34. Meadow
Chapter 34
Meadow
September, Richmond
“ H endrix said you don’t like Ellie?” Gary asked, cornering me on the bus while my pack was occupied.
“Um, I just wanted to have a look at the other applications, see if there was someone else I might be more comfortable with.”
Gary narrowed his eyes. “That’s fucking inconsiderate of you. Ellie put aside her whole life to be here to help you. How many medical professionals do you think are available to drop everything at a moment’s notice to go on tour to babysit you because you insist on being here, instead of at home, where you could get regular care?”
“I…I guess not many.” I bit my lip to keep it from wobbling.
“Exactly. You’re already making everything more difficult for everyone. Don’t be pulling the diva act because you want your doula to be your best friend. Be realistic, and maybe try being grateful we’ve all been this accommodating so far.” He stared me down. “Do you still want to see the other applications, or are you going to be a reasonable adult?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“Good.” He left me alone, and I booked it straight to the nest, so I didn’t start crying in the middle of the bus.
I heard Ellie come in to make me lunch, but I didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, I dialed Clover immediately, pouring it all out to her while I was curled around one of my numerous pillows.
“I always thought I was easygoing, but I swear, Clo, Gary and Ellie are testing my self-restraint,” I grumbled.
Ellie called up that my salad would be ready soon.
A salad. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t opposed to the occasional salad. Salads could be amazing when they contained proteins and veggies and croutons and all of the amazing things, like dressing.
Ellie’s salads were bland and tasted like the produce was still coated in dirt from the ground. There were no toppings, no dressing, and no joy . The baby didn’t want me to eat leaves. The baby wanted carbs. And meat. And deep-fried treats.
“Order a burger!” Clover said. She was standing in our dorm room, rummaging through a pile of laundry. “Hell, I’ll order it for you.”
“I tried that before! She took it away, saying there were too many processed fats in it!” I growled.
Clover put down the shirt she was folding to look at me incredulously through the screen. “And your guys let her do that?”
“They were at sound check and press interviews, just like they are today.” I sighed, rolling onto my side in an attempt to get comfortable. The nugget didn’t make that very easy. “I hate this! It feels like my body isn’t my own. Nothing fits me anymore, and I have doula Barbie on my bus, making me eat like a rabbit.” Tears welled in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away.
“Do you want me to fly out?”
“You’ve got tons to do for school. I know you’ve got papers due soon, and I don’t want to be a distraction.”
“You’re never a distraction!” she insisted loudly. “Did you hear back from the school about taking a hiatus?”
“I only emailed them last night.”
“They could’ve been extra fast. Either way, they’re super accommodating to omegas starting families, so I can’t imagine there’ll be an issue.”
As if on cue, a reply email came through. I read it to Clover. I was struggling to keep up with my workload on the road, and they’d given me an immediate one-year hiatus, no questions asked, with the option to extend until the baby was a year old, if I felt I needed more time.
“See!” Clover laughed. “You’re golden.”
“Seems that way,” I agreed.
“I can’t wait for a break, too. I want to come see you more than anything.”
“At least we’ll see each other over your Thanksgiving break. That’s not too far away. Give it a few weeks, at least until there’s a small gap in classes. I’ll put up with Ellie. Maybe I’ll sneak out and get some fries.”
“Fries are delicious. Do you remember that place we found our first night out freshman year? I’m so sad they closed down!”
I groaned. “My mouth just filled with saliva at the memory of that place. Maybe we need to open a French fry shop?”
“That sounds glorious. We’ll abandon ship on our degrees and become French fry magnates! Though we would probably eat all the stock and go belly-up within a month.”
“Drat.” I sighed. “Another amazing plan foiled.”
“That’s a bummer.”
Clover laughed, folding a pair of jeans as I heard the door of the tour bus opening.
“I think my guys are back!” I said, sitting up. “They’re early.”
“That’s awesome! Go spend time with your hunky rock star boys. Just make sure to remind them that if they have any rich, good-looking friends to slide me their numbers. I could do with some good sex and a vacation.”
I snorted. “Just make sure you use birth control, or you’ll end up the size of a house with stretch marks in places you didn’t know stretch marks could go! Byyye!”
“Later, Meads!”
“Princess! Are you up there?” came Arlo’s voice.
“Yep,” I called back, preparing to crawl out of the nest. My body felt heavy with exhaustion, and movement was slow at the best of times. It didn’t help that I was constantly adding to the nest, so the moment I lay down, I sank so deeply into the multiple layers of squishy glory that it nearly swallowed me whole.
The nest jostled as Arlo launched himself into the space next to me, rolling until he was on his side, beaming at me. He had a brown paper bag in his hand. “I got you a present!” he declared, his voice laced with excitement as he held out the bag to me.
“What is it?” I asked, sitting up—which took considerable effort.
With Arlo, a present had the potential to be anything from a sex toy to something cute and adorable; it was hard to tell with him. “Well, open it and see!”
In the brown bag was a small, crochet…
“Is this a bell pepper?” I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion, despite the smile on my face.
