YOU SMELL JEALOUS
SCARLETT
I stared at the blank page of my notepad for several seconds before finally writing.
My father gave it to me when I was ten.
I turned the page toward Rhys.
He read the words before glancing at the violin resting across my lap. “That explains why you brought it with you.”
I nodded, my fingers brushing lightly over the polished wood.
There were very few things I owned that I would have cared about losing, but the violin was different.
Learning to play hadn't come easily, yet somewhere between the awful first notes and the countless hours of practice, it had become something I reached for whenever everything else felt too loud.
Maybe that was why playing had always felt so private.
I reached for the case at my feet and carefully settled the violin inside.
Kane crouched in front of me. “Why have we never heard you play before?”
I picked up my notepad again and wrote, I don't like people listening.
Kane's eyebrows rose. “You just let half the forest listen.”
The flat look I gave him made him grin. “Trees don't count. Got it.”
After closing the case, I rose from the bench, hoping to escape before either of them remembered the far more embarrassing thing that had happened tonight. Kane ruined that plan by catching the handle before I could take it.
A tug failed to make him release it, and my eyes narrowed.
“What's wrong?”
Nothing, I mouthed, giving the case another pull.
His expression immediately changed. “Oh, that's bullshit.”
Heat crept into my cheeks, made worse by the fact that Rhys remained beside the bench watching the exchange with entirely too much patience.
I refused to look directly at him when doing so would only drag me back to the narrow opening in their bedroom door and those golden eyes finding mine when I should never have been standing there in the first place.
I wanted to crawl beneath the bench just thinking about it.
Except embarrassment wasn't the only thing bothering me anymore. The longer I stood between them, the harder it became to ignore the stupid, unreasonable annoyance twisting through it.
They had each other and an entire part of their relationship I hadn't known existed until I'd accidentally seen it for myself.
Being able to touch whenever they wanted, disappear into a bedroom together and share something I was still standing outside of shouldn't have bothered me nearly as much as it did.
My stupid Omega body chose that exact moment to betray me, and Kane's nostrils flared as whatever I was feeling made its way into my scent.
Before I could move away, he leaned closer and inhaled, prompting me to step back and point a warning finger at him.
'Don't.'
“What?” His voice dropped into that deep, rough tone that made remembering why I was irritated with him unnecessarily difficult. “I'm not doing anything.”
I mouthed liar, earning the return of his grin.
“You smell jealous, love.”
My cheeks burned as I snatched the violin case from him and headed for the house while his laughter followed me.
“Scarlett.”
I kept walking, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response.
“Love, are you seriously mad at us?”
The problem was that I didn't even know. Yes, no, maybe—all three felt equally possible, so I quickened my pace rather than trying to choose one.
Kane caught up within seconds and stepped directly into my path, looking far too pleased with himself.
“You are.”
I tried to go around him, only for him to move with me. When I switched directions and he blocked that one too, frustration won.
I shoved both hands against his chest, but Kane didn't budge. When I pushed again, he caught my wrist and pulled me against him before I could retreat.
“What exactly are you jealous of, love?”
Any thought of fighting him disappeared beneath the strength of his scent at this distance, warm and intoxicating with something rougher underneath that scattered every thought I tried to hold onto.
Kane seemed to catch the change in me almost immediately, his eyes darkening as his nose skimmed lightly along my cheek and he breathed me in.
“Because you smell so fucking good when you're angry, little Omega.”
A rush swept through me fast enough to weaken my knees, but Kane barely had time to enjoy what he'd done before Rhys caught the back of his shirt and hauled him away.
“That's enough,” Rhys said.
Kane stumbled back and stared at him as though he were the unreasonable one. “What?”
“You know exactly what.”
“I was talking to her.”
“You were about three seconds from forgetting how.”
Kane looked ready to argue, but whatever he saw in Rhys's face persuaded him otherwise.
I hugged the violin case against myself, trying to recover what remained of my dignity while Rhys turned to me.
Unlike Kane, he wasn't teasing, and somehow that was worse.
