Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
LENNOX
My eyes crack open minimally to find that I’m on a hotel couch and Rufus is buried in my arm pit. It’s a position he enjoys being in, and it’s nothing new.
No, the problem I’m currently facing is that I was forced out of bed to piss and brush my teeth before being dragged out to the couch this morning by Ves and Baron with barely a word.
I fell asleep again, despite the foot traffic coming in and out of the living room.
I don’t know if they thought I’d get up and figure shit out, but my sleep has been off lately.
I usually pass out and I’m good for a few solid hours of sleep before my morning run. Recently, I started thinking about shit I shouldn’t, which is how I ended up at a hotel in Malibu alone with my dog. I’m in a different suite now, but the smells are all so much better.
It smells like pack, and I’m going to indulge in the fantasy for a little while longer before it implodes on me.
“Are you alive?”
“Mmhmm. I am.”
Forcing my eyes open more, I see that Calista is sitting cross legged coloring. While she’s not looking at me, I know for a fact she’s speaking to me. What other half dead alpha is around?
“You kept mumbling about Bluey and I think you said my name? Were you dreaming about me?”
“Bluey was used as a torture tactic. I actually like you,” I grumble.
My throat feels and sounds like it went through a cheese grater, and my eyes are really fucking dry. I think I’ll take a normal hangover over a chloroform one.
Why is this my fucking life?
“Arlo?”
Breathing in slowly and deeply, I can track my omega as he walks behind the couch. Calista waits patiently for him to respond to her, and I just want to hear his voice.
I’m pathetic.
“Yes, honey.”
“Lennox sounds sick. What’s wrong with him?”
“I just have a frog in my throat. It’ll go away,” I mumble, closing my eyes again.
“No!” My body jerks so hard and I gasp in a breath as my eyelids are pushed up by little fingers.
“No, who and why?” I rasp, trying desperately not to cough in her face.
“A frog! Why is there a frog in your throat? Arlo!”
My omega sounds strangled, and I can tell he’s fucking laughing at my very awkward situation.
“Baron put it there,” I reply. “Have you met him yet?”
“We had breakfast,” Calista says cheerfully. “You missed that.”
The guilt a child can evoke is impressive. She releases my eyelids and seems to be waiting for something. My brains are too scrambled to work today. Ugh, I’m going to kill or fuck Baron for this. I can’t decide which one yet.
“The frog, Lennox. Cali wants to know how you get rid of it,” Arlo coaxes.
“Oh. Water. That’ll chase him out,” I say, turning my face away as I begin to cough.
“Arlo! Help,” Calista squeals, getting up and running to the kitchen.
“You have my kid running errands for you now?” Ves asks, leaning over the arm of the couch.
“Not at all,” I gasp, coughing some more. “I’m just trying not to die. Thanks for the concern.”
I swallow back anything else I might want to say because there are little ears close by and I pull myself up. At least my wrists are no longer duct taped together. I bring a sleepy Rufus with me, whispering about what a good boy he is as I do.
Ves is glaring holes into my body, but that’s not my damn problem right now.
“What did I do now?”
“Here’s your water,” Cali says cheerfully. It’s in a spill proof straw cup and it immediately makes me smile.
“Thanks, Cali. That’ll fix me right up.”
Sipping from the straw, it’s warm and feels great on my throat. The door to the suite opens and shuts, and I raise my brow.
“Is he awake yet?” Baron asks.
“I chased out the frog you put in his throat!” Cali announces, making me grin around the straw. She is fucking awesome. “That wasn’t very nice, Baron.”
“I’m…sorry?”
Mmhmm. Someone obviously doesn’t apologize very often.
“Cali, can you color in my room for a bit?” Ves asks. “You can listen to music as loud as you want, too.”
Ah, time for the dreaded talk. Wonderful. Baron heads into the little kitchenette behind me, and I think about the fact that I’m stranded here thanks to him.
Seeing Cali is nice, but why let me see her when I’m going to be thrown out on my ass? It just feels cruel.
“Can I take Rufus in with me if you’re going to have an adult chat?” Cali asks. Her eyes get impossibly large, and I start to get concerned. “Is Lennox in trouble?”
“No,” Ves says, frowning. “Why do you think that?”
“You have the face you get right before you start yelling. Sometimes, I think your head is gonna pop right off!”
Arlo sputters before he drops behind the couch and I chuckle under my breath. Oh, she definitely knows her daddy well.
“I promise to keep the head popping to a minimum,” Ves says calmly. “I’m not mad, but I do need to talk about things that aren’t appropriate for you.”
“Rufus doesn’t need to hear this either,” I tell Cali with a wink, placing him on the ground. “Get your things together, and he’ll follow you as you walk.”
