7. Claire
Just when I thought I had enough surprises for the day, Adrien proved that was not the case.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to think. This afternoon had shown me that he wasn’t the alpha I had misconstrued him as, but there was still something guarded about him.
I didn’t bother going home and changing, I barely registered anything as I got in my car to follow Adrien home. The alpha had been a bit worried and offered to drive, but I wanted to have my vehicle, a little unsure how this all was going to play out. I very much doubted I’d need an escape plan, but for the moment my car was my safety net.
Who would have thought the cute artistic alpha was married to the stoic one who I thought hated me?
I had so many questions.
Putting the car in park behind Adrien, I spotted Riley’s truck in the driveway. The house was two stories, colonial style with white brick and black painted shutters, vines scaling the sides of the building in various places. In one word, it was gorgeous.
They clearly took pride in their home. The landscaping was immaculate, even as the cold weather kept away flowers. It had me imagining just how gorgeous it would be in spring.
“It’s going to be okay, Claire,” Adrien said, concern still in his voice as he came to stand up next to me. “Come inside and let’s eat. You can ask whatever questions you have and what happens from there is totally up to you. We don’t want you to feel pressured or scared.”
My stomach chose to growl just then, making the alpha’s eyes darken. “What? I was a little busy today. I didn’t exactly get a chance to eat lunch.”
A curse flew from his lips, in what I assumed was French. “Come.”
He led me up the steps, opening the door and leading me deeper into the house where the distinct laughter of Riley and Vance were echoing off the walls.
We walked into a chef’s wet dream of a kitchen that rivaled what he had at the shop, the stainless steel appliances, including double wall ovens and gas range already in use as Riley and Vance worked side by side, seemingly enjoying their time together.
“Ah,” Vance said, his eyes brightening. “There they are! I’m so glad you decided to come Claire. Did everything get sorted with the pipes?”
“Claire?” Riley asked, the confusion in his eyes as he looked between Adrien and I, making it clear that he didn’t know that the two of them were married.
“Hello, you must be Riley. Vance and Claire speak very highly of you. I’m Adrien,” the alpha next to me said, offering his hand.
Riley narrowed his eyes at both of the alphas, ignoring Adrien’s outstretched hand and coming to stand at my side.
“I swear I didn’t know Claire Bear,” Riley said. “Say the word and we’re out of here.” His voice was uncharacteristically possessive and protective and had me reaching for his hand.
A bit of hysterical laughter spilled from my lips, the day finally catching up to me. Tears came to my eyes and I wiped them as I kept laughing, my protective best friend standing guard over me and ready to throw down if I needed it.
Hell, when I told him about that one interaction I’d had with Adrien, he’d made the decision to never step foot into his store in solidarity. Riley was fiercely loyal, and the display he was giving now, despite the fact that I knew he clearly had feelings for Vance, proved that hadn’t changed.
“It—It’s fine,” I said, pulling him in for a hug.
He wrapped his arms around me, turning me so that I wouldn’t have to look at the alphas.
“What did I miss?” Vance asked, sounding so fucking confused.
Well, at least I wasn’t the only one.
“Adrien is a good guy, Ri,” I told him. “No need to go feral beta bestie on him. He actually spent all afternoon helping me catch up with stock and prepping for the auction. Closed down his shop and everything.”
A small gasp left his lips as he pulled back to look at me, his brown eyes roaming over me before his fingers caught a strand of hair and held it out for me to view.
“I see,” he said slowly. “You decided to forgo the emerald wrap dress in lieu of flour. I can’t deny that this is one hell of a look too.”
“Goof,” I said, rolling my eyes and looking pointedly towards Adrien.
Riley didn’t even look contrite as he gave me one last squeeze before moving to place himself firmly in front of Adrien where Vance was waiting at his side.
“So you’re the husband?”
“I am,” Adrien said, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“I have two things to say to you and I need you to listen carefully,” Riley said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“As you wish,” Adrien said with a nod, not backing down.
