Chapter 7
"Oh my god," Tara howled over the blare of music, towing Jesse and me to the dance floor the moment we were inside the club. "Pup, it's my jam!"
The three of us danced until we were sweaty and breathless, singing along to the lyrics of a pop anthem that'd been at the top of the charts the summer before.
"I need a drink!" Jesse shouted over the music. "Anyone?"
"Yes!"
"Please!" Tara said, hopping off the slightly raised dance platform.
I was so, so glad that I'd chosen to dress for warmer weather when I'd left the house, toddling after my friends in the full, sticky nightclub.
Usually, it wouldn't be so full on a Tuesday, but there'd been some kind of drag performance this evening, and most of the attendees decided to stay behind to enjoy the DJ.
My phone vibrated, and I squinted at the screen, finding Jason's name at the top.
JASON: sry that took so long, here with Ivy. Can you grab her? She's new to town. don't want to leave until she's safe.
"Oooooh," I smirked to Tara, leaning against her as Jesse sorted drinks for us. "Jason's here with his girlfriend."
"God, the poor girl," Tara laughed. "Let's go liberate her. Maybe we can find her a nice beta tonight instead."
"Worked for you," Jesse said, handing out a round of drinks. A Jack and Coke for Tara, and a pair of bright green Appletinis for us. "I think you'll like this."
I looked dubiously at the lime-green liquid in the glass before taking a sip.
Either I was absolutely hammered, which was a high possibility at this point, or this was one of the most delicious drinks to ever exist. Sweet, heavy with apple flavor, and finished off with a kick that I thought could be brandy.
"Fucking delightful," I praised, earning myself a grin from the beta as we made our way towards the entrance.
As we reached the door, the smell of irritated alpha was obvious, overripe oranges meeting my nose as I spied Jason waiting off to the side, the doorman watching him carefully.
The chilly air was a bit of a shock to my system, but way, way less surprising than the omega standing beside Jason.
Something that Tara and Jesse obviously agreed with, the latter turning their head to mouth 'what the fuck' to his bondmate, like being able to feel each other's shock wasn't enough.
There was no other word for it: Ivy was stunning.
Much shorter than Tara or I, with creamy blonde hair that she'd styled in long waves that framed her round, doll-like face.
Her creamsicle-colored dress was tightly fitted at the top with a plunging neckline revealing a fair amount of Californian golden tan skin—honestly, it looked a bit like Tara's outfit, if she wore anything other than purple.
But that's where the similarity between the two ended—the pair were more like opposites, with Ivy's unmarked skin and Tara's tattoos covering every visible inch of her.
Night and day.
I send up a silent thank you to the universe’s obsession with all of my friends looking like insanely hot models, grinning as I called out to Jason to get his attention.
Not that I needed to, he'd started smiling the second I'd become visible in the door.
"Hey! Sorry, we can't come out!" I held up my full drink, stopping just shy of the threshold.
"She's with us," Tara said to the doorman, and he nodded, uncrossing his arms to pull up the rope, not bothering to ask for her ID as she joined us.
He gave Jason another pointed look as he locked the rope back into place.
“Thanks for letting me come," Ivy said, shooting us a relieved smile before looking over her shoulder at Jason. "I'll call Martin for a ride home, bye!"
The dismissal was obvious, the alpha offering her a tight smile. "I'll take you home."
"No thanks!" she shouted, moving deeper into the club without looking back.
Her eyes went wide at the space, excitement coming off the girl in waves.
The O was pretty unique as far as nightclub setups went.
Actually shaped like a giant O, the club's circular floor was built in three levels: a raised platform separating the bars and tables from the sunken platform that housed the DJ booth and the dancefloor.
Overhead, a large balcony that circled the entire thing, offering more spaces to sit as well as rooms that could be rented for private parties and events.
The dance floor was filled to bursting with moving bodies, omega pheromones hanging thickly in the air.
