9. Ollie
While the others were getting settled, Ollie walked around the entire house, mentally mapping every door, every window, every conceivable point of entry or exit. It wasn’t easy. The house was enormous and…weird. Like some kind of funhouse optical illusion.
From the outside, it didn’t appear overly ostentatious. It was exactly what one would expect to see in a wealthy suburb outside of D.C.—a colonial-style brick home with a pitched roof, dormer windows, and a decorative columned entrance.
But inside the house was something else entirely. The high ceilings, the hardwood floors, and even the central staircase with its hand-carved balustrade were all fairly typical. But the interior was bigger than it appeared. Despite looking like a two-story brick box on the outside, the home boasted ten enormous bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, a theater, a panic room, a wine cellar, a kitchen that could have housed four regular-sized kitchens within it, and a finished basement that was practically another home in and of itself.
Ollie couldn’t imagine Binnie’s grandmother rattling around in this big house alone, but he’d said it was just her and her staff. It seemed like a waste of space. They could have razed the place to the ground and built six homes in its place. Still, these homes were historical treasures, a snapshot of a time when it was common to house multiple generations under one roof. Was it possible to appreciate the history while also finding it a huge indictment on generational wealth?
It didn’t matter. Ollie wasn’t staying. He had only come as a favor to Binnie…and to Josh. Ollie had a life back in New York. A job, an apartment, friends. Well, acquaintances. It had taken a lot of time and therapy for him to feel safe anywhere, and he had no interest in being dragged back into danger. And nobody was more dangerous than Peter Dresden.
Ollie’s life wasn’t spectacular. His one-bedroom efficiency was smaller than Binnie’s grandmother’s downstairs bathroom, and working logistics and supply routes for a trucking company hadn’t exactly been his dream job, but it was fine. He was fine. He was safe. He didn’t go to sleep at night wondering if his employer would task him with killing children with bombs strapped to their chests or blowing up a village of innocent people.
When he returned to his temporary housing, he sat and sketched out the layout, determined to have Binnie walk him through the security features of the home—of which there were apparently many. Binnie claimed the security system had cost more than half a million dollars. Ollie would like to see if he got his money’s worth.
He’d left his door open, half-listening for the sounds of the others. They chatted and hollered and commented on how big the house was, how fancy, how it looked nicer than some resorts. Binnie excitedly went over all the amenities like he was hosting a vacation, not a coup, while Loch teased him about his excitement.
Saint still hadn’t said anything. Anytime Ollie had seen the alpha, he’d been silently watching the little dark-haired omega, Seth. He wasn’t being stealthy about it either, choosing, instead, to just stare at him silently, following behind like he had his own gravitational pull. Oddly, the omega seemed fine with Saint’s unwavering attention. Maybe there was really someone for everyone.
There was a tap on the door frame. He turned to see the youngest one—Deke?—standing in the doorway. “Uh, hi.”
Ollie smiled, tilting his head in askance. “Hey?”
Deke took a tentative step into the room. “Uh, you wouldn’t happen to have something for a headache, would you?”
Ollie snagged his pack from the floor, popping it up onto the bed. “Yeah, come on in. I’m sure I have something,” he said, unzipping the bag and looking for the case he knew most definitely had what Deke needed. When his hand landed on the plastic box, he made a triumphant sound, pulling it free and opening it up.
Deke looked over all the meds neatly nestled in their compartments and grinned.
“What?” Ollie asked.
Deke shook his head. “Nothing. Just when I asked if anyone had any Tylenol, Saint said, ‘Go ask the boy scout.’”
Ollie rolled his eyes. “Of course, he did.”
Ollie watched as Deke launched himself backwards onto Ollie’s bed, immediately star-fishing across his mattress like he belonged there before giving it a few experimental bounces. “Is this a bed or a trampoline?”
Ollie smiled. Deke sure had a lot of energy for someone with a headache.
When Ollie found the right meds, he snagged his unopened water bottle from the side table, then crossed to Deke, holding out a hand to help the boy sit up, noting the way he paled beneath his tan as he moved, lids fluttering.
Ollie frowned, watching as he took the pills and swallowed them, downing half the water before giving him a goofy, fond smile and handing the bottle back to him.
