Talk About… History (Rockwood Valley Omegaverse #1)

1. Avery

Avery

M y heart raced as I hurried up the stairs toward our condo. The cake was balanced in one hand and our favorite takeout in the other. Even after several years, coming home to my pack never got old.

I’d grabbed the perfect combination for a night in that would end in us covering my nest with our scent.

Speaking of scents… the scent of vanilla and strawberry was so intense from the cake that it was starting to make me nauseous, but I was inches from our door.

Somehow the gods were looking out for me because I didn’t fumble anything as I fished my keys out of my pocket.

Shrill laughter sounded loud enough that I heard it through the thick wooden door.

Did the guys invite someone over? That’s odd. They knew what tonight was.

Oh my god, maybe it was a surprise anniversary party. That would be just like them. They were social butterflies and sometimes didn’t realize just how much of an introvert I was at times. I had to bite back a groan, because that was not at all how I planned to spend our night and I’d be far too exhausted after a party to do anything other than pass out in our bed.

Bracing myself for our friends and family to jump out and surprise me, I carefully twisted the key in the lock and shoved the door open.

Only, it wasn’t a party.

Instead it was my two mates both balls deep in another omega.

What the actual fuck. They knew I was off work and they did this just so I could find it? Did they have that little respect for me?

My eyes burned with unshed tears and my chest ached sharply with the betrayal. Nausea slammed into me when I realized the vanilla and strawberry scent wasn’t the cake, but the bitch they were fucking, a scent I knew.

The cake and takeout hit the floor with a thud, bringing all three sets of eyes my way.

“Avery,” Brad gasped, then shuddered as the omega screamed out. “Fuck.” His last groan had me shaking my head, tears falling down my cheeks now as I watched him shudder through his orgasm.

I didn’t want to watch, but it was like a train wreck I couldn’t tear my eyes from. It was the dumpster fire ending to a five-year relationship.

All that time and energy I spent on them was wasted.

The omega groaned again and Travis shifted, trying to unlock his knot from her but it was a lost cause. Nonsensical words were falling from his mouth as he struggled but I couldn’t focus on them.

He moved enough that I caught a glimpse of long blonde hair. There was no guilt in my ex -best friend’s eyes as she let out a laugh, followed by an over the top, porn-worthy scream just for me.

I dug my phone out of my pocket and snapped a picture before putting it away. If I needed evidence, that was plenty. All of their faces were visible.

Anger flared inside of me but violence wasn’t my first choice. Instead, I ran toward my nest, slamming and locking the door behind me.

Shame, burning hot and volatile, swirled within me as I let out a feral scream. My omega wanted to go in there and rip that bitch limb from limb and she wasn’t happy I was denying her that.

Instead, I turned my focus to my nest.

This was something we built together and now it made my stomach turn. It still smelled like my exes, because there was no fucking way I was giving them another chance, and I didn’t want their scent mixed with mine ever again.

Another scream tore out of me as I lunged for the pillows, ripping the cases off and tearing the fabrics. The fabric cushions were next, then the clothes that I’d tucked inside the nooks and crannies during my last heat.

It was a frenzy of torn fabric and fluff in minutes.

The entire time I destroyed the nest, I couldn’t help but run through the awful comparisons between me and my former best friend. Wren was tall and blonde with bright blue eyes, her long hair silky and wavy, always perfect. I was short with straight black hair that wouldn’t hold a curl, and hazel eyes. I had curves that I loved, but even I could admit her thin frame made her look like a model and I was simply… soft.

Fuck, they just replaced me like I was nothing. The pain of that tore another sob from me but I refused to let sadness take hold. Instead, I clung to my anger.

“Avery!” Heavy fists slammed against the door as I screamed and raged, tearing down every single thing that decorated this stupid fucking nest.

When the soft things were done, I moved onto the walls. The pack picture had to go. I wrenched the backing off and tore out the picture, tearing it to tiny pieces and tossing it around like confetti. I continued the assault on every piece of art and decor lining my walls. No sconce, print, or macrame was safe.

My chest was heaving and my mind eerily blank as I continued my massacre, ignoring the shouts outside.

By the time I finished I was out of tears and my voice was hoarse. Normally if I needed an escape I’d call one of my best friends, but it seemed it was a fake friendship and the bitch only wanted my mates as her own.

She could fucking have them.

“Baby, please!” Travis begged. “It was a mistake. Wren means nothing. You’re our scent match!”

“We’re done,” I yelled back. “You can kiss our entire fucking life together, goodbye.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, a random notification lighting up the screen, but it was a reminder that I still had it on me. I dialed the one person I knew would help me find a way to get out of here.

The phone rang twice before the familiar voice echoed through the speaker.

“Avery? It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?” My childhood best friend’s voice was a mix of teasing and hurt. Something I would address when I wasn’t already falling apart.

“Sidney,” I managed to choke out, my voice sounding strange enough that she rushed out her next words.

“Avery, what’s wrong? Where are you?”

“It’s my anniversary. I just came home to find the guys fucking Wren.”

“No! That fucking bitch!” she gasped in horror on my behalf. Sidney and I may have drifted but we kept up a once a month mandatory phone call. She knew all about my life here in Warden Heights.

My friends, my mates… all the reasons I hadn’t come home after college.

