Charlotte hums as she inhales her donut. “These are so fucking good.” I nod my head, and so does Anders. She’s got a bit of granulated sugar on the side of her lip, and I use my thumb to swipe it up and suck the sugar off my thumb. Doesn’t compare to how sweet Charlotte tastes, but it will do. She flushes as she tracks the tip of my tongue, licking the pad of my thumb and she clears her throat.
“What’s next?”
“There’s the hayride, corn maze, face painting, potato sack race, and musical baked goods.”
“What the hell is musical baked goods?” Charlotte asks, and I can tell Anders is just as confused by the idea.
“Come on.” I drag Charlotte by the hand, Hank on the leash, and Anders following us as we go to play the stupid game.
We wait in line and watch as people do musical chairs. Each chair is numbered, and they draw from a hat. If your number is called, you get the baked good of your choice.
“What the fuck, this isn’t even competitive?” Charlotte asks, and a woman balks at her language next to us. Charlotte doesn’t apologize, and I smile.
“We could always make it more interesting,” Anders says, and I shake my head at these heathens who are my packmates. Or will be, when the time is right.
“First one to win gets to pick what we do tonight,” Charlotte says, and Anders and I grin at each other. I didn’t want to push anything, but I was hoping she would want the date to go further than the festival.
“Deal,” I say, shaking her hand, and Anders follows. If I would have made the rules, it would have been for touching, so I’m glad that Charlotte came up with the idea. Maybe I can still hope that her plans involve touching.
We’re lucky that we’re in the next group, and we all play a few rounds, none of us getting called. Until the fifth round when, lucky me, my number gets called. I give both Anders and Charlotte a shit-eating grin as I head to the baked goods table. Not being a sore loser, I let Charlotte pick the baked goods as we head over to the hayride.
“Know what you’re going to have us do this afternoon?” Charlotte asks.
“I have some ideas,” I say, smiling before kissing the side of her head. I smell her perfume, and I couldn’t remove the smile from my face if I tried.
Hank was very confused about the hayride, and it was a combined effort between Anders and I to get him up and situated on the ride.
We’re near the back of the ride as the conductor is trying to shove two more people on the ride. “Get together real close, folks.”
I take the opportunity with enthusiasm and pick up Charlotte, then put her on my lap. She doesn’t try to get up and just wiggles closer. I may have miscalculated because now I’m hard, and we’re at a family-friendly fall festival. She leans against me, her back pressed against my chest as she sighs.
“Thank you, Eli. Today was what I needed.”
“Anything for you,” I reply, and I fucking mean it. I band my hand around her waist, and I feel like I am a true champion for not coming in my pants as the hayride seems to hit every bump, pushing Charlotte’s ass further against my crotch.
Chapter forty
Mycheekshurtfromsmiling so much. It feels nice to be happy. There isn’t an undercurrent of guilt that comes along with how I’m enjoying myself with Eli, Anders, and Hank. I know if my mom could see me right now, this is what she would have wanted. Not the shell of the girl who never left the house, didn’t laugh or smile. She would want me to be me, and the truth is I am my best self with Anders and Eli. I hate to admit it, but Mikael makes me better too. But right now I’m ignoring him and all his attempts at reaching out with letters. I’m scared, scared that he’s put the nail in the coffin of our relationship. I’m mad, stewing over his diary entries, but what if the letters are ending things for real? What if this is the end? What if those letters are worse than what I read?
I shake my head and bring myself back to the present. Sitting on Eli’s lap, his thighs are even bigger and stronger than I remember. His erection is digging into my ass, but I act like I don’t notice it. I may exaggerate every single bump that the trailer hits. His grip is firm on my hips, and I smile over at Anders, who is looking at me like I’m his reason for living. He reaches out and places his hand on my thigh. No one on the hayride balks. Pack life is common, maybe not with Betas, but in a general sense, people are very comfortable with polyamorous relationships.
“Have you thought about what you would like to do after?” Anders asks. I know what I want, and I’m assuming they want the same thing too. Closeness, in whatever form. They just genuinely want to spend time with me, and damn if that doesn’t make me feel some kind of way.
I nod and put my one hand over his. The other is on Hank’s head, who is currently panting heavily and enjoying the fresh air.
“Maybe we could go back to my place, get some dinner, and carve these pumpkins we’re about to pick out?”
Anders smiles, and I feel Eli squeeze my hips. “That sounds perfect,” Anders says, and I blush. Maybe I let Anders off too easily, seeing as we have already been intimate, but I can’t help it. Something about him puts me at ease, and I know he was being completely truthful with me when he told me how he felt. While Eli and I are in a good place, I haven’t so much as kissed him, but after today... Well, after the last few months, I think he deserves it. I know I sure as hell need it.
I’d be lying if I said that my appetite for my Alphas wasn’t growing day by day. It’s becoming slightly concerning, but not surprising. I’m on a lower suppressant, and our pheromones were built for each other. It’s what’s meant to happen.
The hayride stops in the middle of the pumpkin patch, and we’re the last ones to get off, having sat so close to the tractor’s end. Anders holds out a hand to help me down, and then Eli has to help Hank get down the hayride steps.
“What are you going to carve into yours?” I ask Eli.
“A fox, obviously.”
I roll my eyes. “Obviously.”
