Chapter 6 Lia
Lia
“Hey there, big guy.”
I breathe into Pickles’ fur as I try to block out the overwhelming sounds. Sirens whoop, making me twitch before my German shepherd lets out a growl. A hand comes down onto my shoulder before a roguish voice speaks.
“Just me, little one,” Walker says. “Knox is headed back with someone in tow. We’ll get you some answers.”
I lift my head and, sure enough, Knox has a determined step to his walk as he drags one of the maintenance men that I recognize toward us. Bob, I believe. I stand to my feet, wiping at my eyes and trying to give off any other impression except “omega that lives alone is about to melt down.”
“Hey, Bob,” I say as the two men approach.
“Miss Parrish,” he says with a nod of his head.
“So, here’s the deal: your apartment is basically the house form of totaled.
It’ll take some time to fix the roof and redo the inside of your place, so until further notice, we’ve got you set up in a vacant apartment over there,” he says, pointing to the building across the street.
“First floor, so it’s easy to move your stuff. You got renter’s insurance, right?”
First floor. Vulnerable to anyone who simply wishes to walk off the street. I look up at my four-story apartment that has a tree limb slammed down onto it. Will I even be able to get in and get my stuff?
“Lia,” Eli says in a calming voice. “Did you hear him?”
I clear my throat and pull myself back into the conversation. “Yes, sorry. I do, Bob.”
He nods. “Good. They’ll help you with rental furniture and replacing what you’ve lost. Me and the guys can carve out a safe path in your place so that you can get to your things.”
“I’ll help,” Knox says.
“And we’ll help you get your things to your new place.”
“I’ll help with that effort,” Walker says.
“Me too,” Eli adds.
“Overwhelmed” doesn’t even begin to explain how I’m feeling. I can’t find my words.
“Any questions?” Bob asks.
So many. Not enough. My mind finally lands on one of the things that’s bothering me. “What’s the layout of the apartment?”
Bob pauses. “The layout?”
I nod and hold my head high, trying to look strong. “Is the layout to this apartment similar to mine?”
“Well, it’s only a one bedroom. A bit smaller than the place you’ve got, but it’ll do.”
New layout. New kitchen. New floor that allows anyone off the street to knock on my door.
I’ll have to get some sort of security for the door.
A camera, or a ring doorbell. Maybe some sensors on the windows.
Do I have the money for something like that?
I stand there, calculating what I’m supposed to be paid as I clear these orders for the bakeries within the next couple of weeks.
Then, hands come down onto my shoulder, and I jolt out of my trance.
“Lia,” Walker says. “Did you hear him?”
Did he say something after that?
“Sorry,” I whisper softly.
There’s a look in Walker’s eye. I feel Eli and Knox move behind me, and before I know, the smell of fresh pine and overly ripe grapes fills my nostrils. My shoulders sink. My breathing becomes easier. The panic swirling inside of me falls beneath the wave of rich oak that washes over me.
Walker’s scent reminds me of something, but I can’t quite place it.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Don’t have to thank me for anything. Let’s just get your stuff packed up. Do you want help with that?”
Do I want some random Alpha I don’t know fondling my intimates while he packs them up? “No, I’ll pack. You guys can haul.”
“I want someone in there with you, if you’re going to be packing,” Bob says, piercing through the moment. “So, I’ll send Mike and DeShawn up there with you, just in case that limb compromises anything else while you’re up there.”
“You said the structure was still sound, yes?” Knox asks.
Bob nods. “It is.”
“I want to make that determination myself. Lia?”
“Hmmm?” I turn toward the Alpha in the overalls.
“I’ll be back. You stay here.”
I watch him jog toward my building before taking the stairs, two by two. I don’t know how long he’s gone, but when he finally comes back, he’s giving Bob and the guys two thumbs up. He’s panting a bit as he gets back.
“Yep, building’s good. Let’s go pack up your things.”
With every step I walk up, the damage gets worse. But nothing prepares me for what I see when the door to my home opens. Leaves and splintered wood are everywhere. Glass shards litter the floor. My kitchen is completely blocked off.
How am I going to get my things out of my kitchen?
“You ready?” Eli asks.
My head shakes mindlessly. “I can’t even get to my kitchen.”
Knox slips past me and ducks under the tree limb before vaulting clear over the bar kitchen countertop. Then he turns toward me with a boyish smile and holds out his arms.
“I’m yours to command. What are we packing?”
After talking him through where the things I’m going to need are located in my kitchen, Walker helps me beneath the massive tree limb so that I can get to my room.
