Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
EIGHTEEN MONTHS LATER
Classes at Unity are both tedious and hideously archaic. The government was smart in making Omega accreditation mandatory because no one in their right mind would want to be here if they didn’t have to. Except for Bella. And her rather large crowd of wannabes. I guess it’s more accurate to say it’s only me and my Scorned Girls that loathe being shackled to the halls of Unity, wasting our days learning about the difference between steaming and ironing.
The Omega mothers are so insistent as Omegas we do nothing but dote on our Alphas and packs that they forget the marvel of living in our modern society. I have tried raising the issue by explaining if we use what’s in front of us—like restaurants and dry cleaning—we’d have more time to dote, but they dismiss my arguments, insisting I’m missing the whole ethos of being an Omega.
They”re right, because I want more out of life than having to dote. Despite the endless subtle and obvious threats Unity makes about keeping me back a year, it’s not like they can, considering who my parents are.
While people don’t talk too much about Raney being a Grady, or Ho being a Verdune, the faculty here gossip incessantly about my heritage. Drop the name Pack Cameron in a discussion and most people gasp in awe. I guess if you weren’t the by-product of two of the purest Omega matches in modern day society, you’d be impressed, but I know Pack Cameron as my parents. And they’re cool but not that cool. I mean they are, but at the same time they are just people. People who all other Omegas aspire to be.
As far as genetics go, I should be the belle of the ball. But in the process of evolution supposedly the pure genetics of my Omega parents got a little mashed up at conception. My parents always tease and tell me somehow my ‘volume’ and ‘appropriate’ buttons got twisted up and spun around like a tornado touching ground. No doubt my family loves and encourages me to be who I am but the mothers at Unity have made it a quest of theirs while I am a student to resolve the issue with voice coaches, deportment classes, and long lectures on being less black and white in my approach to life.
“Ladies, settle down please,” Omega Beatrice says, clapping her hands, her rummy eyes lasering across the room to me. Which is entirely unfair since I am definitely not responsible for the loud chattering today. Almost every student in attendance is buzzing with excitement, nearly feral as they wait for today’s Alpha function to commence.
“Fuck me dead, Bella is frothing at the bit, isn’t she,” Raney says, trying to talk under her breath. But like me, subtly is not my girl’s strong point.
“Language,” one of the Omega mothers walking down the sides of the room leans into our aisle, her words aimed at Raney. In truth, it could have been any of us since the four of us haven’t stopped whispering.
However, unlike the rest of the Unity student body, we’re not busting at the seams to get outside and meet the visiting packs. The girls and I will linger, smile at the right Alphas like expected, then make a runner the first chance we get.
“I’m not sure what to do. I’ve got a shoot booked with the asshole photographer,” I share with the girls as soon as the mothers are out of hearing range.
And I get pinned to my seat by three besties staring at me in various states of disbelief.
“The one that gave you a black eye last year?” Raney asks slowly, her eyebrows pitching dramatically, matching her volume.
I nod my head eagerly, dropping in a fake ass smile because she’s unnecessarily sassing me. I mean, it’s not like I collect black eyes for a hobby.
“Don’t do it,” Heidi growls, adjusting her Hermes scarf on her throat before dropping a hand on Raney’s, leg subtly reminding her to use her inside voice or stop being a bitch.
“She’ll be fine,” Simona says, softly patting my hand encouragingly. “But we should go with you.”
I lean my head against Sim’s shoulder and sink into her quiet resigned approach to life, telling her the truth. “You won’t be able to. It’s during exams. I got approval at the start of the year to be excused from pretty much whatever, you know that,” I tell her but twist around to catch all of them rolling their eyes.
The money to attend Unity is over the top and getting favours from faculty is near impossible, but since all the Omegas in my family graduated from here, I definitely get more grace than others. Without a doubt, it’s also got to do with the great-granny Pearls scholarship too.
Omega Beatrice tries again with a louder clap of hands and this time she succeeds wrangling back control. Voices drop lower and there’s a shuffle of movement as the students turn to face the front again, luckily someone nearby coughs because it hides the buzz of my phone. As discreetly as I can I pull my phone out and click the link. My eyes nearly pop out of my head, and it’s lucky Omega Mother starts talking because she covers my gasp.