He had seen me outside their bedroom and knew exactly why I could barely look at him tonight, yet his refusal to mention it only left me more conscious of everything I'd witnessed.
“Inside, little Omega.”
The low command sent a shiver down my spine.
I hated all of them—their voices, their stupid scents and especially the fact that neither of them seemed remotely embarrassed while I wanted to throw myself into the nearest lake.
Lifting my chin, I walked past them toward the house.
“Still think she's jealous,” Kane called after me.
“Kane.”
“What? She is.”
I shut the front door hard enough to make my opinion clear.
By morning, I'd developed a very mature solution to the problem: I was ignoring every single one of them.
Saint came downstairs looking sleepy and unfairly adorable, his hair still messy as he wandered toward me for his usual morning hug. I stepped around him before he could reach me, earning a wounded little whine that nearly destroyed my resolve before I'd even made it into the kitchen.
Kane was much easier.
“Morning, love.”
I busied myself pouring juice.
“Sleep well?”
Suddenly, examining the contents of the refrigerator seemed preferable to acknowledging his existence.
“Scarlett. Are we doing this now?”
Oh, we were doing this.
Rhys entered halfway through my silent war with Kane, took one look at me and wisely abandoned whatever greeting he'd intended to give.
I resented him for being sensible too.
Lily had been following the entire exchange from the kitchen table, growing more confused as she looked between us. “What happened?”
“Ask her,” Kane growled.
Without turning around, I pointed at him.
Lily frowned. “Ask her what?”
“She won't tell us.”
“Is she mad at me too?” Saint asked, sounding genuinely distressed.
I took another sip of juice while Lily continued studying me.
“Scar?”
When I gave her nothing, she lowered her voice. “Did they do something?”
My traitorous face gave me away before I could control it, and the knowing grin that appeared on Kane's face made throwing my glass at his head briefly seem reasonable.
Lily noticed too. “Oh. They definitely did something.”
I grabbed my bag and headed for the door before she could investigate any further.
Unfortunately, the drive to the café gave her plenty of opportunity to continue. Rhys drove with Kane beside him while Saint sat between Lily and me in the back, leaving her to glance around the car like she'd been dropped into the middle of an argument without being given the script.
Saint tested my resolve first, brushing his little finger against mine on the seat. I moved my hand, and the wounded look he gave me almost worked.
A few minutes later, he tried again.
This time, the soft, miserable sound that followed my second rejection nearly broke me completely. I might have given in if an image from last night hadn't chosen that moment to flash through my mind, bringing the same ridiculous jealousy rushing back.
I turned toward the window before Saint's face could finish destroying me.
“What did they do?” Lily asked, leaning closer.
A shake of my head only made her more determined.
“Scarlett.”
She could keep trying. There were some things I intended to take to my grave.
Kane caught my eye through the mirror. “She's jealous.”
My foot connected with the back of his seat before I could reconsider.
Lily's eyes went wide, while Kane's shoulders shook with barely contained laughter.
“Jealous of what?” Saint asked.
Death would have been preferable to answering that.
Thankfully, Rhys pulled up outside the café before Kane could volunteer an explanation. I reached for my seat belt while the car was still slowing, earning an immediate warning from the front.
“Scarlett.”
I waited until Rhys had stopped before shoving the door open, grabbing Lily and escaping onto the pavement.
“Have a good first day, love!” Kane called through the open window.
I continued toward the café.
“And try not to miss us too much!”
My pace quickened without any conscious decision on my part, especially when Lily hurried after me with renewed interest.
She waited until the café door closed behind us. “What the hell happened last night?”
I grabbed an apron and mouthed nothing.
“Scarlett.”
Nothing happened.
Her eyes narrowed as she watched me tie the apron around my waist. “You are the worst liar I've ever met.”
Maybe, but she still wasn't getting the truth out of me.
Luckily, the café was already busy when we clocked in at twelve, giving me exactly what I needed: something else to think about.
Elena assigned me to the floor to take orders, clear tables and run plates from the kitchen while Lily handled the register and drinks.
