2. Chapter One
Chapter One
Cade
I readjust my beanie before swinging my backpack onto my shoulders and tugging my suitcase behind me. I’ve got my ID ready, my ticket printed and in my coat pocket, and everything ready for this vacation.
It’s still hard to believe I’ve somehow won this trip!
I quite literally never win stuff. Every time I’ve bought a scratch ticket, it’s like I’m tossing two dollars into the trash. Every raffle I enter leads to nothing. I’m not sure if I’ve just got the world’s worst luck, or if something else is going on like the universe storing up all my luck so they can deliver it all at once.
Maybe all those losses were building up to give me one grand prize instead of a bunch of little things.
Five days on a train to a vacation destination, five days at the destination, and then five days on a train back. This prize includes a personal sleeper room on the train along with all my accommodations once I get to my destination.
I felt bad leaving the grocery store for that long, but they’ll get on without me, I’m sure of it. Suzie is more than capable of handling everything while I’m gone.
Maybe. Hopefully. She’s probably fine.
As the customer service manager, it’s my job to make people’s schedules and oversee all of our cashiers. I made sure everyone knew I would be gone. I made sure all the schedules were put out in plenty of time. There’s enough staff to cover in case anyone is sick or calls out. They’ll be fine .
The best thing I can do is simply not think about it. If I don’t think about it, then it can’t affect me and ruin my vacation. That’s how things work, right?
Walking up to the ticket inspector, I pull mine out along with my ID. He scans the barcode, makes sure my ID matches the name on the ticket.
“You wanna head towards the back of the train. Our First Class Attendant will help you find your room and make sure you have everything you need, including your room key. His name is Matthew.”
“Thank you so much!”
I carefully pull my rolling bag up off the ground by its handle before stepping aboard the train. Because of my ticket, I’ve gotten priority boarding so there aren’t many people on the train yet. I nod at some of the staff who’re all wearing dark green vests and matching hats.
Despite this being a train, everything feels so spacious and fancy. There’s even a second story at the front of the train called the observation deck where people can just sit and watch the environment outside pass by. I have a feeling I’ll be sitting up there at least a little bit during this trip. I want to see and experience everything this vacation has to offer.
Normally, I’d want to get my money’s worth but this vacation is paid for by someone else! For once I can just sit back and fully enjoy myself without the constant nagging in the back of my head telling me to make this all worth it. For once I’m allowed to just relax.
I find the part of the train that holds the personal cabins, looking around in awe. I’ve never been on a train like this before. It feels incredibly fancy. Probably far too fancy for someone like me, but hell, I’m not going to let that stop me from having the best time possible!
“If you’ll let me see your ticket, I can show you which cabin is yours,” one of the workers says. I have a feeling this must be Matthew.
I hold out my ticket and he gives me a wide smile. “Perfect. You’re right over there,” he says, pointing at a door with the number 3 on it. “Your partner is already here and has the key to your cabin.”
I start to walk away but freeze. Turning back, I ask, “Sorry. Partner?”
Matthew looks startled for a moment. “Yes. I’m sorry if I misspoke. You’re sharing a personal cabin with someone so I just assumed. Allow me to rephrase, the person you’ll be riding with is already here.”
“I’m not riding with anyone. This is a single ticket.”
“I’m sorry, but the cabin you’ve bought is shared with another gentleman.”
My stomach feels like it drops out of my ass. I stare at the guy for a long moment before nodding. “Okay,” I say slowly, doing my best to keep myself calm.
Was this some sort of prank? Telling me I’d won a vacation only to have someone else be the actual winner. Or worse, is this some sort of social experiment. The two of us are stuck together while a camera watches our every reaction.
Leaning in close, I whisper, “Is this some sort of prank? Are there cameras hidden or something?”
Matthew leans away, a startled look on his face. “Absolutely not. We would never allow something like that here.”
“Okay,” I breathe out, feeling just a little bit lighter. “Okay, that’s really good to know. I’m sorry, I’m just really confused. I actually won this vacation, but they never mentioned having to share with someone else.”
“That’s rather unfortunate. I’m sorry, but based on both tickets, you will need to share with him. If it helps, he seemed very lovely when I met him just now?” Matthew says with a wince. “Or I could see if there are any other available seats?”
“No, no. Don’t trouble yourself. I’m sure we can make this work.”
