Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
VIOLET
J asper leans his head against my knee, humming along to the song Rylan’s picking on the acoustic guitar. I don’t recognize it, but it’s beautiful. Dominic leans against one of the large stacks of equipment scattered around the room despite Rylan glaring at him twice already.
Dominic’s amusement weaves through my chest, and it takes all my control to not give away his humor at irritating the other Alpha. He leans over and runs a hand along my shoulders, tracing the shell of my ear, and I breathe slowly to keep from shivering.
It’s not fucking fair, and he knows it.
At least I’m wearing scent blockers despite Rylan trying for five minutes to convince me they wouldn’t be needed in the empty space.
His amusement grows stronger. I purse my lips and comb through Jasper’s short hair, trying to ignore Dominic behind me. Not that it really works. Nothing has really worked since Saturday evening. But I guess that’s just part of the bonding experience. My stomach tightens at the thought of experiencing it with Rylan and Jasper, too. Since settling into the feeling of Dominic inside my chest—what a fucking wild thought that is—I’ve been dying to talk about it with Rylan and Jasper, too.
Not that we’ve had a chance to have more than five minutes together in the last several days, though. Rylan’s been slammed with recording responsibilities pushed off due to my heat. By the time he’s made it home the last few nights, I’ve already been asleep in Jasper or Dominic’s bed. I really haven’t even seen him since signing the paperwork Thursday.
Thus the four of us sitting in the studio together on a Tuesday afternoon.
You create time where you can. And listening to Rylan play is one of those small pleasures I’ll appreciate even when we’re old and gray.
Jasper’s phone rings, and he digs it out of his pocket, keeping his head on my thigh. He taps on a message to read it but closes to his lock screen before I can snoop. He brushes his lips across my knee and then sits up.
It’s like the others were waiting for him to move. Rylan cuts off in the middle of the song, standing up and packing away the guitar. He moves through his process with a steady easiness that should not be a turn on but that has my core heating anyway.
Dominic chuckles, low in his throat, and pushes off the metal rack, tucking his hand into his pocket before helping me out of the large rolling chair they’d pulled into the room for me.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Dinner,” Dominic murmurs, leading me to the Alfa Romeo and easing me into the passenger seat.
“I’m not really dressed for a dinner out,” I say, the statement very nearly a complaint.
I eye my shorts and fishnets. The types of places Dominic always chooses are definitely not fishnet friendly. Dominic squeezes my hand and murmurs something in Italian. I glance at him, my eyebrow cocked, and he smiles.
Smiles. Not smirks.
It’s like the sun fucking shines or something. I’m caught dumbstruck. He laughs at my speechlessness.
“ Sei bella, Sirena ,” he says just loud enough for me to hear.
I blush and duck my head, and he laughs again.
Rylan and Jasper load into the back, neither complaining of the seating arrangement, surprisingly quiet as Dominic puts the car in gear and leaves the studio’s small parking lot.
I realize why once Dominic is navigating the rush hour traffic through downtown.
“Jealous I wasn’t invited to make out in the back seat,” I murmur, raising one eyebrow.
Jasper laughs, the breathless sound skating over my skin and making my nipples tighten.
Maybe we could just skip dinner and order something later. Orgasms sound way better than food right now.
“If they had invited you, Sirena , then we would not be on our way to dinner,” Dominic murmurs. He reaches across the console and palms my thigh, running his thumb down the outside line of my shorts’ seam. “Perhaps on the way home, though.”
The restaurant isn’t one I recognize, one of the newer pop-ups along the beach south of downtown. It’s certainly not something Faedra and I would have ever tried before graduation. I’m sure a plate here costs as much as I made working at the Rowdy Seahorse.
Dominic hands off the keys to the valet while Rylan helps me from the car, tucking my hand into the crook of his elbow and kissing my temple. Jasper and Dominic walk behind us, a wall of heat that has my legs clenching and my breath catching.
Rylan chuckles. “And here I thought you being out of your heat would mean we’d be able to take you out places,” he murmurs. “Going to need to start picking locations based off the bathroom situation it seems.”
My chest flushes, but I manage to keep a straight face.
“Always so confident,” I whisper. His laugh brushes over my skin, and I bask in the feeling of it.
It’s a happy enough feeling that it takes me a minute to realize there’s already people seated at our table in the back corner, another subtle frosted door partitioning the area from the rest of the dining space. Two men have their heads close together as they discuss something in low voices. Even with their faces turned away, I recognize them.
Tears well in my eyes, and I blink them away before they can mess up my makeup.
“You have turned me into a fucking crier ,” I mutter, elbowing Rylan hard enough in the side that he flinches.
Jasper laughs as he palms the small of my back. “You’ve always been one, love. You’re just in denial.”
Papa looks up, his eyes skating down me. Before he can say anything, Dad stands up and crosses the small space. He cups my cheeks, and I try desperately to not cry for real while reorienting myself to them both being here. His gaze is sharp but his touch gentle. After a long, unspoken moment, he pulls me into his chest and kisses the crown of my head.
“I’m so sorry, Violet,” he says.
I shake my head. “Not your fault.”
His hold tightens, and then Papa is pulling me into his chest, too, his beard scratching at my hair. Dad doesn’t let go, though. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated their combined warmth and strength as much as I do in this moment.
“Darling,” Papa murmurs. “I was so worried.”
His voice breaks, and every piece of strength and resilience I’ve had over the last several days crumbles at the sound. I lean harder into him, wrapping my arms around his waist, breathing through my nose to keep from crying. He hums and runs his hand up my spine. I vaguely hear the guys move around us and settle in at the table.
“We should probably sit down,” I mutter into his chest.
His scent cocoons me, comforting me like it’s done for the last five years. He makes that almost grunt of a hum, and I relax into him.
Dad kisses my hair again and tightens his hold on my shoulders.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he says. “We’re going to fix it, all right?”
“You know?” I don’t mean to ask the question.
Dad’s hold tightens for a moment before they both nod.
Another bit of my worry and anxiety flows away from me realizing I won’t have to relive that night, won’t have to remember what Mom said and did to me in that bathroom. I take a deep breath, drawing on my dads’ strength, leaning on the pillars they’ve both been my entire life. When I don’t feel like I’m going to dissolve into tears at the drop of a hat again, I pull away and wipe at my eyes.
“She’s coming?” I ask.
Papa nods as he laces his fingers with Dad’s. He says, “Should be here any minute with Phillip.”
They walk with me to the table, pulling out my chair and making sure I’m comfortably positioned between Rylan and Jasper. Dominic sits on the other side of Jasper, his arm thrown across the back of his seat, his fingers just brushing my shoulder.
I glance at him and frown. “You should have warned me.”
It’s Rylan that shakes his head and runs his thumb along my cheekbone.
“Absolutely not, pretty Omega,” he says, his voice warm. “You would have spent the entire day stressing out about this dinner when it would have changed nothing.”
He’s right. That doesn’t stop me from pursing my lips, though. He smirks at me, grabbing my hand and kissing my palm before I can decide to do anything more extreme than pout. My mother’s surprised voice cuts through the quiet.
“Oh.”