“We’re done. There’s no going back, Sid. Scent matches clearly don’t mean shit,” I growled as I sat with a huff. “I’m coming home. Do you think my mama or brothers will care?”

She snorted out a laugh. “Your mama has been dying to have you back, and your brothers would kill them for you, Avery. You have nothing to worry about. Those Whitaker boys will always have your back.”

“How do I even tell them? I feel so embarrassed. They hated these guys and I should have fucking listened. I need to pack, to leave this place.”

“Give me two seconds,” Sidney said before she ended the call.

I blinked down at the phone in my hand, shocked she’d hang up and unsure what to do now. My eyes burned with more tears but I refused to cry over those assholes anymore. I needed a plan.

First, I needed to gather my things. I didn’t give a fuck about any material things here. They could figure out the furniture and decorations.

Though, I’d be destroying any pictures of us before I went.

Everything else was clothes and my personal items, then some documents. The rest of our things didn’t hold any meaning anymore.

Shouting was coming from the front before the door slammed. Footsteps came my way and the guys were back to their pathetic pleading.

“Avery, baby please,” Brad begged. It was cut off by his phone ringing. They hissed something before I heard shouting again.

“Cameron. You have to get her to listen,” Travis started but my brother’s cursing and barked orders were loud enough to cut him off.

“Listen to me, you bastard. Get out of that house in the next two minutes before I rain hell down on you. You won’t come back until I come and collect her, do you fucking hear me?”

“You’re not even in town,” Brad laughed. “You can’t do anything about it.”

Wrong choice, asshole, I thought to myself right as Cam was back to screeching down the line.

“If you fucking think I don’t have eyes everywhere, you’re an idiot. I’ll have an entire group of alphas at your door in ten. Nine. Eight.”

“Are you fucking serious?!” Brad thundered, but Travis was always smarter and it sounded like he was walking away, his shouts fading as he went. Cameron didn’t stop counting and finally Brad let out a frustrated yell.

“Get out. Now.” That was Cam’s final warning. The call ended and something shattered. More cursing followed as Brad ranted and paced, his bare feet slapping the floor.

Travis was not having it.

“Come on, Brad. He’s not fucking kidding. Her brothers are fucking vicious!” Travis yelled, his voice high pitched and frantic now.

“Avery. Call off your brothers. Let’s talk this out like adults,” Brad said, his voice loud and condescending, though I wasn’t the least bit afraid. I was raised by three brothers who took over for my dads when they died too young. I knew how to defend myself and these two weren’t the fighting type.

Just giant walking red flags that I couldn’t wait to get rid of. I was a loyal omega and put my all into the people I cared about… but the moment you crossed me, you were dead to me.

There was no going back.

“Cameron meant want he said. You need to leave and let me pack. You aren’t going to see me again,” I promised. “I’ll be out and the apartment is yours tomorrow, my keys will be on the island.”

“Baby, no,” Brad said, his voice breaking. “It was a stupid mistake. Her heat was starting and it just… we went into a rut.”

I laughed then, so hard fresh tears were falling for a very different reason. She had played them and they were too stupid to realize it.

“She had her heat at the clinic two weeks ago you dumbass. She fucking lied to you. There was no rut, just pure and simple lust. You’re just a cheating bastard.”

A strangled noise was the last thing he managed before his footsteps faded as well.

Pulling up the security app on my phone, I watched the living room camera as they went from the bathroom to the master, shoving things in bags. They both froze at the same time and looked at the front door, before they were running, barely grabbing shoes.

The moment the door closed I dropped my phone, unlocked my nest, and ran for the front door, locking it behind them and sliding the chain into place. Only then did I let out a breath and let some of the tension bleed from my body.

I glanced out the peephole, nearly laughing as a burly man was smiling at the empty hall, likely where my douchebag mates had just been. I recognized him as one of Cameron’s old friends. He was from Rockwood Valley but had apparently moved to the city like I had. Not everyone wanted small town life. Right now, I was just glad he was there.

Knowing he was out there gave me reassurance enough that I could pack up. Though, as I looked around, tears threatened to fall again.

I’d never felt so broken and betrayed.

Thank fuck I wasn’t claimed by the bastards. They never wanted bites, said they were saving those for a special moment… clearly one that never came. Something I’d be forever grateful for.

Now, this could be a clean and easy break.

The man called through the door as I stepped away, not willing to open it. The last thing I wanted to do was chat with someone I barely knew while I was at my worst. It was downright humiliating.

I glanced out of the peephole again to see him leaning close to talk to me.

“Cameron says hello. You’re safe now, but I’ll keep watch a little longer,” the man offered before crossing his arms and settling against the wall opposite of my door.

My ringtone echoed through the apartment and I hurried down the hall again to pick it up. Sidney’s name was on the screen and I answered quickly.

“Thanks, Sidney,” I said as I put her on speaker. “They’re gone and Cameron’s friend is outside keeping watch.”

“Good, pack up. Me and your brothers are on our way,” she said, her voice almost giddy. I could hear the sound of her grabbing her things and closing the door behind her. “You’re finally coming home.”

She was right. After nearly seven years, I was moving back to Rockwood Valley. The place I ran away from to escape the pressure of three older brothers, a family legacy, and a town that felt suffocatingly small.

Now, I couldn’t think of anywhere else I wanted to be.

“We’ll be there in a few hours.”