The store is massive, with extensive tubes filled with candy. I hold the phone up to the starting place. “I’m guessing you want the biggest size?”
“Of course,” she says.
“All right, bucket in hand, what candy do you want, little star?” She smiles on the screen.
“All the gummies, especially the sharks and worms. Oh, definitely the red skittles and the pink starbursts. No chocolate. Oh, can I get some peach rings, sour patch watermelons, and the pineapple gummy bears?”
I nod my head and fill up the massive tub with candy. “Anything else?”
“Oh, definitely some nerd rope, and I think that should be good.”
“This bucket weighs as much as you do, Jesus Christ. We’re gonna have to take you to the dentist after you finish this thing.”
She laughs but stays on FaceTime with me.
“Thank you, Smith.”
“It’s really not a big deal. You’ve had a bad day. Is there anything else that would make it better?”
“Maybe some pho and bubble tea?” she asks, and I’m actually taken aback that she asked for something else. She is usually very good at shrugging off anything she wants.
“Sure, I know of a place. We can order and pick it up.”
“Can…can we stay an extra day here before we drive to D.C.?”
“Of course, you have two days before the show. It’s only a couple hours’ drive. Whatever you need.”
“Thanks, Smith.”
“All right, I’m walking back to the car with your bucket full of cavities now.”
“If you’re nice, I’ll share.”
“I’m always nice.”
“If you say so,” she says, smiling before she hangs up.
I’m not sure what the rest of this tour looks like for Cami now that she can’t be on suppressants. Thank fuck it happened on the last leg. Three more shows, that’s all we have to get through. Then she can make some decisions.
The idea of her bonding with multiple Alphas festers in my stomach. She doesn’t need Alphas. She just needs help sometimes. Just because she’s an Omega doesn’t mean she should have to bond with multiple people for her own protection. I judged Cami too harshly before. She tries so hard to do it all, it’s not that she can’t take care of herself. Being an Omega comes with many challenges, and being unbonded is one of the many she has to deal with. But there are ways to get around not having a bond mark.
A deep and dark idea bubbles into my head. Scents rule our society, and maybe if I scent mark her enough, then everything will be a little easier on her. It will tamper down her pheromones and keep the other Alphas away. I would do this to keep her safe, for no other reason than that.
When I enter the car, I hand her the tub of sugar, and she immediately opens the top and takes out one of the gummy sharks. She bites its head off brutally and lets out a sigh of contentment.
“Wouldn’t want to be that shark.”
“Can we go get pho?”
“Headed that way now, Cami,” Franklin says from the driver’s seat.
I scratch my beard and clear my throat. “I had an idea. You can tell me no, that it’s fucking stupid, or that you don’t want to do it. But I thought maybe, since you can’t take your suppressants, that I could scent mark you before you have to do things for work. It would help keep other Alphas off you, and I think it would help your Omega nature wean off the effects of the suppressants.”
She takes another exaggerated bite of the large gummy candy. “You would do that?”
“Yeah, if it keeps you safe. You shouldn’t have to do anything you don’t want to in order to do what you love.”
“We can try it and see how it works. I have a feeling these next few days are going to be rough going cold turkey off the suppressants. Usually, before my heats, I wean myself off of them for two weeks.”
