Chapter 25 Vann
VANN
Normally, I love places like this. Loud music. Flashing lights. Half-dressed bodies pressed close together. My mom used to call me ‘sensory-seeking,’ and fuck yeah, I’ll own up to that. Nothing makes my brain quiet faster than overloading my senses. But tonight, it’s not working.
The noise scratches at my insides. The lights hurt my eyes. All the scents coming off sweaty, horny bodies just make me angry. They’re not Raven. Her cinnamon-sugar scent is nowhere to be found.
I almost want to turn around and leave, but Orion and Tanner ran off somewhere and I promised Rhodes a dance. Something about that makes me feel even more jittery, though.
After downing a shot of Sambuca, I spot Orion and Tanner dancing at the edge of the crowd, looking sickeningly happy. In their own little world, as always. Fuckers.
“Come on.” I grab Rhodes’ hand and tug him away from the bar. Maybe dancing will help. Alcohol sure hasn’t. We’ve all had three shots, and it’s done nothing to calm my nerves.
When we’re in the middle of the crowd, I spin Rhodes toward me. He gives me a stunned look, cheeks pink like he’s embarrassed about something, though I don’t know what. It’s pretty damn cute.
“You okay?’ I bend close to his ear to be heard over the music.
He nods, hands sliding up my arms as he finally starts dancing.
We’ve danced together at parties and clubs before, but there’s something different in the way he’s looking at me now.
Or maybe it’s that he’s touching me. He rarely initiates physical contact with people.
He’s always said he’s fine with how touchy I am, but this is the first time he’s started it. Ever.
He drags his hands over my shoulders and back down my arms as he sways. The firm pressure of his touch feels amazing and instantly soothes my frayed nerves. His hips sway in a perfect relaxed rhythm. The man’s got moves.
I bring my hands to his sides, gripping loosely, synchronizing our motions.
Our eyes meet, and he licks his lips. Something tightens deep in my belly, my cock thickening and perking up.
How have I never noticed how smooth his lips are?
They look so soft, a perfect little bullseye, framed by a light stubble from the late hour.
I want to drag my finger across his bottom lip and see if it feels as soft as it looks.
I shouldn’t be thinking about Rhodes this way. He told us he isn’t interested in any of us like that. But that was a long time ago.
He’s looking at me with an expression I’ve never seen from him before. Timid, tentative, but hungry. Maybe things have changed? We’ve been together for years, and it’s been a while since we had that conversation.
With my hands still on his hips, Rhodes spins around, his back to my front, large body pressing against mine.
He’s big for a beta, and damn hot. With his tattoos and those studs in his ears and the messy way he wears his hair, he’s got this effortless bad boy look, but it’s not hardened or edgy.
There’s a softness to him that’s always appealed to me.
The music changes to something slower, headier, the bass dropping to a low rumble I feel everywhere. Rhodes doesn’t try to keep any distance between us.
I close my eyes, gliding my hands around to the firm planes of his abs. The heavy beat of the music works through my body like a drug. Rhodes grinds his ass back against me, and I groan. Is this really happening?
“Keep doing that, and you’ll get yourself in trouble, beta,” I say right against his ear.
He spins around to face me. “Maybe I—” He cuts off suddenly, gaze locked on something behind me.
I turn and see her. Raven.
She’s standing near the bar, looking a little out of place, eyes wide, gripping a nearly empty glass of one of those fru-fru drinks women like, the kind with an umbrella in it.
Her other hand is curled into her skirt.
The soft, silk fabric falls lightly over her hips, perfectly matching the revealing crop top she’s got on.
A heavy coat is slung over one arm, like a security blanket.
I’m moving before I can think, but I grab Rhodes’ hand and pull him with me.
Tanner and Orion aren’t where they were before, and I search the crowd as I walk.
They should be here, too. This is our chance.
Raven hasn’t spotted us, and when she does, I want all of us together.
She needs to know we’re all sorry, that we all want her.
I don’t need to worry, though, because our other packmates make it to Raven just before we do.
She’s staring at them like she’s seeing a ghost or a nightmare.
Her pretty little mouth hangs open, eyes bugging out like a scared animal.
Well, I guess that answers my question about whether she knew we were here.
Which means she clearly doesn’t know I’m the one who sent her all that stuff, either.
“The gifts were from me,” I blurt out the moment I’m close enough for her to hear me.
“What? That was you?” She shakes her head, brows pinching together. “Of course it was you. I should have known.” She mutters the last part, barely loud enough to be heard over the music.
“It was the first stop on my apology tour.” I grin and bounce on my toes.
“Did you like it? The teddy bear was my favorite. But I bet you liked the butterscotch candies.” I wink at her, and step closer, hoping she can smell me.
It’s crowded, though, and with so many sweaty people—most of them athletic alphas—the scents are pretty overwhelming.
Raven takes a step back, cowering, and I realize we’ve all surrounded her in a tight semicircle. A wall of alphas can be pretty intimidating, especially for an omega. Her hand is gripping her glass so hard her knuckles are white.
