Chapter 23
Asher
The house is quiet while Greta prepares meals, since my brothers, including Enzo, are all at the office.
He's getting better at not clinging to Ophelia, and she takes it in stride, but it does make me nervous about how the three of us will act when we finally get to bond with her—assuming she lets us.
Things are heading in that direction and the fact that she not only forgave Theo but actually slept with him is a good sign.
Again, I'm happy for him, though jealous as fuck. The timing hasn't been right with her, and I want our first time to be alone. I want to share her, too, but I want the first time I strip Ophelia down and make love to her, for it to be just us.
Ophelia struts into the living room dressed in a black vest and white shirt. "Can I get a ride somewhere?" she asks politely.
Sully and I have talked about getting her a car, but selfishly, like that she has to rely on us to get around. Though we're the ones who forced her to move so far from downtown, we're not ready to let her out of our sight.
It'll have to change eventually.
"Why are you…" I point to her outfit.
"I've got a gig—just a lunch party at some office downtown. So? Can I get a ride? Or can I borrow a car?"
"Do you have your license?" I ask skeptically.
She scoffs, "Of course I do! Ha Ha, what a crazy—okay, no, I don't. But I know how to drive, I take Red's truck all the time."
My eyes narrow, but she ignores me. Well, at least that's another excuse not to get her a car yet. "I can give you a ride, but… Ophelia, you know you don't need to work, right?"
Her jaw tightens, "Of course, I need to work. I need money. I'm not going to just freeload off your pack—"
"You are a part of this pack now. You accepted that when you bonded Enzo. Look, Sully already set up an account in your name, and whatever you need, you can expense the pack account."
Sully was going to give her a debit and credit card, but every time money comes up, she changes the subject and leaves the room. I didn't expect to be having this conversation with her today, but here we are.
"No."
"No?"
"That's what I said. Now, can you give me a ride, or am I walking?"
With a heavy sigh, I hold my hand out, gesturing to the front door, and follow her toward the garage. We drive into town, but it's a comfortable ride. She rolls the windows down, and when we pass the infamous covered bridge, she surprises me with a wistful smile.
"Every year, it gets harder to remember her laugh. Alma had this belly laugh that bubbled up out of her. It was so ridiculous; we were tiny little girls, small even for omegas, and Alma was naturally demure. She dreamed of being an OFA graduate, but she could never change her laugh. Red used to tease her relentlessly for it. She'd get embarrassed and try to change it when she giggled, failing miserably every time, which only made her snort and made us laugh harder. That's why I was at the bridge that night. I just wanted to hear her laugh. I know it's silly—"
"No, it's not silly at all. Thank you for telling me. I was worried that night." Worried is the understatement of the fucking century, but we need to get passed that.
"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I’ve gone out there before, just to be alone, to think about them. In the summer, I jump off the bridge and swim.”
Knowing she goes through that pain makes me want to strip it all away. I don’t know loss like that, I don’t know what to say or how to help, but I reach out and squeeze her hand, reminding her she’s not alone. Her contented sigh as she clutches mine back sets everything right inside of me.
“I honestly didn't even mean to run away from you. Maybe I would have, I don't know,” she shakes her head, holding me tighter. “You know how I feel about…"
The sentiment hangs in the air. Yes, I know how she feels about our pack. The way we come across in the papers, her assumption that all packs associated with the OFA are like the Olcenes. We're not at all, but it doesn't mean there aren't more packs like them.
"You were right to be cautious after what Olcene did to Alma. I'm glad you're allowing us to prove you wrong now. I can't blame you for staying away, even if it was the hardest year of my life."
She's quiet for a minute, the wind lifting her hair in soft waves. She's been letting her natural scent down around us more lately, especially since she bonded with Enzo. In public, she smells like a bonded omega, and unbonded alphas who randomly pass her on the street will leave her alone. But she's used to covering up. Bonded or not, as I've come to learn, omegas have trouble in the workforce, so she wears scent-block when working.
I don't blame her for it, even if I wish I could smell that beautiful lavender and earthy sage.
"I'm sorry, Asher."
