Chapter 11 Sky Nest
Sky Nest
Ondine
Idon’t know if Boone has left. I can’t see the driveway from my window. It overlooks the river. And I haven’t ventured too far from my room since last night. Mostly because there’s a slight zapping feeling under my skin that I can’t help but associate with his presence.
Maybe Jake asked him to stick around and watch me.
I sent Jake a picture last night, and he asked for several more, which I obliged.
I was just lying in bed reading through my contract with the Meier Pack.
There are expectations, but nothing too alarming.
I can’t sleep with anyone else but the three pack members.
Or do anything they might imagine is cheating.
It’s vague enough to make me want to be wary. Is that what Boone meant last night?
There are pages in the back for situations that I don’t understand. They cross-reference with one another so much it just appears to be legal nonsense. Boone wrote this for them, so I wonder if he wanted to show off all the Latin he learned in law school or something.
This morning, Jake texted again. Saying good morning and asking what I’m doing.
I told him I was doing nothing.
Sebastian also texted. But he asked how I’m doing. I said fine and asked him the same thing. He replied that he was really busy, but if I need anything to call him.
After I brush my teeth and change my clothes, I check my email and my calendar. I canceled all my lessons since before my heat. My backup for the ballet company is fine, continuing on. The recording studio asked me to come in, but I declined. They all know I’m an omega, and this shit just happens.
There’s an email from the Cash City Symphony Orchestra. It’s a little vague, so I call the number on it.
“Yes, hello, this is Ondine. I received an email about the interim position for a pianist. I am not sure what it is telling me—can you explain?”
A sweet female voice that was previously professional suddenly turns excited.
“Oh, Ondine! The omega. Oh my gosh. Yes. So, we have accepted your application and are just trying to schedule an audition time with you. I didn’t quite know how to word it.
We’ve never worked with an omega before.
I didn’t want to type out ‘can you tell me when your next heat is’ on an email, you know! ”
It’s a little cringy, for sure. I am trying not to be offended. She’s honestly just trying to be accommodating. And this is the opportunity of a lifetime.
“Yeah, no worries. What are the audition dates?”
“Oh! Let me look,” she says, and I hear lots of typing and paper shuffling. “We are auditioning the other pianists at the end of next month.”
“Oh, that’s perfect! That works for my schedule.”
Her voice goes even higher, and she tells me that it is so great to hear. She gives me my time and date, and information on dress code and expectations.
It will all come to me in an email later, so I don’t take notes.
We end the call.
I would fucking take military grade heat suppressants to make sure I was there, even if it was during my heat. When I applied for the position, I nearly threw up, I was so excited. I cannot believe I got a call back.
They can’t discriminate because of my designation, but I can’t, as an omega, be fully relied on either.
So if I got on with the company, it would be a tandem position with someone else (their current pianist who is pregnant and about to go on leave).
It’s the perfect opportunity for me. Additionally, not all their performances even have an organ or piano, so it’s such a minor role.
But it would be incredible. Everyone would know how talented I truly was.
I’d forever get to claim the position. And I got an audition.
I feel so prepared, it’s stupid. But it helps that Jake’s house has a piano.
My fingers twitch on my knees. I walk in circles around my room.
I text Jake back and tell him I’m going to play piano. He asks for a video.
He’s so funny. I wonder if the other alphas are wondering why he’s been on his phone all morning.
Finally, I leave my room and make my way to the piano room.
The sunlight filters in beautifully in this north-facing room.
Ever since blooming as an omega, I’ve become so sensitive to my surroundings.
Whoever designed this room deserves a fat kiss.
It’s not too hot or cold. The light is steady all day.
The river flows past, and you can see it from the giant windows.
There are like seven different seating choices.
I sit down in front of the piano and get warmed up. Then I prop my phone up and play for a minute or so for Jake.
That was so beautiful. You are exceptionally talented.
Now do one with your top off.
I roll my eyes. He’s such a perv.
I get lost in my warm-up, playing scales and my favorite bits of music.
I don’t even move on to my music or any of the things I need to work on.
I just repeat over and over again the bridges from my favorite songs, the intros of songs my teacher used to make me play, and then some of my college friends’ favorites they’d make me play for them.
