18. Bailey-Rose
Wrapped up in Yun-Sun’s arms, I felt protected.
Not that I didn’t feel safe with Warrick—he’s the only reason I hadn’t let Randall’s words send me into a spiral.
Yet there was something about this stoic Alpha that grounded me.
It was as if he took my underlying anxiety and calmed it, allowing me to breathe easier.
Maybe my connection with his scent to happy moments of my youth brought that on, but all I know is I didn’t ever want him to leave me.
Once we were in the house, another hand brushed down my back soothingly. “Hey, Rosie, Vili’s made his famous hot chocolate for you.”
That had me perking up enough to lift my head and see the cutest mug overflowing with multi-colored marshmallows. Yun-Sun kissed my cheek, warning that he was going to put me down. He didn’t let go of me, though. The weight of his hands on my shoulders let me know he wasn’t far.
Vili beamed at me as he offered up the beverage. “This, my kitten, is famous family recipe. My mormor taught me how to make it and no one else,” he leaned in and whispered. “I was her favorite grandchild.”
You couldn’t help but smile around Vili.
He was filled with joy and all the good things life had to offer.
Even though I was feeling out of sorts after today’s events, I returned his smile easily as I took the mug from the tray.
There were so many marshmallows in the way, I was forced to eat some of them first, a hardship I was willing to suffer.
“Come on, baby girl, let’s get you settled on the couch where you can manage that sugar rush more easily,” Gareth suggested, holding out a hand to me.
Shifting my hold on the giant mug, I got a solid grip on it before threading my fingers with Gareth’s.
He guided me down the step into the living room and over to the nest of sorts I’d made the other day.
It seemed I was already leaving my mark on this house.
As if I was as light as a feather, he grabbed my hips, lifted me, and plopped me down in the middle of the blankets before removing my sandals.
Using my tongue, I collected a few more marshmallows to munch on as the guys settled in a semicircle around me.
Gareth on my right, Vili on my left, Lysse dead center, and the other two filling in the gaps on either side.
I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation as it meant I had to tell them what happened.
The last thing I wanted to do right now was to relive the moment.
It didn’t matter that I had them now—rejection and betrayal weren’t something you brushed off because you found something better.
“War, why don’t you tell us what you know and give Rosie time to actually taste the hot chocolate before talking,” Lysse directed.
Warrick nodded and leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees.
“I had to run into the stockroom to get a few things for the drink we were going to make. Care Bear here decided to call it Clouds and Daydreams, but we hadn’t built it yet to make sure it was the right combination.
I was only gone for a max five minutes, but when I returned, she wasn’t at the bar where I’d left her.
Instead, some fucknugget had his hand on her, yelling at my Omega in the middle of my goddamn bar.
That man is lucky he walked out of there alive the way I saw red. ”
Hearing the rage in Warrick’s tone made me feel guilty and embarrassed.
Randall had not only caused a scene in The Fat Mule, he repeatedly shared his opinion on how beneath him he felt the place was.
Not once had I defended Warrick’s hard work or argued that Randall was wrong in his thinking.
I’d just crumbled under Randall’s hold and thought only about myself.
“Pretty lady,” Vili whispered as he cupped my jaw and urged me to look at him. “Why are there tears?”
I hadn’t even realized I was crying until he used his thumb to wipe it away.
“There is no need for tears. You are safe now with family,” Vili explained. “Warrick’s anger is not for you, my sweet kitten. Do not take it to heart. He is upset for you and at himself for letting this man close. Nothing is your fault.”
Hands took the mug from me, but I was trapped by Vili’s caramel-colored gaze, looking more serious than I’d ever seen.
His sweet, comforting scent hand me nuzzling against his arm, picking up the slight honey of the graham cracker and smooth milk chocolate brought together with a perfectly golden marshmallow, gooey and perfect inside.
Vili was my kindred spirit in that regard.
Like me, he preferred to see the good in the world around us.