Shockingly enough, my room hasn’t been completely demolished.
The window is busted, but the roof is pretty intact.
It doesn’t take me long to shove my nesting things into bags before I toss them out of my room.
Only for Eli and Walker to be there to catch them.
“Knox,” Eli says, “keep an eye on her. We’re going to start taking this stuff across the street.”
“Got it!” Knox calls as I hear him grunting to pry open a cabinet.
It takes us almost two hours to get everything I need out of my apartment.
But eventually, we’ve tackled everything we can tackle.
Pickles is right at my side, moving with every step I take, his nose bumping against me when I stand for too long, staring at the limb that has crashed through my living room and kitchen.
It’s all too much. There are moments where I have to stop and take breaths, moments where I have to remind myself that this is only temporary. This isn’t my new home. These aren’t my new things. Eventually, my life will piece itself back together.
But when I walk into my temporary apartment for the first time, my eyes water over.
The kitchen is practically a kitchenette. There’s barely any countertop space. Nothing is walled off except for a separate space for the bathroom, leaving the living room space and the bedroom space to bleed together. It’s practically a studio apartment. One bedroom, my absolute behind.
I can’t help the tear that falls down my cheek.
“Hey, hey,” Eli says in that calming voice of his, “none of that on this pretty face.”
The scent of freshly cut grass and honey swirls around me, and for a moment, it’s summer.
My favorite season. School is out, bakeries are demanding orders for the kids they’re going to be inundated with, and the faint smell of citrus hangs in the air.
It makes my mouth water, and I draw it in by the lungful, no longer caring about how selfish it may be.
I feel the muscles in my face relax before another tear falls.
“You’re okay,” he whispers as he blocks my view of the new space. “You’re just fine.”
“If she doesn’t like it, she can come stay with us, Daddy!”
I whip around to find Amber standing in the doorway. She’s holding two thumbs up with a massive smile on her face, and she’s got imprints in her skin that look very much like she fell asleep in the back of a car. The red lines cut through her skin, her hair bunched up and knotted on only one side.
Eli chuckles as he leaves my side, heading for his daughter. “Did you have a good nap, princess?”
Amber wraps her arms around her father’s waist in a hug. “Yeah.”
“How you feeling?” he asks, stroking his fingers through her knotted hair.
“Better, but still tired.”
“That’s normal,” I say to the little girl. “Emerging for an Omega is hard work. You’ll probably take another nap today.”
Amber beams at me. “I bet Daddy would let you come stay with us if you don’t want to stay here. Wouldn’t you, Dad?”
She looks up at her father like he’s about to bestow upon her the most amazing present of her lifetime. “Pleeeease?”
Eli peers over at me. “It is an option, if this isn’t suitable.”
“What’s an option?” Knox asks as he walks up, breathless. His scent is strong, like rain that has just fallen as you watch with a mug of hot cocoa.
I have to close my eyes and give myself a minute to taste it on my tongue.
“My new friend is going to come stay with us,” Amber says.
“Oh?” Knox asks.
I open my eyes and look up at the Alpha in the overalls. “I’m not going to do that.”
“Ohhhh,” Amber says dejectedly as her shoulders fall. “But it would be so much fun. It would be like a sleepover! Pleeeease?”
“I won’t pressure you into anything,” Eli says as he holds his daughter against him, “but it’s an option, if you get tired of this place.”
“I don’t like that this place is on the first level,” Walker says as he strides back out toward us.
“You know, I was thinking that,” Knox says. “At least in her other apartment, she was up a few floors.”
While the four of them talk around me, I just turn and look at the new space. The white-washed walls. The popcorn ceiling. The lack of decorations. The entire place devoid of any sort of a life.
I want my nest. I need my nest. But I don’t even have furniture in this place. I’ll have to get an air mattress. How much was Knox able to retrieve from my kitchen? Do I need any of my baking supplies? What about my mixer? I don’t see it in the kitchen.
I don’t even realize I’m swaying on my feet until a large set of hands comes down onto my shoulders.
“Hey, hey,” Walker murmurs against my ear, “take a breath.”
“We do have a bigger kitchen as well, if you need that,” Eli says.
“Yeah,” Amber says as she nods her head with vigor. “You can use anything, really.”
“If you need a commercial kitchen for your baking,” Walker says as he begins massaging my shoulders, “you can use one of the kitchens at the vineyard. There’s two of them, but only one is ever opened at a time.”
That gives me pause. “You work at a vineyard?”