119. Chapter One-Hundred-Eighteen
Chapter One-Hundred-Eighteen
Scarlett
The rain eventually lightens up and then stops.
It’s after nine p.m. by then, so we don’t get the sun back, but I’m hopeful it’s gonna return by morning.
I’m still a little hungry after our less than filling dinner, but I sip slowly at my diet soda, hoping the feeling will fade before it’s time to get some sleep.
There’s nothing worse than going to bed hungry.
I learned that the hard way as a teenager.
Making trouble has its consequences, and I could never seem to figure that out until it was too late. Saph would always sneak me some kind of snack, those nights. It helped, but nothing ever really makes up for a skipped meal.
“I call shotgun on the bed,” Kian says suddenly. “For the night.”
“You can’t call shotgun on a bed,” Trick scoffs.
“We can all sleep in the bedroom,” Xane states. “There’s a blow-up mattress in storage under the bed, and spare sheets. No one needs to call shotgun on anything.”
“Well, then, I’m sleeping next to Scarlett,” Kian adds, smiling at me.
“Scarlett can decide on that once we go to bed,” Xane says. “For now, you can get that blow-up mattress out and start getting it ready.”
Kian pulls a face. “Riley could probably pump it up in half the time …”
He shoots Riley a hopeful glance.
I look over at the quietest member of our group.
He rolls his eyes. “Fine. I’ll blow it up for you. That means I get a spot in the real bed.”
Kian’s bright eyes widen. “Uh, no. That’s okay. I’ll do it.”
He gets up, sinks the rest of his soda in a single gulp and heads straight to the bedroom.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him move that fast,” Trick marvels.
“Gotta have the right motivation,” Riley says, shrugging.
His dark eyes fall on me, and I can’t help but stare back.
Our unbound connection feels strong.
I think he feels it now that he’s sober and actually spending time with the rest of us.
“I’ll go help Ki,” Trick says, getting up. “He’s probably having a hard time getting it out from under the bed.”
Xane sits down in Kian’s vacant seat across from me. “Can I borrow your notebook again?”
“Sure,” I tell him, realizing I’m not sure where my purse is.
Was I wearing it when I rushed out to find him in the jungle earlier?
I don’t remember. All I know is it wasn’t across my body when he claimed me.
“Uh, I don’t …”
Riley gets up. “You left your purse on the beach earlier. I put it in my pocket. It’s in your backpack.”
He gets it for me, and I smile. “Thanks. I couldn’t remember what I did with it.”
I bring out the pad and pen and pass it to Xane.
“Did you at least get a good picture of the baby sharks?” Riley asks.
I take Sapphire’s phone out of her purse and unlock it.
“I did.” I show him the quick photos I managed to capture before his accident.
He leans over me to look. “These are pretty good.”
“Well, I’m no photographer, but they were good subjects.”
“Got any more?”
“Of the sharks?”
“Of whatever.”
“Not really,” I admit. “This is my sister’s phone. She has mine. So, I can’t show you pictures of my bestie’s crazy shoe collection, or the dive bars I usually play at.”
“You got security at those bars?” he asks, a hint of concern in his tone.
“Nah,” I admit. “But I’ve got a friend who can brutalize people with a look and another who is like the world’s best negotiator, so I’ve never had an issue.”
“I’m glad to hear you’ve got such good friends.”
I glance at Xane, but he’s busy writing down calculations.
Riley slips back into his seat, pushing the arm up, and facing me, sitting side on.
I lean on my chair’s arm as I look back at him.
“You probably wouldn’t like Karma. She can be kind of a bitch.”
He laughs. “Her name is Karma?”
“She’s an Omega, but I’m the only one who knows that. For now.”
“Right,” Riley says. “A lot of parents give Omegas unusual names.”
“Not all of them, but yeah, it does seem to be a thing.”
“What about your other friends? What are they like?”
“Well, I house-share with three girls in Silver Valley. Karma’s one of them.
We’ve been friends since just before college.
She’s a music therapist. Don’t ask. I’ve tried to find out what that means, but she’s intentionally vague because she thinks it makes people curious enough to book a session to find out, and she charges way too much for a dive-bar-musician to afford.
Not that I’ll be one of those for much longer.
I made a pretty big crazy decision today. ”
“A crazier decision than taking him as your mate?” Riley asks, nodding at Xane.
Xane looks up. “What did I just miss?”
“Nothing. Riley was just asking about my friends.”
“Oh.” Xane taps his pen on the page. “I think I’m gonna work on this in the cockpit. If you two don’t mind? I need to make sure I’m not overlooking anything.”