Neon lights cast the blonde of Ivy's hair into shades of pink and orange as she turned back to us, letting out a sigh of relief. "There is really nothing like a club. I'm Ivy, by the way."
"Eva," I returned, putting my hand out. We shook, and for a moment, I could swear she was trembling.
Damn, it must've been a while since she'd been out.
“I’m Tara,” my friend said, going to offer the omega her hand and overshooting wildly, nearly tumbling into her.
Ivy stepped back a fraction, if only for fear of being knocked over, giving Tara’s hand a gentle pat as she shook. "I can already tell you're a lot of fun."
“She is," Jesse said with a laugh. "I’m Jesse, the messy girl's beta. Sorry, we started early.”
"All good," Ivy said with a little laugh. "It's nice to meet you. God, I need a drink, like, ASAP."
We all made our way to the bar, where I ordered a Cosmo after draining the last of my Appletini. It was kind of comical how everything I gravitated towards in life was pink, considering in every other way I was interested in the more macabre, with my love for all things horror games and books.
"Can I be so rude?" Tara asked, voice loud to be heard over the music as she handed her card to the bartender. It was always like this when I went out with her, and I was appreciative, but sometimes I worried that my friend was a little overly generous.
Regardless, I didn't want to pay twenty bucks for some glorified juice so I didn't argue.
"Shoot," Ivy said, ordering herself a gin and tonic with lime.
"Does Jason have a horse cock or something?"
Jesse choked on the last sip of their drink. "TARA!"
"What? I know it's not his looks!" she defended. "And Ivy’s way out of his league."
The blonde snorted with laughter as she traded a bill from her purse for the drink, rubbing the lime wedge along the rim of the glass before giving it a squeeze over the contents and dropping it inside to mingle with the crushed ice.
"I'm not dating Jason, are you crazy? He works for the pack I'm seeing. "
“Oh, thank god,” Tara interrupted with a relieved sigh and a hand laid over her heart. “Jason is… so fucking weird, lying about seeing you. I thought we were going to have to call the Omega Center for intervention."
I bumped her shoulder, giving her a look. “He is not."
Sure, he had some quirks, but he was a decent friend… Most of the time.
Today not included, obviously.
But whenever we'd chatted online, he was normal enough.
“He so is,” she shot back with a roll of her dark, heavily lined eyes. “Total incel vibes. When we were just starting, he hit on, like, every omega in their DMs. I can’t even tell you how many times he asked Eva and me out, right?”
Okay, well, maybe she had a point.
"He's so not my type," Ivy said, sipping her drink. "And he’s not a part of that pack, though it seems he wants to be. They keep stringing him along."
“Oh, why?” I almost felt bad for him then—it couldn’t feel good being left out of a pack.
Tara's spine straightened, the interest practically pouring off of her to hear Ivy’s answer before her shortened attention span fractured, her hazy, drunk gaze widening as a smile spread over her face.
"Oh my god! I wasn't sure if you'd make it, you sexy bitch!
" she shouted, pushing between Jesse and me to toddle, at speed, towards the door.
I turned, and my jaw actually dropped, glossy pink lips hanging open in shock.
Glitter caught the lights over his eyelids and along the omega's chest, peeking through the mesh of the shirt tucked into a pair of fitted pink jeans. His hair was carefully styled away from his face in a messy sort of shag that made me want to put my hands through it instantly.
Joon.
Indi's omega I'd shared my heat with.
My question, what the hell was he doing here, was answered by Tara's arms wrapping around the omega's slender frame before I'd managed to fully form it in my mind.
Ever since I'd left the Omega's Lust, I'd been trying to forget about Joon and his pack. I was an exclusive event for a short period of time in their lives, not a full-blown new character DLC. And for the most part, I'd made peace with that, was over it.
Except for Indi.
And Cameo.
And Marcus.
And Joon.
Jesse coughed beside me, shooting me a look that told me I was perfuming like crazy. "Jesus…"
Yeah, so much for forgetting about them.
