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These guys are wholly unapologetic. A month ago, I would have been so embarrassed to have this conversation in a public store, even with my alpha.
"These are from Cass." Red holds up a pair of panties with a thick center. Reaching out, feeling the silicone shape, suddenly they vibrate to life in my hands. I look up and find Red with a tiny remote in hand and a mischievous smile.
There's a harness, some crotchless panties, and a few other items, but there's one thing I've been avoiding picking up because I'm embarrassed to admit, I have no clue what it does. It's got a long, flat silicone string with a thick bulbous tip, like an antenna, on one end. On the other end, there's a strap, like a harness, that looks like it's to fit around a waist, and another small piece of silicone with a hole in it.
Red picks it up, cocking his head slightly. "This one's from me. Not custom, but I did special order it."
"What… uhm, what does it do?"
Red smiles down at me, placing the toy back in the velvet chest, then cradles my face in his hands. "Hopefully, it will give you several coma-inducing orgasms. Not that we can't get there on our own, but what kind of alpha would I be if I didn't reach for the stars, hmm?"
My perfume, steadily filling the room since I first opened the chest, blooms, and I'm so wet and slick between my legs I can barely think straight. I want to know what that toy does. I want to play with it now. My omega whimpers, but Red just kisses me, then closes the chest.
He gathers up all the items, leading the way back out to his truck. Keeping them locked inside, we walk to another shop a few doors down, and I'm surprised to find us at a gym.
"We don't have a gym at the warehouse. This place is so close to home, it's where we go… I know, from the other dancers, they like to have room to do weight lifting or whatever. I thought we could look at some of the classes they have, too, see if you're interested in any."
Anyone else might bristle that their alpha brought them to the gym on their date, but I'm not. Red listened when I asked him during one of our lazy breaks in the middle of the night, between all the sex, where they work out. At home—my mother's home, no longer mine—I had plenty of space in my bedroom to exercise, and my fathers had a mini gym close to the garage. Though they never used it, preferring to pay for a very expensive membership at a local club where all the alphas in High Hills go.
He buys me a pair of leggings and a t-shirt with the gym logo on it, and we change out of our clothes and spend the next hour teasing each other, Red trying to show off how much he can bench press, me just managing to get through watching him without going into heat.
When we're done, I feel light. And so free. We eat together at a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant where everyone knows Red's name, and I don't feel out of place when complete strangers greet me, talking Red and his pack up, telling stories of all the ways they got into trouble as kids, or how they helped them or their parents or their next-door neighbor. One thing becomes glaringly obvious if it hadn't been before: Red and his pack are beloved in this neighborhood.
We get takeout for Iggy and Cass, bringing it home to the guys, and I surreptitiously ignore the velvet chest, because I'm a little worried about how badly I want to tear into it.
Reluctantly, and though the guys want me to stay over, I need to get to my parent's home if I'm going to keep up this farce. I need to get home to talk to my mother, to somehow convince her I'm back on board with Stevens. That I want them to throw a ball in honor of our engagement. It's the only way Ophelia and I can sneak into their home office and try to find some evidence against them.
I can only do that by pretending I'm engaged to Stevens. As much as it sucks, as much as it hurts to be away from Dante, I think of Ophelia and her sister Alma… and every other omega in this town, hell, this world, that's been taken advantage of by men in power.
Like every time before, the drive away from South Loop is difficult, and the taste of luxury my parent's estate provides is bitter and acrid and all wrong.
Chapter 27
Iggy
The nest is coming along, but I'm impatient. We've been working nonstop, getting it ready, fixing and replacing everything from the bathroom appliances to the floors, making Imogen's new room bigger with omega-friendly light-blocking technology.
It’s coming along, sure, but not fucking fast enough because I want Imogen in it yesterday.
The front door rattles downstairs, and I hear her and Cass talking, their voices trailing up the stairwell. I just finished painting the walls, and Cass will install her closet shelves later when everything's dry. It sucks we can't provide her with both a nest and a bedroom like the wealthy packs have, something she probably grew up with.
But, we all agreed it was probably better for me to have a bedroom than for her to have two; that way, if she needs space from me, or if I need space from… not her… never her, but maybe from my brothers or for myself, then I've got it.
I barely make it downstairs to grab Imogen's bags from her as she trudges inside a second time, Cass behind her with his arms full. She wanted to move out of her parent's house with no drama when the time came, so she's been slowly bringing most of her stuff here in case things go wrong once everything is out in the open. For now, we're just dumping all her things in the living room until the nest is done, and since she still crashes at her parents place most nights to avoid suspicion, everything's stacked in a slowly growing pile.
"Imogen, are you a hoarder?" Cass teases after he makes a third trip, stacking her leather suitcases stamped with an expensive logo that even I recognize.
She blushes, "I'm sorry, I know it's a lot. I can go through everything and donate what I don't need. It is excessive."
Cass and I frown at her, but he pulls her chin up to meet his eyes. "Aww, babe, I was joking, I'm sorry. You like pretty things?"
She nods shyly, looking up through her lashes.
"Nothing to be ashamed of. You're not getting rid of a single thing. There's plenty of room. If anything…" Cass sighs, letting go of her face. "If anything, we're sorry we can't provide you with more. Maybe after the dust settles, we can move—"
"Absolutely not!" Imogen shrieks, catching us both by surprise. "I love this home. That's what it feels like. A home. I may have a penchant for collecting too many shoes or pretty dresses, and, apparently, after Red's courting gift, I'm recently very into lingerie."
We groan, but she continues, "But it's just stuff. You guys do provide. In the Hills, I had everything I ever wanted, and my bedroom and nest were the size of this entire floor. But inside that home, it was rotten. Full of unmet expectations, fake smiles, and punitive demands disguised as caring. It wasn't real, and I've never been truly happy, not until you three accepted me. I love this house. Don't you dare change a thing."