“Give her some space.” I throw an arm across Tanner’s chest, and try to push him back since he’s the closest one to her. Orion is beside him, and Rhodes stays behind me.
Orion takes a step back as he gives Raven his most stunning smile.
Damn. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how hot my packmates are since I see them every day, and being around them is so normal.
But when Orion turns on the charm and hands out that panty-melting grin, it’s enough to set even my blood thrumming.
“Hi, Raven,” he says cautiously. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t say the same.” She downs the last bit of her drink and shoulders past Orion, heading toward the bar.
I follow, hot on her heels. I’m not about to let this woman go again. “Can we buy you a drink? What would you like? Another one of those?”
“I can get my own.” She speeds up, slipping between people and shimmying away from me. Man, she has a nice ass, though I’d prefer it wasn’t running from me.
“Wait up!” I catch up with her just as she reaches the bar, my packmates right behind me.
Tanner holds back, staring at Raven like he isn’t sure if she’s real. Rhodes wears a neutral expression, as reserved as ever, but there’s a curious tilt to his head that I know means he’s intrigued. Good. I really want him to like her.
“Let us buy you a drink, snowflake,” Orion says, stepping up to her other side. “It’s the least we can do.”
Raven casts him a narrow glare, her pert little nose curling into the air, as if to say, ‘It certainly is.’
I grin. She’s got more fire in her than she did in high school. Or maybe she just didn’t let us see it then. She crosses her arms. “What do you want?”
I expect our pack lead to answer, to kick start this apology, but he just stands there with his mouth hanging open. Fine, if he won’t step up, I will.
“We want to apologize.” I try to take her hand, but she rips it away from me.
“You want to apologize? Now? For making my life a living hell years ago?” Raven says, giving me her back and facing the bar. “Just leave me alone.”
“No can do.” I bump my shoulder against hers, the action sends her other shoulder into Orion’s.
“Haven’t you realized it yet?” I shove my wrist in front of her nose.
She recoils, but not before I see her nostrils flare and her pupils dilate.
Her wide-eyed gaze meets mine, but it’s not eager excitement I see mirrored back at me.
It’s horror. Shit. Tanner was right, she’s never gonna forgive us.
Rhodes grabs my shoulders and tugs me back. “We’re sorry about him. I’m Rhodes, by the way.”
Raven gives him a tight nod, then turns away to wave down a bartender. The woman keeps mixing drinks as she chats with a group of athletes wearing pretentious button-downs and charming smiles. She doesn’t even glance at Raven.
Orion steps up to the bar and immediately catches the woman’s eye. The bartender holds up one finger. She hands a few people their drinks, then heads our way.
“Thanks,” Raven mutters, clearly disgruntled. She’s so damn cute.
“What’ll it be?” The bartender asks Orion.
“Sex on the beach,” Raven orders.
I know she means the cocktail, but just hearing those words come out of her mouth has my cock twitching. “I’ll take that too.”
When Raven looks at me, I wink. I definitely mean more than the cocktail.
Orion asks for a Peroni, Tanner gets sparkling water, and Rhodes turns down another round.
We all stand there awkwardly while the bartender mixes our drinks.
Orion pulls out a credit card before Raven can argue.
Just as he slides it across the counter, Raven adds a shot of tequila to the order.
She downs it, then raises her Sex on the Beach in a sort of half-salute.
“I appreciate the drinks. But whatever this is, I’m not interested in rehashing the past.”
She tries to move around us, but I block her path. I get that she’s mad—she should be—but we’re not the guys we were before. She just needs to see that.
“I’d rather talk about the future.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her. This isn’t going quite how I planned, but it’s still salvageable. I’m not giving up yet. “You’re our scent match, and we want to court you.”
“Vann!” Orion reprimands. Guess that wasn’t tactful enough for him. He’s always telling me I need more tact.
Tanner’s still quiet, head down, like he doesn’t think he even deserves to look at her, but now his eyes snap up to glare at me.
“What?” I shrug. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
Raven looks from me to Tanner, the slightest bit of curiosity mixed with fear breaking past her frown.
Tanner drops his head again, looking at his knotted hands. “I’m sorry, Raven.”
Well, that’s a surprise. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to be quite so straightforward about it. I’m proud of him. But I can already tell it’s not enough.
“Yeah, well, so am I.” Raven flips her long hair over her shoulder and walks away.
I move to go after her, but Rhodes stops me with a hand on my arm. “Give her some space.”
“We can’t just leave it at that,” I say.
“We won’t.” Tanner looks up, a hard set to his jaw. “I started this. I need to be the one to fix it.” He follows Raven into the crowd, and it takes all of my self-control—what little I have—to stay put.
I swallow the rest of my drink in one go. If I don’t find a distraction fast, I’m bound to chase after Raven, throw her over my shoulder, drag her back to our place, and make her listen to reason. Or pleasure her until she forgets all about the assholes we were in high school.
“Come on, Rhodes.” I grab my beta’s hand. “I need to burn off some steam. Let’s dance.”