My throat was improving, but my voice still hadn't returned, so my notepad remained my only reliable way of communicating.
Most of the staff made the first hour easy.
Tessa showed me where everything was kept and quickly realized she didn't need to slow down or treat me differently just because I answered on paper.
Marcus, an older Beta in the kitchen, caught me passing through between orders and quietly slid a leftover pastry my way, giving me a firm nod when I hesitated.
Claire was another matter, and I disliked her before I even learned her name.
She was probably a year or two older than Lily and me, with perfectly styled hair, immaculate makeup and the expression of someone who had decided I was a problem before we'd exchanged a single word.
The first time she pointed toward a table covered in dirty dishes and mouthed plates at me, I assumed she was showing me what needed clearing and took care of them without thinking much of it.
When she did the same thing ten minutes later, I glanced toward the empty tables in her section before looking back at her.
“Plates,” she repeated, flicking two fingers toward them.
Seriously?
I collected them anyway, but by the third time, there was no mistaking what she was doing.
Claire wasn't asking for help. She was ordering me around.
I stacked another set of cups onto my tray and forced myself to ignore the annoyance crawling beneath my skin. I wasn't causing a scene this early into the job, especially when Elena had taken a chance on Lily and me despite our lack of experience.
Lily caught my eye from behind the register and subtly pointed toward Claire before making a face. I gave her one right back, making it clear I'd noticed, just as Claire swept past with a tray of clean glasses, her perfume trailing behind her.
“Try to keep up,” she murmured. “Some of us actually work here.”
I stopped so abruptly the cups on my tray rattled.
Oh, fuck that.
After setting the tray on the counter, I pulled out my notepad and wrote quickly before stepping directly into Claire's path.
I am working. I'm also doing half of your job.
I held the page up between us.
Claire's eyes moved across the words before lifting to mine, and for the first time since I'd met her, that superior expression slipped before she recovered.
“Sure you are.”
She tried to move past me, but I stepped with her and flipped to a clean page.
Clear your own tables from now on.
Her eyebrows rose, but I answered with a sweet smile as I tucked the notepad back into my apron and collected my tray.
Being unable to speak did not mean I couldn't tell someone to fuck off.
Claire clearly wasn't finished with me, though. Over the next hour, she became subtler about pushing pieces of her job my way, conveniently abandoning dirty cups where I'd have to deal with them and redirecting customers from her section whenever they needed something extra.
By the fourth unnecessary trip across the café, Lily intercepted me near the drinks station.
“Do you want me to say something?”
I shook my head.
“Scar, she's treating you like her personal servant.”
Oh, I knew. But I wanted to handle this myself. I'd spent days surrounded by three Alphas who seemed determined to interfere with every problem that came within ten feet of me, and there was something strangely satisfying about having one that belonged entirely to me.
Claire was a problem I could handle.
At least, I thought so until I returned from the kitchen carrying an order for table twelve and found her standing beside the customers.
“There she is,” Claire said as I approached. “Sorry about the wait. She's new.”
The woman at the table frowned. “We weren't waiting.”
Claire's smile flickered, and considering I'd picked up their order less than a minute after the kitchen called it, we both knew there hadn't been any delay to apologize for. I set the plates down before pulling out my notepad and writing,
Was something wrong with their order?
Claire glanced at the page. “No. I was explaining why it took so long.”
The man sitting across from the woman looked confused. “It didn't take long.”
I bit the inside of my cheek.
Claire's expression tightened. “I meant..”
I turned the notepad around and wrote another line.
Then I should probably let you get back to your tables.
The woman's mouth twitched as though she was fighting a smile, and Claire's eyes narrowed at me before she forced something pleasant onto her face and walked away.
I finished serving the table feeling far more satisfied than I probably should have. Maybe my first day was looking up after all.
The three Alphas picking me up at five were another matter, especially Kane.
Even thinking about that asshole was enough to send heat crawling up the back of my neck, distracting me until I nearly handed the woman her husband's drink.
Damn him.