Chapter Twenty-five — Logan
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
_____________
LOGAN
My mother opened the door with a smile. “MY CHILD HAS COME HOME!” She pulled me into an aggressive hug—which was a feat considering she was more than a foot shorter than I was—and made obnoxious kissing sounds until I rolled my eyes and pushed her away.
She laughed and stepped aside for the rest of us to enter. I shook my head. “One day people are going to think you’re serious and that’s how you act all the time.”
“Did I not go big enough? I was hoping it would be too over the top. But if we’re not there yet, I can go bigger.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
There was a sneaky smile on her face that told me she was already plotting her escalation.
Trinity made it to the door, and Mom pulled her into a much gentler hug. “How are you? I hope the guys aren’t creating too much chaos for you.”
The blush on my Omega’s face almost made me laugh. We were causing chaos. That was one way to put it. The hardest part of this dinner would be not touching her. For all of us. Even though it had only been a few days, it already felt natural to reach out and touch her when she was near.
“It’s been good,” Trinity said. “And they weren’t wrong, it’s much closer to work, which is nice.”
Aiden stood in the doorway behind Trinity, just bringing up the rear. He didn’t look uncomfortable. So far, Aiden seemed like the kind of person who was comfortable anywhere. But he was still cautious, reading the situation before choosing a direction.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Mom said, releasing Rin. “I think the food is almost ready. And who do we have here?”
“Aiden Fletcher.” He held out his hand and shook my mother’s.
We hadn’t really said how we were going to reveal it. “He’s a friend, Mom. We’ll tell you more at the table.”
“I’m sensing a story.”
I chuckled. “You’ll get one.”
Rin came over to me, and I saw her almost reach for me and stop. The tiny frown crease between her eyes made me want to soothe it. “I didn’t think through the part where we can’t touch.”
“Only a few hours,” I said quietly. “I’m sure there will be plenty of touching once we get home.”
She took a step away from me as Cecil found us. “I thought I heard voices. Hey, honey.” He hugged Rin, and she hugged him back.
Whatever it was about this house or Cecil’s pack that spooked our Omega, her father wasn’t part of it. Or at least not fully part of it. I left them to talk quietly, joining the others in the dining room.
Valentina, or Val, as she liked to be called, already sat at the head of the table, scrolling on her phone. Paige and Matthew, a Beta and Alpha respectively, were next to her. They were all together, but Cecil wasn’t involved with them. They were just pack without any romantic connotations.
Which was fine. That was the way we’d been before Trinity.
Mom had told me after meeting Cecil that he enjoyed having a pack and a home base to return to—and somewhere to leave Trinity—but he was fine not being romantically involved because it allowed him more freedom to do what he loved.
Then she grinned and said he loved her more than that.
Pack instincts did what they wanted, as evidenced by the Alpha currently being pushed into the room by my mother.
Val looked up and saw Aiden. “I thought we were just having your son’s pack, Liz.”
“You are,” I said.
Mom looked at me. I glanced around the room. We were all here. Might as well. “This is Aiden. Theo and he met yesterday, and the pack bond snapped in. A surprise, but we’re not mad about it. So, Val, you’re correct. You’re hosting our pack. And Trinity.”
“Oh,” she said. “That’s… well, that’s something.”
Paige smiled and Matt nodded in agreement. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” I pulled out a chair for Trinity and settled her before I sat across the table. The Alpha in me wanted to be close to her, but I also wanted to watch her during this dinner for any clues.
As far as I was concerned, Trinity was mine, and would be for the rest of my life. If something was hurting her or made her afraid, I would find out.
“That is not what I thought you were going to say.” Mom sat next to Cecil, who was at the other end of the table.
“Believe me, it was a shock,” Theo said.
Cecil cleared his throat. “How did you meet?”
“It’s my fault,” Trinity said with a laugh. “Well, fault might be the wrong word. But Aiden is a friend of the DuPonts, my best friend’s pack, and they thought he might be able to help me with a story I’m working on. The guys offered to make sure he wasn’t a serial killer.”
Theo laughed. “Jury’s still out on that one.”
Aiden lifted his empty glass in a mock cheer. “I’m not, but if I were, you’d never know.”
“Comforting,” Bastian said.
We all laughed at that. Almost all of us. There were wine bottles on the table. I stood and grabbed one. “Who needs wine?”
“Thank you, Logan,” Cecil said. “What do you do, Aiden?”
Pouring for the people who wanted it, I made my way around the table, leaning in closer than necessary to Trinity while Aiden explained that he was a technology specialist. Which wasn’t technically a lie.
When I was back in my seat, I turned to Val, Paige, and Matt. “Speaking of careers, I don’t know that Mom or Cecil has ever mentioned what the three of you do?”
“I’m an accountant,” Paige said.
Brooks leaned forward. “So we know to come to you for all the tax shit?”
“Unfortunately, no. I specialize in accounting for large corporations. So unless that’s you…”
“Not yet, but give it time.”
