I punched Finn in the arm. “Don’t do that shit again.”
“I won’t,” he said seriously. “Olive’s forgiven me, and I don’t take that lightly.”
Lars stood and stretched. “For the record, I’m taking her out tomorrow.”
I guessed that was fair. He hadn’t had a date with Olive yet. But why did he get to take her out on a Saturday? Bastard was obviously going to drag it out all day.
“I’m going to get changed, and then I’m going to get a pumpkin spice latte.” He took a few steps towards the stairs before clarifying, “Lattes. Multiple. For anyone who wants one. Not just for me.”
Uh huh. As if I hadn’t seen the empty cups in the trash.
“And Finn?” he said. “We never would have kicked you out of the pack. You’re ours, and we would have figured something out.”
Finn slumped back on the couch as Lars headed upstairs. “I’m really sorry I freaked you out,” he said.
“You’ve always gotten lost in your head.”
“Yeah.” He put his arm back around me. “I don’t know how you do it, East. How you stay so positive with all the shit you’ve been through.”
I shifted on the couch so I was leaning up against him. “It’s because I have you and Lars. You brought lightness into my world.”
“Well fuck,” Finn choked out, swiping at his eyes.
“And now we have Olive.” I wanted to bring all the light into her world. She deserved it, since she was the pure sunshine in mine.
“Yeah, we do. And she needs some fucking furniture.”
I grinned. We were finally working together as a pack, and we were going to sweep our omega off her feet.
35
LARS
“What are your favorite books?”
Olive’s sweet voice reached me from where she was curled up in the passenger seat, facing me. She’d already been all smiles when she walked out of the house this morning, ready for our date, but when I told her we were road-tripping to different romance bookstores? She’d let out a shriek, jumped in my arms, and pulled me in for a deep kiss I could still feel against my lips.
She was so fucking easy to please, and it made me want to do everything I could to make her happy.
Olive seemed to think that she was a difficult omega… that her medical issue would scare us away. It was the biggest load of bullshit. I hadn’t seen her on one of her dark days yet, but there was nothing that would put me off, and I would do whatever I could to prove I wasn’t going anywhere.
I glanced over at her. Fuck, she was so pretty. She was wearing some sort of plaid long-sleeved dress today and knitted tights, and I wished I could pull her into my lap. I turned my eyes back on the road and placed my hand on her thigh. She immediately surrounded it with hers, clinging to my wrist like maybe she wanted my touch as much as I craved hers.
“So… do you have one?” she asked.
My brain whirred, trying to remember the question.
Fuck, she was asking me aboutbooks.
I knew this would come up today. How could it not, when our date was literally all about books? My chest swirled with that familiar shame, and my throat was tight as I tried to clear it. Why did it feel like such a big deal to tell her? Olive wouldn’t judge me. Iknewthat, but fuck, I couldn’t stop the squeezing feeling in my chest.
“I don’t really read,” I hedged.
“Yeah?” She traced her fingers up and down my forearm, and I tightened my hold on her leg, digging my fingers into her lush thigh. “No favorites from what you have read?”
I stayed quiet as I changed lanes, passing a slow tractor. “I’m dyslexic,” I finally said when the silence stretched on too long. “I had to read books in school, but I hated it. It always felt impossible.”
My huge size had stopped me from getting bullied about not being able to read in school, but my omega loved books. Would she see me differently knowing we could never share this hobby?
