Evans
“Dude, why are you standing so close to me?” Hunter teases as he nudges me with his shoulder. The warmth of his skin against mine makes me startle as he stands at the stove, frying some bacon and eggs in a pan to make sandwiches.
I hadn’t even realised that I was standing so close to him, I had just sort of naturally drifted towards him while we were chatting as he prepared breakfast…well, more like lunch now.
Taking a step back, I almost trip over my own feet and my alpha bristles.
It enjoys the closeness. The scent of spiced oranges is more potent today and I have the strangest urge to lean into it.
It turns out that Hunter Ashbourne was a big fat liar.
He could in fact cook and had even had culinary lessons.
His mother told me yesterday he made her the most incredible Italian meal for her birthday this year.
So, the lying artist was just clearly pulling another prank feeding us beans and rice for the last two years. It didn’t surprise me.
“I’m not complaining, it's just hot bacon grease and skin don’t go together.” Hunter chuckles, amused as I right myself and sit on a stool at the counter. “I would have grabbed you some protein shakes, if I’d known you were coming.”
He’s laid out two plates, with sliced bread ready for the filling. There’s no butter on mine, just like I like it.
“You’re not wearing a shirt either.” I watch as he moves his hips to the music he has playing on the system.
“Ahhhh my friend, but I never wear a shirt. I’ve only been making an effort because of that housemate survey. Besides, your skin‘s delicate.”
We both glance down at my hard-earned six pack, my tanned skin peppered with small scars and marks from the years playing football and doing stupid shit. Were we seeing the same thing?
He dishes out the crispy bacon generously layering them on the bread before finishing with an egg. Adding the top of the sandwich, he cuts it in half before pushing the plate towards me.
“So what’s your plan today?” I ask curiously between bites of my sandwich.
What I’m really dying to ask is what have you got planned for your date?
Where are you taking Percy?
Are you going to bring him back here?
Will you be fucking him upstairs while I lay on the couch?
Should I stay away?
But then where would I go?
Maybe I shouldn’t have followed Hunter here.
I just didn’t know where else to turn. Sadie was there, in my bed. In my house.
I’m spiralling, my thoughts going round and round and round in my head like a broken carousel limping along while the manic music plays in the background. I’m half expecting a creepy clown to jump out from somewhere and scream in my face about what a disappointment I am.
Fuck.
The food tastes like ash in my mouth and my pheromones hitch higher.
Hunter looks thoughtful as he leans back against the counter while he eats, like he hasn’t got a care in the world.
How can he be so chilled all the time? The top of his shoulders and the tip of his nose are slightly pink after our day in the sun yesterday.
“I don’t have a plan. I thought I might try and get some painting done this afternoon. I know my dad is taking the twins out for a hike if you wanted to join them. Or Ivii and Percy were talking about bowling since my parents have a private lane in the basement of their cabin.”
“Bro, a cabin does not have a bowling lane in the basement. Which means, it’s not a fucking cabin.” Rolling my eyes, I watch as he smirks. Why does he look so hot like this? All relaxed and with his ink on full display.
“Look Mr. Real Estate, don’t be a property snob.” He nods towards my half finished sandwich. “Eat your breakfast. That was made with love.”
My cheeks heat. There it was again. That love word.
In my pocket my phone vibrates with texts from Bell. Yesterday I called them and chatted for a while. I don’t know why. Hunter said he was taking Percy on a date and suddenly I just needed a friend. An unbiased friend.
I hadn’t even mentioned who Percy was, just said that Ivii’s friend had joined us.
I mean, I’d also told Bell about the omega Hunter brought home and I could hear them through the wall fucking.
The fact that I’d watched was something I’d kept to myself.
The fact they were one and the same, I also kept to myself.
If I told Bell who the omega really was, they’d think the same thing I do—Percy was someone special.
Bell: U sort out ur relationship yet?
Evans: U ready to tell me why ur so stressed these days yet?
Bell: ??
Bell: We’re not talking about me
Chuckling, I slide it back into my phone, ignoring Hunter’s curious gaze on me.
I know he’s wondering who I’m messaging.
Good, the petty part of me wants him to keep guessing.
Since we’d come to the cabin a few days ago I’d been screening most of my calls, not ready to deal with the aftermath of my great escape.
