Chapter 12
REED
Esper
I storm to Neven's room, opening his door without knocking to see him already on his computer as Esper’s date details came through our group chat.
He waves me in without looking my direction. “Already on it.”
Neven’s place is clean, which is what I expect of a computer hacker.
His apartment is only a few doors down from mine.
Soren’s is between us. It’s fully furnished, with a kitchen, living room, and an actual bedroom.
White walls with the same brown wood-looking vinyl all the apartments have above the bar.
He’s got a cream couch and a coffee table.
An actual coffee table. I don’t think I've ever seen one of those in person.
“Are you done judging my space?” Neven snips from his place at his kitchen island, which he had to have installed himself because these apartments do not come with fancy shit like that.
“Not quite. Is that a KitchenAid?” I ask, seeing the dark green appliance on his counter. “How the hell did you get this place so nice?”
“Work.” He smiles, and I burst out laughing.
“Yeah, whatever, what are you finding?”
His computer screen lights up his face, his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he leans down to look closer at his screen.
“Mike Harrison, alpha, plays basketball at White Pine Crest, lives with his parents off campus. Twenty-one years old. Went to Jackson High School, was suspended twice for pranks involving the school. Parents got it scrubbed from his record for college apps. Decent-looking. Nothing that would be enough to deter him from Esper.”
“Can you pull her chats with him?” His fingers freeze on the keyboard. “Moral dilemma?”
“Yes, actually. I don’t think she’d appreciate that.”
“She doesn’t have to know.”
“Would you like me looking at your chats?”
“It’s about her protection.”
The clicking of keyboard keys starts up again. “I trust her to make good decisions.” He shrugs and waves me to his side of the counter. “They’ve barely had a conversation. They matched this morning and he wanted to meet immediately.”
“I thought you trusted her?” I smirk.
“I do. I don’t trust him.”
A distinction without a difference, in my opinion. But it suits my needs at this moment, so he can tell himself whatever he wants to feel better about it.
“This is why we are friends,” I say, sliding the computer to face me more. Their chat is boring. She’s carrying the conversation, and knowing how hard that is for her, she’s getting desperate.
She feels like she’s out of time.
I grumble as I scroll. “We’ll have to grill him ourselves, because she’s not. Like at all.”
“I’m fine with that.” He leans back on the counter.
“He’s not the one,” I say, looking over his profile again. He mainly has photos of him and the basketball team, afterparties and dry-ass captions. Prompts that tell you absolutely nothing. The app really matched Esper with this guy?
“That’s not for us to decide,” Neven reminds me.
“She’ll agree. Her omega will know.”
“Thanks for picking me up!” Esper says as she walks over to our parked bikes. “Wait, bikes?”
“We’re riding,” I say, excitement thrumming beneath my skin as I hand her a helmet.
“I don’t even... I have a skirt on!” She gestures to her jean skirt and tights, paired with a gray sweater and a leather jacket.
“Hmm, yeah, the tights aren't safe,” I murmur, opening my backpack. “I have some leathers you can wear over that.”
“Those won’t fit me.”
“It's just for the ride.”
“What about my purse?” She swings it in the air. “And my hair?” Her scent wafts over me as she moves her arms, the tinge of nerves making her cranberry scent a bit crisp, but I also catch her excitement, hopefully about riding a bike.
Riding my bike.
“Here.” Neven steps forward, a silk wrap in his hands. He wraps the maroon-colored wrap around her head and slides the helmet carefully on top. Even with the helmet on when he opens her visor, I can see the red across her checks.
“Thank you.” Her voice is low with the helmet. He just smiles, kisses the top of her shoulder, and steps away.
“Pants. We’ll have to work on getting you boots.”
“They won’t go with my outfit.”
“Sneaks aren't safe, Princess.”
“One of us needs a car,” she says, sliding the moto pants on. The lingering line of permanence freaks me a bit, but I bury those feelings for the sake of the happiness I feel in their presence right now.
Yanking my focus to the present, I fix her helmet and close her visor. Putting her purse in my backpack and giving it to Neven to hold, I run down the gist of riding.
“Just lean with me, never against me.” She nods, very serious, like I just gave her the nuclear codes and she had to repeat them by memory. I smile, though she can’t see it with my helmet, and I help her on the bike.
She instantly wraps her arms all the way around me, and I barely resist the urge to lean back against her. Having her nearby, feeling her warmth, is fucking unbeatable.
I start slowly, not wanting to scare her. Neven follows close behind.