Val cleared her throat. “I’m the CEO of my own business. We set up events to sell products directly to people. Matthew helps on the backend with administrative tasks and social media.”
“That’s interesting,” Theo said. “What kind of product?”
“Depends on the client. Makeup, cleaning supplies, sex toys. You name it.”
I choked on my sip of wine and recovered quickly, Bastian thumping my back a couple of times. “Sorry about that. Went down the wrong way.”
The real reason I’d choked was the fact that Val had said she was a CEO. Did she mean those parties where they encouraged everyone else to become a salesperson until you had a miniature army of people beneath you?
“Yeah, Val stays more on the sales and management side.”
“Management?” I asked.
“I have quite a few people working under me.”
One glance at Trinity and her subtle nod told me that yes, it was exactly what I thought.
“Congratulations on doing so well with it.” There was certainly money to be made with that career path, if you were willing to fully commit and ignore its inherent predatory nature.
Or perhaps Paige’s job and Cecil’s contribution kept them afloat.
“What story are you working on, Rin?” Cecil asked.
“Oh, I’m working on a few things. I finally have a chance to do some writing again. I can’t—”
A timer went off on Val’s phone. She stood and started to the kitchen. “Food’s ready. Trinity, come help serve.”
Rin blinked, trying to reorient herself after being interrupted. “Sure.”
“I got it,” I said. “Keep talking.”
She sent me a grateful smile. The kitchen smelled amazing. Looked like family-style Italian. Val was turning off the stove. “Take the sauce. Don’t drop it.”
“Do you have any potholders?”
Her head snapped up. “Where’s Trinity?”
“She was in the middle of telling Cecil something, so I volunteered.”
She stared at me for a second before going to a drawer and pulling it open too hard. “Pot holders are in there.”
None of the members of Cecil’s pack seemed very outgoing, but the few times we’d hung out with them, they’d seemed pleasant. This attitude from Val was the first hint of something darker.
I took the pot holders and the heavy pot of sauce back to the table, where Trinity was describing her story about Element without saying the word ‘kink’ or describing BDSM. Which had all my packmates smiling.
“Sauce,” I said.
Paige straightened. “Hopefully the pasta is all right. I cooked it.”
“I’m sure it will be lovely.” Mom nodded at the quiet Beta.
And it was good. Once Val and her sour face came back with the pasta and some toppings, the conversation flowed easily, and Aiden fit right in. Trinity was quiet, and none of Cecil’s pack ever responded to her contributions, but other than that, I didn’t see where the real tension was.
But there was something. My instincts were going insane.
Mom reached for the bottle of white wine. “Oh, we’re out of wine.”
“I’ll grab some,” Rin said, taking both the empty bottles with her.
“You have a competition coming up, right, Logan?”
I nodded. “Next weekend. It’s not far, so I’ll just drive down. Bastian has his fight a few days after.”
Cecil leaned back and put his arm around my mother. He’d shifted to the side of the table so he could do that. I never imagined my mother finding someone, but she and Cecil were a good match. Everyone could see it.
Hopefully, they’d feel the same way when we told them the truth.
“Think you’ll win?”
“I’ll do my best.” I needed to get back on the water. The last few days had been so different and unplanned that there hadn’t been time to go to the beach. Not that the waves here in Clarity were the best for surfing. But I’d get back on the water before the competition started.
Val got up and went to the kitchen. Trinity wasn’t back yet.
Bastian answered about his own fight. “I think I have a decent chance.”
“They’ll never tell you they’re going to win,” Mom said. “They don’t like to jinx it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Not to mention no one likes the guy who only talks about how he’s going to win.”
“Tell me about it,” Brooks said. “The fighting scene is filled with assholes like that, and they almost always lose. The worst one was this guy—”
While he told the story that I’d heard multiple times before, I stood and went to the kitchen. There was no reason for Rin not to be back, and with Val…
Trinity’s voice sounded flat and lifeless. “I’m doing the best I can.”
“Not good enough.” Val’s voice, in contrast, was sharp as a knife. “Since you live with them now, you can—”
“There you are,” I stepped into the kitchen and moved swiftly, taking one of the new wine bottles from Rin. I stepped in between her and Val, giving the woman my back. “Wanted to make sure you didn’t drown in the wine.”
“Nope. Just had a hard time choosing which bottles to go with.”
“They’ll be great.” I ushered Rin out of the kitchen.
Val’s gaze bored holes in my back. Bring it on. I could take more than a stare. What could she want from us? How did that involve Trinity?
“Thank you,” Rin murmured under her breath. Her scent was laced with that same bitterness I now knew as her anxiety and fear.
“What was that?”
“Not now.” She went straight to my mom to fill her wine glass.
Dessert was delicious, but I barely tasted it, watching my Omega. She felt it too. And I was counting down the minutes until we got home, and she could no longer hide from me.