“It is!” He nodded happily. “Do you love it? It’s made by hand.”
“Wait, did you actually make this?” I asked incredulously, turning over the adorable bell pepper with stitched-on eyes and a smile in my hands.
Arlo snorted. “Unfortunately, no. It seems my magical hands are only good for playing the guitar and making my omega come.” He sighed dramatically. I laughed at his confidence, resisting the temptation to ask him to prove that last part.
I would be a willing test subject, of course.
Slowly, I looked over the gift, trying to understand it. “Okay…you’re going to have to explain your logic, because while the crocheted pepper is very cute, I feel like there’s some context missing.”
“Our little nugget is the size of a bell pepper right now, so I hired someone to make one!”
I took a sharp breath, looking down at the bell pepper, my heart stuttering. Now that he’d explained it, the gift was so thoughtful I had to resist the urge to cry.
“I love it,” I whispered, leaning down to kiss him. “I can’t believe Nugget is that big!”
“I know! I thought they would be bigger, given the size of your bump, but that’s all the other stuff that it takes to grow a baby, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “It is.”
“They’re going to be so little when they’re born!”
I grimaced. “They probably won’t feel little to me as they’re evicted from my body.”
“We’ll be there every step of the way, holding your hand. I’m not sure how much use I’ll be, but I’ll be your bitch the entire time. You want ice chips? I’ll be an excellent ice chip procurer!”
“I’ll be sure to put you to work.”
“Are you hogging our omega?” Phin asked, poking his head into the nest.
“If you’d run here like me, then you could’ve hogged her with me.”
“Dude, you’re like a fucking gazelle. I can’t keep up with you.”
“I’ll trade off with you,” Arlo said. “I have a mission I need to complete.”
“Mission?” I asked.
“You’ll find out soon, princess. Be patient.”
Phin climbed into the nest as Arlo vacated, nuzzling my cheek with a quiet purr.
“Are you all by yourself?” I asked. “Where are Hendrix and Beckett?”
“They got stolen for some press thing. Arlo and I were too fast.”
“You guys are ridiculous.”
“That just makes life interesting.” Phin tugged me to lie back down, curling around me, his purr ramping up until I was drowsy.
“I’d just finally worked up enough energy to think about getting up. You’re undoing all of that.”
“My omega needs rest.” He somehow managed to snuggle even closer, his vanilla and black tea scent a sweet cloud around me.
The ache in my hips eased, and I rooted around, pressing my nose to his throat to get a more direct hit. “You smell way too good.”
The quick praise only made his scent stronger, making me giggle.
“How are you feeling for tonight’s show?” Phin asked.
“I had a nap earlier, so I should be okay to stay awake through it. If I need to, I can always go back to the green room.”
Phin trailed his fingertips over my cheek, drawing me in for a sweet, lazy kiss that woke the embers of my desire slowly until my scent was a floral fog around us. Every single one of them had this effect on me. It didn’t matter if I was exhausted or stressed; all I needed was a few minutes of their indulgence and my instincts flared to life, urging me to take everything my alphas could offer.
“I don’t suppose I could interest you in a quickie before I have to head to sound check?”
“Do you really think I’m going to say no to that?”
Phin shrugged, an easy smile on his face. “I don’t have any expectations, sweets. I’ve only had you once. Maybe I did a shitty job of it and you don’t want me again.”
“There’s no universe in which I wouldn’t want you again,” I promised.
“Let’s make this time just for you. I want to watch your beautiful face while I make you come.”
Heat rolled through me. “What an offer.”
His fingers traced down my body, goose bumps following his touch, and I opened my legs to him the moment he got close. He slipped his hand into my panties at the same instant he reclaimed my mouth. I had only just started to get wet, but the second he stroked my clit, I felt the rush of slick. Phin groaned against my lips and carefully eased his fingers into me. He pulled back to watch my expression, finding the exact spot that made me see stars and proceeding to destroy me with it. He collected both of my hands overhead and held them there, never ceasing in those pounding beats against my G-spot.
“Ph-Phin. Fuck. P-please, I’m gonna—” I broke off with a cry, my body convulsing and liquid gushing between my thighs. I rode the wave of ecstasy, pleasure ricocheting through every cell, my body moving in an undulous wave as he kept me pinned.
By the time the sensations eased and he pulled away, I was torn between laughing and panting. “Holy shit, Phin.”
He grinned down at me. “Good thing those sheets are waterproof.”
I twitched as he slid free, teasing my clit on the way out. “I don’t think I can walk now.”
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing you’re already tucked into the nest.”
The door to the bus opened, and we both froze, relaxing again when we heard Hendrix. “Why does it smell like a Meadow sex bomb went off?”
“Just taking care of our omega while you were busy,” Phin called back.
Part of me wanted to be embarrassed, but most of me was too fucking satisfied to care. Hendrix made his way up the stairs, taking in me sprawled out in the nest with my soaked pajama shorts and Phin stretched out next to me with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
“How am I not supposed to take advantage of this immaculate display?” Hendrix asked.
