Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
LIAM
I may be the only person in the world who hates going on tropical yacht excursions. There is staff to wait on me at every turn. Every type of water sport I could ever want. Great food. Beds that are to die for. Sun and water for days.
“Would it kill you to smile?” George, an alpha asshole of epic proportions and also my father, demands. “You’re not the one paying for the trip.”
Muscles tensing, I sip my coffee, watching the ocean and horizon. He’s going to lament my life choices. The only power I hold over the situation is my complete and utter lack of reaction.
“Not that you could with that finance job. Where is it you are working again?”
I take another drink, eyeing the horizon and imagining someone punting him into the sun. A smile tugs at my lips.
George slaps the table. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
He infuses the command with his alpha bark, and once again, I find myself resenting my beta designation. It doesn’t compel me as strongly as it would my sister, who is an omega, but it locks my muscles and it’s a battle not to let him win. Bastard.
“What’s going on here?” Mom asks, voice too sugary sweet. Soothing. Smoothing over the rough edges to pretend everything is perfect.
It’s not. Nothing has been with my family for five years. These yachting trips remind me of the day George finally ran my other dads off. I didn’t realize how much Josh and Lalo were holding things together until they broke the pack bond. Everything fell apart after that.
Or I finally got to see how bad my parents' relationship really was. No one was getting along.
“Your son is being a little shit.”
Mom tsks. “Liam, what’s with the attitude?”
I do look at her. I give her one, hard, pistol-loaded look.
She’s as much to blame as George is. She had a choice, and she chose money.
My mom stayed with George, and me and my younger sister Cici had to stay too because George is our biological father.
It didn’t matter that Lalo would read with Cici every night or chase away her nightmares, or that Josh was the one who introduced me to video games or that he and Lalo were the only ones who gave a shit when all the bullshit in high society became too much.
Theoretically, the bond breaking should have made Mom and George miserable.
Since they’re still bonded, though, I think that’s helped both of them through the worst of the side effects.
Though they still had some. Sadness. Lack of interest in anything.
Sometimes anger. Broken bonds hit some omegas so hard they turn feral.
I guess Mom got lucky. She recovered within a year.
Moving on so fast, when my sister and I were still struggling.
In a way, the pack breakup was my fault.
It was my other dads suggesting I go to public school that sent George on a three-day rampage and rant.
I saw it in their eyes, the door closing, and when they offered to take me and Cici, George lost it. Apparently we were his pride and joy.
That was news to me.
“Liam,” Mom says in a warning tone that almost makes me snort laugh. Much to her dismay, I’m an adult and no longer have to play along with their delusions.
“Mother,” I warn back.
George snarls. “Ungrateful shit, your trust—”
“Fuck the trust,” I say with a shrug. “Take it.”
George’s jaw clenches so hard, I think he cracks a molar.
My not caring about his money really pisses him off.
I guess that’s why Lalo and Josh made sure that some of the money they got in the breakup went into funds for me and Cici.
That way, we’d have a cushion if we ever fell out of George’s favor.
The account they opened for me is only a fraction of what George has set up, but with my job, it’s more than enough.
I don’t need to pander to this asshole.
“Liam!” Cici shouts, bare feet slapping across the teak.
Here comes the only reason I go on family yachting trips.
She’s still so young and deserves to have fun.
At eleven, she has a few more good years of being mostly carefree, and I want her to have some of the same memories I had.
Good family memories. Not fucked-up, George is screaming again memories. “Can we go down the slide?”
“Heck, yes, let’s do it.” I set my coffee down, and we both ignore Mom’s shouts that Cici should eat breakfast first and race to the slide.
The crew is finishing securing the slide to the yacht when we arrive, and they smile at us with practiced ease. What I wouldn’t give to hear what they think of George and Mom.
“You guys should have a few hours of fun before we head back to shore. Your flight leaves later today, and we’ll make sure to get you there on time,” Riley, the bosun, says.
“Thanks, man. Your team has been amazing.”
His smile widens. “They’re good at what they do.”
“I’m going for it!” Cici grabs the handles on the blown-up stairs and scrambles up to stand at the top of the slide, hands thrown into the air as she screams. Jumping, she plops onto the vinyl and shoots down into the waiting sea.
The crew laughs, and I have no choice but to follow Cici down, hooting and hollering just to make her giggle before I’m submerged in salty water. When I break the surface with a gasp, Cici is already racing toward the boat. “Last one up is a rotten egg!”
“Oh, now it’s on,” I call after her, cutting through the water as fast as I can. My little sister screeches and laughs, and my chest warms.
These moments make trips like this worth it. I can suffer through George’s bullshit for Cici.
There’s nothing but silence as I drive home from the airport. No music. No podcast. Just me and the quiet. You know your emotions are all over the place when you can drive thirty minutes without any noise. The closer I get to home, the more the tension between my shoulders eases.
No more worrying about George watching my every move.
At least, for a few more months. The holidays always suck, but at least I won’t be stuck on a yacht for a week with him and Mom.
The only other time our paths might cross is at the charity gala I’m attending in a few weeks, but George will be out of town.
The only reason I’ll go is to see Lalo and Josh.
Turning into the quaint neighborhood I call home, I exhale long and hard, releasing the last of the stress from the trip. I can’t wait to sit on the couch with a beer and play some video games with the pack. This is exactly the relaxation I need. A completely, mind-numbingly uneventful night.
I park behind Wilder’s car and cut the engine, a smile tugging at my lips.
