Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
NOA
“What are you doing here?” I ask. It’s been five hours since I last saw Silas. In those five hours, Ollie and I washed every blanket and scrubbed every surface, and because of her help, I could go home and shower.
After grabbing lunch, I’m open for business, and my store is rosemary scent free. It’s so clean in here that I could almost forget the looming problem of the Fallon Pack being in my store.
I do my darndest to keep my face from scrunching, especially since Silas is standing in front of me with Thorne behind him, watching me like a hawk.
They don’t bother pretending to look at the blankets, like the other customers in the store, but stride straight to me at the front counter.
“I can’t come see you on my break?” Silas asks, leaning on my counter. I try to stifle my smile. Thorne stands behind him, his gaze warming my insides as much as Sila’s charm is.
I know I’m not supposed to see them anymore. Five hours ago, I promised to keep them safe by staying away. Yet here I am, with my omega buzzing at the sight of these two alphas.
“I’m working,” I lamely say. My fingers grip the counter, hoping to center myself as I think of dragging them back to my workshop and keeping them there forever.
Maybe I could pack them up in my car and take them with me on the run again.
I mentally scoff at the idea as if these two hockey players and my gentle giant would all fit in my car.
“Then we’re customers looking for a blanket,” Silas says. His brown eyes glint as he turns towards the windows, waving his hand in a “lead the way” gesture towards me.
I gaze around my store, looking for customers, actual customers, who might need help. When I don’t find one, I look back at Silas and Thorne. Thorne is quiet, but his light smirk tells me he’s into this little game they are playing.
I roll my eyes as I meet Silas’s gaze again. “How may I help you?”
“I’m in need of a blanket. A few, actually, I need them for my house.”
“Well, we have many styles here, colors, textures, do you know what you want?”
“I don’t know. I just know this is the place to be for blankets. Maybe you could run us through the entire store?” he asks, scratching the side of his head as part of the bit. I chuckle to myself as I round the counter to help the two 6’2 hockey players, who haven’t left my mind since I met them.
“Go slow so he catches everything; he can be quite slow,” Thorne says teasingly, shoving Silas, who laughs. A laugh that draws attention, and as much as I should hide the fact I’m with them, I can’t help but love the idea of people seeing us together.
Why is this so hard?
“So who is the blanket for?” I walk them to the front of the store, where the rainbow of blankets starts. They are right on my heels, leaning closer to me as we stop at the first table. The bright reds and oranges welcomed us.
I can’t tell if my scent-blocking spray isn’t strong enough or if I can smell them because we’re all scent matches, but their scents wrap around my head and make my script much harder to remember.
“Us, of course. Can’t alphas like blankets too?” Silas says. His hand grasps his chest as if the question offends him, but the light dancing in his eyes tells me otherwise.
“Of course they can,” I say. “There is a difference between buying for yourself and buying for an omega, though.” I can hardly keep my cheeks from feeling like they are on fire as I talk to them. Is this what it could always be like?
“How so?” This time it’s Thorne asking. His bright green eyes stare down into mine, his presence incredibly close as I try not to look away. His cherry scent swarms under my nose like a pie being made, and I can’t help but take a deeper whiff.
“Uh,” I try to think of the answer. I have it written in my note app, and have rehearsed it many times, but with Silas and Thorne so close, I can’t think.
“Hmm?” Silas raises one of his sexy eyebrows. Can eyebrows be sexy? I’m not sure, but what I do know is this man is too hot for his own good. For my own good.
“Omegas typically have different needs.” I take my gloved hand as I touch the red cotton blanket in front of us. “The little details matter.”
He nods his head. They listen intently to me as I finish the explanation. Similar to the one I gave Havoc, I explain the colors, textures, sizes, and lighting, and how these make each blanket different.
They follow my every word, and I get more and more comfortable as we go through the store. I stop by the blanket Havoc bought, and I smile. The pastel orange crochet blanket is one of my favorites. The soft, thick texture feels so nice against the skin; I can remember the feeling through my gloves.
I turn back to them. Neither of them looks the slightest bit bored, but I quit my ramblings anyway.
“Do you know what you are looking for now?” I ask. They are both so close that they have to look down at me. Their chests are just a finger length away, and I have the urge to lay one hand on each of them. Feel their heartbeats under my hand.