Ollie found himself cupping the sides of the boy’s head, turning it back upwards to meet his gaze.“Did anyone check to make sure you didn’t have a concussion?” he asked.
Deke blinked up at him, still giving him that dopey smile as if Ollie holding his head was the most normal thing in the world. “No? Should they have?”
Ollie shook his head, using his thumbs to check there weren’t any fractures to Deke’s facial bones, his fingers pressing against the base of his skull, pulling an almost pornographic moan from the younger boy.
Ollie’s brow raised, but Deke was unfazed. “That feels so good,” he said with a sigh. “Can you just keep doing that?”
Ollie couldn’t help but grin, shaking his head. “In a minute.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket, plunging the room into semi-darkness, earning him a contented sigh. Ollie’s face hurt from smiling. “Uh-uh, sleepyhead. Eyes open.”
Deke whined but did as Ollie asked. He flipped on the flashlight, covering each of the boy’s eyes, checking his pupillary response by running the light across them one at a time. Deke whined at the brightness.
Ollie frowned. “Any nausea, vomiting, blurred vision?”
Deke grimaced. “Yes.”
“To which one?” Ollie asked.
“All of them,” Deke said meekly.
Ollie sighed. “You definitely have a concussion. You should probably get a CT scan.”
Deke ignored his assessment. “Are you a doctor?”
Ollie shook his head. “No, but I was a medic in the military…before Cerberus.”
“You weren’t a medic after you went to work for…what’s his name? Dr. Evil?” Deke asked.
“No. They wanted me for my ability to…acquire things.”
Deke snickered. “That sounds ominous. Like what?” Ollie went to walk away but Deke whined, tugging him back, picking his hands up and putting them back where they were, then closing his eyes. When Ollie didn’t do anything, Deke opened one eye. “Please?”
Ollie shook his head but massaged the base of the boy’s skull, addicted to the way he practically purred at his touch.
“So, what kind of things did you have to acquire for Dr. Evil?” Deke asked.
Ollie grimaced. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay,” Deke said without skipping a beat. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I-I don’t know?” Ollie said.
“Do you have a family?” Deke asked, then cracked an eye. “Can I ask that?”
Ollie chuckled. “My mom and stepdad live in Italy. I have a half-sister but she goes to boarding school in Scotland. You?”
“My mom died in a car accident. I have seven dickhead brothers. All alphas. They hate me.”
Deke gave this information with the same passion one might give the local weather. Seven brothers. All alphas. “They hate you?”
“Mm,” Deke said, pushing a little harder into Ollie’s fingers. “They think I’m a freak because I still haven’t presented. They think I’m some kind of enigma. Like I might never have a secondary gender.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Ollie said, moving his hands upwards to massage Deke’s scalp, using his palms to squeeze the back of his neck.
“Why’s that?” Deke asked.
“I think you’ll be presenting any day now.”
Deke snorted. “If I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me, I could afford to buy this mansion.”
Ollie smiled. “I guess we’ll see.”
Ollie wondered if the others had noted it. The way the bruises on the boy’s face had already gone from a deep eggplant purple to a slightly mottled grayish purple. If they had, they were keeping the information to themselves.
“I wonder if I’ll end up a beta,” he pondered, then seemed to catch himself. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being a beta. I just know my dad and brothers will be smug about it. But it’s better than me being an omega. At least in their eyes. Anything’s better than that.”
Ollie stared down at the boy’s face, amused by his rambling. Maybe this was why Saint couldn’t stop staring at Seth. It was weird being able to take in someone’s features in motion without them doing the same in return.
Deke was trim, muscular in that way swimmers were. He had golden skin, dark hair, and green eyes that had gold and yellow flecks in them. He had a pretty face for sure, like many omegas, but he also had a near feline smugness to him, tilted eyes, and a generous mouth and a look like he was about to tell a really dirty joke. If they were taking bets on secondary gender, Ollie knew where he’d put his money. But it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t be there to see it when it happened.
It took Ollie too many seconds to realize Deke’s eyes were now open and he was watching Ollie just gawk at him like a weirdo. He cleared his throat. “Sorry, was just thinking about your concussion,” he lied.