The garage is still open, and Hayes’s latest project is jacked up.
The alpha doesn’t know how to separate work and home.
His twin brother is nearly as much of a workaholic, tattooing nearly every day of the week, way outside of a standard forty hours.
At least he’s not working on the car right now.
Grabbing my bag from the trunk, I head for the front door, waving to Mrs. Carlson while she empties the bag of her lawn mower. “Last cut of the season?” I call over the chilly breeze.
“I think so.” She glances at the half of her lawn that is slowly being covered in yellow and orange foliage. “If the trees would stop dropping leaves, that’d be great.”
Chuckling, I glance at the tree in our front yard, which is still clinging to its browning leaves. “Winter is coming soon enough.”
She waves and gets back to her yard work. We’re lucky to have good neighbors. No one around here cares about how much money you have or who you know. All they care about is that you’re generally nice and look out for our little community.
It’s so peaceful. Calm. No drama.
I open the front door, and the scent of an omega practically bowls me over. Fuck, that’s not what I need to smell right now. I prop the door open and drop my bag by the door. “A little fresh air would’ve been nice! Some of us are trying to avoid blue balls!”
“Close the door!” Sawyer shouts from somewhere in the back of the house.
Something bangs around, and Hayes appears half showered and hard as a rock. I avert my gaze. “Dude, what the fuck?”
“You’ve seen my dick before, asshole. Close the door!”
Wilder slides into the room on socks, zipping toward me and scowling. “Didn’t you hear what Sawyer said?”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “You want that scent lingering around? I barely got a whiff of the omega and my balls ache.” I jerk my thumb toward Hayes, who has no qualms standing buck naked, covered in suds, in the middle of the room. “He’s jerking off to it in the shower.”
Wilder snaps the door closed.
I shake my head. “I didn’t sign up for torture.” Shaking my head at him, I try to open the door, but he blocks it with his entire body. “Seriously? Move.”
“The scent stays.”
Rearing back, I glance between him and Hayes, realizing they’re both dead serious. Sawyer appears, gaze frantically shooting to the door to make sure it’s closed. What the hell did I miss? “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Wilder violently jabs a finger in Sawyer’s direction. “He brought an omega home.”
“You don’t say,” I deadpan. “Why are you two acting weird about her scent?”
It’s nice, but there’s only one scent I’ve ever longed to know.
I’ve had a crush on Olivia, a sweet, quiet girl, since we were gawky teenagers learning ballroom dance before our scents fully manifested.
I could tell her scent was sweet, but I never got to experience her perfume in its full bloom.
The omega picked me as her partner over some douchey alpha, and the random facts she’d spew when she was nervous, and her cautious smile, stole my heart.
Almost like she was afraid to enjoy herself.
I always wanted to be the reason she smiled without fear.
Time and life led us in different directions. Her social media accounts are sparse, but I gobble up each new post like a fiend.
Hayes rubs his jaw. “We, uh, we need to talk.”
Dread swirls in my gut, heavy like lead.
“Okay.” I fight the urge to tell them no before they get a chance to tell me that they want to court whoever this omega is.
My obsession with Olivia hasn’t been a problem, because they’ve never showed signs of wanting an omega.
My pack was content alone. I could pine for my teenage crush without worry.
One weekend away, one omega, and everything’s changed? I should give the omega a fair shot, though. She’s probably great, if the rest of my pack is interested.
We settle on the couches in the living room, and Sawyer props his arms on the back of the cushions, smiling like a kid who got a lollipop for the first time.
“There’s an omega,” he begins, smile falling a little. “It’s complicated, but I swear, Liam, you’d love her. She’s so sweet. Smart too.”
“What’s the complicated part?” I rest my forearms on my thighs. “She’s not with a pack already, is she?” There’s no way I’m going to steal an omega away from another pack. That would never end well.
“Of course not,” Sawyer says in a rush, eyes flitting away.
He’s being cagey. “Sawyer, what the fuck is the complication?”
Exhaling, he rubs his neck. “She may or may not be my friend’s younger sister, and she’s a virgin, and she wants me to teach her how to be a good omega so she can do right by a pack.”
My head rears back in different directions, like someone bitch-slapped me three times in rapid succession. “Hold on. Rewind. Whose sister is she?”
“It’s Henry’s sister,” he admits with a wince.
Henry? The same alpha we hang out with from time to time? “I didn’t realize he had a sister. Do you really think he’s going to be cool with you fucking her?”
Sawyer shrugs at my question. “I don’t know, but I’m not sure I really care? She’s just—”
“Honestly, you need to meet her,” Hayes cuts in. Hayes. The burly alpha, who is content to live his life under cars without a mate, wants me to meet her?
Are they kidding me right now?
“You’d like her,” Wilder assures me.
“What do you mean, you’re teaching her?”
Sawyer grimaces. “That’s the biggest complication. She’s inexperienced and was going to go find some random pack to teach her, but I offered to do it instead so she wouldn’t end up with some asshole. I, uh, didn’t really think too much about the rest of it.”
He wouldn’t. He’s always impulsive. “And what about you two? What’s your excuse?”
“She smells really good?” Wilder asks with a grin.
“This is going to be complicated," I murmur, more to myself than the guys.
No omega can ever replace how I feel about Olivia, but maybe if this omega they’re seemingly smitten with can make my pack this excited, I should give her a shot.
Deep down, though, the only woman I can picture myself is that omega who smiled at me with so much warmth it made my heart race. Maybe one day I’ll see her again.