Damnit Gage. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome.”
It was going to be a long ass day.
18
The two weeks after the charity gala passed in a bit of a blur. I finished my last semester and I was just waiting for my finals to be graded. It seemed like a quiet way to end the college career that I had fought so hard with the academy to be able to do. Now that it was here it just felt kind of… well empty. It wasn’t like I could get a job safely without the protection of a pack and no one would hire me because of that either.
God that was depressing.
“Are you finished with everything?” Owen asked as he entered the living room carrying his laptop. I’d been working non-stop on my final paper and studying for my exams and I'd only been able to spend a few hours a day with the pack. Ric had kept me fed, dropping off little treats or takeout from different places. I’d been living on a diet of coffee, takeout and whatever snacks Gage kept leaving out for me.
“I think so. Now I just have to wait for the professor to grade everything.” I shrugged and was pleased when Owen came to sit next to me. We hadn’t repeated the kiss from two weeks ago but he was always down for a snuggle. I never realized how much I loved snuggling until I came to live in the Russo house. Tibby wasn’t the biggest cuddler and my parents had never been very touchy feely so I guess I was touch starved after so long.
I often spent the evenings after working on my finals snuggled on the couch with Owen who had been working from home or close to Gage who I’d managed to convince to sleep in my nest most nights. Everything was still very platonic but I found myself wanting more and more to break down the wall between us and kiss them.
Then, of course, the guilt seeped in and I withdrew into myself thinking about Link. I had to keep telling myself that I wasn’t betraying my promise to him but I hadn’t been able to fully convince myself of that.
“Was it this stressful when you graduated from university?” I pressed my cheek to his shoulder, pleased when he began to twine his fingers with mine.
“Uh, no. I actually never went to university.” I drew back with surprise looking up at him. He always gave off the vibe that he was well educated and could hold his own around his pack members who had all attended university.
“Why not?” I hoped I wasn’t stepping on his toes with the question. But I was genuinely curious.
Owen wrapped an arm behind my back and drew me in closer, resting his chin on the top of my head, “Well, when I was eighteen years old my mom and dad died in a car accident. I was only a few months away from heading off to college but I just kind of lost it. I didn’t want to do anything let alone go to college. So I didn’t.”
“Oh, Owen I’m so sorry…” I could hear the pain in his voice and I wished I hadn’t said anything at all.
“No, it’s important to me that you know. I’ve always been good with computers. Really good. I started getting mixed up with a bad crowd as a hacker for hire and I stayed that way all the way up until I met Leon.”
I tilted my head up and gave him a little impish grin, “Let me guess. You got caught hacking into Russo Enterprises?”
Owen grinned back, “See El? You already know me so well. Yes I was, in fact, caught red-handed by Leon who noticed the hack. He managed to track where I was completing the hack from—a coffee shop a block over from the company building. I still remember looking up and seeing a very angry, very handsome man glaring down at me.” If that wasn’t describing Leon to a T, I didn’t know what else could.
“He could have thrown me into prison for a very long time. I’m still surprised three years later that he didn’t. Instead he offered me a job and I never looked back.”
I nibbled on my lower lip, deciding whether or not I wanted to ask my next question. But again curiosity got the better of me. Curiosity: 2, Eloise: 0. “When did you know that you were attracted to each other?”
“It was almost immediate for me. I’ve always liked men and women so it was easy for me to understand that he was attractive and I was attracted to him. It was the same for Ric as well. The only difference was Ric was okay beginning a relationship with me and Leon held out for a good six months which was pure torture. But you know how he can be about newcomers.”
“Prickly as hell and a bit of an asshole?”
“Yup.” We both laughed at that and settled down further into the couch together and Owen pulled the knit throw that was always draped over the back of the sectional over us. The warmth from his body was making me feel drowsy and I knew that a nap was quickly in the cards for me.
“Owen?” I asked with a yawn.
“Yeah?” Owen sounded as sleepy as I was, but I needed to ask one more question that I’d had every time I got a glimpse of Owen’s unmarked skin. I couldn’t understand why neither alpha had marked the beta as theirs—they were clearly all bonded in every way but that.
“Why hasn’t Leon marked you yet?”
Owen gave a great sigh, his chest rising and falling as he thought about the answer to my question, “I’m not one-hundred percent sure, but I think he’s been waiting for me to leave. I don’t know how much you know about his past but it was rough and it’s made him feel like everyone around him is going to leave him at some point. Me included.”
“But Gage and Ric have been with him for years.” I pointed out. I knew that Leon had issues with omegas for whatever reason, but I was surprised to hear that it also extended to almost every part of his life. It sounded… well, lonely.
“You are preaching to the choir, Eloise. Preaching to the choir.” Owen yawned again, this time louder and deeper, “Let’s take a quick nap before everyone comes home, okay?”
I nodded and snuggled deeper into his chest, letting myself drop off into sleep with the thought of the prickly alpha with dark blue eyes and wondering if he would ever let others into his stonewalled heart.