“I wasn’t asking you not to,” I replied.
His eyes gleamed. “Let me grab what I’m wearing tonight before I eat you out like you deserve.”
Oh god. I was already turned on to high heaven, and he was not helping. Hendrix returned a moment later, wearing a Hard Knot Life T-shirt.
“Aren’t you gonna get that dirty?”
“Beautiful, I need to huff you like paint to get through my night. Since I can’t have you out on stage, and a scent mark wasn’t enough, I intend to get absolutely filthy with you.”
A shiver of desire washed over me. Hendrix quickly removed my pajama shorts, not seeming to mind one bit that Phin was there, watching him. I nearly leapt out of my skin when his hot mouth descended on me, tongue voraciously flicking my clit between lapping sweeps. I locked one hand in the fabric of Phin’s shirt and the other in Hendrix’s hair.
Phin captured my mouth, drinking down every desperate sound I made while Hendrix did his absolute best to ruin me. I was already keyed up from Phin’s attention, so it took Hendrix no time at all to push me over the edge again. Hendrix wasn’t satisfied, sucking hard on my clit and spreading my thighs wide, as Phin continued to consume all of my whines.
“Do you want my knot, dream girl?”
I nodded frantically. Hendrix slid all the way up, dragging his shirt against my wet pussy before kissing me until my toes curled. Hendrix made quick work of his pants and eased his cock into me. Even being as wet as I was, alphas were still a lot. Phin laced his fingers with mine, holding my trembling hand as Hendrix moved carefully until the glide was smooth and easy. The second it was, he poured all of his energy into fucking me.
Phin claimed my mouth once more, his touch snaking down my body to tend to my clit. Pleasure cascaded over me. I lost track of how many times I tipped over the edge until Hendrix’s knot finally swelled, setting me off one more time as the pressure had my brain short-circuiting.
When I eventually regained the ability to focus, I stared at Phin, his hazel eyes bright with want. “Someday very soon, when we have more time, I’m going to take you every way a person can be taken.”
The only response I could formulate was grabbing the collar of his shirt and dragging him closer for a kiss that would have melted my panties off if they hadn’t already been on the floor.
“You could try out one of those ways right now,” Hendrix said. “If Meadow’s into it, of course. I can roll over, and our perfect omega can sit in my lap, stuck on my knot.”
Phin adjusted my hair, brushing the sweaty strands off my forehead. “What do you think about that, sweets?”
“I think you deserve a little treat after making me come so hard.”
Hendrix rolled us over, situating me comfortably in his lap while Phin stripped and presented his glorious pierced cock to me. My pussy clenched on Hendrix’s knot, prompting a low moan from him. Phin seemed in no hurry as I ran my thumb over each of the piercings before replacing my hand with my mouth. The metal was smooth on my tongue, and the ragged sound Phin made had my omega instincts preening.
Playing with him felt luxurious, like there was no rush in the world. I took my time tasting every bit of him, loving the feel of the piercings. I toyed with him until we were both out of breath, running my hands down the firm muscles of his thighs, every so often diverting my touch to Hendrix, so he didn’t feel forgotten. His grip on my hips gave me a clue as to how much he was enjoying the show.
I looked up at Phin, taking in the tight pinch of his brows while I sucked on the tip. “Do you want to fuck me a little harder?”
“Sweets, that’s a dangerous question.”
“Show me how much you want me, Phin. I’m not that delicate. I promise, omega throats are sturdy.”
Giving him permission unleashed him. He cupped the back of my head and fucked in deep. My eyes watered, but I quickly adapted, moaning around him as he took his pleasure. Hendrix’s hands shifted, his thumbs stroking my clit while Phin fucked my face. Between the two of them, there was nothing to do but surrender, and I had played with Phin long enough that it didn’t take him much time to give in. Hot cum shot down my throat, setting me off again, my pussy squeezing the life out of Hendrix’s knot.
The three of us lay together, breathless, Hendrix sliding free when his knot went down enough. I carefully scent marked Hendrix’s shirt everywhere my slick hadn’t touched.
Phin’s phone went off. “That’s our alarm to go in. I set it about ten minutes before Gary likes to barge in.”
As much as I wanted to keep all of them in the nest, I knew I couldn’t do that.
Before we had even finished getting dressed, the tour bus door opened again. “Princess, mission successful!”
I poked my head out of the nest, looking down to the main level of the bus, where Arlo and Beckett stood, a massive bag in each of their hands.
“I was wondering where you were,” I said to Beckett.
“Arlo recruited me before I got back to the bus.”
“What do you guys have?”
“Clover picked out a fuck-ton of maternity wear for you and ordered me to the store to pick it up, so you could have it right away,” Arlo explained. “Once you try all of it on, we’ll wash what you want to keep, and then you should be good to go for a while.”
Tears pricked my eyes. Clover knew exactly what I needed, and my pack was happy to help her get it to me. “You guys are amazing.”
Arlo opened his arms, and I tossed myself into them. “Of course we are. We have to be worthy of the best omega in the world, after all.”