“Oh, what am I supposed to do about that?” Deke asked. “Do I have to go sleep in my fluffy bed for a few days?”
“Actually, you’re going to need someone to wake you up pretty much every hour on the hour until tomorrow.”
Deke wrinkled his nose. “What? Ew. No.”
Ollie laughed. “Where’s your room?”
“The other wing.”
“The other wing?” Ollie asked.
“It’s to the left of the staircase instead of the right. I just always wanted to say that,” Deke admitted.
Ollie huffed out a laugh. “Okay, so how about I text you every hour?”
“I’ll never hear it if I’m sleeping,” Deke said.
“Set an alarm?” Ollie countered.
“Um…not really good at hearing those either.”
Ollie sighed. “Well, I guess I can come and knock on your door until you acknowledge that you’re alive?”
Deke shrugged. “Why don’t I just sleep in here with you tonight?”
Ollie’s brain function ground to a halt. “What?”
Once more, that silly smile. “I’ll just sleep in here. Six people can sleep in this bed without touching. I’m pretty small. You won’t even know I’m here.”
“You’re not that small. We’re pretty much the same size.”
“Just think of all the time it will save if all you have to do is nudge me,” Deke said.
“I don’t think that?—”
“Please?” Deke said, sounding like a little kid begging to open a present on Christmas Eve.
Ollie almost said no but there was this tiny underlying sharpness, a hint of desperation. Deke had been attacked just hours earlier by people who were most likely planning on killing him when they were done extracting information. Ollie suspected he wasn’t as unaffected as he wanted everyone to believe.
“Yeah, fine. But the others are going to side-eye us hard.”
Deke scoffed. “Oh, please. They’re all so horny for each other right now, it’s like Wild Kingdom out there. It probably reeks of unresolved sexual tension.”
“They do all seem pretty…fascinated with each other.”
“Well, Fen can’t stop talking about how sweet and responsible Loch is. Seth is a little freaked out by Saint’s attention but he low-key loves it. And San…San is like a hedgehog…”
Ollie snorted. “What?”
“I’m serious,” Deke cried. “If you come at him the right way, he’s soft, but if you get his defenses up, he’s going to stab you.”
“Binnie doesn’t seem like he knows how to approach him, but he sure does talk about him.”
“Really? Like what? What’s he say?” Deke asked, his knees bumping Ollie’s outer thighs.
“I shouldn’t gossip about my friends,” Ollie said.
“Oh, whatever. It’s just me. What’d he say? Spill it.”
It’s just me.Like he and Deke had known each other all their lives and not less than a day. Still, Ollie found himself indulging him. He changed his pitch, doing his best Binnie impersonation. “‘San is an artist. And he cooks. He’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Don’t laugh. I’m serious. He’s got this long blond hair that he’s always got pulled back in, like, one of those half-up, half-down style, and his bone structure, dude, his face is…you’ll just have to see it. His cheekbones, his lips, his jawline. He’s so gorgeous.’”
“Oh, my God,” Deke said, laughing softly.
“Oh, I’m not done,” Ollie said, getting into it. “‘I can’t believe he’s an alpha. Like, he definitely acts like an alpha. He smells like one, too. And he’s got this attitude. Like…it’s like he hates me but, sigh, I don’t know man. I just… I just…I think he’s the one,’” he ended, tone wistful.
Deke dissolved into giggles. “Wow. He’s a goner. If it makes any difference, I don’t think San hates him as much as he wants to. Truthfully, I don’t think he hates him at all. He never shuts up about how annoying he is.”
“And that means he likes him?”
“Uh, yeah. He will not stop bringing him up in conversation. Conversations that have nothing to do with him. No matter what we’re talking about at the co-op, San can find a way to drag Binnie’s name into it so he can talk about how he’s probably some typical alpha.”
“Oh, that’s…that’s good,” Ollie said.
Ollie finally dropped his hands, ignoring the sad little sound Deke made. The boy jumped from the bed and began to prowl around his room. “Where’s your stuff? Did you put it away already?”
Ollie pointed to his pack. “Nah, that’s all I need.”