“I definitely found everything I was looking for,” Silas says and ducks his head even closer to mine. So close it feels indecent with customers in the store.
“Silas,” his name feels like sin on my lips as I stare at him.
His body blocks the rest of the store from me, and his scent wraps around me like a blanket, as if it transplanted me in a room with just him, Thorne, and me.
Silas reaches around me, for what I assume is a hug, but he surprises me by grabbing a blanket right behind me.
“I think this is the one.” The blanket scrapes against me, my clothes, and exposed skin. Snagging my scent for sure, and the realization of what he is doing makes me all the more aware of this beautiful man flirting with me.
Thorne’s gaze flits between us, reaching his own hand out on my other side. Trapping me between them as he grabs a blanket too. Except Thorne is much more obvious. He brushes the blanket against me. Pretending to put it back, only rub the blanket against me again.
Silas pulls a light purple puff quilt. It’s quite large despite its being a throw-size blanket, and yet he can carry it in one hand with ease. Seeing his hand stretch around it, gripping it, my eyes follow him as he brings the blanket between us.
Thorne has a dark green gingham quilt in his hands. Perfectly matching the purple one in Silas’s hands.
“Perfect,” I say, sliding away from the warm, comforting alpha who is about to make me perfume so hard my customers could smell it over the five scent-blocking humidifiers I have on high in my store.
“Let’s get you checked out.” I won’t be able to focus on my work while they are here.
I wait for them to set the blankets down, but they don’t.
Silas just hits me with his smile as Thorne stares at me.
I look around, seeing another customer come up with a blanket in their hands, so I glance back at Silas.
He turns to look back and sees the customer. He shakes his head, communicating something to them before he steps aside, and waves his hand forward.
“I have a few questions, so you can go first,” he says in his all-dazzling voice as the omega behind him blushes and slowly walks forward.
My breath catches as I stare at him in shock. Aren’t they on a break? How long are hockey players’ breaks? I quickly fix my face for the customer in front of me. I make small talk as I check her out, and bag her blanket with the wash instructions and detergent samples.
Once she leaves the counter, Silas and Thorne crowd my counter again, this time, setting their blankets down.
I ring them up. Watching the price jump into the hundreds, and they don’t even flinch.
No matter how well I may be doing, half a thousand dollars for two blankets is a lot of money, but they… they don’t look hesitant at all.
“What gloves are those?” Silas asks, sliding a card over my card reader.
“Cloth, it just helps keep my scent off the blankets,” I explain, and that’s when he takes my hand. I let him, even though I shouldn’t. He slowly slides the glove off my left hand, and I become darn near feverish as he nods at me to continue bagging his purchase.
Between the sweat on my hands and my body’s reaction to them, I know my scent is soaking the blankets. My mind races, thinking of him using the blanket, sleeping with it… how it’ll smell of me, and I stop that thought right there in its tracks.
No need to get myself riled up at work. With my heat so close, I have to be more careful with my thoughts, especially around them.
One heat flare-up and I’m done for; completely immersed into my omega instinct.
I’ll be begging anyone on two legs for a release, and I can’t leave myself in that kind of position.
I need to prepare for the shop to be closed for a week. My heats last around 3 days. With a day of prep and a day of recovery, that’s an entire week off work at one time.
I pack Silas and Throne’s bags the same way as I do all my other customers, trying to be neutral, trying to be normal, but the omega in me wants to scent mark everything. From their blankets, to the bag I’m putting them in, to the receipt.
“Here you go,” I say, handing Silas the bag. He reaches for it. His fingers graze mine as he takes the bag. They both walk away with a handmade blanket bearing my scent. Mine.
Customers go in and out all day, and my thoughts race on what I’m going to do about the Fallon Pack potentially ruining my life. I can’t risk my scent matches, but I don’t want to lose them either.
I need to figure out a way for the Fallon Pack to forget me so I can keep my scent matches. Until then, I have to distance myself from them.
As the last customer leaves for the night, darkness sets in, and the nerves take over. Last night’s break-in makes its way to the front of my mind. There wasn’t any evidence of a break-in, that’s the only way I got Ollie to feel good about leaving me here alone, but someone was in here.