Chapter 15 #2
Flashes of Andi’s eyes, wide and terrified—almost to the point where I could tell she wasn’t seeing what was in front of her—flood my mind. She was haunted by a living nightmare.
I snag the blank notepad and a random pen and begin scrawling down jumbled streams of my consciousness.
They say the last thing you should do when you see someone drowning
Is help them
But how can I not
When I look at you
Even though I’m drowning too
I continue scrawling more jumbled thoughts onto the paper until I feel like I’m going to pull my hair out.
The door opens and Leo peeks his head in.
“Sorry to interrupt, man, just got some coffee for you.”
“Thanks,” I say, my head bobbing in a jerky nod as I reach for the guitar. “Just leave it on the table here.”
My fingers start plucking against the strings in some basic chords while I hum some of the melodies swimming around in my head from earlier.
By the time I finally pull myself away from the guitar, the cup of coffee is cold. But that doesn’t stop me from pounding it back.
Or from working until my eyelids are heavy and the tips of my fingers are a little sore from playing the guitar for so long.
When I emerge from the studio, I catch a reflection of myself in one of the mirrors in the break room across the hall. My hair is wild, and there are dark circles under my eyes. I look like I stayed up all fucking night.
I mean, I did, if the light filtering in through the windows is any indication.
Eli and Leo are sprawled out on the couches. There are a few empty paper cups left on the coffee table, the remnants of what must’ve been their attempts to stay awake.
Eli stirs, lifting his suit jacket from his face and blinking up at me with bleary eyes.
“Shit, sorry, I should’ve tried to be more quiet,” I whisper, wincing as I glance at Leo stirring from his couch.
“It’s cool,” Eli says, his eyes trailing up and down my body before his lips quirk up in a boyish grin. “Good session?”
“Great session. Well, maybe. There’s a chance everything I wrote is shit, but man, I wrote so much. I literally couldn’t stop,” I say, running my hands through my hair as I start pacing back and forth in the room.
Well, I guess now I can piece together how my hair got so fucked up.
“I’m sure it’s amazing,” Eli hums, swinging his legs over the side of the couch and sitting up. “It always is.”
“Yeah, that’s a whole lot of bullshit,” I say, letting out a soft chuckle.
Leo yawns as he sits up, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“Sorry for keeping you guys out here all night,” I say, massaging the crick in the back of my neck. I have a bad tendency of my posture turning into that of a shrimp when I play the guitar for too long.
“It’s cool,” Leo says, his smile warm and soft.
“You guys are awesome,” I say, letting out a relieved sigh. “I won’t do it again.”
“Do it whenever you need to,” Eli says, unfolding his massive form from the couch as he stands. “You’re an artist. Artists always have their own crazy processes.”
“I wouldn’t even call this crazy. It’s just working hard,” Leo adds. “Plus, you haven’t done something like this in a while. It reminds me of when we were in high school.”
“Yeah, I’d fall asleep in class ‘cause I would barely sleep over the weekends,” I say, flopping down onto the couch Eli just vacated, his blood orange scent wrapping around me like a comforting blanket.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I know I’m screwed when my heart beats faster the moment I see who texted me.
Andi
Just wanted to share with someone that I got a therapist
Thought it’d be okay if I shared it with you
My fingers fly over the screen, buzzing with excitement.
Beck
you can share anything with me
I’m proud of you, btw
Therapy’s a big step
The text bubble pops up and disappears over and over. I wait with bated breath for her response.
Andi
Thank you
Have you thought about taking those omega classes the OCN offers?
Beck
I’d prefer if you could teach me
“Hey, Everett’s coming,” Eli says, casting a shadow in front of my face as he blocks the sunlight streaming in through the windows. “Just wanted to let you know.”
“Now? Wait, why?” That excitement from seeing Andi’s text is turning into anxiety fast.
“We mentioned you were headed to the studio last night. He texted this morning to ask if we were still here,” Eli says, his intense gaze seeing right through my flimsy attempts at hiding my anxiety.
“Take a breath. It’s okay. I’m sure what you worked on last night is great, but he’s not going to drop you even if it’s the worst thing you’ve ever written. ”
“Okay,” I nod, forcing myself to take a deep breath. “Okay. You’re right.”
“I’ll go get us some coffee and breakfast,” Eli says with a yawn. “Be right back.”
My attention is drawn away from his broad retreating back by my phone buzzing in my hand again.
Andi
Okay
I don’t think I’ll make a good teacher, but I’ll help
There’s no way I can contain my excitement. Or properly express how I’m feeling with words. So I settle on sending her a GIF with a happy dancing cat.
“You like her, huh?” Leo asks.
My gaze jerks up from my phone screen. He’s watching me intently. Too intently for me to be comfortable. What is it with my friends and staring into my soul? They seriously need to give me some privacy. I sure as hell don’t get a lot of it when my scent betrays nearly every emotion I have.
“No!” I bite out, but even I can tell how false it sounds coming from my mouth.
Leo just raises his brow expectantly.
“Fine,” I wince. “But how can I not?”
Leo sighs, leaning back into the plush cushions of the couch he’s sitting on.
“You’re right about that.”
His words are so sincere that they shock me.
“Do you like her too?”
Leo flashes me a grin.
“How can I not?” he says, throwing my own words right back at me.
The two of us stare at each other, marinating in our joint confessions before I burst out laughing. He’s quick to join me. I’d like to blame it on the sleep deprivation, but I sure as hell know there’s more to this situation than that.
When I finally catch my breath, I scrub a hand down my face.
“So much for that contract,” I huff, flopping back onto the couch.
That giddy feeling of finally putting to words the feelings that have been brewing inside my head ever since she first collapsed into my arms, instantly starts twisting into something darker.
How in the world will a relationship with two omegas work? Especially since I still need an alpha because no one’s developed a completely effective suppressant for male omegas. Plus, female omegas shouldn’t be on suppressants forever. It’s not good for their hormones.
Even if she adds Leo into the mix, that won’t completely fix our dilemma, considering he’s a beta.
“You know, I’m pretty neutral about my designation most of the time,” Leo hums, seeming to follow my unspoken train of thought. “Now isn’t one of those times.”
“Ditto. Well, except I’m definitely not neutral about my designation,” I huff, propping myself up on an elbow.
“It’s stupid,” Leo says with a shake of his head. “We’re all tied up in knots, and we don’t even know how she feels about us.”
My mouth opens and closes. I want to protest, but deep down, I know he’s right.