Chapter 15 The Hot Tub
The Hot Tub
Ondine
Shadow radiates don’t-talk-to-me energy. It’s a marvel he’s able to keep it together.
I don’t know how anyone would want to bond with this guy. He’s such a fucking mess. His hair looks like he’s ripped some of it out. His nails are all broken. The shadows under his eyes are so dark they look purple.
He walks with a noticeable side-to-side motion like a creature might lumber about. It’s honestly so sad. No wonder his alphas wanted to do everything they could to make him better. I just want to hug him, but he’d probably growl at me or something. Like a wounded dog.
And that’s really what he is, isn’t he? Someone who is hurting and clearly in pain.
I follow Shadow to the little shop by the front desk.
There’s a man in a suit behind the counter in the shop.
There are clothes, suitcases, and other items one might have forgotten to purchase on a trip.
I go to the rack of swimsuits and look at the price tags, and nearly choke.
Good god, this is obscene. I could buy a whole couch or semester tuition for the cost of one of these.
I pick out a turquoise one-piece with a really low back.
Shadow purchases it and hands me my shopping bag. He asks how to get to the pool, and I stand at his side. We take the elevator to the private pool meant only for those in high number suites.
There are locker rooms with showers. One for men and one for women. When I enter the Women’s Room, I find a very pregnant omega trying to put her panties on, and she’s not doing a great job at it.
“Oh, my god, I’m so sorry,” she says as she hops around and then gives up before she has a fall. Her hand slams onto a locker nearby to help steady herself. “God, I’m so naked.”
I can’t help but laugh. She looks very tired and very sweaty. She has long blonde hair. She’s petite and has a rack on her that is to die for.
Her big baby blue eyes meet mine, and she gives me the most exhausting sigh I’ve ever heard.
“Are you ok?” I ask.
She sighs again. “I insisted on coming here for one last fun trip before the babies get here, but I’m getting humbled by the minute.”
Her panties hang from her hand as she waves them around.
“Where are you visiting from?” I decide she probably needs to talk more than she needs me to help her get her underwear on. I put my bag down and start undressing.
“Garden Park. One of my alpha’s family is from Cash City. But his father is a dick and his mom is a huge bitch, so it’s really been just the best time!”
“I don’t doubt it. How many alphas are yours?”
She looks at me strangely. “That’s widely known as a rude question, you know. But I’m so happy to get to talk about my idiot men, let’s just look past it.”
“Well, ok.” I take the tags off my suit and step into it.
“I have four alphas. And I love them all. We bonded not too long ago. We only got two heats together before I became pregnant. I’m going to have triplets. The guys are so damned excited.”
I nod, a little bored. Glad this pretty little omega has four amazing alphas that take her to fancy hotels on vacation and knock her up with a million babies.
I’ll most likely never see this person again a day in my life, and I don’t often have chances to talk to omegas, so I just ask her what I want to know—“Did you all immediately fall for each other or was it tough in the beginning?”
She looks up at me. Panties still in hand, leaning with all her weight into the locker doors.
“No, it was a shit show. Four alphas? Are you kidding me? Listen, have you ever met two men you can rub together who are mentally stable? No. Just don’t expect them to be fully formed and perfect.
As long as they listen and try, that’s enough. ”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
“I mean, omegas are designed to be with alphas. And we need them. But they need us just as bad. They are just pure chaos without us. We level them. So, of course, it’s going to be a wild ride at the beginning.
Some of them reject that peace. Some of them are scared.
Alphas are emotional teddy bears at the end of the day, truly. ”
Emotional teddy bears? Is that all Shadow is? Just a scared, apprehensive, chaotic alpha?
“And time helps?”
“Time. Fucking. Scenting. And any primal act, like feeding or caring. One of my alphas got really bad migraines, and I was able to help with them. He follows me around like we are leashed together now. Actually, can you go get him? There’s no way I can dress myself.
An hour in the pool wiped me out. His name is Buster. He’s just out there?”
“Yeah. For sure. Thanks for talking with me.”
“Ashlynn,” she says.
“Ondine,” I tell her.
We smile at each other. She puts her forehead on the locker, and I take that as my cue to leave.
The pool area is awe-inspiring. It’s all indoors, but the glass walls look out over the city.
There is a terrace on the other side, but it’s closed off.
Probably from the wind. There is a large rectangular pool and two hot tubs surrounded by real palm trees and other tropical spiky shrubbery.
