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We head through the massive kitchen of this enormous lake house and out the garage to toss the trash.
Stacey and some of us girls from Crawley clean the lakefront homes in Waverly, doing most of the rentals. My sister usually works a few days a week at a gas station out on the highway, but today, she’s covering for our cousin, who has been out since Monday with what sounds like the mother of all sicknesses. That means Jeanie’s had all morning to ask questions. I’ve found myself seeking reasons to venture into the other rooms, avoiding the whole gossip session. I don’t know what to say. This last week has been confusing as hell.
Jeanie leans against her car, pulling a cigarette from the pack in her pocket. She lights it and takes a deep drag while I pack the supplies in the trunk.
“Spill already,” she calls.
I peep around the car to see my sister giving me the look. She’s three years older than me, still only thirty-two, but she looks older. We’ve always had the fortune of being good-looking. People think we’re pretty for betas. We’ve got great hair and cheekbones that we inherited from our mother. But even though she’s still beautiful, my sister looks tired, and her eyes are bloodshot.
It makes me ragey, the idea that she’s losing her light already. She’s more than halfway to being my momma. Makes me think I’ll be next. It feels as though my whole life has already been set out for me. It’s one accident after another, sending me to the same end of the line. It’s foolish to believe I could get more, but my heart aches with wanting it.
“I think I’m being courted.”
“Like an omega?” Her eyes widen. She stares at me for a moment, flicking her thumb against the butt of the cigarette.
I wave my hand over my face, pretending to suffocate. It’s not far off. She rolls her eyes at me, taking another drag.
“No. Like this couple is trying to have me as their third.” I slam the trunk closed. “They’re sugar-babying me.”
Jeanie cocks her head and makes a clicking sound. “So let ’em, baby. Lucy said she heard from Gordon”—she looks at me for confirmation, and I shake my head—“the football player we went to high school with?”
I roll my eyes, literally not caring who the heck Gordon is. “Why does it matter?”
“I’m getting there.” She laughs, and I huff, folding myself into the front seat. Jeanie gets in and turns on the car, pulling out to take me back to town. “Gordon became an EMT and works for Knotty Pines Fire Department. And he said the guy got everyone at the station to pay a little extra love to Mel’s this week.”
I roll down the window and watch the tree-lined lake streets turn into the winding farmland roads that skirt the edge of Knotty Pines.“It’s true. They visited me all week. Left enough in tips that I got caught up with my late bills and had enough to apply to a preschool for Em.”
“No shit.” Jeanie whistles. “But you think they just want a third for some fun? Are they hot?”
My cheeks heat at the memory of Finn doing the stripper pose at my door and the way Reid looked that first night, shirtless and sleepy. “Definitely. That’s part of the problem. They’re hot and nice. I can’t go there.”
“Why the fuck not?” she asks, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Because I’ll go stage-ten clinger. We see how that worked out with Trent.”
“Trent’s an asshole.”
I nod but don’t say anything. I thought I loved that asshole, and it still wrecks me that after so many years together, he didn’t bat an eye when his scent match showed up.
Jeanie sighs. “I get it. You don’t want to get hurt. But it’s been a year. Try dating again. Even for a fling. Just get back out there.”
“How about I worry about paying rent first?”
Jeanie squeezes my hand. “If we waited for all that shit to be sorted, we’d never live. But you’re grown. Do what you want.”
She pulls her hand back to turn into the lot of Mel’s, where I parked my car so she could pick me up this morning.
“Let me dig around. But the way Lucy was talking, it sounded like Gordon was making fun of Reid for being pussy-whipped. Didn’t sound like he thought they were only looking for a Friday night fuck. What makes you think they’re not serious?” she asks, putting the car in park and turning in her seat to face me.
“What else could they be doing? You know how it is.”
“Babes, I know Trent fucked with your head, but not all alphas are like that.”
I know she means well, but how can she know? I believe Nic, her alpha, loves her, but he also hasn’t met his match either. As shitty as that is, it could happen to any of us betas.
“Don’t give me that look. If Nic finds his omega, I’ll cut off his balls if he doesn’t take me with him. No matter what though, we’ll talk about it. Just like Trent should have, instead of sending that fucking text. I could kill that spineless weasel dick,” she growls.
I laugh, knowing she would consider it. The night he sent me that text—no warning, no conversation, just a bite he never wanted to give me and a new girl—I wished in the dark that I’d never met him. But I can’t regret him or wish him actual harm. He gave me my kids. Though it wasn’t my original plan, I wouldn’t trade them. I only want to do right by them.
