She smiles at me, tired eyes falling closed.
“Let’s get you rinsed off,” Zach adds.
Our omega nods, wrapping her arms around me while I carry her to the gym’s shower. I’ll edit and send her the video of us all fucking later, a little souvenir for her.
What a fantastic morning.
Chapter 20
Madi
After that delicious gym sex session, we clean off and I return to Alric’s room alone so they can get some work done. My suitcase is open on the floor and I pick out a hot-pink lace bra and panty set with black leggings and soft gray T-shirt over it.
Between my late-night confessions with Alric in my makeshift nest and taking two alphas at once, I relish the solitude after such an intimate and intense morning. It’s just another reason I don’t think I’m meant for pack life.
I needsomuch alone time. I crave time to myself and need to be able to decompress without anyone interrupting me. Not for an hour or two, either. One of the reasons I love being a sugar baby is because I getdaysalone to myself. Unless I’m traveling for content, Monday through Thursday is my time. No one else’s needs to consider, no one else’s feelings getting hurt.
I’m a solitary creature. There’s safety in seclusion. Packs, they’re together all the time. Harper says she can’t wait to spend every second with her future pack.
Now that I have some alone time, I need to finally call her and catch her up. I pull out my phone, hitting the video chat button. Thankfully, she answers on the first ring.
“Hey, babe!”
The relief of seeing her face again is instant. “Hey! I have so much to tell you! How’s the gallery?”
She’s in the beautiful sunroom where she does most of her art, wearing her favorite paint-covered overalls, with a splash of blue on her cheek. That red hair of hers is tangled up in a knot held together by two paintbrushes. She lives above her art gallery in her luxury omega apartment.
“Oh, it’s good. Bellini, come see Mama!” She turns the phone around and I can see my sweet cat walking towards her. My heart painfully surges. I wish I was home with her, cuddled up in my sad little nest.
Seeing my favorite person and my beloved cat so far away from me, homesickness explodes out of me, tears welling in my eyes.
Harper starts to panic. “Oh my gosh! You never cry, what’s wrong?”
I tell her everything; Hunter’s lie to get me here, Alric’s reaction, desperately calling Zachary to save me only to discover that he was here, too. Scent matches. The sex. This damn secluded island. How I could have possibly dated three best friends and business partners for a year without them realizing I was the same person.
I end with, “I just don’t know how to explain so that they truly understand that while I like all of them, I don’t want a pack. I’m terrified of it.”
“You don’t need to explain anything. ‘No’ is a complete sentence. It’s your life, you get to decide what you do with it. They don’t get some magical fated claim on you just because they know what you smell like.”
“I know, but?—”
“There’s no buts. You’ve had a life plan, a goal you worked really hard on. They don’t get to come in and mess it up ifyoudon’t want them to. From your dads to your clients, you’ve known more shitty alphas than most. They can’t expect to change your whole perspective on their designation because you’ve had some great sex and a few nice days in Greece.”
“You don’t think I’m making a mistake?” I’m desperate for reassurance that I’m not crazy for not immediately giving into what they want.
It’s what omegas are expected to do, after all.
“Even if you are,” Harper says gently, “it’s your mistake to make.”
“It’s sugar baby rule number nine. No packs. I have these rules for a reason.”
“Well, it might be time to make some new rules. If and when you are ready.”
I ask a question I’m almost afraid to speak out loud. “Do you think I’d be a good pack member?”
Her blue eyes soften. “I’d be happy to be in a pack with you. You’re a supportive, kind, and loyal friend to me, all qualities needed in a bondmate. I’d love to see you in a pack, especially if it means getting you out of that shitty ass apartment. It’s not good for you to be alone so much. There are some really good alphas out there. They’re not all like your dads, but that’s up to you to discover on your own. They can’t force you, but they would be lucky to have you.”
“They have been really understanding for the most part. Kind, too, which makes it worse. At least if they were jerks, I could be upset at them, but all this compassion and concern adds so much guilt to this situation.”
