Page 29 of One for the Money
“I know it’s tough having an Omega around,” I begin, reaching out to touch my brother on the shoulder.
He flinches back from me. “You don’t know!”
“I was there too, asshole! You seem to forget that since I healed differently than you did, but I watched mom die too!”
Our father murdered our mother in front of us. For Dexter, that has left him with a deep hatred of Omegas. For me, it made me unable to commit to anyone.
If I don’t fall in love and get married, I can’t get murdered by my spouse.
Big brain logic.
“I know you were! Which is why I don’t understand how you can be okay with one of them being here!” Hisvoice is pitched too loudly. I know he wouldn’t want the entire crew to know he is scared of Omegas.
Taking Dex by the arm, I drag him out of the tent and to my trailer. People ask us all the time why we don’t travel together, but they didn’t grow up sharing a bathroom with Dexter Reynolds. If they did, they’d have no question why.
Once inside, I shove him down onto the couch, crossing my arms as I look down at him. “Omegas are not a monolith. I understand you associate the designation with death, which is a fair association to make considering our experience, but you cannot let the doctor being here derail everything. You think Jude is going to keep us around if you drop me every night?”
He blanches, combing his fingers through his hair. “Jude wouldn’t get rid of us.”
“He would if people stopped showing up because we’re a shit act!”
My brother’s face twists into something ugly. “Well then, he needs to get rid of her!”
I wrench open my mini fridge and grab two beers, tossing one to him. “He can’t. They have a contract. You are going to have to learn to exist in the same radius as her, little bro.”
I am an hour older than he is. I won’t ever let him forget.
He pulls his phone out and starts playing a game, a clear sign that he’s done talking to me and won’t listen to a word I say from now on. I wasn’t quite finished with the conversation, but when he gets like this, I can’t get through to him. It’s like talking to a brick wall, only more stubborn.
I just have to hope that he’ll stop letting the mere idea of Dr. Alex Shields distract him, or I’m going to be the one who gets hurt.
“Fuck,”I hiss, sinking into the massive metal soaking tub set up in the dress tent. I don’t know whose idea this was, but I could kiss them right on the mouth. It’s ice cold, and after the initial shock wears off, it’s clear my muscles need the attention after tonight’s performance.
Dexter lowers himself into the one beside me, and his relieved exhale is music to my ears. There were a couple of times tonight where he almost dropped me, and he was iffy on the tightrope for a brief moment. But we made it.
The show is over, and neither of us is broken.
Well, any more than we were when we started.
“This is great,” Dexter says, head tipped back and eyes closed. “Why have we never done this before?”
“Because we’re morons. This is awesome. Where’d you get the idea?” My body is going a little numb, and I don’t think I’ll be able to stay in for more than ten minutes, but I’m loving it for now.
Dexter peeks one eye open at me. “I didn’t do this. I thought it was your idea.”
“Nah, where would I even come up with it?”
“Iunno, you’re always online. I just figured you researched something.”
“Well, I’m glad you both like it,” a soft voice says from the other side of the tent. “Research shows that after physical activity, an ice bath can reduce muscle soreness and swelling.” Dr. Alex walks into the tent’s light, wearing a pair of black leggings and flat-bottomed sneakers, a denim jacket wrapped around her over a plain gray shirt. “You two have a very rigorous act with a high propensity formuscle tearing. This is something we can do to hopefully reduce that risk and the pain you feel between shows.”
Dexter struggles to get out of the tub, the water sloshing over the sides. She watches him impassively, no emotion on her pretty face.
She really is quite lovely, even if her eyes are shadowed in the same way Dexter’s are.
“I’m out,” he says gruffly, dripping water all over the grass.
“That’s fine, I didn’t think you’d be able to make it the full fifteen minutes anyway,” she says dismissively. “There are towels to the right on the black crate.”