“Number one,” Riley said. “Don’t you dare make Claire feel like she did something wrong when she clearly didn’t. Just because you probably alpha-ed out at how yummy she smells and how perfect she is, does not mean you get to ignore her and make her think that you didn’t like her. Not only did you hurt her feelings, but you also wasted a bunch of time when we could have already started to get to know one another.”
“Forgive me, that was never my intention,” Adrien said, his emerald eyes meeting mine before sliding back to Riley. “What is number two, mon feu?”
“Number two is that we graciously accept groveling in the form of hugs, copious amounts of sweets, and compliments,” Riley said with a smirk, clearly testing how the alpha was going to respond.
“Is that the reason you’ve never stepped foot into my shop? Out of loyalty?” Adrien questioned with a hum.
“Of course.” It was said with zero remorse or hesitation.
“Then allow me to make amends,” Adrien said with a twitch of his lips. “I can whip up a treat for after dinner should that please you.”
“And?” Riley prompted.
“You’re not going to make this easy are you?” Adrien said, holding his arms out.
They were almost the same height, Adrien only having an inch or so on Riley, but the alpha pulled him in with a fierceness I wasn’t expecting from his lithe frame and placed his lips near his ear, whispering something that had my best friend squirming where he stood.
He turned to me, a faint pink on his cheeks. “Get over here, Claire Bear. You too Vance.”
Knowing exactly what he wanted, I couldn’t deny that it was what I wanted too, and as I joined what ended up being a massive group hug, that was admittedly a tad silly, some of the last residual tension left my body.
Dual purrs sounded around me, the sounds filling me in a way I hadn’t experienced yet.
“Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s see where we are with dinner. It seems someone skipped lunch,” Adrien said, looking at me pointedly before extracting himself from us and moving towards the kitchen.
Riley gave me one last hug, checking in with me with our own means of silent communication, before moving to join Adrien.
“I hope you know just how monumental that was for him,” Vance said, sliding up to me.
I nodded slowly. “I get the impression he doesn’t make friends easily, much less anything else.”
“He’s the best person I know, Claire. I know you have questions and we’ll answer them, but it means a lot that you came tonight. Even if you decide dinner is all you want.”
Before they could all move back to the stove I stopped Adrien with a hand on his arm.
“I owe you an apology,” I admitted. My stomach was in knots at the mere thought of having this conversation, but if Adrien could put his guard down, so could I.
“An apology? Whatever for?” His eyebrows drew down in confusion and I had to take a breath before launching into my explanation.
“I judged you off of one interaction. It felt like you didn’t like me from that first moment we met and avoided me since. I should have made more of an effort to make you feel welcome.”
He stepped into my space, so close I should have been able to smell him. I longed to know what his scent was but now wasn’t the time to ask. Just his presence alone had me swallowing hard, my thighs clenching together. I’d never reacted like this to anyone outside of Riley before.
“It was not that I didn’t like you. In fact, I liked you too much,” he admitted in a husky voice. “Your scent is like heaven, and I wasn’t ready.”
“Oh.” My response was not the most eloquent but it was all I could manage. This alpha managed to surprise me yet again.
“And never apologize for how someone made you feel, mon chou.” With that, he took my hand and brushed a quick kiss over my knuckles, before hurrying to set the table.
I stood there for a moment processing what the hell happened today. The pipe bursting seemed so far away right now and I was, in a strange way, thankful for it. It gave me an opportunity to get to know Adrien from a different perspective.
In truth, I don’t know how I would have reacted had I walked into this house and saw him there.
“Claire Bear?” Riley’s voice was gentle as he came back over. “We can still go.”
“Nope,” I said quickly. “Absolutely not.”
“You’re not acting like yourself,” he argued. “If something’s wrong, you’d tell me, right?”
“I’m just a little overwhelmed. It’s been a long day. But I’m glad I came and I’m starving. What did you two whip up? Can I do anything to help?”
