Chapter 36 - Timber
Timber
Istumble through the front door, still in shock over everything that happened.
I managed to have an actual meal with Kane, but he focused on discussing ways we could be a pack together while I numbly watched the food we ordered grow cold.
As I calmed down, my head cleared. Though I can still hear Kane saying it over and over again. “Scent match. Scent match. Scent match,” like he’s drilled it into my brain.
Now that I’ve finally come down from the high of kissing Ollie, my mind is spinning with possibilities. And I have to figure out my feelings for Luke.
It’s exactly like Ollie said: messy.
I’m still so fucking horny, and I’m worried about what I’ll do if I see Luke's cute face blinking up at me.
I need to talk to Marilyn about Ash. I owe her another meal after all of that. Whether or not she wants to eat it with me is up to her.
As I close the garage door behind me, I tell myself I should just go straight to my room and avoid the risk of running into the omega that's twisted my life.
The house is nearly pitch black when I enter the living area, and my heart sinks.
“Luke?” I call out as I kick off my shoes and pad toward the kitchen. There’s an eerie quiet running through the house. It’s already 11 p.m., and he could have just gone to bed. I can use the cameras to find out what’s happened if I get really desperate.
There’s a flickering orange light to my right. I look through the French windows and out onto the balcony to the crackling firepit, and the omega I've been thinking about curled up on one of my reclining sun chairs.
My heart trembles as I walk over and slide open the door. He knocks his head back to look up at me.
“You were gone a while,” he says. “I didn’t even know if you were coming back tonight. I thought I might catch you doing the walk of shame.”
I clock his glass with a white straw and a green umbrella sticking out of it, and a slice of pineapple on the rim.
I think it’s a cocktail, but a half-empty bottle of wine sits next to another full one on the table between the two chairs.
They’re good wines, as well, and I won’t complain when I feel like this.
“I got you a glass in case you wanted to join me.” He points to the other sun chair. “I guess you can’t taste it, but we can still get buzzed if you’re in the mood.”
“How long have you been out here for?” I ask, and he shrugs as I take a seat.
“Time means nothing when you’re waiting for destiny.” He sighs dramatically. My brow rises as he grins at me before he bursts out laughing.
“I don’t know, maybe an hour? I got bored playing games, so I decided to start some internet drama by posting about how you were the best Scented Scorpions player there was.”
I hold out the glass to him, and he fills it up. I already know it’s a bad decision, especially considering how many glasses I had with Kane. I took a taxi back, and I'll collect my car tomorrow.
Now that I’m home, sitting in front of the guy I like with the echo of his sister’s lips on mine, I think I can let myself off.
“And how did that work out for you?” I ask, only half listening.
“Hmm,” he says as he drops the bottle back to the table with a clunk. “Tragically, I was posting in the wrong tag. I ended up finding your fans, and we trauma-bonded over how hot you and Kane are when you fight.”
I choke on my first sip of wine as he snorts.
A small smile brushes my lips as I settle back into the chair. The orange light cast shadows on his face and makes it easier to look at him. At least like this, he doesn’t seem like a carbon copy of his sister.
He settles back into the chair, tucking his feet under him, his gaze distant as he looks out on the skyline of the city.
I bought a house far away from the center so I can see the twinkling lights in the evening, but I’m usually so tired with games and practice that I never stop to watch them.
Luke helps slow me down and actually makes me enjoy things.
Which is the total opposite of those rushed kisses with his sister that hum through my body.
We settle into a silence as we both sip our wine, and I can sense a conversation is building. Everything feels so huge and light that I just want to get into it straight away and ask him about her.
I squeeze my fist around my wine glass, scolding myself, forcing myself to remember that it’s her perfume and taste I’m attracted to, not her.
“How was your date?” he asks, finally breaking the tension. He sounds casual, even though I want it to mean more. Like he could be jealous or upset or something that says he feels the same as me.
I pause, drawing in a slow breath. The wine I shared with Kane at the restaurant has already gone to my head more than I thought it would, because I just burst out with it.
“I met your sister,” I say, staring straight at him.
He stiffens before he turns his head, meeting me with a smirk.