Lips pursed as if she’s trying to figure something out, she picks up her crayons and book and does as I suggest. Rufus whines softly, watching her before glancing at me.
“Go,” I whisper. “She needs you, buddy.”
He takes off after Cali and she giggles as she disappears into the room.
“He’s literally you in the form of a dog,” Baron says behind me.
“Whatever.” I drink more water as Ves, Arlo, and Baron get comfortable around me. “This is your meeting, Ves. I’m being held against my will, is that on your docket?”
“Shut the fuck up. When were you going to tell us you were our scent match?” he asks.
“Why was it up to me to tell you?” I ask. “I made it very clear I was interested.”
Arlo’s eyes slam into me and his lips pop open as he realizes what I mean. “Oh fuck. You did and I didn’t call. I thought you were a hot alpha trying to get under Ves’ skin.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I shrug. It does, but I’m not going to pout. I’ve already done enough of that alone.
“We’ve all been circling each other, trying to be understanding of boundaries, and left Lenny out in the wind,” Baron says.
“I swear, I will knock you the fuck out if you call me that again,” I growl.
“Fine,” he sighs.
“I know how much it hurts to be ignored,” Arlo whispers, glancing at Ves under lowered lashes.
Moving from the edge of the couch to the ground, he hauls Arlo up until he’s laying between his thighs and reclined on his chest.
“I was ignoring my attraction to you while being very aware of how gorgeous my nanny is. I think the subtext is important.”
Arlo’s blush is pretty and bright as he curls up against Ves and it’s adorable.
“We need to talk about this depressive episode you’re in,” Ves says.
“Do we? I’ll take a shower and poof, I’ll be fine. I’m not going to subject other people to it because I’m not an asshole.”
“Unlike me. Yeah, I know exactly what I am,” Ves grunts. “I was possessive and jealous, and Arlo thought I’d fire him if he called you. There was a hell of a lot of miscommunicating going on, and I screwed up because of it, okay?”
“Are pigs flying?” I ask. “Really, because you just admitted to fucking up.”
“I’ll occasionally do that,” Ves deadpans. “But this little… intervention is to establish that we’re all in. But I’m warning all of you now, I don’t know what that’s going to look like for me. I’ve been alone for a long fucking time, Lennox.”
“Me too,” Arlo says. “I love that I have two alphas and Ves.”
My eyes stray to the hoodie he’s wearing and see it’s mine.
“Ves slept in it last night, and I stole it,” he admits. “Do you mind?”
“Nah. I don’t know where the rest of my clothes are, but you can have whatever you want. Though, going naked with the kid around is probably a bad life choice.”
Ves rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. “Baron is handling your personal effects. He’ll get it figured out. Are we really not going to address the elephant in the room?”
“We need to,” Baron growls.
Dropping my head back, I groan.
“What do you want to know?”
I guess I need to come clean about my little problem.
“How long has this been going on?” Ves asks.
“I’ve always had good days and bad ones.
As long as I keep a decent diet, exercise, and sleep enough, I’m typically alright.
Sometimes, when I start to feel as if no one wants me around and I’m lonely, I go see my mom.
She’ll shower me in love, food, and the threat of poisoning me if I step out of line.
“Then I head back onto the road. Others, like now, I disappear and wallow. I was going to hang out in a hotel and then rent a cabin somewhere when I got tired of that. My family knows I need space sometimes. As long as I check in within the two week mark and show up to work, they leave me be.”
“Do you have a trigger for it?” Arlo asks. “I have anxiety that makes me want to claw my skin off. I’m convinced everyone hates me and I can’t do anything right.”
“Your anxiety is a lying hoe,” I say bluntly. “You’re adorable and everyone loves you. Calista thinks you walk on the damn moon.”
“How can you do that for Arlo and not yourself?” Ves asks.
“It’s different,” Baron and I say at the same time, and our omega looks between us.
“It is,” Baron shrugs. “I take my meds and it evens me out.”
“I don’t like them,” I mutter. “It affects my creativity and I feel like a robot. One week of depression here and there isn’t a big deal.”
“It is for us,” Ves says. “It could be for Cali. Lennox, you need to tell us when you’re feeling like this. This is all so new, we need to be willing to talk to each other or this might not work.”
“Are you going to take your own advice?” I ask knowingly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Oh man, this should be good.
VES
This probably isn’t the time to get defensive.
Not that my instincts know that.
It’s taking everything I have not to turn into a complete raging dickhead and start barking orders like I’m some big alpha, but I’m hanging on.
By a fucking thread.
That’s not how I should handle Lennox, or any of these men, though, and I do know that.