“Damn, you travel light. Are you just going to buy more stuff as you need it?”
“I’m not staying.”
Deke froze. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m not going to be here long-term. I just came to help with the initial plan. Then I’m going home. I have…responsibilities.”
Deke’s face dropped. “Oh.”
Before Ollie could begin to defend himself, Loch appeared. “Group meeting in the kitchen.”
“Which one,” Deke quipped.
Loch laughed. “The big one.”
Deke snickered. “You’ll have to be more specific than that around here.”
Ollie rolled his eyes and pulled Deke from the bed by his wrist. “Be right there.”
Loch gave them an odd look then nodded and left.
“So, can I?” Deke asked.
Ollie frowned. “Can you what?”
“Can I sleep in there with you tonight?” Deke asked, tacking on, “You know, so I don’t, like, die of a brain bleed or something?”
“My first yes wasn’t enough?”
Deke shrugged. “You just didn’t seem enthusiastic about it. San says it’s important to get enthusiastic consent before going to bed with someone.”
“I don’t think that rule applies to someone checking your concussion status, but sure. You have my consent.”
“Your enthusiastic consent?” Deke teased.
Ollie rolled his eyes. “As enthusiastic as I get about anything.”
The house meeting turned out to be nothing of importance. It was mostly a well-here-we-all-are type of meet and greet that had started with San and Binnie fighting over who should cook what and ended up in a sexually charged stand-off over a charcuterie board. Ollie was starting to think Deke was right. The two of them fought as foreplay.
It became clear almost immediately that Ollie wasn’t going to just have to plan their strategy for this fool’s errand of a mission, he was going to have to plan everything. A chore list, grocery runs, work schedules, drop-offs, pick-ups, everything. He was now den mother to a bunch of horny alphas and a couple of far too tolerant omegas.
While everyone had a very unique skill set, none of them had considered any of the basics of eight people sharing a home. They’d been so determined to come up with a plan to take down Cerberus that things like meal prep, laundry, dirty dishes, and any of the other mundane things had completely slipped their mind. And while it seemed silly to worry about shit like that while trying to overthrow an evil dictator, the house would be in shambles in days if ignored.
Binnie had given them all a rundown of the security features of the house and Ollie could see why it had cost what it did. The system monitored all points of entry with motion detection and glass-break technology. All windows were made of bulletproof and shatter-proof glass. The house had smart home technology integrated with advanced cybersecurity and threat detection. All access points had biometric access controls. There was a secondary power supply that could run the entire house and a command center in the basement.
The exterior security measures were equally impressive, maybe more so. Ten-foot impossible-to-scale concrete fences, dozens of hidden security cameras scattered around the property, infrared perimeter detection, and even landscaping designed not only to keep from impeding the cameras but to make it impossible to hide in the foliage. Even the exterior gate with its fancy filigree wrought iron was designed to withstand maximum impact.
All that was wild, by anyone’s standards. But the feature that took this from security conscious to paranoid nutbag were the steel panels that rolled over the doors and windows at the touch of a button to essentially turn the house into an impenetrable fortress. Seth had panicked a bit, asking what would happen if there was a fire. That was when Binnie had explained there was a second secret panic room hidden behind the back wall of the theater and it had an underground tunnel that led to the street.
All of this led Ollie to wonder who the fuck Binnie’s grandmother had pissed off to warrant this kind of security. There were people leading fascist regimes in foreign countries who would kill for this level of safety. Ollie left the meeting, wheels turning, so caught up in the insurmountable amount of planning he needed to complete before he could leave that he completely forgot Deke had invited himself to sleep with him.
And Ollie had agreed. Which he only remembered when he noted Deke trailing behind him, keeping a constant running dialogue about anything under the sun. By the time they’d changed for bed and brushed their teeth, Ollie had listened to Deke chatter away for a good forty-five minutes.
Usually, this level of interaction would have overwhelmed Ollie by now. He wasn’t really a…people person. But he found Deke’s non-stop gabbing fascinating. And Deke didn’t seem to need any input from Ollie, which was perfect. It only grew awkward when they slid under the covers of the soft, fancy trampoline-like bed.
