Chapter 26 Callisto #2
The omega finds the pause button on her phone and slips the headphones off. “Hi, stranger.”
My heart stings. I want to pull her into my arms after that greeting, but I restrain myself. Red’s not mine to hold however I like—and Zack asked me not to.
“Hi, Red,” I murmur, the words far from adequate. I hold up my sleeping bag. “Thought I’d join the camping crew tonight, if that’s okay?” I glance around, noting only one mattress.
Red slides over to the edge and pats beside her. “For sure, but I hope you don’t mind roughing it. We’ll squeeze in here.”
“Not so rough anymore since he brought donuts,” Rickon says, offering her the box.
Red makes grabby fingers and balances the tray on her knees. “So much yes!” she cries, lifting the lid and inhaling. “Damn, these smell amazing!”
I return her smile. “Thought you might like a taste of civilization.”
“I like the way you think.” Red takes a huge bite of a chocolate iced donut and groans. “So good!” She chews some more and then shakes her head. “Zack would go mental over these.”
Rickon re-zips the tent flap and drops onto the bed. “He sure would.”
Despite the permission, it feels surreal as I kick off my tennis shoes and climb onto the mattress. Like I’ve entered the parallel universe where Callisto Wren wasn’t a moron who rejected his omega.
Once I settle in the corner, I dig through my backpack and hand Rickon a wrapped package. “Not a donut, but I hope it’s still good.”
He holds it up to the light and gets an odd look on his face as he reads the gluten-free label.
When he says nothing, I freeze. “Does it have something else you can’t have?” Maybe his gluten intolerance isn’t the only thing I missed.
Ricky’s eyes glimmer with a suspicious sheen as he reaches out and grabs my arm. “No, nothing’s wrong. Thanks for remembering, Calli.”
I cover his hand for a moment. Finally remembering would be more fitting, but his warm expression reminds me Ricky’s a generous man.
Red watches us through her lashes, a lovely half smile tilting her chocolate-smudged lips. She taps her headphones. “I gotta finish learning my lines. There’s a sex scene coming up.” Her button nose wrinkles.
My heart leaps. “A sex scene? With whom?”
She rolls her eyes. “My wonderful co-star, Bradley Jacks.”
The growl escapes me before I can stop it.
Red smirks. “You and me both, but this is the job I signed up for. Don’t think I’m ignoring you, but I really do have to work.” She slips the headphones on and grabs another donut, leaning back into a tower of pillows.
I glance at Rickon as he pops a piece of blueberry muffin into his mouth. “And you’re okay with it? That bastard tried to seduce Red and spread rumors about her.”
Rickon drops his elbows onto his knees and grunts.
Once he finishes chewing, he says, “Like she said, that’s how the industry goes.
Can’t say I’m thrilled, but she’s going to need to do plenty of sex scenes in this career.
And she’s so good behind the cameras, Calli.
It’s like watching a magic show when she flips on her actress persona. ”
His sweet butter scent fills my nose, and I inhale instinctively.
“Sorry,” he mutters, touching his collar. “I got a bit worked up.”
“It’s fine,” I assure him. In fact, I like it, but I keep that admission behind my teeth.
He nods. “Thanks for coming. Truth be told, I get nervous out here, not having my omega behind solid walls, you know? Even with Josef and Pierce nearby.”
I nod. “Glad I could come, then.” I’m nervous about Red’s safety too, so her semi-bonded alpha must be having a much harder time. “How are you holding up with everything?”
“Everything? That covers a lot of shit.”
“Yeah, but I want to know.” With all my heart.
Rickon snorts and lies down, feet sticking out into the middle of the tent.
And he tells me—how he misses Zack, and what the bond feels like, and how enraged he felt seeing his mother again after all these years.
For once, I truly listen, ignoring all the case information clamoring in the back of my mind to give my best friend one hundred percent of my attention.
After unloading all the things on his mind, Ricky smiles sleepily and reaches up to tap my cheek with his knuckle. “You’ve got an odd look on your face,” he murmurs.