Each part makes me dip into my memory of all those I’ve cared about.
After who knows how long, I come back to myself. My back aches, and my fingers just can’t play another note.
I’m breathing heavily. My chest expands, taking in long inhales. As I remove my fingers from the keys, my hands shake.
I open my eyes slowly and slump down, turning away from the piano.
“Wow,” a deep male voice says from the window seat. I turn around and face the intruder. Boone. He stands and claps for me, slow and loud.
“Boone,” I sigh and shake my head, still trying to come back to myself, “What are you doing here?”
He takes a few steps closer to me. “Listening. You play…well.”
I turn so he doesn’t see me roll my eyes. “Thanks.”
“Are you hungry? I can make coffee. Also, scones.”
My hands are still shaking. I probably should eat, but the vague lines in the contract about being intimate with other people remind me how dangerous this situation is.
I’m alone. And Boone is their friend. If he wanted to, he could take what he wanted from me, and I would have very little power to reject him.
Despite probably already failing at this placement, I want to succeed. I want the rest of the money. I want to buy a real piano. I want the independence that money can give me. I would be able to be on the Cash City Symphony Orchestra if I could afford to take care of myself entirely.
Additionally, I kind of want to just be part of a pack for these few weeks. Even one like this.
Lastly, I don’t want to upset Jake or Sebastian.
I swallow any fears I may have—“No, thank you, Mr. Anderson.“ (His full government name was on the door to his office, and I noted it when we picked him up yesterday.)
He levels a look at me, a “what the fuck are you on about” look. I don’t give him anything back.
“You were friendly to me yesterday. What’s changed?”
Now it’s my turn to give him an incredulous look. He’s not stupid, and neither am I. The silence of this empty house fills the space between us, loud and obvious.
“Ah,” he elongates the sound of him figuring it out. Just then, dark clouds edge between the sun and the earth, sending the previously bright room into shade. “You don’t trust me. Is that right?”
“I don’t know you,” I reply too quickly.
“Come have breakfast with me. Get to know me.”
“If I told Jake that you and I were here, alone, having breakfast, what might he say?”
Boone’s eyes darken, meaning he’s tipped his chin down and lost his smile. His jaw is tight. I was right. Boone is up to something.
I cannot have this renegade alpha ruining my time here. I want the money. I want this to go well. What if I want another placement? I’d need their recommendation. I won’t let some cowboy lawyer ruin anything for me.
I grab my phone from atop the piano, but before I can call anyone, Sebastian comes into the front door and sees Boone and I in the piano room.
“Fuck,” Boone swears both loud and clear.
***
Shadow
I awake to the crushing weight of four tiny paws upon my chest. My eyes peel open to be greeted by the emerald green eyes of a black and brown striped kitten.
“Princess, get off of him,” Freddie Wong, our client and my half-brother, calls to his cat. I pick up the critter by the scruff and stand. Then I hold her in my arms like a baby. She immediately begins to purr louder than anyone might imagine a kitten weighing one pound, soaking wet, would purr.
“Why the fuck did you bring your cat with you?” I mutter as I make my way to the coffeepot.
I discard the cat on the edge of the couch.
We are staying at the Presidential suite at the Sky Nest Hotel downtown, Cash City.
Freddie got the king-sized bed in his own room, and Jake took the other room.
I slept on the couch. Sabbies stayed with the beta team down in some rooms we have blocked out.
The sun has just started to rise, filling the high-rise hotel room with its obnoxious light.
Freddie pours the last of the coffee into a mug for me and gets to making another pot. He’s got a cigarette hanging from his mouth and is shirtless. “I just got her. I couldn’t leave her behind. She’s mine.”
I can’t help but think about Ondine back at home. It makes my chest ache.
“Any word from Man-ho?” he asks me. We had him followed last night after the meeting, but we didn’t find any unusual behavior.
“Last I heard, he’d gone home. No one left and no one arrived. Doesn’t mean anything, though.”
Freddie’s dad (not my dad) is Senator Wong, and Senator Wong has his fair share of enemies. Man-ho is among the most dangerous. When we first heard of a hired gun attempting to take him out, rifle on a roof and everything, my mother went crazy. She called Freddie absolutely frantic.