Well, awkward for Ollie, anyway. Deke just pulled up his phone and scrolled, seemingly content. When Ollie realized he wouldn’t be obligated to entertain Deke, he pulled out his laptop and began to plot all the necessary data points that would allow him to create the organizational references he needed.
He’d only been working for about an hour when Deke abandoned his phone to scoot closer to Ollie, pressing a cheek to his shoulder to look at his screen.
“So, is this what you do now?” Deke asked.
Ollie snorted. “My job is literally so boring I could put you to sleep just explaining it to you.”
“Oh, good. I’m sleepy. Go ahead,” Deke said, somehow managing to scoot even closer.
Ollie shook his head, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face. “Okay, you asked for it. I plan and manage the routes that trucks take to deliver goods, taking in things like distance, traffic, and delivery deadlines. I also manage supply chain processes, keeping track of inventory, coordinating with our warehouses, and liaising with drivers and customers.”
“Doesn’t sound boring,” Deke said, even though he did sound a bit more tired than he was a moment ago. “It sounds like a logic puzzle.”
Ollie opened his mouth to say something, glancing down to make eye contact, but startled when Deke turned out to be far closer to him than he’d anticipated. The younger boy was giving the beta an up close and personal look at exactly how attractive Deke was. Whatever Ollie had planned on saying died as his brain short-circuited.
“You have really pretty eyes.”
It took Ollie far too long to realize that he wasn’t the one who had just blurted that out. Deke had said it to him. He jerked his gaze back to his computer. “Me? Oh, uh…thanks.”
Deke snickered. “You don’t like compliments, huh?”
“I’m just not used to them,” he admitted.
“That’s not even remotely possible,” Deke said. “You’re one of the most attractive people I’ve ever seen.”
“You’ve never had a thought you didn’t just express, huh?” Ollie asked, dumbfounded.
“Should I have kept that to myself?” Deke asked, not sounding embarrassed so much as curious.
“No…I’m just not really good at taking compliments,” he confirmed.
Deke grinned. “I noticed.”
“Sorry,” Ollie mumbled, blushing.
What was wrong with him? Why was he all giddy over a kid barely old enough to drink telling him he thought he was pretty. An unpresented kid who was barely old enough to drink.
“Why are you sorry?” Deke asked, clearly amused that he had Ollie so flustered.
Ollie didn’t respond, just cleared his throat and turned his attention back to his screen. He thought maybe Deke would roll over and go to sleep until Ollie had to wake him up, but, instead, he continued to watch Ollie work.
“You should have San and Binnie cook. Together. Every night,” Deke said, chuckling darkly.
Ollie smiled, shaking his head. “You’re kind of a sadist, aren’t you?”
Deke seemed to actually contemplate it. “I mean, it’s not like I’d know, but I hope to be that interesting in bed.”
Ollie choked on his own spit. “Oh, my God.”
Deke shrugged. “What? It’s not like guys are standing in line to bang someone who’s unpresented at my age. It’s like they want to make sure that my secondary gender is in line with whether I’m a top or a bottom before they decide if I’m of interest to them or not.”
“I mean, you could be a beta like me.”
Deke nodded against Ollie’s shoulder. “Yeah, but even betas present as more omega leaning or alpha leaning,” Deke said conversationally before tacking on. “Which one are you?”
“Wow. You just come right out and ask, huh?”
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“I’m beta-o but that doesn’t really hold me back from just doing what I want,” Ollie said, unsure why he was giving into Deke’s invasive questions.
“What is it you want to do?” he asked, eyes glinting with interest.
“That’s my business, nosey,” Ollie said, tweaking Deke’s nose gently so he didn’t injure him further.
Deke sighed. “Boo.” Then he looked back at the schedule. “I’m serious. Put Binnie and San in the kitchen together. It’s good for them. They’ll have to put aside their differences and then they’ll fall in loooove,” he sang, dragging out the o.
Ollie scoffed, side-eyeing Deke. “Or they’ll kill each other.”
“It will be entertaining for us either way.” Deke pushed in closer until his head was in front of Ollie’s screen. “Also, don’t give Seth tasks that require a lot of concentration. He has ADHD and his meds burn off too quickly because of his metabolism. He’ll feel really bad if he can’t do things well and he’ll think we’re all mad at him.”
