"Seeing what?" I ask.
"Nothing." Stacey's grin is wicked. "Just appreciating the scenery."
Carlos snorts and returns his attention to the sauce. Sergio's thumb traces a circle on my spine. Nacho appears in the doorway, drawn by the noise.
My omega hums contentedly in my chest knowing my alphas are in the kitchen.
Stacey watches it all with sharp, knowing eyes.
"Okay." She sets down her wine glass and claps her hands together. "Someone needs to tell me everything. From the beginning. Starting with the part where you ran from your wedding.”
I groan. "Can we at least sit down first?"
"Living room." Carlos waves his spatula toward the door. "Dinner in twenty. Wine now. Stories immediately."
Stacey hooks her arm through mine and drags me back toward the living room. Harmony follows, still clutching her wine glass like a lifeline. The Negrorios Pack stay in the kitchen, giving us space, though I feel their eyes on me until I'm out of sight.
The living room is exactly as I left it, fire crackling, blankets piled on the couch, the fading light of sunset painting the windows in shades of orange and purple.
Stacey deposits me in the corner of the couch and perches on the arm like a bird of prey.
"Spill."
"Where do you want me to start?"
"The window. The dress. The three-hundred-mile drive to the middle of nowhere." She ticks items off on her rhinestone nails. "Then skip to the part where you're living with four alphas who look at you like you're the sun and they've been living in darkness their whole lives."
"They don't look at me like that."
"Jessica." Harmony's quiet voice cuts through. "They absolutely do."
I blink at her. Harmony is curled up in the armchair by the fire, legs tucked under her, looking smaller than usual. Her hazel eyes are fixed on me with an expression I can't quite read.
"The tall one with the badge." She takes a sip of wine. "He positioned himself between you and the door. Protective instinct. The one cooking kept glancing over to make sure you were okay. And the one with the grey shirt..." She trails off. "He touched your back like he couldn't help himself. Like being near you without contact was physically painful."
"Harmony's freakishly observant." Stacey waves a hand. "It's annoying. But she's not wrong."
Heat floods my cheeks.
"It's complicated."
"It's chaos." Stacey's grin returns. "Four alphas, Jess. Your ex's best friends. This is the kind of mess soap operas are made of. I love it."
"You're not supposed to love it. You're supposed to tell me I'm being insane."
"Oh, you're definitely being insane." Stacey steals my wine glass and takes a sip. "But sanity is overrated. If finding yourself requires four ridiculously hot alphas and a small town with no cell service, who am I to judge?"
"There's cell service."
"Barely. I had to drive three miles to get a signal earlier." She returns my wine glass. "Now stop deflecting and tell me everything."
So I do.
I tell them about the wedding, making sure not to leave any details until I finish with the show down with Callum and them choosing me over their best friend. This is when I notice that Stacey's wine glass is empty and Harmony is crying silently into her sweater sleeve.
"That's..." Stacey shakes her head. "That's a lot."
"I know."
