Chapter 3
Clover
Oh my god. Oh. My. God. I took that cute-as-hell fancy man for a ride.
Go me! Satisfaction simmered in my core.
It had been way too long since I’d gotten to enjoy some spontaneous play that actually resulted in both of us getting off.
Usually springing sex on someone like that got them too excited to actually finish me, but not this cutie.
I ended up missing my scheduled Pilates class, but they snuck me into a later one—for an additional fee, of course. My hips did not enjoy the dual workout. I was practically a puddle of sweat by the time I finished, my pride the only thing keeping me from crawling to the locker room.
I texted Meadow while I chilled on one of the benches, waiting for my legs to be able to bear my weight again.
Clover:
Guess who just got laid
Meadow:
!!!
How? Where? With who?
Clover:
I don’t know why HOW is a question in there
You know exactly how it all works :P
Where? The back of his Mercedes.
With who? That’s a very good question I can’t answer, because I don’t know what his name is
Meadow:
CLOVER
Clover:
MEADOW
Meadow:
What do you MEAN you don’t know what his name is???
Clover:
I was being spontaneous
I blew a tire and he stopped to make sure I was OK
He even called roadside assistance for me and waited with me until they got there
What else was I supposed to do to fill the time?
Meadow:
Talk??? Literally anything else
Clover:
Listeeeen, my kitty was purring over all that chivalry and he smelled delicious
Meadow:
You’re so lucky he wasn’t a creep
You could’ve ended up as a news report
Clover:
But I didn’t
Be on my way in a few minutes so you can gaze at me disapprovingly in person
Love yoooou
Give my sapling some kisses and tell him Auntie will be there soon
Meadow:
Kisses delivered
Love you too
I tried my luck at standing, blessedly finding that while my muscles still shook, I wasn’t in danger of collapsing to the floor.
I resorted to catching a rideshare home, already mourning the temporary loss of my car.
I had never enjoyed relying on anyone else to get me where I needed to go, so I would probably just hoof it until my baby was returned.
That was okay. Forest could have some stroller time while I jogged around the neighborhood.
I hadn’t spent much time exploring the enormous gated community Meadow and her pack had moved me into, so this would be a good opportunity.
Maybe fate would be extra nice to me and I would pass a house with an omegaless pack who believed in love at first sight.
A laugh bubbled up as I slipped out of the rideshare down the street from where I actually lived. The community was safe, but I still didn’t want strangers to know where I lived.
The walk home gave me time to muse. I had delayed starting law school to move down here with Meadow.
Her pack loved her, so I didn’t worry about her on that front, but I hated the idea of our friendship changing because she was in LA and I was up in Seattle.
A year’s break to help her settle into this new life and spend time with my baby nephew had felt like the right choice.
It still did.
Life was just different now.
The more time I spent enjoying my life, the less I wanted to return to school. I knew from people already enrolled that law school was soul-crushing exhaustion at the best of times, and this taste of freedom before joining their ranks was too tempting for comfort.
Much as I might’ve had a reputation for partying and being a wild child, I had never fucked around with my grades.
My 4.0 GPA was a point of pride, but discipline had its limits, and that was why I’d partied so hard.
You could only hold yourself on a short leash for so long before you had to give a bit of slack.
Meadow wasn’t great at that part, so it was a good thing she had me, or she’d have never met her pack and had the cutest baby boy in history.
She deserved all the happiness in the world.
I wasn’t unhappy, but it did get lonely now that Meadow was no longer glued to my hip.
“Why do you look so sad?” Hendrix—the alpha who had gotten my bestie knocked up—looked up from the passionfruit vine he was tending. His therapist had recommended gardening to help him relax, and he had taken to it like a duck to water.
“Nothing important,” I replied. “Mostly feeling sorry for myself.”
“Do you want to stab some dirt?” He offered me a spade from the stash of tools at his feet.
“Sure, why not? I’m already a sweaty goblin—why not be a dirty one too?”
Hendrix laughed and passed over the spade. “I hear you had an adventure today.”
“Is that Meadow’s polite way of describing me railing my roadside savior?”
“Pretty much.”
“The adventure was fun, but it was a one-time thing.” I shoved the spade into the dirt, carving out a space to plant one of the California poppies Hendrix had ordered.
“I thought that about Meadow too.”
“Don’t even go there. You guys were a special case, and you only got together because I wasn’t letting my bestie raise a rock star’s baby all by herself. No one is going to go full stalker mode to find my roadside cutie for me.”
