I laughed out loud.
Sky flushed. “Of course not! Thanks, though.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, then smiled. “I’d better get going. Jem likes to watch movies together on Sunday nights.”
“You enjoy. You’re off Monday, right? See you Tuesday, Sky.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Fletcher.” He turned and strolled out through the front doors of Bixby’s Diner, and I watched him go, feeling this strange tugging at the core of myself.
Weird…
63
ADAM
To my relief,Sky hadn’t shown aggression or gone psycho in the three months he’d worked at Bixby’s. In fact, he was actually quite the good employee, but not everything was sunshine and rainbows.
I couldn’t sit there and ignore how downright affectionate Fletcher was towards the younger Omega—or how jealous I was over it. It made no sense. Was I seriously that insecure that I felt threatened by an Omega? A pup, at that?
I blamed it on the fact that Gracie’s warning still rang like a bell: Beware the Alpha-Omega twins. She’d told me that separating River and Sky had been her only option, her only idea to stop the corruption of their broken, twisted energies, so that one day, they might lead normal lives.
As far as I knew, the twins hadn’t interacted since arriving in Greymercy and being split up, but River had already thrown a wrench in Gracie’s life by first claiming, then knocking up her youngest son, Xan. She’d been livid, pissed enough to banish River from the pack. There’d been a whole ordeal over it, but River was back.
Which meant that at any given moment, River and Sky could run into one another and their energies could spark anew.
That’s what worried me—that Sky would snap and drag Fletcher down with him, because Fletcher, my cinnamon roll of a husband, trusted Sky not to harm him. It was obvious in the way Fletcher behaved around the other Omega. The light touches and easy banter. The smiles and the laughter.
If I hadn’t known any better, I’d say Fletcher was flirting.
Shit.Washe flirting? Did I need to be worried about being replaced by a younger, newer model now that Fletcher didn’t need an Alpha to procreate? Ugh…
The past two weeks, Fletcher had been training Sky as a waiter; our usual guy was on medical leave after shattering his leg in a car accident, and Sky offered to step up so we didn’t have to hire anyone new.
As much as I wanted to argue and keep Sky hidden behind closed doors, Fletcher had all but jumped for joy at the idea, saying it was great and that Sky would get “much-needed socialization” and all that jazz.
So, of course, I had agreed.
Strangely enough, after a bit of fumbling over his words, Sky was actually getting pretty good at the whole order-taking gig. Fletcher still checked in on him, but he seemed to have it under wraps.
The holidays were quickly approaching. Snow was on the horizon; the air smelled crisp and clean.
The day started like any other—four AM wake up, sleepy good mornings, coffee on the drive to work, keys jingling as we opened up and started prepping for the breakfast rush, hellos to our employees as they began clocking in.
One by one, the Bixby’s family arrived and soon, we had booths and tables packed full of people wanting their bacon and eggs and toast with homemade strawberry jam.
I hummed something vaguely Christmassy as I worked on a griddle-top full of blueberry cream cheese pancakes, while Fletcher flitted between pans of bacon and sausage, flipping and sizzling away.
Ding, ding, ding.Orders kept flooding in. The other cooks scurried around, the kitchen abuzz.
Breakfast made way to lunch, and things slowed down a little. We were able to catch our breath—gotta love morning rush—when suddenly someone roared across the restaurant a single word: “SKY!”
Ice flooded my veins. Fletcher went stiff beside me. “Oh, shit!” he hissed, and for a moment, time stood still.
Then, as if some omnipresent god pushed the big green play button, we both burst into action at once, slamming through the double doors and out onto the floor—just in time for Sky to come running past us both, careening through the Employee’s Only door.
“Sky?” Fletcher called after him, but I grabbed his hand and pointed at the man standing with his fists at his sides, his chest heaving and anger sparking in the air.
Sky’s identical twin, River.
“Shit,” Fletcher breathed out.
