Page 102 of Knot All is Crystal
“No one wants to be in the same room as me if I have that much gluten,” he says, rubbing his stomach. “I’d melt the paint off the walls.”
“Exactly!” Maverick slams his hand on the table. “So if we wouldn’t do that to Gage, we’re not going to go to a venue that we can’t bring you, either. It’s the same thing.”
My heart warms at his consideration. “That’s so thoughtful of you, Mav. Really.”
“Yeah, that’s the kind of thing a lead Alpha says,” Gage says teasingly.
Maverick shakes his head rapidly, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes. “No, thank you, that’s too much responsibility—so much paperwork. I’d be the one having to fill out our taxes and shit. Fuck, no one wants me to have power of attorney over them. I’d be the one who would have to answer any legal summons. I’m sure I’ll be the cause of the summons, so no way I should be the one answering them.” He caps his paint and looks down at his shirt, considering it for a moment. When he picks up a tube of blue paint, he continues. “It should be Manny. Level-headed. He’s power of attorney coded.”
“Power of attorney coded?” I ask, capping the silver paint I was using. “What does that even mean?”
“Like, I’d trust you to unplug me if you needed to, is all.”
“Why the fuck am I unplugging you?”
Maverick shrugs and shoves a handful of chips in his mouth, speaking around the crunching. “I dunno, probably because of whatever legal summons I caused.”
The red-headed Beta nearly falls out of his chair laughing, and it’s so contagious that Maverick and I join in.
We work diligently on our shirts, and when we’re done and Maverick is satisfied with our work, I transfer them to my laundry room to dry on the ironing board. When I come back, Gage is staring at his phone.
“Puck texted me,” he says. “Crystal’s had a rough night.”
“What do you mean?” I ask as Maverick runs across the room, leaning over Gage’s shoulder and reading his phone screen. “What happened?”
He holds up the phone to me.
Puck
Do you think you guys can go over to Crystal’s place? It’s been a really busy night and some shitty customers.
Nothing dangerous. She’s just frustrated and a little beat down and could use her pack.
You’re her pack. Why don’t you take care of her?
It’s not my place. I haven’t earned that right yet.
Can you be there or not? She’ll be done here in about two hours.
I didn’t realize how late it’d gotten until I read that text. The night went by quickly. I usually never stay up this late.
“Why’d you ask him to take care of her?” I ask Gage, handing him his phone back.
“I wanted to see what he’d say. I don’t have a good read on the guy yet, but I trust him with her. I don’t think he’d ever purposefully do anything that would truly hurt her.” Maverick sinks next to Gage on the couch and rests his head on the Beta’s shoulder, taking the phone from him and staring at it.
“Didn’t leaving her in the Conglomerate hurt her?” I can’t help but ask.
“Yeah, I guess, but all of us can admit that there were Omegas at a higher risk of danger than Crys. Not now that he’s proven he’s not above hurting her and giving her away…” Gage shakes his head as if clearing it of fog. “I can’t let my feelings for what happened in the past overlook what he’s currently doing.”
It makes my stomach churn, but I understand where Gage comes from. Having Puck there with Crystal does make me feel better despite everything.
“How did he get your number?” Maverick asks. “Did you give it to him?”
“Nope,” the Beta responds, ruffling Mav’s hair. “He just texted me one day. I’m assuming he’s got some sort of mob hookup.”
“Or a public records lookup database account,” I say, nudging Maverick with my toe. “Maybe you two have more in common than you’d think.”
Gage texts Puck that we’ll head over, so we gather the shirts and pile into Maverick’s car.