“Randall…” I started but stopped, unsure how to even begin to share what I was feeling. “He said such terrible things, untrue things. Warrick’s bar isn’t a shithole or seedy, but I didn’t correct him.”
Licking my lips, I fisted the blanket someone had put on my lap, using it to bleed off some of my anger. “He can say what he likes about me, most if it is true, anyway, but Randall should never have spoken about Warrick’s accomplishments like that. It’s just wrong.”
“Oh, my kind, gentle kitten, Warrick isn’t like this because of that,” Vili murmured, sadness filling his expression.
“No, he wanted to break Randall’s wrist for daring to touch what is most important to him, to all of us.
Business comes and goes, things happen, you move on, rebuild.
Yet, when it comes to people we care about, that is a different story.
Like taunting a lion through the bars, not knowing the door to the cage is open.
Only the lion’s willpower and control keep it from killing the fool with the stick. ”
The guys shifted, and Warrick was now sitting next to Vili so he could look me in the eye.
“He’s right. I don’t give one flying fuck what that man thinks of my bar.
Hell, he can write a terrible review, slander me on social media, or whatever else makes him feel like the big deal he believes himself to be.
I told you in my office that you are what’s important to me, no matter what. ”
Tears were now streaming down my face. How could I be such an idiot to think Warrick would be upset with me over such a small matter?
The more time I spent around these men, it caused me to realize how tainted the view I had of myself was.
With a gentle tug, Vili urged me to curl up on his lap as he hugged me tightly.
As self-realization took hold and the pain of that knowledge hit me, Vili held me together.
He swayed side to side, singing something softly in a language I didn’t know but was beautiful.
With slow, deep breaths, I let his scent become my soul focus as it brought me back to a memory as a child…
“There’s my Bean,” Papa Addy exclaimed as he scooped me up in his arms. “What’s the matter? Has Crew been teasing you again?”
I shook my head, sniffling as I looked into his eyes that matched one of mine. “Why do I have two colored eyes, Papa? No one else does, and they tell me I look funny. One boy said his mother told him it was a mark that I was a bad person, and that’s what made my heart weak too.”
Papa carried me over to the fire we had going out in front of our beach house and took a seat.
We went there every summer for two weeks just to be a family.
It was Papa Addy’s favorite place to go and mine too.
There were other families with young kids who came every summer, and we would play on the beach together.
“Bean, I want you to listen carefully to me, okay?” Papa said in his serious tone.
Nodding, I crossed my heart to prove I meant it.
“This world is full of people of all different colors, shapes, sizes, and ages. If you looked closely enough, you’d find something odd about every single person who’s ever been born. ”
I gasped. “Everyone?”
“Yup, everyone, Bean,” he assured me. “Some of these differences might be obvious while others aren’t, but they’re there, trust me. Now do you want to know what I think about the people the universe blessed with being a little odd?”
Eagerly I nodded my head. “Mm-hmm.”
“Well, this is only my opinion, but so far, I haven’t been proved wrong, so keep that in mind.
People like you, who seem a little different on the outside or face health challenges, are some of the best humans I know.
Life for them isn’t always easy, but nothing will hold you back if you learn to love what’s different about you.
I mean, if really, truly, down to the core of your being you embrace what makes you stand out, then what anyone else thinks won’t ever matter,” Papa explained.
“Now I won’t say it’s easy, but that is the journey you must take if you want to be the best version of you that you can be.
Sometimes on this journey, you might get lost, lose your way, and believe something that isn’t true about yourself. ”
My eyes grew wide with fear. “I don’t like getting lost. It’s scary when I don’t know where I am.”
“No one likes getting lost, but sometimes we don’t even know we’re lost. So the moment you figure out that you let someone tell you that being odd is wrong or bad and believe it, is the instant you come to find me, Daddy Rawr, your mother, or your brothers,” Papa said, tapping my nose with a finger, making me giggle. “Do you know why you need to find us?”
“Because you love me just the way I am,” I answered, repeating the phrase all my parents said as they tucked me in at night.