“Thanks,” I grumble, resisting the urge to cover my chest. Though I’m not going to lie. Whenever I dress up as a man, I barely need to bind my breasts. And my wardrobe is overflowing with clothes that would look good on any gender.
When our parents died, we were shipped from Nashville to Michigan to live with our uptight grandparents. They were obsessed with the whole “Girls should be pretty, boys should be tough,” and they separated us, only letting us see each other on weekends. All so I could practice being a ‘girl’ by doing stuff like embroidery, ironing, and babysitting to learn how to take care of kids. While Luke learned how to buff shoes, do taxes, and use a freaking chainsaw.
So obviously, as twins, our favorite thing to do was swap places and see how long we could get away with it.
Imagine how they reacted when I presented as an omega, and Luke didn’t become an alpha. We got away from them as quickly as we could after that, and I said goodbye to gender and designations.
If we fall into real debt, we’ll have to go crawling back into that genderized hell-hole.
Luke prefers feminine clothes, and he sometimes works as a female model for our neighbor and best friend, Noa. She’s a designer who owns a boutique and helps us with parts of our business, as we help Noa with hers.
But I don’t like to lean one way or the other. Girly clothes make me cringe after being forced into them since I was eight, but so does ultra-masc. stuff. I like to find a balance where no one can tell for sure if I’m a guy or a girl the first time they meet me, or a beta or an omega. All I have to do for this job is turn my dial to masculine beta, and I can pass. It’s doing it for so long that’s the problem.
Timber’s never met us, so I can act however I want. I won’t have to change much, just my voice and my name.
“What about my heat?” I ask. “The job is four months, and I don’t want to have to deal with that when I’m living with an alpha like him.”
It isn’t like I go around rubbing on every alpha I walk into, but the last week leading up to my heat is pretty risky, especially when I slip into pre-heat three days before the big event. I have to stay in our apartment so I don’t do something dumb like get on the metro and start mounting strangers.
I usually have alphas ready for a three-day rock-and-roll fest as soon as I get the first pangs of my preheat. And they’re the ones exhausted by the end.
If I have to be in the same house as an alpha who looks likethatwhen I’m in preheat, all the heat suppressants in the world won’t stop me.
Omegas have a heat every three months, and I’m smack dab in the middle, hanging out in the safe zone. My last one ended two months ago in a blaze of slick and glory, and I have another month to rev my engines. Or, cool my engines, if I’m going through with Luke’s plan.
“My leg will definitely be better by then. And I can totally slip in to fill your place, no problem!” he chirps.
I don’t believe him, not for a second. We both know the damage is so bad that there’s a chance he might never walk again. But I’ll keep playing along because if we acknowledge how severe it really is, we could lose hope.
Realistically, if we don’t do this job for the Scented Scorpions, then our brand new business, Knot Those Kind of Bites, and possibly the rest of our lives, are toast.
We planned to start our own company for years after our parents passed when we were eight. They ran their own restaurant, but we want to take our own spin on things.
We both went to college in Nashville, to honor their memory, and make our business the best it can be.
Luke went for sports, health, and science, while I studied nutrition and business.
As a male beta, no one would question Luke moving in with Timber and ‘servicing’ him. But if they find out a female omega has snuck in to thirst over him for months, that’ll be a whole other story.
I’m not sure I can stay on suppressants until my brother’s leg heals. They aren’t exactly cheap through the healthcare system, and my insurance doesn’t cover them, but my dealer from college let me start up a tab until we get paid. I already hit him up last month for some scent suppressants for official meetings Luke and I needed to have with Scorpion officials to prepare us for the job with Timber. But I shouldn't need to take those regularly. It's the heat suppressants I need to start taking soon.
Plus, there’s the added bonus of getting sick if I put my heat off for too long with suppressants. But that’s future Ollie’s problem.
If Timber had his sense of smell, I could write the whole thing off. But that’s the main part that gives me hope. And Timber will be out of state half the time, anyway. Maybe I can slip away for my heat if they have a series of away games. Then I could solve the whole problem and not have to think about pouncing on Mr. Tall, Dark, and Alpha.
I adjust my beanie, giving Luke a half-grin, which he happily returns.
“So, you’ll do it? You’ll move in with the hot hot hockey player and provide for all his needs?”
“Only if you don’t make a big song and dance about it. And you don’t skip out on work just because you’re in hospital!”
“Don’t worry, dear sister. I’ll meal plan like you’ve never seen anyone meal plan before.” He pulls up the sleeve of his hospital gown to flex his biceps. “Anyway, I’m doing the world a favor. Everyone who knowsknowsthat I make a prettier girl than you, just like you make a more handsome devil than me. All we need to do is come up with a game plan, and then we’re set for glory!”
I’ll focus on that, and not the I-want-to-climb-that-man-like-a-tree part. Because if it works out well with Timber Holtz, we could get recommendations that could lead us to becoming nutritionists and health advisers to the stars.
All it’ll take is a little deception, a few suppressants, and a whole lot of luck.
Timber