His grin was back at full force. “Italian tonight. And no, just come have a glass of wine and breathe.”
Following him into the kitchen we made our way over to where Vance was stirring a delicious smelling pot of sauce chocked full of fresh herbs, garlic, and tomatoes.
“I take it things smoothed out with the kitchen situation?” From Vance’s grin he knew all about mine and Adrien’s afternoon together.
“Yes,” I said with a smile. “Thanks for your help today. The plumber should be out tomorrow morning and Adrien was a godsend. He even made sure I had morning prep done and got ahead on a few of the auction items I hadn’t gotten to yet.”
“Oh, it was for a very selfish reason,” Adrien admitted as he swept into the room again, pouring us both a glass of wine and topping off the others. “I wasn’t ready to end our afternoon together.”
“Now your kitchen is a mess,” I said with a grimace. “Or cluttered at least.” He was going to bring over our stock in the morning so his counters were still covered in tomorrow’s confections. He gave a tight smile at the reminder.
“Once we get it shifted back to yours, it’ll be back to normal. Though it won’t smell as sweet tomorrow,” Adrien noted. Seeing him here at home, relaxed and flirting, was so crazy. He was an entirely different alpha, and I had a feeling this wasn’t a side many saw of him.
“I’m almost jealous. I’m not as smooth when I flirt with her,” Riley teased, giving me a wink.
“You don’t flirt with me,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. It was a knee-jerk reaction, one that came from too long thinking he wasn’t interested. Then his words from the other night replayed in my head and for a moment I couldn’t help but wonder if I was wrong.
Riley moved into my space, looking down at me with a smirk.
“Oh Claire Bear, you know I flirt with you,” he teased. The heat behind it had my brain short circuiting. “I’m a flirty person.”
“That you do. You’ve never been one for being the calm, collected beta,” I agreed. The man was basically smoldering at me and I took another quick sip of my wine.
“I’ve never admitted to being conventional.” The pride in his voice had a chuckle escaping.
“Apparently we’re not the only ones,” I said in teasing admiration. It slipped out before I realized what I was saying. He’d broken my brain and taken my filter, and for a split second I worried they would take it the wrong way. But both alphas laughed, pulling us apart and leading us to the table.
“If you get her more worked up, then dinner will never happen,” Vance teased playfully. “Your scents are intoxicating.”
“I wish I could say the same,” Riley deadpanned. “At the risk of being completely pushy. Can I ask why you smell like… nothing?”
“Blockers,” Adrien answered simply. Riley rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair until the alpha let out a nervous laugh. “We’ve used them so no one truly knew we were a bonded alpha pair. I love Vance and I’m not ashamed of what we have. But the world? It’s not always a kind place and our love is, as you said, unconventional.”
“It was self-preservation at first and kind of a habit now,” Vance agreed. “I’ve been off and on them for the past decade and found it was easier to be on them in most situations. You may accept it, but will Holiday Hollow?”
Riley and I looked at each other, both coming to a silent agreement.
“You wouldn’t be the first. Hell, we have two omegas in love here in the Hollow,” Riley said.
“This is a safe place, in all aspects of the word,” I agreed. “You don’t have to hide here.”
“That’ll be…something to get used to,” Adrien admitted. His hand rubbed absently at his goatee. I had a feeling it was a nervous tick. I’d noticed it this afternoon once or twice as well.
“It will. But there’s no rush, it’s on your terms,” I promised. “Remember when you said you wanted me to feel safe here? We want you to feel that as well.”
“Exactly,” Riley agreed before finally grabbing the serving spoon. “I’m starving, let’s eat.”
“There’s just one more thing we need to discuss, then,” Vance said with a grin as he loaded my plate, then his with pasta and a breadstick, all of which smelled amazing. I was starving.
“And what’s that?” I asked before I bit into a breadstick, groaning at the mix of spices and salty butter. Clearly Adrien wasn’t the only one who knew his way around a kitchen.
“You two.”