Chapter 9
Grayson
Tara’s apartment was an eclectic disaster of plants, suncatchers, and macrame.
Grayson sat in a lopsided circle with Aureli, Jaeyong, and Jenna, a hard cider clutched in one hand.
The rug dominating the living room was sewn with colorful scraps of fabric, and somehow managed to match the violently green sofa at his back.
Their host was puttering around the kitchen, mixing several bags of snacks into an enormous bowl.
“Our first full week at Brighid’s Well!” Tara called, beaming. “We made it!”
Jenna cheered and held up her can for a toast. “And Jaeyong wins the biggest baby award, at thirteen pounds, two ounces.”
The quiet, younger man smiled. “Everyone takes turns buying my coffee for the next week, right? You’re lucky I only drink americanos.”
“Yeah,” Tara said with a snort. “Jenna already assigned everyone a day of the week. She has an entire spreadsheet. You’re Friday, Jaeyong, so we’re rock-paper-scissoring to decide who’s paying that day.”
“Please don’t say ‘scissoring’,” Jenna interjected.
Jaeyong’s small smile widened. “What day is Aureli? I might splurge on an almond milk mocha with that weird chickpea whipped cream.”
Aureli groaned. “I was so close to winning! I had one at twelve pounds, eight ounces.”
Tara tapped his leg with her foot as she returned to the group. “There’s always next week.”
Grayson remained silent, plunging his hand into the bowl Tara pushed to the center of the ring.
Jenna watched him from the corner of her eye. “You good, Gray?”
Grayson knew his face was already going red. “Fine.”
“Didn’t you have that date yesterday?” she pressed. “How was it?”
He shoved a handful of pretzels into his mouth and grunted. Unfortunately, that was not enough to deter her.
“Not great, huh?” Jenna patted his knee. “Want to talk about it? Venting might help.”
The other three were doing a very poor job of concealing their intrigue.
“You went out with an Alpha, right?” Aureli asked. “Was he mean or something?”
“Or ugly?” Tara chimed in.
Grayson drew his knees to his chest and buried his face in them with a groan. “He was insanely attractive, I just fucked it all up.”
Jaeyong scooted closer and rested a hand on Grayson’s back. “What happened?”
“I freaked out!” Grayson threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. Tara had replaced her LED lights with a tulip chandelier. “I was all shaky and stuttering and god, it was so embarrassing.”
“I’m sure you weren’t that bad,” Jenna argued. “What’d the Alpha do?”
“He was polite at first. Tried to make conversation, offered to share his food and drink, but…” Grayson let himself fall backward, back hitting the floor. “At the end, he said I was terrified of Alphas and shouldn’t date them.”
Someone gasped, but Grayson didn’t bother sitting up. “He was right, though. I’m scared of them. I shouldn’t have gone.”
“Come on, sit up,” Jenna coaxed. She hauled Grayson back upright. “It’s not your fault. We have to see Alphas at their worst every day with our job. Of course you’re nervous around them.”
“He said I was shaking like a cornered rat.”
“What the fuck?” Aureli’s voice was tinged with outrage. “That’s not okay, no matter how bad the date went.”
“I was, though.” Grayson set his drink down and tangled his fingers in his hair. “I couldn’t relax.”
“Still!” Aureli shook his head. “He didn’t need to say it like that.”
“Guys, Miami is so small,” Grayson moaned. “What if I run into him again?”
“Give him a swift middle finger?” Tara suggested helpfully.
Grayson chuckled and lifted his head. “Whatever. It’s over now. Don’t let me go on any more dates for a while.”
“Yes sir.” Jenna raised two fingers to her forehead in a salute. “Speaking of dating, is anyone else on the market? Seen any cute Alphas? Or Omegas. Or… whatever you’re into.”
Aureli rolled his eyes. “It’s been less than two weeks. And we work somewhere that basically only caters to mated pairs.”
“So?” Jenna argued. “We have days off. Do you know how many singles events there are on this island?”
Jaeyong raised a dark brow. “I take it you do?”
“I’m nothing if not prepared. Also Tara and I had a girls’ night last weekend and drank two bottles of champagne.”
“Somehow, she still managed to make a spreadsheet.” Tara shook her head. “It’s a masterlist of every singles event for the entire month of May, and a few for the last week of April.”
“Oh.” Jenna turned and smacked Tara’s arm. “I signed us up for that paint night. It’s on Wednesday.”
Tara groaned good-naturedly. Strands of her blonde pixie cut fell into her eyes as she made a lunge for the snack bowl. “I’m so bad at painting.”