“What kind of look is it?” I ask, longing to pull him into my arms. The memory of our bodies sliding together after Red’s heat thrills through me, fluttering in my belly and warming my veins.
Ricky tips his head from side to side, studying me. “I’m not sure. It’s new.”
I reach out with one tentative hand and stroke his platinum locks. “It’s my apology face.”
“Ah. That’s why I’ve never seen it before,” he says, grin turning cheeky.
I tug his hair in warning.
He grabs my hands and clings to my wrists. “Mercy, mercy!” he cries, laughing. “But what exactly are you feeling apologetic about?”
He’s so close, and his touch so warm, I can’t help myself.
My cock thickens and my heart thumps so loud he must hear it.
Even though I’ve already said it, I want to say it again.
“For getting upset about your bond, and for saying you couldn’t handle it.
I had no right to comment on your bond with Zack, but more than that, I’m sorry for spoiling what happened between us. ”
Rickon stills, hands clasped around mine on his hair. He twists to look up at me, his polo shirt riding up his lithe body. With one knee up and the other angled across the tent floor, he looks like a beautiful marble statue, frozen in the moment of battling the fiend who dared grab his hair.
“And what . . . what happened between us, Calli?” he whispers. “That was just an accident fueled by heat pheromones.”
His words hurt like a blade slicing through my heart.
In the seventeen years I’ve known him, nothing about our relationship has been an accident.
But even though I discovered how much I hopelessly long for him, I can’t act on my feelings.
That’d be a disservice to Red and her desire for distance between us.
What a wretched realization to have when it’s too late.
Everything’s too late, and I’ll never have the chance again.
My breath catches, and the tent shrinks. I suck in air but my throat hitches, stopping the flow. My lungs tighten. Fuck, not now! I’ve gone weeks without an episode. I’ve walked confidently into courtrooms and gone toe-to-toe with crime bosses, so why am I so weak around these two people?
Because love makes us vulnerable. And maybe I came to visit Ricky and Red tonight because I instinctively sought safety—like a wounded animal returning to its den.
My eyes flutter as I gasp for breath.
“Callisto? Bloody hell. Listen to me, Calli.” Rickon rocks upright and crouches over me, lifting my arms up.
I snatch a fragment of a breath before my ribs close tight, squeezing me. Feels like I’ll never draw a full breath again.
“You’re okay. Breathe with me,” Rickon murmurs, voice soothing.
Red calls out behind him, “What’s wrong?”
“He’s having a panic attack.”
“I-I’m sorry,” I gasp out, burying my hands in Rickon’s sleeves, blind and shaking. “I c-came to h-help you . . . but instead—”
“Shh,” he says kindly, still lifting my arms. “You don’t have to put on a brave face with us.”
I slump, his words releasing a pressure valve inside. I can’t breathe, but I no longer feel like I have to fight to try.
A warm hand settles on my back, smoothing in big circles. “Hey now,” Red croons. “You gotta have one flaw or you’d be too perfect.”
I choke on something that might be a laugh if I could breathe normally.
Red chuckles with me. We both know I have many flaws, but their care relaxes me.
Rickon counts for me, coaxing me to inhale with him.
A moment later, he starts rhythmically tapping his fingers on the side of my palm.
Even if the world collapses, I’m not alone.
I’m not their pack mate, but they’re still my friends.
I blink tears from my eyes and search for Ricky. He smiles at me and brushes sweat from my forehead. “Welcome back,” he murmurs.
With a nod, I study him, getting my bearings.
I gripped him so tight patches of his skin turned bloodless.
I relax my grip, slide my thumbs over the bones in his forearms and tip my head to rest on Red’s shoulder while still staring at Ricky.
He’s so beautiful, so desirable. How could I not have seen it before?
I swipe my tongue over my dry lips and slip my hand down his arm until I catch his hand in mine. “It wasn’t an accident, Rickon. You and me. It really wasn’t.”