The bus door banged open, and chaos spilled inside—pizza boxes and crinkling paper and the collective sound of three idiots trying to talk over each other. Dixon led the charge; arms loaded with three steaming cardboard boxes. He was followed by Tray, who supported a paper grocery bag atop his head. Last came Mac, whose hands were empty, though there was no doubt he carried Tessa’s medicine on his person.
“Tessa, I found that pizza place you talked about,” Dixon announced. He set the takeout boxes down with a thumpon the tiny island. He was grinning in triumph, looking like he’d just made the 1,000-pound club for lifting.
Tessa’s eyes lit up, actual tears of joy welling. “Did they still have the chicken, bacon, Alfredo one? With fresh basil and sun-dried tomatoes?”
Dixon opened the top box with a flourish. “You bet your sweet ass they did.”
The pie was a monstrosity—cheese bubbling, bacon still sizzling, whole leaves of basil scattered over the surface like confetti. The noise Tessa made was high-pitched and undignified. She lifted her arms and clawed them open and closed in a ‘grabby’ gesture. Dixon chuckled, quickly snagging a paper plate and loading it with two large, melty slices. When he came over to her, Tessa snatched the plate ferociously, digging in like she was starved.
“Save room for ice cream,” Tray reminded, now pulling out his haul from the brown paper bag. There was Unicorn Swirl—a nauseating, Frankenstein monstrosity of cotton candy, marshmallows, and sprinkles—Cherry Garcia, Mint Chip, and Brownie Cheesecake.
“I have two stomachs right now,” Tessa quipped, nodding her head seriously, as if to affirm her own claim. “Regular Tessa stomach. And Heat Tessa stomach. So, I’ll have plenty of room.”
“Well, pause long enough to take this,” Mac said as he strode over, a bottle of O’Mega Heat Relief in one hand, and a can of diet soda in the other. He eyed the water I was still, for some reason, holding. He wrote it off, maybe assuming it was mine. I didn’t correct him.
Tessa rested her plate against her legs, and held both hand out, one sideways and ready to take the soda, the other flat with palm to the ceiling, waiting for the two tablets. When Mac rested the pink O’Mega pills against her pale skin, she tossed them into her mouth and chased them down with a gulp of soda. When she was done, Mac bent down and kissed her forehead gently before retreating to the tiny kitchenette to grab food.
“That medicine has such a stupid name, but it really does work.” She swiped the back of her hand across her damp mouth, then went back tonibbling on a slice of pizza. Her ravenous eating was already slowing. I wasn’t sure that two stomach thing was something she could live up to.
Tray skipped over, going to perch on the arm of a recliner. He held a slice in one hand, and a plate beneath it with the other. “Does it give you O’Megaaaa relief?” He started humming the O’Mega theme song.
Dixon sidled up, wrapping one muscled arm around Tray, who leaned into the other’s hard chest. “Tessa doesn’t need your dad jokes right now.”
“But I’ve got an endless Dad-a-Bank,” Tray protested, catching the tip of his pizza between his teeth. When he bit down, and began to pull the rest of the slice of pizza away to chew, cheese began stretching between the once-joined pieces. As the melty ribbon of cheesy-goodness lengthened, Dixon ducked his head down to catch it with his own mouth and claim it.
“Hey!” Tray tried to chew faster, but Dixon was king of speed eating. Their battle for the cheese ended at their mouths, and they terminated the mini war with a sloppy kiss.
An hour later,Tessa was stuffed with pizza, sick from ice cream, and dozing off to a movie Mac picked out calledScent of an Omega.
The other guys were sprawled sleeping around the bus’s tight living room. Josie lounged at the top of her cat tree. I should sleep, but I felt wide awake. Mac’s film choices were typically too artistic for me, slow and cerebral. This movie hit home though. A blind Alpha, catching his Omega’s scent for the first time, becomes obsessed. He spends years of his life trying to find her. When he does, they’re both already old. They’d missed a lifetime together.
I was sitting on the floor, back pressed into the sofa. I don’t know how much time passed, or how long I was engrossed in the movie, while the soft snores of my pack mates and purrs from Josie filled the air. I felt so comfortable, so at peace.So very at home.
And I was fucking crying over the stupid movie.
Wiping the tears with the hem of my shirt, I glanced back at Tessa. Her body was tilted slightly to one side now, and her head rested in the narrow gap between two of the back cushions. Her breathing was steady, her face slack and free of worry. No nightmares, something she’d had off and on for the first few months.Imagining she was living in a box again. Imagining she was falling into a bottomless dumpster. Imagining she’d lost Josie at Eros.
My chest swelled with pride and protection as I watched her sleep in this carefree manor. I turned to the side, letting my legs trail along the floor parallel to the couch, and I lifted one arm to rest on the seat cushions. My fingers were just close enough to touch the blanket draped over her legs.
Life was funny. All the self-torture, all the fruitless hope… had led me to this moment.
The rocky, uncertain path had smoothed. I wasn’t fucking things up anymore by clinging to a mystery Omega I'd probably never see again. Because she was here, here and a part of my pack. I shook my head in disbelief, a lopsided grin stretching across my face.
Life was fucking funny. Unpredictable. Painful. Full of heart-mending joy.
I glanced out the window behind the sofa, losing myself in thought.
It was raining harder now, the world outside blurry. Light from streetlamps and building windows filtered through the tinted glass.
Everything was hazy, dull, and unfocused out there. But inside this tour bus, everything was crystal clear and soaked in bright, warming colors.
Let it rain forever. Let shit pour down and try to dampen my happiness.
It wouldn’t succeed. Nothing could kill my joy now.
EPILOGUE. TESSA FORTUNE.
A YEAR AFTER REGAINING HER FAMILY’S ASSETS. THE FORTUNE MANSION…
