean, I’m never big on random fans walking up to us and shoving their Sharpies in our faces. But especially not now. I haven’t washed up since before the whole chasing-an-omega-through-King-Stadium thing, mostly because there are traces of Bridget’s scent on my clothes…
And, okay, I probably need to shave eventually.
I reach out and grab a razor off the shelf of hygiene products displayed on the grocery store’s aisle cap. Dante runs right into my back, huffing, “ Qué carajo? ”
Thank God for Jesse and that Cotillion class his mom stuck him in. Our golden-haired packmate manages a smile for the small blonde grinning at us from the other end of our shopping cart. “Have we met?”
The woman—an omega for sure—giggles like he’s hilarious, waving a dismissive hand at his “joke.” Before he can reply, a tall, super-built alpha with rich brown skin and a buzz cut steps into view.
He holds up two tubes of tomato paste and shakes his head.
“Zane swears there’s a difference between the one that costs three dollars and the one that costs fifteen, but honestly, I’m not?—”
The guy slips his arm around her waist and then pauses, realizing we’re watching. “Oh. Hello.” The alpha eyes his omega, tucking her closer. “Friends of yours, sweet girl?”
The omega beams . “This is Bridget’s pack!”
The dark-eyed alpha snaps up straighter. Stony mistrust covers his face as he glances at each of us. Judging.
He offers Jesse a stiff handshake. “Micah Beckett,” he says, brusque.
Then looks over at the blank space next to Jesse.
Like he’s pointing out the absence of our girl before he introduces his own, “This is our pack’s omega, Emma.
” The edge in his eyes grows sharper. “You know—Bridget’s best friend? ”
Ah, shit. We should have known that.
Emma claps, unbothered. “It’s sooooo nice to finally meet you!” she trills, bouncing forward and snapping Dante into a hug.
I’ve never seen our shortstop balk from a hot woman before, but he visibly recoils, holding his hands up and scrunching his nose.
Relatable . This omega’s cinnamon scent tickles my nostrils, too.
Micah seems unaffected while his girl smothers each of us. He has the settled air of a bonded alpha, which makes sense given the marks on Emma’s neck and the fact that he doesn’t growl while she hugs other men.
Micah’s expression hardens further as he looks us over.
He must share whatever he’s thinking through their bond because his omega’s excitement visibly dims. “I told you that’s just a rumor,” she hisses, smacking his chest with the back of her hand.
Then, with an apologetic grimace at us, “Bridget told me what happened at your game today.”
Micah’s shrewd. He clearly doesn’t buy our story or his omega’s insistence on its validity. He meets my eye, his face nothing short of disdainful. “And we saw a video online.”
“ Carajo ,” Dante curses. “Already?”
He moves to whip his phone out but Jesse stops him. “We’ll talk to Adrian about it when we get home.”
Our little exchange must look suitably pack-like to this guy because some of the tension leaves his shoulders. His expression turns thoughtful—and for some reason, he addresses his next statement to me.
“We’ve been wondering when we’d meet you,” he says. “It seems strange that we haven’t; Bridget’s over at our house a lot.” Deep disapproval colors his eyes. “But I know she’s home alone even more.”
I’m used to burying the shame I feel by piling rage on top of it.
The fury that she knew I liked her and made this stupid deal in the first place.
The disgust I trained myself to harbor over the way she gluttonously spent all the money we sent her.
The nauseous pang of hurt that socked my gut every time I recalled waking up after my accident and finding out she never came.
But she didn’t know I liked her.
And she spent our money on everyone but herself.
And after what she endured today? I’ve gotta be honest—even the whole not-visiting-me-in-the-hospital thing feels pretty thin.
Because we’ve hurt her, too.
Would I have shown up for her two months ago? I want to say yes, but, at that point, I wasn’t concerned with much aside from baseball and finding the bottom of as many bottles as I could.
Either way, this bonded alpha glares at me like I’m a complete fucking failure.
Like I said: this guy is astute .
I could have stopped our deal that day if I’d just swallowed my pride and given her the benefit of the doubt. And I’m sure I could have asked how she spent our hard-earned money anytime I wished.
I wanted to stay mad—because as long as I was angry, I didn’t have to feel responsible for missing my chance with her. So I did everything I could to protect my anger.
Instead of protecting Bridget.
Emma chatters with Jesse for a few minutes, mentioning something about getting all of us together soon. I barely hear a word, replaying the last few months in my head. The Becketts wave and walk away, leaving me in the middle of the market with my packmates.
Thinking we’d better come up with one hell of an apology.