Page 3 of Going Down Smooth: Part One

“Benjamin Smooth will forever be in our hearts. He was a pillar of our community, a true Alpha. He cared for his family, and he took care of his employees as if they were his own. Our town is what it is today because of The Smooth Bourbon Company. We only pray that those who take up the mantel of the business will continue to do the same. Our sincere condolences to Pack Smooth, Alpha Christopher, Alpha Edward, and their lovely Omega Seneca. You will be in our thoughts and prayers during this time of great sorrow. Alpha Benjamin Smooth left us a great legacy behind, not only with his company, but with his three Omega daughters. A true blessing from above indeed. Faith, Grace, and—”

The high-pitched sound of poorly oiled door hinges has us all turning around as the church door creaks open. Audible gasps and shrieks of surprise spring up around the room as Mercy Smooth walks through the door. Trey hisses next to me, and I can hear Lox curse under his breath a few seats down.

We all knew she was coming. There is no way she would have missed her father’s funeral. She has two other dads, but Benjamin was her biological father; she is a carbon copy of him, not only in looks but also personality. It is still a shock to the heart to see her here after all this time. Five fucking years. Five. Regrettable. Fucking. Years. If I could go back to that last moment with her. . . As leader of our little ragtag pack, I should have handled things differently. But I was so caught up in her rejection that I was irrational and angry, so angry. We all were.

As soon as the door snaps shut the mayor’s cough brings the attention back to the front of the room and he continues to speak. “Mercy Smooth.” He coughs again as the room begins to settle once more. Yeah, her late arrival is hella awkward, and knowing Mercy, I guarantee she wasn’t late at all. She was probably debating the pros and cons of stepping through those doors. I get it.

This will definitely be the news of the day despite Benjamin’s funeral. Mercy’s father died two weeks ago of a heart attack in his office, literally five years to the day that Mercy ran. The poor bastard was holding out hope that she would return but she didn’t, and I know that I am to blame for that. I’ve never told my brothers that I commanded her to go and never return. The look of devastation on her face when I barked out my order will forever haunt me. I broke something between us when I did it, but she broke me first when she didn’t give us a chance.

Knowing I’ve spent too much time with my head turned, I go to face forward, but not before Mercy locks eyes with me as she takes a seat in the back of the church and away from her family. I offer her a nod. I wait, holding my breath. It is slightly unsettling that my heart is pounding so hard in my chest, the anticipation of a simple gesture from her jolts my body awake for the first time in ages. Because as crazy as it may sound, even after all this time, she is still it for me. After what feels like an eternity but only a few seconds, she nods back, the corner of her lips tilts up in a slight smile, and for a moment, that’s enough.

“You might want to stop gawking at her, Knight,” Stefan, the Beta who works for us, leans over to whisper, nudging my side with his sharp elbow. My head snaps forward and I almost growl at him for his intrusion.

Looking him in the eyes I whisper back, “Don’t interrupt me again, Stefan. Know your fucking place,” His eyes widen in surprise. I guess he didn’t think I would react to what he had done. Normally, his words wouldn’t matter, but my irritation with him is growing by the day. He’s constantly overstepping, and although he didn’t know Mercy personally, he knew all the gossip about her rejecting us and running away from our mating ceremony. I guess he decided he already hated her.

Fucking Beta. Stefan is not officially part of our pack, although he would love to be. Honestly, we keep him around because he is helpful when he is not being a pain in the ass. Plus, I don’t have the heart to tell Nate that his friend makes Lox, Trey, and me crazy. Even though I wouldn’t say he’s Nate friend; more like a charity case my brother found and brought home one day. My kindhearted baby brother will never learn. Adding someone else to our pack never felt right after. . . As if I am holding out hope. . .that. You know what? No. I won’t allow myself down that road. There is nothing but past heartbreak down that path. Shifting in my seat, I can feel my brother Nate’s eyes on me, but I ignore his questioning gaze as the mayor comes to the end of his speech.

“The family has asked for privacy in their time of grief. There will be a small reception for close family only. Thank you to the Smooth Pack for allowing me the opportunity to speak and pay my final respects to a man who will truly be missed,” he says as he nods his head toward Mercy’s family who are sitting in the first two rows at the front of the church. Mercy’s mother, Seneca, is sobbing quietly in the arms of Christopher, another one of her Alphas and the pastor of this church, while her other mate Edward sits there with his head down.

Next to them is Mercy’s older sister, Faith, surrounded by her pack Alphas who possessively crowd her, not giving the woman any room to breathe, let alone grieve. The Douglas pack follow the old ways of our society; extremely possessive, with the belief that their Omega is their property. As I look over at Faith, I see a shell of the girl she once was. Her head is down, shoulders slumped, as tears drip down into her lap. I mean, it could be the overwhelming heaviness weighing on her heart, but everyone in our community knows better. The lead Alpha Derrick has his hand clamped around the back of her neck as he absentmindedly strokes her collar with his thumb.

A part of me is glad Mercy hasn’t been here to witness some of the things we’ve seen her being put through; Derrick and his packmates would have had a fight on their hands, hell, I would have gladly helped. I have no love for Derrick Douglas and I feel sorry for Faith who had no choice but to mate with his pack. Christopher arranged the mating himself. . .his own flesh and blood, and he tossed her to the wolves.