“Ladies, please remember you will be marked for your interaction with our packs today. The way you speak, the topics you choose are vitally important. And whatever you do, please do not embarrass Unity.”
Unsurprisingly, most of the mothers glance our way but we keep our eyes locked on the stage. I still manage to pass my phone over to Ho who’s in the middle of the other two so they can all read the news article.
We get a few more minutes full of reminders and expectations before the doors are finally opened, exposing the cookie cutter Alphas standing around in their suits and polished shoes. While the students surge towards them, the girls and I trail behind slower to read the article properly.
“Is that the photographer’s studio?” Heidi asks, slipping my phone back in my pocket.
“Was,” I answer while distributing the crystal glasses off the tray as the mothers watch.
“It burnt down?” Raney asks.
“Someone burnt it down by the sounds. The Fire Chief confirms arson and interestingly it says this is the second time it has happened. And the owner is not helping authorities with their investigation. Again,” Simona talks softly, before handing off a silver tray of hors d’oeuvres to one of the other junior Omegas for them to serve.
As soon as we’re alone the three of them look at me accusingly. “What? I didn’t do it.”
“Did we say that? You said yourself it’s not the first time he’d cracked onto the people he works with,” Heidi says, her lips barely moving as one of the Alphas walks towards us. She cuts him off in an instant, turning her back to him, and we follow her over to the drinks station.
I pour out carbonated water for each of us, “Yeah. He had a bit of a reputation.”
Raney grabs my attention by bopping my hip with hers. “Did you tell anyone about what happened?”
“Of course I did!” I screech a little too loudly, drawing the eyes of the crowd, which is what we’re hoping to avoid. I drop my head submissively as a token apology to the room before turning back to face my girls, speaking softer. “I told the agency.”
“Anyone else?” Raney says, accepting a napkin from one of the students walking past. Her attention shifts off me and gives me the time to school my features because I did tell someone else: King.
“Pigs in blankets, how quaint,” Heidi says, looking at the pint-sized chipolata wrapped in bacon before smashing it down and grabbing another. “Let me guess, Omega Beatrice is back to her English roots in this semester’s cooking class. We need beer with these.”
Raney takes a bite of hers, before pulling a face and dropping it on Ho’s plate, “Garlic much? Even Koz is going to be offended by the amount in those, and he’s Italian.”
The vibration of my phone has me stopping what I was going to say, and I give the girls a quick wave before making a dash for the toilet to answer.
“Hey, Teddy,” I answer, trying to keep my voice low since mobile phones aren’t allowed during class time.
And then my agent gives me all the details of an urgent job he all but begs me to take. Of course, it’s tomorrow which is when I’m meant to be sneaking off for a dirty few hours with King. Teddy is such a smooth talker, and I know he is laying it on super thick when he offers to double my booking rate.
“How come you’re only calling me now?” I ask, still not trusting him.
“Tristan, honey, I literally just put the phone down. They’re going a bit grungy and asked for our most beautiful girl so of course I thought of you immediately. The boots are stunning by the way. You’ll love them. Actually, I doubt you’ll take them off.”
I roll my eyes at his usual schmoozing until I remember the article. “Oh my God, Teddy, did you see what happened to Nolan’s studio?”
“I know. It’s terrible isn’t it. He literally lost everything. And the poor guy, it’s the second time too.”
I scoff, and Teddy catches on immediately. “That’s rude, Tristan. I get that you don’t like Nolan… “
“It’s not a matter of whether I like Nolan or not, Teddy. You do remember that he hit me because he lost his shit. He was out of line, and you know it. And the agency hasn’t done a thing to change their policy, even after all this time.” I snap back angrily.
In the big scheme of things, I’m past the point of having to beg for work and can afford to be a bit of a bitch to Teddy. I’ve also got enough catwalk, shoots, and billboards under my belt that I’m straddling the line of being one of his agency’s top tier models which means these days I have a lot more say in the jobs I take. And that is not my ego talking, it’s the fact, the money in my bank, the way people in the industry know my name is proof of that.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, you know if this was my agency I would do certain things very differently, but I can still feel bad for him. Some lunatic seems to be targeting him and burning his studio. He’d only done a reopening a month or so back, and now it’s all gone again,” he pacifies, “Anyway, back to today.”