There are only two people here. Ashlynn’s alpha, I’m guessing, and Shadow, who is swimming laps.
I don’t even need to say anything to Buster. As soon as we make eye contact, he’s on his feet, running past me into the locker room after his omega.
Just like Jake, I think.
Is that why he jumps at the sight of me? Because I helped him…I don’t remember helping him. Maybe he was just lonely. He wants me with him all the time.
And that makes me think perhaps Shadow is lonely. A hurt, lonely dog.
I shake my head. Come on, Ondine. Let’s try to take some of Ashlynn’s advice.
Let’s give him some care and attention. He and I just haven’t had a chance.
The thing is, I am actually starting to like Jake.
I wouldn’t mind him being my alpha. But Jake already has a pack—Shadow and Sebastian.
Sebastian is growing on me. The sweet smell of the rose he brought me comes into my memory. I left the flower downstairs.
I step up to the pool and watch him kick off the wall for another lap.
A good omega is good for her pack (I decide). I want to finish this placement to get my money. And I want to be a good omega.
My time with this pack is finite. And while I got them, I’m going to try all I can to be a good omega. Might as well? I’m being paid very well and not being treated horribly. In no time, I will be back at my apartment. Back to my old life.
Might as well dive in headfirst.
Metaphorically, of course.
I sit on the edge of the pool and watch Shadow with his laps. He does a few more after he notices me. Finally, he stops near me.
“You’re just going to watch?” He says as he wipes the water droplets off his face. His cute droopy eyes and gaunt cheeks, now dripping wet.
I decide his question doesn’t need an answer. “Do you want to go to the hot tub with me?”
He sighs and rubs his chest. “Sure,” he agrees, but then dips back into the water for another lap. Not sure if he wants me to wait, but I don’t want to, so I get up and pick the hot tub in the corner.
***
Shadow
It’s upsetting how much better the ache in my chest feels with Ondine here and no longer at the house. It’s almost as upsetting as seeing her give Sabbies a cookie and sit in Jake’s lap.
I hate that she’s here, and every day she burrows further and further into my pack. And in my chest.
I pull myself out of the pool and head over to the hot tub. It’s surrounded by live trees and plants in some kind of tropical paradise simulation. Ondine sits on the edge with only her feet in the water.
She looks so pretty, leaning over the water, with her back exposed. I never thought I liked women with short hair, but being able to see her long neck and bare back is definitely an advantage.
She turns her face to me as I approach.
“I don’t know how to turn the bubbles on.”
I look around until I see a large red button on a privacy wall. It’s either an emergency button or the button to turn the jets on. I press it without worrying about which one.
The jets turn on, and she makes little “ooo” and “awe” noises.
I hide my smile as I sit down on the edge opposite her. She sinks down into the tub, the water covering her to her collarbone.
We sit in silence for a while. I’m a little impressed by how comfortable it is.
I look her over, noticing her orange-tinted lips, half-closed eyes, and pale blonde hair.
I notice how her brightly colored suit matches the water and scenery.
The chlorine dances in the air when the bubbles pop, irritating my nose. It’s warm and quiet in here.
I’m the one to break the silence. “Were you going to give me a cookie? Or a little cake?”
I keep going over the exchange in my mind.
She smiles at me. “Is a Fig Newton a cookie?”
A Fig Newton? “Is that what you would have given me? Why?”
She laughs. It’s small and teasing.
“You three are so silly. I’ll let you figure it out.”
Oh, she thinks it should be obvious. Let’s piece it together. She gave Sabbies an orange cookie. Jake a little cake. I would have gotten a Fig Newton. Is there some sort of cookie language I don’t know? Like how flowers have meanings.
I always associated Jake with cake, though. That made sense to me. It’s probably because he smells like…
“Oh,” I say aloud.
“You got it now?”
“Sabbies’s scent is orange. Jake is like a birthday cake. And I’ve been told I smell like a fig.” I rub my chest. “I didn’t realize you clocked us.”
“I’m an omega. I think it’s what we do.”
There’s this little seed inside me that takes root.
Before I can finish thinking through this strange new development, Ondine asks, “Did you want to fool around?”
“Excuse me?”
She shrugs, and her cheeks go pink.
“Aren’t I here for that? Jake brought me here for you, but you don’t seem interested in letting me take care of you.”