Sitting behind them all in the second row is Mercy’s youngest sister, Grace. Newly mated to the Franklyn pack, she is already heavily pregnant with her first child. She’s leaned into the arms of one of her mates, James, the pack Beta, as she cries softly into his shoulder. Grace’s pack is unconventional, like ours. You can tell they love her and want to protect her. She’s treated like every Omega should be, like a queen.

I chance another glance behind me, and I can see that Mercy is observing her sisters just as hard as I am. Her face is sad but there is a strong determination in her eyes as she holds herself together. She is alone and she shouldn’t be. But it is a choice that she made and there is nothing to be done about it now.

“Do you think one of us should go and speak to her, or sit with her?” Trey whispers, somehow reading my mind, as everyone begins to stand from their seats. The mayor’s speech was saved for last and now everyone slowly makes their way over to where the Smooth’s are sitting to pay their respects.

“No. She didn’t want us, remember. So, leave her alone, just like she wanted.” I stand, a little too aggressively, shoving my hands in the pockets of my slacks and push past Stefan and Nate. I ignore Trey’s low growl at my words. I am sure he, of all my other packmates, knows I am full of bullshit. I need air. Yes, that was an asshole thing to say to my brothers considering that is not how I truly feel but pride has a way of making men idiots, and I am the biggest.

I turn toward the exit of the church. I don’t look across the aisles to the Smooths. From the movement of the crowd, I bet they’re now inundated with whispers of condolences by funeral goers. This church has a congregation of at least five hundred parishioners, and it seems that they were all here today.

The church had recently been remodeled to allow room for Christopher’s growing flock . The large open space is shaped in a wide semi-circle with pews on either side that arch away from the center aisle. Behind me is a large golden cross that hangs above the pulpit, with chairs on stage for deacons and all the other important members of the church’s administration. Of course, you can’t have a Baptist church without a massive choir stand that stretches from one side of the church to the other. I am sure on Sunday morning this place is the epitome of African American churches everywhere. I can almost hear the singing, clapping, and shouting followed by another one of Christopher’s sermons about obeying God’s word and following the hierarchy of our society to live our holiest of lives.

I stopped being a religious man the moment my parents were snatched away from me. Death is a cruel son of a bitch and it left Nate and I orphaned. The entire place reeks of bullshit, preaching one thing inside the church only for you to live sinfully hours later. I am not buying into it; never have, never will.

I can feel everyone’s eyes shift to me as I move down the middle of the aisle. I am sure they are wondering why my pack is even here considering we are basically pariahs. No one wants to offer up their precious Omega to us, not that we would have wanted her, but Mercy’s rejection left us on the outskirts of our community. Despite all our successes we remain unmated, and honestly, I am fine with that.

Benjamin Smooth was like a father figure to us all. For as long as I remember, ever since we were children, we latched on to Mercy and we became her four best friends. We were inseparable. Our parents were friends and we all became friends naturally. We all went to the same private school, had the same social circles, it was fate. We did everything together and no one looked twice at the supposed female Alpha creating her own little pack at a young age.

Benjamin encouraged it, and he nurtured her strong will and determination to learn his business. What she learned about the bourbon business, we learned as well. Her father taught us everything. We are here today to pay our respects, but today means so much more. Benjamin’s only request was that his will be read as soon as he was laid to rest. This afternoon his lawyers will be sitting down with the family to read his wishes and we are invited.

Oh, Benjamin. You had a plan, but you didn’t get to see it through. Now I’m the one holding on to your secret. I don’t glance at Mercy as I pass her at the back of the church. Pushing through the double doors, I practically run down the steps and into the waiting sun. I tip my head back and breathe. I need to keep it together, her arrival changes nothing. Scratch that, her arrival changes everything.

By the sound of the easy footfalls, I know it’s Lox approaching before he even reaches me.

“I told you we should have just skipped the funeral and shown up to the house at the time the lawyers suggested.” He shrugs as he stands beside me. The parking lot in front of us is full of cars from almost half the town.

“And like I told you, that would have been disrespectful to the man’s memory, Lox. We owe him more than that,” I say wholeheartedly.

Lox tsks, crossing his arms over his chest, his navy-blue button-down shirt straining against his muscles. My brother appears out of place here. It doesn’t matter that he comes from money, Lox is a jeans and t-shirt kind of person. He is more at home slinging drinks behind the bar of our club than in boardrooms and wearing business suits.

“Yeah, I agree but at least we wouldn’t have to pretend. These people care nothing about us. And now she—” He sighs, running his hands through his locs in frustration. “Now she’s here, Knight. I can smell her. Either her scent blockers aren’t working or something else is going on. Hell, she’s doused in de-scenting spray. I know it’s meant to neutralize scents, honestly, the smell makes me queasy, but she still fucking smells like peach cobbler on a Sunday afternoon.”

“Well, that’s descriptive.” I chuckle humorlessly.

I scent her as well. I will never forget her unique perfume. The moment she comes through the doors of the church, the fragrance of summer peaches hits my tongue, making my dick stir. I can’t go down this road, we can’t, it will destroy us once and for all. Mercy Smooth is a no go.Tick tock, Knight. You won’t be able to say no when the truth is revealed.

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