Chapter 44
“Holy shit!” Luna stared at me from the driver’s seat. “That man dropped almost seven grand on you without batting an eye.”
“I have secrets,” Meg said from the backseat.
Both of us swiveled toward her. “Spill,” I demanded.
“I asked him a bit ago about what his plans were for taking care of you, not that you specifically need to be taken care of, but you know.”
“Faster.” I bounced in my seat, turning to sit on my knees so I could look at her.
“He’s been hoping for you for a long time. He might say it was for any future omega, but I know for a fact he thought of you whenever he planned for the future.”
My stomach flipped over and I clung to the seat, my nails digging into the leather. That answered that question.
“I guess it makes sense with the whole thing of you being ideal mates. You were on about him all those years too, so I’m not surprised he was the same.” Meg smiled softly at me. “He has a lot more put away for you, so don’t feel bad about spending it where you need it, or just where you want it.”
“I don’t want to go out with the brunch alpha!” I blurted out.
“I don’t blame you.” Luna laughed and patted my shoulder. “I’m a little swayed myself after that display. It’s possible it was a show, but I know what shows look like, and all I saw the entire time was him mooning after you. No matter how much you added to that cart, he just seemed more enamored with you. I do have to say that this is not about him just spilling dollars all over you, though that’s nice. This is about a man who plans and a man who is happy to take care of you. I’m still going to keep my eye on him, but today was hella sweet.”
“I think so too,” Meg added.
I pressed my face to the leather seat and screamed. “This is too much feeling! Too much! I’m not equipped for this much emotion.”
Luna rubbed my back and Meg made soft shushing sounds until I was able to pry my face away from the leather.
“I know I said I wanted to know for sure, but what if I already do know? The more time I spend with him, the less and less I care about whether or not it’s the bond or him. I don’t know the answers. I don’t know what it’s all supposed to feel like.”
“Well, don’t look at us for answers for that,” Meg said with a laugh. “If you want to just settle in, that’s okay.”
“The anxious, spiteful part of myself wants me to go on that stupid date.”
Would it even work, though? I would go in with the wrong mindset and pick that guy apart. Maybe I wasn’t even capable of loving anyone else. That sounded so depressing.
“You could always set up a group date,” Meg offered. “See if your brunch alpha has a couple friends and we could go with you.”
“Do you think that would help?”
“At the very least, we’d be able to tell if your judgment is skewed about this,” replied Luna. “If he’s just as sweet and lovely as Sidney and you hate him, that’ll give you some info.”
I whimpered in my seat and spun back around, wrenching the seatbelt into place. “Okay, but I’m going to need some chocolate to console me after. Let’s get dinner. I want to set up my nest.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Luna booked it out of the parking lot and we picked up a huge order of Chinese food before roaring into Sidney’s driveway and tumbling out of the vehicle. He opened the door before I could get out the key he’d given me.
“We’re going on a group date,” I blurted out. I was not having a good time with words today.
“Oh?”
Luna explained the logic to him.
He pursed his lips. “If you think that would make you feel better. Should I go out on a date too?”
A half second of a growl snuck out before I squeezed my lips together.
“You can say no,” he offered.
“It’s not fair if I say no.”
“I don’t care about that,” he replied. “If you don’t want me to go, I won’t go.”
“Do you want me to go?” I asked instead.
“I want you to be sure about me. If going out with someone else will help you do that, I’ll be okay with that.”
“Quit being so reasonable. Can’t you go all alpha on me and demand I don’t go?”
“And what would it accomplish if I did that? I don’t want to fight with you and I don’t want you to be with me because you feel like you have to. I’ll be a choice you make for yourself and it won’t be because I ordered you to.”
“Okay, let’s get you some food,” Luna insisted, pushing me toward the table. “These aren’t decisions to be made on an empty stomach.”
The food was delicious, though it sat like lead in my belly. This whole thing really threw a kink in my life plans. I could’ve been perfectly content dating Sidney and doing things slowly, but nooo, we had to poof from being practically strangers to more than married. How was that fair? How was that not supposed to riddle a person with doubt for the rest of their lives? Was I making too big a deal of it? Maybe others would just thank the universe for their good fortune at giving them a chance to skip the dating game. It felt ridiculous to continue asking this of myself.
Sidney held my hand, but that only made me feel guilty. How was he so sure about me? Why couldn’t I be that confident?
