Chapter 8 Briar
Briar
I pull up outside the Wynter Lodge, parking my motorbike in my reserved bay as I take off my helmet. Then, I head to the bar.
I picked a day shift today as I needed an excuse to get out of the house. Rowan is unbearable to be around ever since Mom died, and the arrival of Daisy Rose has only amplified the angst.
Ash has disappeared somewhere in the woods to speak with the trees or whatever. So, that just leaves me with my tumultuous thoughts.
I could have disappeared into my art gallery for a while and just painted. But I haven’t picked up a paintbrush in a while; I haven’t since Mom died.
So, that just leaves me to my other passions. Mixing cocktails and pouring beer. The only problem is that it’s pretty dead at the lodge’s bar this time of day.
The moment I step behind the bar, I find a pair of denim legs sticking out from beneath the sink. When I spy the tool belt around the waist, I roll my eyes, grabbing an apron.
Well, well, if it isn’t Shepard Wynter, tinkering away per usual.
What else is new?
The Alpha lifts his head up from beneath the sink, smiling broadly when he spots me. “Hey, Briar. Didn’t expect to see you here at this time of day.”
Me neither. It’s barely gone noon.
I tie back my hair with a band. “I needed to get out of the house for a while.”
The Alpha chuckles as he finishes fixing the leaky pipe; I have to be nice to him since he’s technically one of my bosses, but he’s a good friend, too.
He’s also my cousin’s Alpha.
Noelle is our elder cousin by two years, and that is not one Omega I want to cross.
I still remember how she used to make us have tea parties with her back when we used to visit Uncle Joel.
We were five, she was seven, so we had no choice; we had to do as she said.
She even made Rowan cry once when she made him dress up as a rabbit and gave him a carrot.
Shepard winces when he hears the double meaning in my words. “Rowan home already? I don’t blame you. That brother of yours can be a real piece of work. Thank God my own are easygoing.”
Is he really including Frost in that sentence? Before Noelle came back into their lives, I was constantly throwing him out of this bar; both Shepard and Robin told me specifically that I was no longer allowed to serve him.
Also, Frost was a little shit as a kid. He and his brothers sometimes rescued us from Noelle whenever we visited Uncle Joel. They were her neighbors, so we were just glad to be able to play games with a couple of older boys for once.
But Frost used to taunt us all the time. He clashed with Rowan a lot.
So, I had no qualms tossing him to the curb; I even put him to bed several times.
Shepard stands at last, wiping his pants down. Then he gets a real good look at me. “Holy shit… That bad?”
I sigh, grabbing a cloth as I wipe at an imaginary stain on the bar. “It’s a long story, but a ghost from our past has returned.”
Shepard’s brows crumple. Before he can pry, a man approaches the bar. I serve him his drink, wiping yet again at a stain that doesn’t exist.
“Care to share?” he says. “We’re practically family now, after all, Thorn.”
I suppose he’s right. It’s been over a year now since Noelle returned to Silverpine. While Shepard and I stayed pretty close after he and his brothers called things off with her, our friendship has only strengthened since they got back together.
They were the perfect storybook pack. They’d all known each other since kindergarten, so it seemed inevitable that they’d patch things up again.
The sad thing is, we don’t even have that kind of history with Daisy. The only real interaction we ever had with her was the day we rejected her in front of the school.
Her poem had been super cheesy, but it had come from the heart. Yet we just went ahead and ripped hers out of her chest and stomped all over it.
We don’t even deserve a second chance. I was foolish enough to go along with Rowan at the time, convincing myself that rejecting her was the best decision for us all.
I know why he did it. He was afraid. Afraid of ending up just like our father. And truth be told? So was I…
Yet we were stupid. Stupid teenage boys…
“So, who is she?” Shepard pries, crossing his arms.
I’m sure he has better places to be—he’s the on-site handyman. His services are required on all fronts.
But I meet his vivid blue eyes, deciding to spill the tea. Shepard had already graduated by the time Daisy read out that poem to us in the gym, but the story still spread like wildfire around town.
“Daisy Rose.”
It takes a moment for the name to register. Then he sighs heavily, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
I don’t deserve his sympathy. Even if I were a boy of seventeen, I should have known better than to reject my own scent match.
“That’s rough. I’m sorry,” he says.
“Any advice to give?” I ask, checking the glasses for stains.
He did manage to win back Noelle, after all. And she has to be one of the most stubborn Omegas I have ever met.
Shepard takes a while to respond. Then he steps around the bar, fixing me with a sad smile. “Give her space. That’s rich, I guess, coming from me, but these things require a certain finesse.”
They really do. Funny, that’s what Rowan said.
Shepard is distracted next by the sight of a familiar, redheaded Omega. It’s Noelle. She walks along the path through the woods. We have a perfect view of it from the bar, after all.
The look on his face says it all. He loves her. They all do. And we could have had that once, too.
But it’s too late.
Daisy will never want us now. According to Rowan, she is doing just fine.
Frost is on Noelle’s left. But the figure on her right… I know I have seen her before, but my mind can’t place her in that moment.
She’s platinum blonde. And absolutely stunning. Probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
Then it hits me.
Shit… That’s Daisy Rose. And Rowan was right; it looks like time truly has been kind to her indeed.
And we’re all the biggest idiots on the planet.