"There's nothing to be sorry for."
"I can't say I regret my initial reaction because there's no way I'd have been ready for… you know, all of this. But I'm sorry it took me so long to make my way back to you. I sensed kindness in you that first night on the bridge. And last month, when we met again. You've never been anything but sweet and supportive of my choices, which is the opposite I'd been led to believe about high-society alphas. I'm really sorry I didn't give you a chance."
"Thank you, little one."
She smiles wide, and we make our way into town, pulling over in front of a building a few doors down from Constantine Industries. She tells me it's a short gig, just a couple of hours.
I don't realize until she’s hopping out of the car that we own a portion of the company she's working for today. We own a lot of companies indirectly, and we're rarely involved in day-to-day operations with any of them.
I feel sick that she's working a catering gig for a company we indirectly own, but I need to get over it. I take a page out of Theo's book, applying his theory that eventually she’ll give in to having a heat, but letting her come to the decision on her own. I can only hope that's what happens when she finally quits her jobs, when she realizes we're stable and she can rely on us, not just financially but emotionally as well.
Since she's only a few doors down from my office, I head into work, stopping by Sully's office first.
"I thought you were with Ophelia today?" He asks, pointing out our unofficial agreement that someone is always with her.
I hook my thumb toward the building next door, "She had a catering gig."
He grunts, "She really needs to quit her fucking jobs."
"I tried. Don't bring it up for a while. She'll come around when she's ready. Meanwhile, she's serving lunch to a bunch of execs at Blockaide."
"Blockaide? Don't we own—"
"Yep."
"Well, that's fucking awkward," he huffs, leaning back in his chair. "Our own omega, working a lunch gig in an ugly ass catering outfit for a company her alphas own."
"Don't remind me. She also informed me on the way here that she has another gig next Saturday, another OFA event. She only accepted because her friend Melanie asked her to cover. Apparently, Melanie is having an easier time working less since she's now living rent-free."
"So, she indirectly is working more because I made it easier for her to say yes."
"Pretty much." I laugh, rapping my knuckles on the door. Before leaving for my office, I ask, "How's that going, anyway? The apartment renovations?"
"Good, actually." Sully runs his hands through his short hair, sighing tiredly. He's the only one of the four of us that hasn't been interacting with his omega and it's weighing on him, clear as day.
"Ophelia still makes pointed comments, but she's pleased to be involved. Actually…" His eyes light up, and he sits a little straighter.
"What?"
"I just realized how to get her to stop working."
My eyebrows lift, but he doesn't fill in the blanks. His lips curl in a smile for the first time in weeks, so I laugh and leave him to it.
When I pass Enzo's office, he spots me, his expression immediately morphing into irritation. I ignore it and take a seat behind my desk, unsurprised when my heavy glass door whips open a moment later.
"Where is she? You're supposed to be watching her."
"She's not a puppy, Enzo."
He frowns deeper. "I realize that, but she shouldn't be alone. She's not safe—"
"She is safe. She's been safe for twenty-six years." He doesn't relax, but I see the war behind his eyes. Trying to give her space. Trying not to let his alpha have control.
I don't tell him she's working right next door because he'll likely head over there, which would make her all kinds of pissed off. "Relax. She's fine. She's great. Go back to work."
It takes a moment, but finally, he nods. "I don't know how to loosen the noose."
"Is that what the bond is like?" I hedge.
He pauses, shaking his head no. "Not the bond. My alpha. The bond is… it's soothing. It's the only thing keeping me from losing it around her; it reminds me she's safe. And it's easier to tell when she's annoyed with me because I'm being too possessive. But truly, without it… her scent, the feel of her, her smiles, her fucking life force… it's too precious. My fear of losing her is the noose. It tightens when she's not around."
He looks at the ground. "It's like my entire existence before now was just accumulating, and it's all bursting out of me. I've never felt so out of control." He glances up, offering the rarest of things: his smile. "I fucking love it. I love her."
Then he heads back to his office to work. And it's the funniest thing… When he said he loved her, I felt no grudge or insecurity at his bond. Because I realized at that moment, I was falling in love with her, too.