“Get over there already,” Riley teases. “You’re making my brain hurt with all that thinking you’re doing.”
Xane rolls his eyes as he gets up. He squeezes my hand in passing.
His brow is still furrowed as he closes the cockpit door behind him.
“Maybe we should be quiet. Kinda seems like we’re being a distraction.”
“Nah,” Riley says. “I’m sure he’s already got the calculations down cold. He needs some time to think about it from every angle now. To make sure he isn’t missing anything that should be obvious. That’s just kinda what he does.”
“So, he’s not stressing out?”
“I guess he’s kinda stressing out. But I wouldn’t worry about it. This is his process. Doing anything to try and change it only makes it last longer. Trust me, I’ve seen it.”
“Okay,” I agree, leaning back. “Then I guess we have some time to waste.”
“You were just telling me about your friends, and a crazy decision you just made.”
He’s watching me curiously when I look back at him.
Oh, he actually wants to know.
“It’s probably gonna sound dumb, but I was living like a Beta before, and I was trying to get a record deal without revealing that I’m an Omega, so I would know the deal was because my work is good, not because of my designation.”
“That doesn’t sound dumb at all.”
“It doesn’t?” I laugh. “Because I was getting nowhere, and then out of the blue my manager calls me with a deal, for the rights to one of my songs, only. Not to sign me. To give one of my songs to a more established artist. It would have been a foot in the door. But I couldn’t take the deal.”
He nods. “So, now that you know your work is good enough, you’re thinking you should come out to the world as an Omega?”
“Now that I know …” I trail off, not believing I didn’t even think of that.
An established artist wanted my song. So badly that she was willing to spend a quarter million.
On a no-name Beta who sings in dive bars. Oh my God.
“My work is good enough,” I state, feeling it when I say it.
“I’ve been honing my skills for years. All I needed was a break, but I don’t think it was ever gonna happen the way I wanted.
The way I thought I wanted it to happen.
I know Omegas have a leg up in the industry, because we’re so rare.
I thought that was a cheat code to fame, so I didn’t want to use it.
But it’s who I am, and I don’t want to hide that anymore.
It was kinda dumb to try to be someone else in the first place, but I guess if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t feel so confident in my abilities now. ”
It’s all one big crazy mess, but at least I know where I’m headed, finally.
“So, you’ve been trying to break into the industry as a Beta,” Riley sums up. “That’s a tough gig. I’ve met some Beta songwriters, sure, but most of the major acts out there are made up of Alphas and Omegas. No one really signs Betas.”
I let out a sigh. “I know. They want the magic of an Omega or an Alpha. That’s what brings in the crowds. It’s so unfair. There are some great acts out there waiting to be discovered, and they might never make it into the mainstream.”
“But if you get a deal, as an Omega, you could convince your management to take on start-up acts with Beta artists in them.”
“I’m starting to realize that’s how I should be doing this.”
I give him a wry smile. “Kinda wish I’d realized sooner, but then, I guess, I might not have made it out here with you guys this weekend if I’d taken a different path.”
He smiles back at me. “We would have met sooner or later. Fate would have made sure of that. But I’m glad you’re here now. This weekend wouldn’t have been the same without you.”
“You wouldn’t have gotten stung if I wasn’t here,” I remind him, because my face is warming up over how sweet he’s being, and I don’t know how to deal with it.
“It’s no big deal,” he says. “It’s happened a few times. I used to go surfing a lot when I was younger. It was one of the many hazards. You dealt with it way faster than anyone else ever has.”
“That’ll be the junior lifeguard in me,” I joke. “I’m not that great in most emergencies. You just happened to have one that I knew how to deal with.”
“That’s kinda part of being true mates. Fated coincidences are common.”
“So, you accept that I’m supposed to be yours?” I ask, because it seems like he does, but I would hate to be wrong.
“Now that I’m clear-headed, I do. I’m sorry I was an asshole before.”
“That’s okay,” I tell him. “We can all be assholes sometimes.”
He laughs. “Some of us, more than others.”
“Well, yeah,” I admit. “But I won’t hold it against you. As long as you can tell me why Xane didn’t let me seduce you earlier?”
I raise an eyebrow at him, knowing he knows.
Xane wouldn’t tell me the reason, and I can’t move on with Riley until he can.
He sighs. “I have a not so fun history with an Omega. It’s a long story, but you should know all of it.”
I listen as he starts to tell me about the night Xane fired their manager.