Henry tapped his hands on the steering wheel before sighing softly and getting out of the car, and I followed him, feeling like shit.
Westin turned as I got closer, and she threw her arms around me. “This was such a great idea. Ernesto and Carlos have been running this stand for ten years. Can you believe that?”
I glanced up and saw two older guys—betas, by the look of them—leaning out of the truck window and handing Bear two paper plates filled with tacos that looked fucking amazing.
“I got tacos al pastor and spicy chicken,” Westin continued. “Go on and order.” She nudged me closer to the truck, a huge smile on her face. A smile I had put there.
I couldn’t resist pulling her into a tight hug. She returned it easily, wrapping her arms around me. I pressed a hard kiss to her lips, savoring her smile, before going to the window and getting the same order as my omega.
Once I got my food, I headed over to the faded red picnic table to the side of the truck. Westin was already squeezed between Bear and Henry, so Gray and I were forced to sit next to each other. Westin watched us closely, so I did my best to mask my…dislikefor the alpha.
“These are amazing,” Bear said, polishing off his last taco. “I need more.”
Westin laughed, looking down at her full plate. “I won’t finish all of these. You can have some.”
Bear kissed her forehead before getting up. “No, baby, you eat as much as you can. I’ll get more.”
“And more queso,” Henry said around a mouth full of food.
I hid my smile, taking another bite of my taco. Fair to say, Henry had gotten over his hesitation about the food truck. The beta seemed nice. A bit pretentious, but he was sweet with Westin and had been attentive during her heat, which won him points in my book.
Ernesto walked over to the picnic table. “We have a karaoke machine in the back that we could pull out,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
“Oh my gosh, yes!” Westin said, standing up. “I love karaoke. Who’s singing with me?”
All of us suddenly became very interested in our food.
Westin huffed an exasperated sigh at our silence. “They’re hopeless,” she said to Ernesto, who just smiled.
Before I knew it, a karaoke machine blasted “Omegas Just Wanna Have Fun,” and Westin sang along into a staticky microphone. Whatever she lacked in singing talent, she certainly made up for with enthusiasm. I leaned my elbows on thepicnic table, mesmerized by how happy she looked, dancing and singing.
Henry cleared his throat, dusted off his hands, and got up from the table.
“Oh, now he’s going to make us look bad,” Bear grumbled as Henry joined Westin, who squealed with happiness.
They joined hands and danced together, which was really just uncoordinated bouncing, and Henry sang the second verse.
“This was a good idea,” Gray said, jaw clenched like it cost him something to say it.
I lifted my chin. “She said she’d never been on a road trip before. Thought we could try to make it fun.”
“I think fun finds her,” Bear said, standing up with a stretch. “Trouble, too.”
Then he joined Westin and Henry, singing along to the chorus—badly—and making Westin laugh so hard she started crying.
I’d been so focused on making sure she got the care she needed I hadn’t thought much about what came next, but seeing her laugh with Bear and Henry felt like a glimpse of the future we would have together once she got better.
50
WESTIN
My eyes widened as we walked into the hotel suite.
“Wow,” I said under my breath, trying to take it all in.
The gold and marble statues in the lobby should have tipped me off to how extravagant the room would be, but this suite was fancier than anything I’d ever seen. It looked like something straight out of a Victorian drama, not a small boutique hotel.
We’d stopped about six hours away from home in Luna’s second largest city, Little River. I glanced up at the crystal chandelier in the living room as I headed to the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. They overlooked the river, although it was too dark to see now. But the stars were bright, and it eased some of the tension I’d been carrying. I trailed my fingers down the cool glass.