“Really?”
Deke nodded. “Yeah. You can probably give Fen any task, though. He’s annoyingly good at pretty much everything. But he hates doing laundry, and if you make him do laundry for eight people, he will probably cry and I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic kinda way. I mean it in a he-cries-a-lot kind of way.”
“And what about you?”
Deke shrugged. “My dad sort of beat the urge to cry out of me, but I’m really good at doing it on command now, which is great because I want to be an actor. So…there’s that. Though, let’s be real, the chances of me becoming a famous actor are like next to nothing, but I’m also really good at special effects makeup, so maybe I could use that as a backup career?—”
Ollie broke into his diatribe. “I meant for the chore board. Anything I need to know?”
Deke’s dark brows knitted together, his lips puckering as he contemplated Ollie’s question. “Nah, I should probably do more than most. I don’t have a job like Fen and Ollie and San.”
“Yeah, well, at the moment, Saint and Loch are also home full-time, so you three will likely have to take on the brunt of it.”
“Mm,” Deke said softly.
When Ollie glanced over, Deke blinked at him, heavy-lidded. “Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up in an hour.”
Deke nodded against his shoulder but made no move to leave his spot propped against Ollie’s arm. “S’okay.”
Ollie had no idea what Deke had meant to say, if anything, but he slipped off to sleep right there, cheek smashed up against Ollie’s shoulder. He shook his head for what felt like the hundredth time that night. “Night,” he said softly.
“Mm,” Deke mumbled in his sleep. “Night.”
It was right about the hour mark when Ollie called it quits for the night, closing his laptop and setting it on the bedside table before carefully shaking Deke until he blinked up at him blearily, creases from Ollie’s t-shirt on his cheek.
“Hi,” Ollie said.
Deke beamed at him, clearly still half-asleep. “Hi.”
“What’s your name?”
Deke frowned. “You forgot already.”
Ollie snorted. “It’s an assessment question…for your concussion?”
“Oh, Deacon.”
“What’s my name?” Ollie asked.
“Harry Styles,” Deke said, giving him a cheeky grin.
“Try again.”
“Ollie,” Deke said with a happy sigh.
“What’s the date?”
This time, it was Deke who snorted. “Ask me something I’d know if I didn’t have a concussion.”
“Fine. Who’s Harry Styles?” Ollie teased.
“A hot, talented, bisexual icon,” Deke said. “Did I pass?”
“Yeah, for now.”
“Okay, cool.”
“See you in an hour,” Ollie teased.
“Mm, sounds good.”
Ollie slid down until his head was on the pillow, one hand behind his head. Just as his eyes slid shut, he felt Deke’s cheek on his chest. He cracked open an eye just in time to watch Deke throw an arm over him, his palm flat against Ollie’s chest.
He stared at the top of his head, contemplating telling him to move. Ollie hated people touching him, especially while he slept. But as he laid there, staring down at the top of Deke’s head, he found himself not wanting to disturb him. There was something weirdly trance-like about Deke’s rhythmic breathing, the way it puffed out against the fabric of his shirt, the way Deke’s fingers twitched against Ollie’s chest while he dreamed.
He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he woke when his alarm buzzed, reminding him to assess Deke once more. This time, he gently nudged his shoulder, earning a beleaguered little sound.
“Are you awake?”
Deke glanced up at him, adorably sleep-rumpled, drool dried on his chin. “Deacon, Harry Styles, Ollie, hot bisexual icon,” he mumbled, then put his head back down, rubbing his face against Ollie’s chest like he was the pillow.
Ollie stared down at him for a few more minutes, then came to a decision, rolling onto his side and dragging Deke closer until he was tucked under his chin. Deke made a happy sound, his leg wiggling between Ollie’s, one hand sliding up under his t-shirt to rest against his back.
Just as Ollie was drifting back to sleep, he pressed his nose to Deke’s hair, absently acknowledging that the younger boy had the faintest trace of a scent. Bergamot and something else. He smiled, reminding himself to add provisions for heats and ruts. It seemed like they might have a newly presented baby alpha on their hands soon.