Page 9 of Alpha's Two Omegas

“Yes. It was instinct! I was lifting the plant pot when he touched me, and I just… automatically smacked him on the head with it. It was reflex!”

Ty’s eyes were alight with laughter and Ronnie’s eyes grew so big with amazement that I worried they’d pop right out of his skull.

I took the opportunity as we were driving home to point out a few things to Ronnie, like the nearest bus stop, the local shops and a nearby park which was nice to walk around in summer. He nodded and I wondered if he was always this quiet. He’d talked a lot earlier, but then I had been asking him direct questions. He was a bit fascinating, actually. I’d watched his whole demeanour change as he’d talked about photography; he’d sat up straight and talked more confidently and gestured with his hands. It was like he’d come properly alive, after being a timid little wooden puppet.

I wanted to see more of this ‘real’ Ronnie and tried to remind myself that other people were slow and needed time to process things – Ty was always telling me that I was too impatient. I’d let Ronnie settle in first and then make him come out of his shell.

Yep, that was settled. I’d give him at least a day.

When we’d got home and unloaded the car, I put my hands on my hips and decided what we were going to do next. “Right, Ty, you go and put that lock on Ronnie’s door. Unless you bodge it up completely, you’ll be done before the pizza arrives.”

Ronnie opened his mouth and I sent him a questioning look. “Something wrong?”

He shook his head but his worried look told me he was lying. So I pushed. Ty was always on at me about that, telling me I pushed people too hard, but I didn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed to. I wanted to know something. So I asked. And asked again until I was satisfied. Everyone was happy. Well, apparently nobodyelsewas happy butIwas, and that was basically all that mattered.

“Doyouwant to put the lock on?” I guessed.

“I- I wouldn’t know how to. I’ve never done anything like that.”

“Well, now’s a great time for you to learn. You can go upstairs with Ty and he’ll walk you through it.” I saw a flash of panic on his face and just about resisted the urge to roll my eyes. If he was going to be afraid of Ty, he was going to have to go. I took a calming breath, though, and reminded myself that ifI’d been living with that alphahole creep, I would probably be wary of other alphas, too.

I would give Ronnie time to learn that Ty wasn’t like that. It still amazed me that people had to learn that there were decent people out there, and it bothered me that the assumption that people were decent couldn’t be a baseline.

I gave my most reassuring smile and said, “I’ll come up and supervise.”

Ty snorted and I glared at him. “Got something to say?”

He shook his head quickly. “Nuh uh. Nope. Not a thing.”

“Good. I can order dinner while you two work.”

Ty and I both knew that I was awful at DIY. I had no patience for that kind of thing. If it wasn’t done in under ten minutes, I got frustrated and just started bashing things, hoping to get them into place that way. Ty had spent several years going round after me, fixing everything I’d done wrong until he’d banned me from DIY completely.

We had both settled on ‘a supervisory role’ for me, to soothe my wounded pride when he’d told me bluntly that it wasn’t my skill. Since everything in the flat was impeccably DIY-ed these days (since I’d become ‘supervisor’), I took that as proof that I was a natural at the more senior role.

I trailed up the stairs after them and sat on the top step while Ty got his tool kit out. Partly, I had wanted to be there with them to stop Ronnie looking like a deer in the headlights at the prospect of being alone with Ty, but also… Ty doing DIY.

I had to admit, it was hot. There was something about that big, strong man getting all… manly and hammery and stuff. That was also the reason that I still insisted on ‘supervising’ when he did his thing. So I got to watch him work.

As Ty settled in front of Ronnie’s door, on his knees, I glanced up to see Ronnie looking at me. Damn. Had I been ogling Ty’s ass as he knelt?

I had got used to letting my eyes wander, since Ty never noticed. I’d have to be careful if Ronnie’s eyes were sharper.

Just in case I’d been perving on my best friend, I gave a sceptical eyebrow raise and asked, “Are you going to do it likethat?”

Ty grinned and flipped me off. “I haven’t started yet. Ronnie’s going to do it.”

“Oh, um, are you sure?”

If Ty had givenmethat reassuring smile, I’d probably have believed I could do DIY, too. That man had a magic smile.

“Of course you are. I’ll walk you through it. Now, let’s get that lock out of the packet.”

Before they could get too invested in what they were doing, I asked Ronnie, “What pizza do you want?”

“Excuse me?”

“What pizza do you want?”

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