Chapter 4 #2
Bellamy downs half his water and tucks the bottle between him and the arm of the couch.
“Good managers are the best. Ours is too. And Q. He’s technically not our manager, but he acts like it often enough.
I suppose it’s good to have him this time, though, so our regular manager can focus on helping Belemorph. ”
I wince, having read about them online. A few weeks ago, their bonded Omega was killed. Something many packs don’t survive.
“Right?” His eyes slip to Skye where she’s dancing with her other mates. “I’m only a Beta and I doubt I’d survive losing her. Being an Alpha and going through that?”
His head shakes, and I grunt out a noise of agreement. Just the thought makes my skin crawl.
“Our packmate, Emmett?” He points to the posh-goth redhead across the room. “He’s the only original member of Shattered Horizons left. Their first lead singer had that happen. Lost his bonded mate. Dude was on stage when it happened. Barely survived.”
He must be talking about Orion. I heard whispers of his story through the label after he moved back to the East Coast, but I didn’t feel right bringing it up.
Some wounds are better left buried; a fact I am painfully aware of.
Tinkling laughter distracts me before I can respond, drawing my attention to where Skye drags her Alphas toward us.
The bright grin on her face and the light sheen of sweat on her skin stir my cock back to life.
She’s always been beautiful, but when she’s happy it’s like lying beneath a night sky streaked with the glow of the northern lights. Unimaginably breathtaking.
Sterling’s hands meet her hips, and he lifts her off the ground. His honey-colored eyes meet mine as he deposits her onto Bellamy’s lap. She’s so close I can feel the heat of her skin and smell the sweet moonflower in her scent.
Does he think I’m going to leap at her? That I lack control of my inner beast and will lose myself to the instincts screaming inside me?
I’ve managed nearly a decade without giving in to them; I certainly won’t do anything reckless now.
“We’ll grab drinks. Need anything?” Onyx’s deep voice rumbles loudly.
“I’m good. You?”
It takes a long minute to sink in that Bellamy is talking to me. Quickly shaking my head, I try to sink further into the couch, wishing I could become one with the cushions and disappear.
This is so fucking awkward.
Why can’t I react normally around their pack?
They head to the bar, leaving Skye to shift on Bellamy’s lap. “Sorry,” she mouths to him. His lips shift down, his jaw tight. His expression makes her head duck, and that uncomfortable feeling in my chest grows.
He sighs and shifts her so she’s wedged between us. Everywhere she brushes against my side sings with delight, like tiny bolts of lightning are arcing across my skin and bringing my body back to life.
Part of me knows I should move away, to escape before she realizes how much I enjoy this completely innocent and accidental touch, but I can’t force myself to so much as scoot a half inch away.
It’s been so long since I’ve held her. If this is all I’ll ever get, I’m going to soak in every second of it.
“Oh, gosh, Caleb, your voice. I didn’t know your pitch could go so low.
The way you growled at the beginning of your set–your range is incredible,” she gushes, leaning against Bellamy’s arm and facing me.
“It’s so different from when we were in Hollow Anchors together.
In a good way. Your new style of singing suits you more than the indie style from back then. ”
“I practiced a lot. Took the time to find what works for me. You’ve grown a lot since then. Musically.”
Her glittering jade-green eyes narrow. “I’ll have you know I’ve grown half an inch in the past eight years.”
Snorting, I fall into the ease of our old friendship without thought. “In ego, maybe.”
The tenderness painted across her face makes my pulse race. I want to tell her not to look at me like that because my heart can’t take it, but emotion clogs my throat, stopping the words from sliding across my tongue.
“Your drink, bubbles.” Onyx reappears and presses a bottle of water into her hands. “Sly ordered another round of food, if you want to try eating something.”
Bubbles? Temporarily, mortification fills me as I’m thrown back to the Halloween she convinced me and our friend Celeste to dress up as the Powerpuff Girls, but the feeling quickly shifts to amusement when images of her falling into someone’s koi pond flash through my mind.
She swings to me with wide eyes and an open mouth, immediately kicking my thigh when my lips curl in. “Don’t you dare, Caleb Xavier.”
“Aw, you don’t want your mates to hear about-” She kicks me again, a playful growl rattling in her chest. “Alright, no sharing embarrassing childhood memories.”
I catch her foot, stopping her from bruising my leg, my thumbs digging into the arch of her foot, right where the muscle always hurts when she wears heels for a long time. She melts, a groan slipping from her lips as I move in a small circle.
Plates clatter as Sterling and Onyx rejoin us. They stare, focused on where I’m touching their mate. Their Omega.
Shit.
As gently as I can, I push her foot away and lace my hands behind my head, showing them I won’t touch her again.
“Damn, dandelion, he turned you into Omega putty,” Bellamy snickers, handing her a tray of fries.
The awkward moment passes, but the sense of ease between us doesn’t return. There’s a wall there now, one I put into place the moment I realized I was overstepping her pack’s boundaries.
I listen as she shares stories of their lives together, silently drowning in raspberry gin. It’s nearly three in the morning when Joey and Matt throw their arms around my shoulders and carry me to our car.
“You are going to hate yourself in the morning,” they warn, sliding my drunk ass across the seat.
Why’s that matter when I already hate myself right now?