I step away from Matthew towards the door that’s mine. Well, ours , I guess? I take a few seconds just to catch my breath. There’s a delightful scent in the air and I’m not sure where it’s coming from, only that I really like it. Something like a library filled with well loved books. It takes the edge off and I feel my body relaxing.
I knock on the door and a moment later, a man opens it. That wonderful scent smacks me right in the chest. He’s taller than me, lithe and thin, with shaggy brown hair, pretty brown eyes, and a look of surprise across his face. His scent doesn’t only smell amazing, but there’s something about it that tells me he’s some sort of shifter and if I had to guess, I’d say he’s also an omega, just like me.
“Hi,” I say, putting on my best smile. “This is actually kinda awkward but I’m also staying in this cabin.” I hold up my ticket in explanation.
He stares at me for a long moment, like he can’t believe what he’s seeing. My ego puffs up just a little bit. When he realizes he’s staring, his cheeks turn bright red. Then he blinks. “Sorry, what?”
I can’t help but chuckle. I’m not sure my ego really needs this kind of stroking, but I’ll take it, especially as the man before me is hot as fuck. It feels good to have someone so openly checking me out like that.
“I said, we’re supposedly sharing this cabin.”
“Sharing? What, that can’t be right,” he says, more of a murmur to himself than in actual response to me. He turns around and grabs his own ticket, rechecking all the details. “My ticket says I’m staying in this cabin.”
“So does mine,” I explain. “This is going to sound kinda weird but I actually won this vacation.”
Before I can say more, the guy’s brown eyes somehow manage to widen even further. “No way! I won this trip too! Did you win it from a YouTuber contest?”
I nod my head. “Yeah. Wait, so did you? Do you think they double booked us?”
The guy bites his bottom lip, suddenly looking incredibly lost. Something inside of me wells up, some instinct to hold this guy in my arms. To make sure he’s okay and protect him from the world.
What the hell?
I clear my throat, doing my best to push those feelings to the back of my mind. We’ve only just met, I can’t be acting weird around him! Especially if we’re going to be traveling together.
“I know this is kinda awkward and not at all what either of us was expecting, but we can make this work, right? We have our own bathroom and shower.” I look over his shoulder into the cabin. “And it looks like we’ll each have our own sleeping space. It should be fine, yeah?”
The guy looks over his own shoulder before sighing and nodding his head. “Yeah, we can make this work.” Then he takes a step back, finally letting me into the cabin.
“I’m Cade, by the way.”
“Spencer,” he says with a little smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Spencer. Though, I’d have much rather it had been in a more pleasant fashion than me springing my presence on you like this.”
Spencer shakes his head, chuckling softly. “It’s okay,” he says softly. “It’s not really your fault.”
I set my bags on the floor next to my area. There’s a recliner right by the window that folds back into a bed. I sit down and look over at Spencer. He’s sitting in his own chair, wringing his hands in his lap.
“This is such a weird experience,” I say, trying to break the tension and help Spencer relax around me. “I have to admit, I never win things like this.”
Spencer’s eyes light up a little bit and my chest flutters with victory. “Neither do I! I actually didn’t even notice the email until later. I thought maybe they’d already given it away to someone else.” Then he winces, waving a hand at me. “Maybe they did but then I finally emailed and they thought why not give it to me too? I don’t know.”
“I can’t say I’m upset,” I tell him with a wink, watching as his face flushes again. Vacations are fun, but vacationing with other people is even more fun.”
“If you say so. I don’t vacation very often and when I do, I try to make sure it lines up during the summer months.”
I tilt my head. “Why is that?”
“Oh, umm, I work at a school.”
“Are you a teacher?”
Spencer shakes his head, his hair falling over his eyes. He pushes it back and my hand clenches in my lap with the desire to be the one to brush his hair out of his face, to softly tuck it behind his ear. What the hell has gotten into me? It’s like his scent is making me stupid!
“I’m their personal chef. Or lunch lad, whatever you wanna call it. It’s a private school so I’m only cooking for around 60 people instead of a thousand.”
“You’re a chef? That’s incredible. You’re never gonna believe this but I actually really enjoy eating,” I say with a chuckle, rubbing a hand over my fairly thick belly.
Spencer laughs back. “Most people do.”
I hadn’t even realized that much time passed but before I realize what’s happening, the train is starting to pull forward. Spencer and I both look out the window, watching the trees and buildings pass by, both of us grinning from ear to ear.
I still can’t believe this free vacation included a plus one but there’s something about Spencer that makes me excited about the rest of our time together.