“I could if you want me to.” Hendrix beamed, passing me one of the seedlings. “A private investigator isn’t that expensive.”
“I’ll survive, but thanks for the offer. It kind of takes away the spontaneity if I hunt him down afterward.”
“True, but it would probably be more flattering to get tracked down because you were an incredible lay rather than because you knocked someone up. Grateful either way,” he added hastily, “but one of those things allows for a lot more continued spontaneity than the other.”
I stared at the cheerful orange bloom as I loaded dirt around it. Getting myself a pack didn’t really fit with the whole freedom year I had going on, even though I had my moments of ungodly levels of jealousy that Meadow had a house full of gorgeous men who adored the shit out of her.
I was the fun one.
Men were happy to play with me to our mutual benefit, but Meadow was the type you brought home to meet the parents, not me.
It didn’t help that I’d had such a good childhood that I had somehow developed reverse daddy issues and refused to accept half-assed bullshit from men.
That usually resulted in them calling me a spoiled brat.
But honestly, what the fuck was the point in being with someone if you didn’t want to give them everything?
I wasn’t out here demanding diamonds, just a little fucking consideration.
Remember my favorite foods and flowers.
Don’t give me something I’m allergic to.
Show up on time for dates or at least message if that’s not possible.
You’d think I was asking these men to perform brain surgery with the way they reacted sometimes.
“I don’t need anyone,” I insisted to Hendrix. “I’m still not even sure if I’m staying in LA after the year is up, so it wouldn’t be very smart to get involved with someone and make that decision even more difficult.”
“Harvard and Yale don’t deserve you.” Hendrix passed me another poppy, and I dutifully dug a space for it. “UCLA, on the other hand…”
“You’re just saying that because then I wouldn’t have to move.”
“Maybe so, but Meadow loves you, and I want her to be happy. You could kick ass in the legal world from right here.”
“You guys wouldn’t be glad to have me out of your hair?”
Hendrix shrugged, giving me a sympathetic look.
“My hair has grown accustomed to having a little Clover in it. We would survive if you went, but I think we’d all be happier if you stayed.
I’m not saying that because of Meadow. I, for one, like having you around.
Forest deserves to have the coolest auntie in SoCal. ”
I laughed and whacked his arm with the flat of the spade. “I only get coolest in SoCal? Not even the whole state? Criminal. I’m moving to the East Coast for that slight.”
His expression fell for a second.
“I’m kidding. There are a lot of people down here, so I guess I’ll accept being the coolest auntie of the bunch, even if I do think I deserve to be the coolest in all of California, if not the whole country.”
“I’ll put in an order for a wall plaque to make the title official.”
“And on that note, I need to go take a shower. I have been sweaty for entirely too long.”
“That’s cool. Abandon me and the poppies.” He laughed when I stuck my tongue out at him and waved on my way back around to the guesthouse.
I closed the curtains and stripped down on my way to the bathroom. The hot water was heaven sliding over my skin. I scrubbed down quickly, letting my mind wander while the shampoo suds went down the drain.
It definitely didn’t wander to the cutie who had gotten me off earlier. Not his sweet brown eyes and floppy curls the same shade as milk chocolate, or the strength in his hands where he’d gripped my hips, or the ego-boosting sounds he’d made when I sank onto him.
Nope. My brain wouldn’t torture me by thinking of someone impossible to have.
I also wasn’t thinking about him when I leaned against the cool tile, flicked the showerhead to the jet setting, and tucked it between my thighs. The memory of his fresh salt air scent teased me along with the water on my clit. A shiver rolled through me and my head thunked against the tile.
In my mind, he was in here with me. I traced my fingers over my skin in the way I’d want him to, knowing how every inch of my body liked to be touched.
It was unfair as fuck I didn’t have his hot lips against my throat or his hands squeezing my ass cheeks. The warm water pulsed, pulling me closer to the edge. Nothing truly compared to a lover, but an orgasm was an orgasm, even if some were better than others.
My kitty hated being empty when I came, but sometimes we didn’t get everything we wanted. I held the stream steady, ready and willing to come as many times as I needed to get it out of my system. The water made every muscle tense, pleasure blossoming through my core.
On the third go around, I whimpered.
I had no name to call out as I tumbled down from the peak. I settled for a needy whine, a summoning cry for an alpha that would lead to nothing.
I sank to the shower floor, trying to catch my breath.
Shit.
Maybe I should’ve gotten his name after all.