Page 57 of Packed Up In Vegas

A low growl to the side caught my attention. I could just barely see Amir out of the corner of my eye, standing there and watching us, his fists clenched and his brows pinched. “I can’t go anywhere in this damn house without the two of you having her bent over every surface.”

Diego slid out of my mouth and Kai stilled between my hips. I bit down on the whine of frustration at having them both pull back. I wanted to reach out, to ask Amir to join us, but if he was going to be an ass about it, I couldn’t afford to let myself. I have been down that path before and I was not going to do it again.

“You weren’t home,” Kai pointed out. “I thought you had plans. You made that pretty damn clear earlier.”

“I forgot my wallet.”

“I’m sorry,” I said before I could stop myself.

Kai’s gaze whipped back to me. “Don’t apologize to him. I’m the one who asked you to do this, and he wasn’t supposed to be home to see it.”

I sat up, feeling too awkward to lie there with Kai inside me and Amir glaring at the three of us. Kai gathered me close, letting me use his arms to shield me from that disdainful look.

“Do whatever the fuck you want.” Amir turned on his heel and left. “Don’t wait up.”

Kai hissed and I realized I had been digging my nails into him. I released my grip on him, my chest aching and the start of tears clogging my throat. “Sorry.”

Don’t wait up… People said that when they were going on dates. Was that where Amir was going, why he wanted nothing to do with me?

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Kai grimaced. “I’m going to punch him if he upsets you again. I hate feeling you hurting.”

“Sor—”

“Don’t fucking apologize,” Kai said exasperatedly. “It’s helpful for me to feel it so I know, but I hate that you have to feel it. I want our whole pack to be together and I don’t know how to bridge this gap with him.”

“He’ll come around or he won’t,” Diego said with a sigh. “I guess fun time is over for now. Do you want to go steal some of his things for the nest?”

I did want his scent in there, and Miles’s too. It was kind of cruel how their scents gave me comfort when I was pretty sure it might break my heart to have them so close when they didn’t seem to want to be mine. I could only hope they changed their minds eventually.

Getting out of the pack house was my only option. I was going to lose it if I stayed there. Sexual frustration wasn’t all that familiar to me. Between the heats and casual partners, I had never been without. But things were painfully different now.

Having a mate threw off the entire flow of my life. I knew it threw off the others too, but they were too blinded by Callie’s scent to realize how deep that disruption went. I didn’t want an omega. I didn’t want fate dictating who I had in my life and when. All I wanted was a carefree life with my pack, and the freedom to do anything I chose.

I had friends up and down the Strip, performers of all varieties, and I was itching to see one in particular, to know exactly how different my life was now.

Farrah already had the door to her place open, waiting for me after I’d messaged her my ETA before leaving the pack house. She waved excitedly to me as I pulled to a stop in her driveway. The pretty omega had her brown hair tied in a braid, her freckles more pronounced than the last time I’d seen her. “Hey, cutie, long time no see. You usually pop up sooner after your shows.”

I hovered by my car, half-afraid to get closer.

“Everything okay?” she asked. “I was expecting to be up against a wall already.”

I flexed my fingers on the car door, working up some courage before closing it and moving toward her.

“Okay, you’re kinda freaking me out. Can you say something?” Farrah tipped her head, examining me.

“Sorry. Things have been fucking weird lately.”

“Wanna talk about it? I know that’s not really how things work between us, but if you need to, I’m right here.”

She held open her arms, offering me a hug, and just for a moment I let myself accept it…just to see. Touching Farrah, which had once been second nature, an ease I had shared with lovers, felt strange now. Farrah’s scent—strawberry—was as sweet as it had always been, but I had no reaction to it, or the warmth of her, or the big doe eyes she was giving me.

“I shouldn’t be here.”

“Hey, it’s okay. Tell me what’s going on.”

“The pack has an omega.”

“Oh, whoa.” She stepped back. “When were you planning on telling me you guys were courting someone?”

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