“Do you want to text the brunch alpha?” Meg asked. “Might as well find out if that’s a possibility.”
My fingers felt stiff as I pulled the rumpled paper from my pocket and punched the number into my phone.
Allie:
Hi
It’s the omega from brunch
Unsaved number:
Hey! Great to hear from you :)
Does this mean you’re interested in going out?
Allie:
That entirely depends on if you have two friends for the lovely ladies who were with me
Unsaved number:
I could definitely wrangle up a pair of suitable candidates
We could do the same brunch spot next week? Or somewhere else sooner if you’d prefer?
I tossed the phone to Luna.
“I’d be fine with brunch,” she told me. She passed the phone along to Meg, who nodded and returned the phone to me.
Allie:
Brunch is fine
10?
Unsaved number:
10 it is
See you then, beautiful :)
I felt vaguely queasy as I laid the phone face down on the table.
“All booked?” Sidney asked.
I nodded instead of speaking.
“If you end up liking him, I’ll need to meet him. We can discuss a pack situation if you want to. I can’t fully go away since we’re bonded, but we can negotiate making room for someone else.”
There was a definite possibility I was going to be freaking out about this all week. How did he manage to be perfect even about this? I shouldn’t feel guilty or weird about it. He was right that lots of omegas packed up, but plenty didn’t. I couldn’t help but chew my lip as I contemplated that I might be a one-alpha kind of girl.
It was stuck in my head while we ate, while I set up my nest, while I showered, and when I burrowed under the mountain of freshly acquired bedding.
A soft knock on the open door had me poking my head up through the pillows. “Yeah?”
“I just wanted to see if you wanted any company before I went to sleep.”
I had barely been able to look him in the eye the rest of the night. The nest was as perfect as I could make it, but it was missing that sweet bit of warmth that came from a partner.
I flipped the blankets open in a silent invitation.
He crossed the space quietly, his skin lit up like luminous gold in the lamplight. I might not be able to look him in the eye, but I apparently had no problem with soaking in every muscled plane of his body. He was too fucking pretty.
Sidney climbed in and I nestled immediately against his chest, that ancient omega part of my brain triggering my purr at the thought of getting his sweet citrus and clove scent all over my nest. It reminded me a bit of the icy winters from when I was little and living up north before my dad passed. In the stretch between Christmas and New Year’s, my parents would indulge in mulled wine, simmering slices of orange and fragrant spices that filled the air with that delicious perfection. I never got to taste it, which was probably for the best since I didn’t like wine at the best of times, but the scent was a core memory of when things had been sweeter and simpler.
Sidney’s hand on my hair and the purr rumbling from his chest plunged me into sleep, and when I woke the next day, I was as cozy and comfortable as I had ever been in my entire life. My nest at the apartment was going to feel so sad by comparison. The alarm on my phone screamed at me, ordering me to vacate my happy place and make my way to the paycheck factory.
Maybe he put a bit of extra care into breakfast, whipping up something befitting a Sunday brunch and not a Monday morning rush, and maybe he sweetened my coffee with homemade creamer instead of plain sugar, but also maybe I was just reading into it too much. Part of me wasn’t sure how he could be even sweeter, but maybe he was trying to do just that little bit extra to woo me into choosing him.
“You don’t have to put in this much effort, not that I don’t appreciate it.”
“I did a bunch of meal prep while you were at brunch so I could spoil you this week. It only takes a few extra minutes with the work done in advance.”
My stomach flipped happily. He had put in that work before he even knew someone else was interested in me. Brunch Alpha was going to have his work cut out for him. How the hell was he supposed to compete with perfection?
I took a sip of my coffee. “This tastes like I got it straight out of the coffee shop.”
“That’s the goal.” Sidney smiled at me as he swept down to kiss my forehead. “Finish your bacon so you’re not late for work.”
“You’re making me wanna play hooky so I can show you the full extent of my appreciation.”
His low chuckle had goosebumps rising down my arms. “And I would take you up on that offer if I didn’t have a class to teach.”
“Your responsible nature is being a cockblock,” I said with a pout.
“I promise you can do all manner of filthy things to me at the end of the workday. Do me a favor and think of some fun things for us to do while you’re busy missing me.”
Heat flushed through my body. That was certainly one way to get me to think about him all day.