The bike rumbles between my legs, adrenaline rushing through my veins. Giving me the feeling I crave every time I think about riding. Trees line the streets and make for a beautiful ride. I take our time, letting her soak up the wind and the view, hoping she’s enjoying it.
I speed up a bit, seeing the street that the dessert bakery is on and pulling into a parking spot.
“Oh my god!” Esper squeals as I lift her off the bike. (Any and every excuse to put my hands on her, remember?) She waits for me to unbuckle her helmet. Neven parks his bike next to us in the same spot as I’m lifting it off her. “That was so fun!”
She sheds the moto pants and takes the silk scarf off, crossing over to Neven to return it.
“Can you show me a picture of this guy?” I ask, all smooth like I didn’t stalk the fuck out of this man mere hours ago.
Esper eyes me as she straightens out her skirt, smoothing down her hair. “You didn’t look him up?” Immediately, she hums and shakes her head. “Actually I don’t want to know.”
“Good girl,” I mutter, which has Neven punching my arm. She chuckles as she lingers by the parked bikes. I take her hand, assuming that’s what she’s waiting for, and lead the way inside Juni’s.
The late-day sun casts an orange-purplish light into the dessert shop.
The green tile counter shines and the pink chairs are especially bright.
Definitely a girl's girl shop, but this is Esper’s favorite spot and so I will endure the overly bright and cheery aura of the place.
At least it has crazy comfortable seating.
I stop by the register first, getting Esper her favorite.
Neven gets a cranberry crumble, and I stare at the menu.
I’ve never been a huge dessert guy. If I was gonna eat something it would be a meal.
Meat, probably, if I’m honest. But I live to serve the whims of Esper, for however long she’ll let me hang around, so I figure I may as well find something here since we'll likely be here often.
Settling on a glazed donut, I pay. Esper's shoulders tense when she spots her—our date. He sits at the center tables with soft pink armchairs around it.
He should have sat in a booth. Those are Esper's favorites. Even I knew that and I haven’t gotten to take her on a proper date yet.
Not off to a great start, buddy.
Mike Harrison is a white male athlete with the muscles to show for it. He’s got blond hair and green eyes. He waves, though his wave is weak as fuck and his brows scrunch a bit as he takes in Neven and I. Both in casual jeans and leather jackets with Midnight Wolves on the back.
Good.
“Um, when you said you were bringing…” Mike trails off, his eyes bouncing between Neven and me. I pull out Esper’s chair before taking my own seat. Neven sits on the other side of Esper.
“Yes!” She nods her head a bit and waves her hands in front of us as she introduces us. “This is Reed and this is Neven. They both go to the same school.”
“School?”
“Yeah. Business”—I point to myself, then to Neven—“Computer programming. What are you going for? Esper hasn’t talked about you much.” I tilt my head, trying to dampen my smile at his shock of her two other partners being… well, us. Not only are we MC, but we’re smart as fuck too. (Well… Neven is.)
People see the tattoos, the bikes, think we are dangerous, bad news, what fucking ever, and for once I’m happy this fucker obviously thinks this way too.
“Sports medicine,” he answers, hardly taking his eyes off of us. His stupid-ass polo shirt pisses me off. I glance at Esper who is beet red, so dang cute. She’s too perfect for this guy already.
He can’t be her Pack.
“That’s cool,” Esper interjects, taking a piece of her cookie and offering it to Mike, who rejects it. Which erases her smile as she withdraws her hand. I hate to see her feelings hurt, but I’m glad he didn’t take the cookie. I didn’t buy that shit for him. I bought it for her.
“I’m going for design,” she says, offering me a piece of her cookie, which I take, if only to show Mike how a halfway decent partner treats their omega.
Neven is offered a cookie too, and he smiles as he immediately devours it, stretching his arm out over the back of her chair.
Damn, I should have thought of that. I wonder if I can shove his arm off her chair without her knowing?
“I’ve been so disciplined in my diet. I don’t know how you can eat that.”
“A cookie?” I am completely unamused. “You can't handle a cookie?”
“I have to stay in top shape—”
“And a single cookie would ruin that?” I ask, shedding my jacket, knowing my biceps look fucking huge in this shirt. What’s this fucker trying to say? And if it is what I think it is, he’s got bigger problems flying his way.
“It’s not a single cookie, it’s—it’s—”
“It’s okay, more for me,” Esper says with a put-on cheery tone, and he has the fucking nerve to curl his lips in an almost-growl at her. The fuck?