“Still not getting the point,” I mimic his voice perfectly. “Is he the photographer for today?”
“I’m pretty sure he’s going to be out of business a lot longer this time. I heard he lived in the apartment above too. Apparently, he was lucky to escape before the back door was barricaded. I didn’t tell you that by the way.”
Holy shit.
Teddy takes another dramatic inhale before talking too quickly. “Back to work because you know time is money and I’m under pressure from the top floor.”
“Teddy, you still didn’t answer my question.”
He answers. “No, Nolan is not the photographer for this campaign. He’s still on our books though.”
I look in the mirror, fixing an errant eyebrow which is more interesting than his bland as fuck excuses. Honestly, if Banks Talent Agency doesn’t get their head out of their ass pretty soon, I’m going to start looking for another. It’s not the first time they’ve let me down. The only reason I haven’t pursued other options until now is because I’d rather spend my time with my besties or with my forbidden lover.
“Send me over the booking sheet,” I say after a few moments of dragging him out with excuses for why BTA still has Nolan on their books, and why I should be a little more empathetic to his plight.
I instantly hear his relief. “I’ll send a car to pick you up.”
“No, I’ll get there myself, but you will pay the tab.”
“Check your email, everything is already in your inbox.”
Bookings always include travel time, so it’s just another tactic of Teddy’s to make it sound like he’s looking after me instead of just doing the bare minimum. I hang up and dial King, it goes through to his message bank.
“Hey, give me a call when you can.”
The door to the bathroom bursts open and I nearly swallow my tongue when Raney hobbles in. Her limp is bad today which probably means we’ve got rain coming.
I hang up mid call and shove my phone down the front of my pants in case she decides to see who I was speaking with.
“Tristan, have you got something you need to tell me?” She stares accusingly, her lips pressing down together making her look duck faced.
I take a step closer to her and use my thumbs to press the lines away.
“Raney, I do have to tell you something… I’m fucking your dad.”
I hold her face in my hands and no shit I’m as serious as I’ve ever been, but the bitch just starts laughing as she walks off. Not just a small laugh either, it’s full on loud and over the top, leaving me standing there offended. In typical Raney style leaves the door open as she takes a piss.
“Tris, please, stop with the King joke. It’s getting old.” And then I see why she came into the toilet, besides using the loo. “Koz, the mixer is on which is why I couldn’t take your call, but Tris and I are hiding out in the bathroom. She’s got a secret lover she won’t tell me about, and I’m starving. Are you with King now, say hi and tell him I’ll see him for dinner, yeah?”
Raney cradles the phone on her shoulder as she washes her hands, talking non-stop to Koz. Together we sit on the vanity avoiding returning to the mixer. She and Koz talk about fuck knows what and I distract myself reading through the booking sheet Teddy sent over. Unsurprised that he failed to mention I wouldn’t be back until the next day, completely ruining any chance I had to see King.
I feel sick lying to Raney, but at the same time I keep trying to tell her too. I hop off the vanity, give her the finger and leave her to sweet talk with her Alpha and go pack a suitcase.
King assures me once all the threats are dealt with that we’ll tell the world, but I can see the conflict in his eyes. If push came to shove and Raney was vehemently against us being together, I suspect King would sacrifice his happiness for hers. He would suffer, so she doesn’t, and that breaks my heart.
The suite at Unity is quiet when I open it up, the scents of my girls lingering in our rooms like perfumed candles; Heidi’s apple scent, Raney’s jasmine, and Simona’s cookies and cream but I head straight to my very secret stash of King’s bourbon infused hoodies and I bury my face in it seeking comfort.
I’ve discovered a lot about myself since meeting King. There’s actually an art to lying to the people you love on a daily, sometimes hourly occurrence; you just need to hide your deceit in the smallest of truths. Of course there’s a cost, it feels a little like a single drop of acid falling on your skin whenever I lie, but King is someone I’d do almost anything to be with—including becoming a two faced double-dealing deceitful bitch.