“Did you now? Well, she said she was going out tonight; I just didn’t realize it was with you.” He takes a sip from his glass. “That’s a bit mean,” he hums. “If I’d known you were going together, I could have warned you.”
“Warned me about what?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
“Warned you to stay the hell away from her.” He chuckles at my shocked expression. “Come on, she’s family. I don’t want my boss dating her. You’re her boss as well, you know.”
It’s not just about my being her boss. It’s that she’s going into heat soon, and Luke must know. And I can’t handle the idea of not being there for her.
Maybe I should just come out with it and ask him when he’ll go into heat. That could solve some of this confusion, like any of it can be fixed at this point.
All those stupid alpha parts of me are hopping and jumping around because what if she really does go into heat with other alphas, even though she’s scent matched with me?
What’s going to happen to Luke if I bond with his sister and he’s left behind?
What kind of fucked person am I to be thinking all of this in the first place?
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything. I wasn’t even supposed to be on a date with her in the first place. Things just happened.”
“Yeah, you mean things like Kane?”
I suddenly sat up in my chair, my eyes wide. “What? You know about her and Kane?” I snap out.
He gives me a wide grin. “There’s a lot of things I know, Timber. I’m just not sharing them with you because you’re still my boss, no matter how close we get.”
He arches a brow, glancing at my glass as if he’s telling me to drink up. Even in the flickering light of the fire, he can’t hide his darkening expression.
“Nothing is going anywhere with your sister. I only met her once,” I say.
“What? Why not?” Luke asks. “You came back here with a big smile on your face. Or, your version of a smile. I’ve never seen you look so happy.”
“Hang on, why are you defending her after telling me to stay away?”
“She’s still my sister. Even if her getting together with anyone is gross, she deserves a good partner. And you’re alright, as they come.”
I pause, trying to figure out which way the conversation is going. I don’t plan on telling Luke what actually happened at the restaurant, or how I’ve been taken over by all of this, but I can still reassure him that his sister is safe from me.
I don’t know how to say it in a way that tells him that keeping clear of omegas is more important than my feelings for him or my lust for Ollie.
“There’s a reason things will never go anywhere with her,” I say as I take a deep drink. There’s no flavor there apart from the slight burn in my throat, but it doesn’t matter. Not when I know Ollie tastes better than anything else.
What I’m about to share with Luke definitely goes beyond boss-employee relationships, but he asked.
Luke gives me another look before sucking on his straw, and it gurgles as it reaches the end of the glass.
He instantly scoops up the bottle, pouring more into it with loud glugs. I wait until he’s settled down again, and another silence hovers between us. I think he can tell I want to speak, because he doesn’t fill the space.
“I used to have a mate, did you know?” I ask. There’s a pregnant pause before he responds.
“Yeah, I heard about it,” he replies softly.
I take a steady breath as I begin. It’s easier to tell him about my ex-wife since I recently shared it with Kane.
Usually, Luke is so chatty that we have an easy, if not tense, back-and-forth. As the story of how my ex-wife used me builds, Luke grows more closed off. His body becomes tighter, he takes hurried drinks of wine, and stares at me like he can’t tear himself away.
The story takes longer than it did with Kane, but there’s more freedom with Luke. It’s like a lid has popped off, and, as I start talking, I can’t stop.
I don’t just tell him the facts; I tell him how she twisted my mind using her scent, and how she wove herself into every aspect of my life. So that when she pulled the threads, she trapped me, bound, suffocated, with no one except my team to support me through it.
My money, my assets, huge loans, secret properties, and endless legal battles over contracts I’d signed with my team, brands, advertising, even magazines, while I was high on her scent.
They said that scent matches fulfill each other’s needs, like parts of a whole that complete each other. The more I talk, the more obvious it is that she was on the hunt, and I was the perfect prey. That’s all our match was in the end.
The intensity that beats from Luke as I go into detail about the hospital unnerves me, but I keep talking. I tell him how I discovered the ways she’d used me, and what it really meant to find out that she lied to me.
The whole time I talk, I drink, until I’m reaching for my fourth glass and my body is humming. I keep needing to stop to find the right words, but I eventually get it all out.
I want to apologize for dumping on him for a straight hour. Though he drinks as much as I do as I talk.