“You got—”
Esper’s hand drops to my thigh with a hard squeeze. I glance down at her and her eyes are wide, pleading. I decide to let it go, for her sake.
But I’d fucking remember this.
“You got a, uh…” I wrack my brain for something to say, but Neven saves me from this one.
“So Mike, have you ever been with an omega?”
“Of course,” he says, making me roll my eyes. What does this fucker mean by of course? I don’t miss the way he squares his shoulders when Neven starts talking either. “I don’t have a steady partner. Mainly one-night, one-heat situations.”
His eyes drift around the shop while he talks. On the menu board, on the convincing but fake plant towering in the corner, the door that hasn’t opened since we sat.
This fool can’t even give a beautiful, sweet omega his full attention when planning his next one-night, one-heat situation? He can fuck all the way off.
Letting Neven bore himself to death talking to this dimwit, I lean in toward Esper who is trying to listen to them but failing, playing with her napkin.
“Want another?” I whisper in her ear. Her cranberry scent and the warmth of her skin so close begs me to scent mark her, to rub my cheek along hers, moronic onlookers be damned.
My brain must still be halfway functioning, though, because I hold myself back.
She perks up and nods, looking back at that fucker, who hadn’t offered her shit since we sat down.
I stand to get Esper another cookie, more than okay to miss hearing about the latest basketball scores or whatever the fuck.
Mike’s eyes track me as I return and hand Esper her next cookie. She beams, looking up at me and glowing.
“Do you really need that?”
The air around us freezes. Esper turns to stone, cookie nearly falling from her lax grip as she stares at the dead fucker.
Yeah, this date is done.
“The fuck did you say?” I spit, stepping closer, knocking into the table as I do. Mike stands too. About an inch shorter than me. I take petty joy in that. He growls this time and I’m more than ready to show him this omega doesn't back down.
“Um, as much as I would love to see this”—A worker, Taylor, based on her nametag, says in a flat affect—“I do have to ask you to take this outside.”
I don’t hesitate. “Let’s go.” I mean it too, but Neven grabs the back of my collar.
Mike has the gall—or lacks the brain cells that warn him of impending danger—to scoff. “Yeah, get your damn omegas under control.”
One silent beat. A second. Neven lets my collar go.
I yank Mike from his seat by his stupid fucking polo shirt, dragging him toward the door.
He fights, ripping his shoulder from my grip, yelling profanities, talking about how I’ll regret this and who his daddy is like I give a fuck.
We don’t even make it outside before I can't take the bitching anymore.
I swing, and my knuckles crack across his jaw. My fist burns as it makes contact, but I’m more than ready to land another hit. I would have if he didn’t go flying to the damn ground holding his jaw.
Esper watches, eyes wide, Neven’s arms wrapped around her as a screaming Mike spouts gibberish, like his mouth won’t form the words he’s looking for.
Honestly, it’s an improvement from before.
Just as I’m tossing him out onto the sidewalk, an ambulance pulls up.
“I did have to call the police… His jaw looked gnarly,” Taylor from earlier says, and I nod.
I’d deal with that later.
I step halfway back through the door and find Neven, who is barely holding back his smile for Esper’s sake. “Take her out of here.”
She stands in front of me, her brows scrunched and her mouth agape. She grabs my red hand gently and as much as it stings I let her. Loving the feel of her touch more than anything right at this moment.
“That was a bit dramatic, don't you think?” She lightly kisses my hand.
“Worth it.” I shrug and she glares at me.
“Now my date is ruined.”
“He wasn’t the one.” Neven butts in, and I nod my head in agreement.
“What if...what if he was my only option?”
Neven takes her free hand in his. “Even if he was, we’d make it work without him.” With my other hand, the one not beaming red, I cup her cheek and bring her face close to mine.
“I hope you really hear me when I say this, Princess.” Her eyes are locked on mine, her brown beauties melting something in my chest I can't identify. “You deserve so much more than that scumbag, than us, and I’m going to help you find it.”
“Promise?” Her words drop like the first rainfall in a drought. A promise I made to her before she even knew.
“I promise.”
Neven clears his throat. “Now let's go before the cops get here. You know his ass is pressing charges.”
With a quick kiss to my cheek, she’s gone, the two of them heading for Neven’s bike. I sigh as they go and stand to wait outside Juni’s as the paramedics swarm a mewling Mike behind me.
I’d call that a successful date.