“What about us?” Aureli demanded.
“It’s a females-only event,” Jenna said, taking a swig of seltzer. “But there are tons that are male-only, or mixed. Want me to send you guys the spreadsheet?”
Aureli and Jaeyong eyed one another. Then, with a defeated sigh, they nodded.
“Not me,” Grayson muttered. “I’m on a no-date ban.”
“You could still come to hang out,” Aureli argued. “No one’s saying you have to go home with someone.”
Grayson sipped his cider, thinking. It can’t hurt to meet new people. And it might help me overcome this stupid fear of Alphas.
“Okay, fine,” he said aloud. “Give me the spreadsheet too.”
“Yay!” Jenna whipped her phone from her back pocket. “Wait ‘til you see, it’s a masterpiece.”
As time ticked by, and the five of them grew steadily more tipsy, Grayson found himself signing up for a whole slew of things he never would have agreed to sober—pottery, book club, cooking classes, midnight swimming—
“Ooooooh,” Jenna slurred. “There’s a shibari workshop.”
Grayson furrowed his brow. “What’s that?”
Tara tittered, clapping a hand over her mouth. “There’s a kink club here?”
Grayson saw Jaeyong’s face redden. Aureli, on the other hand, leaned over Jenna’s shoulder to take a closer look at her phone screen. “Where is it?”
Grayson leaned over to Jaeyong and muttered, “Do I even want to know?”
“It’s uh… an artistic form of bondage. From Japan.” He didn’t meet Grayson’s eyes.
Grayson could feel his own cheeks flaming. “Oh.”
Jaeyong cleared his throat and turned away.
“Well, I’m definitely going to that,” Jenna announced, tapping at her phone.
“Add my name, too,” Tara called from her new position flat on the floor. “I wanna get tied up.”
“Me three,” Aureli said, grinning. “For educational purposes of course. It’ll be interesting to learn how to work around a tail.”
“Mhmm, education, sure.” Jenna glanced over at Grayson and Jaeyong. “You guys are so red. I take it you’re not coming?”
Jaeyong ran a hand through his hair and mumbled, “I think I’ll pass.”
Grayson nodded hastily. “Same. Pass.”
Jenna shrugged. “That’s fine. It’s not for everyone.”
“Maybe we should call it a night?” Jaeyong said, eyes on Tara. “I think she’s out.”
Sure enough, Tara’s mouth hung open and a quiet snore rasped from her throat.
Aureli laughed. “I’ll put her to bed. I think I can carry her.”
While Aureli hauled their host off to her bedroom, the remaining three gathered their things and tidied the living room. Jaeyong took a large glass of water into Tara’s room with some painkillers, then they slipped out into the cool spring night.
“Night, boys,” Jenna said, hooking her arm through Jaeyong’s and waving at Aureli and Grayson.
“Night,” they called back.
“That was fun,” Aureli said. Their footsteps echoed softly from the surrounding apartment buildings. “I have a feeling we’ll be making a lot of cancellations in the morning.”
Grayson chuckled. “Same.”
The stars shone overhead, unfettered by the light pollution which plagued mainland cities. As the pair of Omegas neared their building, a Mer climbed from his car and strode ahead of them.
“Oh,” Aureli whispered. “I didn’t realize Mer lived in the same buildings.”
“They have the bottom five levels,” Grayson murmured back. “They need the space for the pools. I think there are only two actual floors. That’s why the elevator buttons are weird.”
It had taken them a few days to realize their elevator went from floor two to floor five.
Grayson checked the building’s floorplan out of curiosity and discovered Mer pools were built to the depth of three standard stories, so floor five stretched down to floor three, and floor two dipped underground.
Only the top two floors were built for human occupants.
“Huh.” Aureli shrugged. “Interesting. Wonder what the Mer units look like inside.”
“I bet if you go ask that Mer to let you in their apartment, they’d do it.” Grayson grinned. “Looks like an Alpha.”
Aureli shoved him, laughing. Ahead, the Mer in question vanished through the apartment entrance. Grayson half hoped the Mer lived on the second floor and had just used the stairs. Unfortunately, when he pulled the door open, the Mer was still in the lobby, waiting for the elevator.
Grayson stopped dead in his tracks, and Aureli crashed into him.
“Hey!” Aureli complained. “What are you—”
Grayson recognized those gold-plated scales. He knew those bronze dapples that gathered at the Mer’s elbows, and apparently ran up his spine. The Alpha turned his head, burning amber gaze meeting Grayson’s.
Fuck.