Page 17 of One for the Money
I’d love to pay for it all, but there’s no way she’d let me. If she knew I was paying for any of it, I suspect Alex would lose her mind at the threat to her independence.
“Yes, we do have that promotion running right now,” the other Omega says slowly. “That will make your total $280.63.” She still winces a little, but this time it doesn’t stress her out as much as she pulls off three bills and hands them over. As she’s loading the bags into the cart, the cashier subtly runs my card and slips it back to me.
I take the receipt for her, which I plan to lose shortly, so that she can’t see the partial card payment, and place my hand on the cart. “Let’s go put this in the truck while Matteo runs to the art store, yeah?”
Matteo watched the entire thing unfold quietly, a pensive smile on his face. At my suggestion, he nods, kisses me on the cheek, and then heads out. Alex is a little out of it, her hand buried in one of the bags and stroking a pillow that I know she is dying to pull out and cuddle.
Pride has me wanting to purr and rub my face in her neck. I provided for this Omega. She accepted my help in building her nest.
I wonder how long it’s going to take for her to realize that this means she’s mine.
By the timeMatteo slides into the driver’s seat of the truck, Alex is curled up against the passenger side door, a folded blanket in her lap. It was a fight to get her to agree to that. I could tell she wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with a pillow, wrapped up in her new blankets, but she’s suppressing her Omega something fierce, like she’s embarrassed by it.
Is it that she doesn’t want to be one, or that she thinks I’m going to judge her if she acts on her instincts?
“Get everything you need?” I ask my Beta, grabbing his hand and kissing his wrist as he tries to put a bag at my feet.
He chuckles, pushing my hand away and handing me the bag of art supplies. “Yeah, they had everything I wanted.” He peers around me at Alex. “Did you need to go anywhere else?”
She chews on her lip and stares out the window. “Can I pay for a grocery delivery with cash?”
“I don’t think so,” he says cautiously. “So we should go to the store if you need to pay in cash.”
A barely audible whine escapes her, but she quickly smothers it. “I can go tomorrow, I suppose,” she says quietly. Matteo doesn’t look convinced but pulls out of the parking lot, directing us back to the fairgrounds.
“Fuck!” she said after a few minutes. “I need to at least stop at the pharmacy.”
“Suppressants?” I ask, unable to help myself.
She waves me off. “No, I have my full six-month supply. Someone from the crew texted me this morning that they have hemorrhoids, so I told them I’d pick up cream.”
Matteo furrows his brow, and I can’t hide my snort. “Who said that?”
“No idea. They didn’t tell me. Just texted me.” She pulls out her phone. “I’m sure it was just some hazing, but on the off chance…”
I snatch the phone out of her hand, reading the texts.
When I see that this person called her an “Omega bitch” I can’t hide my snarl.
“Who the fuck is this?” The number isn’t immediately recognizable, so I pull out my phone and type it in, but it doesn’t come up as any existing contact.
“Matteo,” I snap, “give me your phone.”
He flinches at my tone, but tosses me his phone. This number isn’t in his contacts, either.
“Someone is texting her from a burner,” I tell him quietly. “We need to find out who it is.”
“They’re just hazing me,” she repeats, plucking the phone from my hands. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“It’s inappropriate,” Matteo says, hitting his blinker. “And you shouldn’t indulge them.”
“What if it’s someone embarrassed about having hemorrhoids, so they’re going on the offensive?” She shoves the phone in the pocket of her jeans. “I was hired to take care of all of you. Not just the ones who are nice to me.”
Teo pulls into a grocery store parking lot. Alex notices where we are and smothers another whine.
“I promise you, this is someone fucking with you, Alex. Go to Jude and tell him you need him to order some. Let him read the messages and decide to pay forit.” He turns off the truck. “Now, do you need groceries?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t, I’m fine. I’ll go out later.” Her words run together, and her breathing is labored, as if she were running. “I’m fine.”
