Page 99 of Knot All is Crystal
I want to spend time with him and get to know him. I like being on the receiving end of his frenzied attention. And I thought that was just a packmate thing. But looking at it through an objective lens…
“I think maybe I have a crush on you, too?”
The water shuts off. The shower curtain rips open.
“What?”
I finally risk a look at Crystal, and I’m shocked to see pure warmth on her face. There’s no judgment, nor is there anger. She looks happy.
A wet hand grabs my arm. “What did you say?” I look up at Maverick’s eyes, shocked to find them glassy. “What did you just say, Gage?”
His chest stutters with hard breaths. I can see now how fearful he is of his feelings. Maybe he doesn’t believe himself, or perhaps he’s worried about judgment from us.
“You’re really brave,” I tell him. “Telling us. You didn’t know how we would take it, but you told us anyway. You put yourself out there.” His hand tightens on my arm, and I can tell he’s on edge, but I continue. “I’m not into men. But I think I’m into you. I thought this was a pack thing, but I don’t feel this way towards Emmanuel. It’s not how I feel for Crys, but it’s… something.”
He nods his head rapidly, looking between the two of us. “Right, it’s different. But it’s something.”
“It’s something,” I repeat.
Crystal stands up like she’s going to leave and give us privacy, and I grab her arm. “Crys, wait.”
“I’m not upset,” she says kindly. “Not at all. I think it’s beautiful that you two are discovering something about yourselves in each other.”
“It’s not that you’re not enough,” Maverick is quick to say.
She chuckles warmly. “I know that. It’s a different relationship. We’re all going to have unique relationships with each other, and that’s okay. I’ve even heard of packs that’re scent matched, and one of the Alphas isn’t sexually attracted to the Omega.” She leans her head on my shoulder, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Life is messy, guys. It’s okay if our pack is, too. I want you both to be able to learn and embrace the new part of yourself that is waking up.”
“You’re not jealous?” Maverick says softly. “You don’t think the attention should all be on you?”
“What, like all of mine will be on you?” She chuckles. “I’ve got three – I guess technically four – of you. It’s okay if sometimes you’re paying attention to one another.”
“I don’t think I want anything if you’re not there,” he adds in a rush. He looks at me apologetically. “At least not at first.”
It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. I was thinking something similar. “I agree. I want you to be an integral part of this, Crys.”
“I already am,” she chuckles. “I brought you two together, didn’t I?”
But that’s not exactly true, is it? I gave him that tattoo on his chest. Our relationship started then, with me being a little starstruck over him. “You brought us back to one another,” I say softly.
We stand around awkwardly, Maverick naked and half behind a shower curtain, and Crystal and I in front of him in the humid room. “Where do we go from here?” he stage whispers.
“Well, wherever we go, maybe we get out of the bathroom?” our Omega says, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the room.
* * *
“Hey, Hiccup,”Emmanuel says quietly from behind me.
“Come on, Manny, don’t,” I hiss. I don’t turn to look at him. Instead, I keep my eyes on Burger as he sniffs the patch of grass barely larger than a postage stamp behind Crystal’s townhome. “We’re never going to be able to be in a pack together if you insist on seeing me as a child.”
“It’s hard, Gage. I know it’s been years, but you’re ten years old in my head. You froze in time when that case worker came and took you away.”
The memory of that day makes my chest ache. I don’t like thinking about it. It feels like the day my life began and my innocence died.
I finally turn to look at the Alpha, taking in the tense way he’s standing with his hands in the pockets of his linen pants. His grey shirt hangs loosely on his trim frame.
Honestly, he doesn’t look much different from the way he did when I last saw him. Of course, there are more wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth and grey on his temples, but other than that, he’s relatively unchanged.
“Have you heard from your brother recently?”
