Chapter 39 #2
“And then I met Pierce. And his nose is broken and it twisted my guts.” I put my fingers in my hair and pull hard. “He just smells so good and I can’t think and…”
“Wait. Who broke his nose?” Estelle asks.
“His scent?” Bella sits up straight.
“I don’t know. I mean, I want to break his nose half the time. And then he gets close and my brain goes all…”
“And he was Reed’s best friend?”
“When you catch his scent, what happens?” Bella asks with a strange edge to her voice.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Bella. You can get all into your omega feels later. Tell me about—”
“No. Shut the fuck up. This is important.” Bella scoots closer. “His scent is the best thing you’ve ever smelled. It scrambles your brain, but it makes you feel safe and at home, like you’re deep in your nest. And the second you catch it, it drenches your panties with slick.”
I open and close my mouth and put my hands to my cheeks to cover my blush at the mention of slick.
“I’m right, right? At the barest whiff, slick is dripping down your legs like you’re in the middle of heat and you’ve just been triple knotted?”
Bella takes one look at my face and knows the truth.
“I am right. Girl, he’s your scent match!”
The blood drains from my face. “He’s not my fucking scent match!”
“Ash…”
“Bella!” My throat closes up in sheer panic.
“Okay. Let’s get this straight.” Tia holds up a finger and starts counting things off.
“Your dad is trafficking you and probably worse. You manipulate your way into dating a celebrity hockey player, who you might be in love with. And his packmates are your dead brother’s best friends, who you had a childhood crush on, and they may have murdered him, and now,” she’s holding up way too many fingers for me to register, “he’s your scent match? ”
The room is dead silent as that all lands. I snort out a laugh; I can’t help it. If I don’t laugh, I’m going to scream.
“I am so fucked.”
“No, no.” Estelle motions Tia to put her hands down. “We can work with this. We’ve handled worse.”
“What do you mean you’ve handled worse?”
“Babe, that’s a story for later. So, first,” Estelle commands the room like a general addressing her troops. “Ash can’t go home. Who knows what that fucknut is going to do now.”
“She can have my room!” Bella offers brightly.
“Absolutely, but staying with me in your old room is not a permanent solution,” Tia notes.
“And it’s not like she can move in with Beckett and his pack tomorrow…”
“You don’t know the first thing about scent matched alphas and their packs,” Bella mutters. “They are probably already decorating a room for her.”
“Are you fucking insane? Move in with Beckett? He’s not going to want me after he finds out,” I lower my voice to a harsh whisper, “the things my father made me do. Not to mention the revenge thing.”
“Do you still want revenge? Cause we can make that happen.” Bella is equal parts bubbly and murderous and it’s unsettling.
“I don’t know. I love… Pierce killed my brother.”
“Did he?” Bella asks with a tilt of her head. “I mean, all I heard was Reed died and Pierce was there. Sure, he kind of sounds like an alpha asshole, but that’s a long way off from murdering your best friend.”
“What do you mean?”
“You said they were thick as thieves, right? That doesn’t turn on a dime.” Tia taps her nails on the coffee table.
“We can add solving an eight-year-old murder mystery to the to-do list later. We have to get Ash safe first and then figure out what’s next. So, big girl pants time, Ash. What do you want?”
“They are not going to want me after…”
“I didn’t ask about them, I asked about you!” The tone of Estelle’s voice is down-right scary. “Let’s forget about all the other nonsense. In a perfect world, what exactly do you want, Ash?”
“Them,” I blurt out and cover my mouth like my deepest, darkest secret didn’t just slip out.
“Totally doable!” Bella says around a yawn.
“Oh, fuck!” I blurt, my head snapping up.
“What?” Tia’s eyes go wide, like she’s bracing for another bombshell.
“I’m supposed to go to a hockey game tomorrow.”
Estelle doesn’t miss a beat. “Like I said, one problem at a time. Ash, you’ll stay here with Tia for a few days while we sort out a more permanent situation.
It’s been a long day. I think maybe we all need sleep.
” The second she says it, a massive yawn splits my face, like I’ve been given permission to be tired.
Bella stands, plucks Eugene from my arms, and grabs my hand.
“Come on.”
She drags me down the hall, past a wall of framed photos of all the girls, some with a guy who looks like a dad, some with a pair of scary-looking black dogs, then pushes open a door into the most wonderful bedroom I’ve ever seen.
There’s a full-size bed in the middle, thick canopies draped all around it, and a literal mountain of pillows.
It’s like a princess bedroom, but better.
“This isn’t your nest, is it?” I ask, nervous. I’m not sure how other omegas feel about strangers in their nests.
“Nah.” Bella kicks off her slippers and wiggles out of her pajama bottoms.
“Tia decorated it for me. We do sleepovers a lot. You know, cousins.” She shrugs again. “Not exactly a nest, but close enough.”
She tosses Eugene onto the bed, then flops backward and hauls me with her.
“What are you doing?” I squeak.
“You’re an omega, I’m an omega. You had a rough night, we’re going to cuddle.”
“Oh.” I let her pull me into the pile of blankets and pillows. “I’ve never had an omega friend,” I admit, voice small in the dark.
“Now you have an omega friend,” Bella hums, snuggling her face into my neck. She tugs the covers up and burritos us both inside.
She props herself up on an elbow and looks down at me, her face suddenly very serious.
“Do you need to come?” She asks, voice completely matter-of-fact.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“When I’m really stressed, I feel better after I come. I have toys, or I could go down on you if you want.”
I’m pretty sure I stop breathing. “I think I’m okay,” I manage.
“Offer stands.” She collapses back onto the pillow, draping an arm over my waist.
“I didn’t know that was included in omega friendship.”
“Look,” she says, voice already thick with sleep, “omegas have needs. What happens between omegas stays between omegas.”
“Good to know,” I whisper, pulling Eugene close and nuzzling his ears, already half-asleep.