Or being over it.
Our eyes met, and for a moment, it was like we were the only two people in the room, my stomach churning with butterflies.
At least I hoped it was butterflies and not the overindulgence of alcohol.
Joon offered me a little smile before refocusing on Tara, hugging her back hard.
"I soooo needed a night out," he said with a grin as he steadied the other omega. "Looks like I have some catch-up to play. Shots?"
"Shots! Shots! Shots!" Tara cheered, towing Joon back towards us at the bar.
Jesse diligently ordered a round, and briefly, I wondered just how far over my two-drink policy I was by now.
It didn't matter—it was too late anyway.
Tara made quick work of introducing Joon to Ivy, my jaw tightening with irritation as I watched him give her an obvious look of approval.
So what if I'd been doing the same thing before? He wasn't standing right here for it!
A small glass was placed into my hand, cheery yellow sitting atop of bright red with a cherry tucked along the rim.
Vaguely, I knew that mixing a bunch of different alcohols was going to make for a miserable day tomorrow, but watching Joon smile at some other girl made that feel like an entirely pointless concern.
“What are these?” he asked, quirking one perfectly styled eyebrow and holding the drink up.
“Pineapple upside down shots,” Jesse yelled over the music. “You’ll like it, don’t worry! Cheers!”
I took the cherry from the glass, clinking my glass with everyone—and spilling a bit off the top in the process—before downing it.
Coughs erupted from me instantly. Though it was a bit sweeter, I didn’t normally do shots, and that intense vodka flavor burning my throat and nose was still there, no matter how drunk I was.
“Eat the cherry, it’s a good chaser,” Tara said, thumping me on the back.
I did as she suggested, and she was right. The burst of sugary juice helped mellow the awful aftertaste of the shot.
As I chewed down on the cherry, I made eye contact with Joon, who was already looking at me as I plucked the stem from the fruit.
His gaze heated, and this time I was the one who looked away, licking the spilled drink off my hand with a little shiver.
Had Indi told him about our bathroom make-out session earlier? Was he mad?
Or maybe, a little voice inside me hoped, was he jealous of Indigo? Did Joon want a turn himself?
"Ooooh, you know what we should do?" Ivy said, with a mischievous glint in her blue eyes. “We should see who can tie a cherry stem fastest with their tongue.”
“What are we, in middle school?” I asked, unable to help myself when presented with the opportunity for a dig.
Ha! That should show Joon who's—
“Sounds fun,” Joon shot back. “I love a little competition.”
My eyes narrowed on the omega, who simply grinned at me.
“Fine, I’m in.”
Tara smirked. “May the best kisser win. Jesse, you gonna try?”
They shrugged. “I’ll give it a go, no promises though."
Everyone picked up their stem, holding it in front of them.
"You're soooo going down," Ivy teased, winking at Joon.
I opened my mouth, but Tara saved me the embarrassment of whatever feeble mean-girl dig I was going to make by saying, “Ready? Go!”
Shoving the stem into my mouth, it took me a couple of tries to even get it flipped around the right way. I'd totally forgotten how hard this was, and with my stupid, half-numb, drunk-ass tongue, it was more difficult than usual.
I’d had a bit of practice when I was younger, so I knew that I could do it, which bolstered my confidence a little.
After a few seconds, I'd managed to get it crossed over, creating the loop, but was struggling to get the end through said loop.
“Done,” Tara said, way too fast as she spat the stem into her hand, Ivy close after.
It wasn’t surprising to me that Tara won, but she wasn’t my real competition.
And neither was Ivy, though it did annoy me that she got it so fast too.
Joon’s mouth was still wiggling, determination in his eyes.
After a few more attempts, I finally felt the end of the stem slip through the loop. My eyes widened. I’d done it. I reached my hand up to pull it out of my mouth just as I saw Joon's fingers twitch to do the same.