It wasn’t just Sadie I’d been avoiding. I’d also been ignoring my father.
When his name popped up on my screen, I let it ring out. Eventually it was followed by a text.
Father: Disappointed Benedict.
There’s nothing else after that. Maybe disappointment should have been my middle name instead of Evan. Benedict Disappointment Crawford, it has a certain ring to it.
Blake and Zale had been teasing me relentlessly about escaping marriage by climbing into the trunk of Hunter’s car. They didn’t understand that Hunter was more than just a means to escape.
I don’t know when our friendship had developed the way it had.
No, that’s a lie, the Alpha Voice in the back of my head hisses quietly. It changed when you submitted for him. It changed in Crest Haven when you let him dominate the situation and when you let him treat you like an omega.
Since then the tapestry of my life–of my being–was coming undone.
One thread had been plucked and suddenly it was all unraveling.
And Hunter had gone from being my friend, to my best friend, to my safe space.
Now even that was stretching out, as I wanted to touch him.
Bury my face against his neck and scent him.
Fucking safe space what did that even mean?
Biting the inside of my cheek, I listen to Hunter waffle about different kinds of paints and how colours were historically made. His face is so animated when he cares about something.
This is why he was my safe space. I didn’t have to pretend to be something else or someone else when I was around him.
Whether we were talking about paint or painful moments, like when my mother called or when my friend with benefits pushed too far, he was there.
And he didn’t try to fix it. He just sat with me. Made me feel less alone and more seen.
Yesterday, when he said he was taking Percy out on a date, it felt like that space was being threatened. Like it might vanish or belong to someone else. I didn’t want that to happen.
It was mine.
He was mine.
Wasn’t he?
Both of our phones go off, which means it’s either the housemate chat or the family chat. I’d been added in by Diane, or should I say ‘mom’ just to piss Hunter off, who said I was now an honorary member. She said the same to Percy, but I was ignoring that.
Hunter’s family dynamic was different to anything I’d experienced before. It was a little similar to Blake’s, but Blake’s family didn’t come from money, they weren’t part of our world. Hunter’s parents grew up wealthy, they moved in the same circles as mine and Zale’s.
How did they have all this warmth and love?
The Ashbourne’s actually seemed to like one another.
And Hunter…Hunter was covered in tattoos and piercings, he studied art, was constantly stoned, cycled through bed partners like an old rolodex and had no plans to join his father’s law empire.
Yet, they clearly didn’t see him as a disappointment.
Was it because this family came from Fated Mates?
Did it really make that much of a difference?
“Dad’s leaving for that hike soon, are you sure you want to hang out with the tiny terrors?” he asks as he pours us both a glass of orange juice, his fingers brushing against mine as he pushes my glass towards me.
“Yeah man, they’re not that bad.” Chuckling, I think back to dinner last night when they’d called Hunter a stinky head for refusing to draw them a picture of a dragon eating Ivii on the napkin.
Which led to Ivii chasing them around until she managed to scoop them both up, tickling them until they were crying while Percy, Hunter and I watched.
Their parents had turned around to wash the dishes, shouting ‘plausible deniability!” every time one of the twins screamed for help.
“They have a lot of energy.”
He shrugs, “Seven year olds usually do.”
“Do your parents know what their secondary genders are yet?”
Alphas and omegas usually manifested around puberty, but there was no hard and fast rule.
Some emerged later, some sooner. There was testing that could be done if the parents wanted to find out sooner, but like any genetic testing there was always a risk that the results weren’t accurate.
My parents had tested me, relieved that their child was an alpha.
With their heir secure, it meant their marriage could start falling apart at the seams.
“Nope, my parents don’t care about that sort of thing.” He downs the rest of his juice before putting the dishes in the sink, swiping up my now empty plate too.
“But you and Ivii are alphas. Don’t they want the twins to be alphas too?” Wasn’t that what most parents wanted? I know when we’d talked about Zale and Shiloh’s baby, he said that wasn’t the case. But if you already had a family of alphas…
“Not really. I’m pretty sure happy, healthy children are the only requirements.” Hunter turns the coffee machine on. How could he drink coffee with the taste of oranges still in his mouth? “Are you alright? You’re looking a little constipated over there.”