Page 38 of Slick Handling

I am going to kill him.

“You’re not taking this fucking seriously.” I snap because I’m losing my mind.

She was upset.

So upset that Apollo had to call his parents to help.

It’s our fault.

It’s their fault.

I want her.

“You need to calm down, Mick. If you’re going to act like this you can’t be here for this conversation.” Apollo is trying to talk reason but it doesn’t sit with me. I snap and snarl as I try to bite at whatever I can.

My teeth gnashing together as I try to buck my hips to fight off Apollo but he doubles down on his hold of me so that I’m fully trapped against him.

“You care about Clover.” Vaughn’s voice has the red rage starting to calm down as I hear her name, “If you care about her then you can help us come up with a plan to make her stay with us easier.”

Griffin is rubbing his throat as he and Vaughn stay seated beside each other on the floor.

My anger spikes again because they’re not getting it.

“Clover ismyOmega. If she’s leaving in three months, so am I.” Apollo stiffens under me at the declaration and I should have probably talked to him about this more.

I made it clear how I felt about the Omega. They just didn’t listen to what I was saying about her.

Griffin is looking at Apollo instead of me and they’re all acting like this is some bomb that I’m dropping on them.

It’s not.

How many times have I told them that she is our Omega? That she is meant for us? If they didn’t grasp what I was setting up, that is their problem.

It’s obvious we’re scent compatible with her, but beyond that she is so sweet and kind. She doesn’t swear, instead using silly sayings that are adorable. She loves to create things and has shown me some of the outfits she's made. She’s talented. I like the way she nurtures without even thinking about it. How she is the sort of person who gives without thinking twice about it.

While the others have avoided her like the plague I’ve been walking her to school and getting to know her. When they skip dinner she cooks with me and we bond. I’ve put the time into getting to know the Omega so I can see how perfect she is for our pack.

“I don’t think I’m ready to date again. I need to focus on hockey.” Vaughn speaks first because if anyone has a reason to not want to date it’s him.

His father is having his sibling with his ex-girlfriend. It’s as messy as a situation with an ex and family can be.

It shattered the relationship between his parents, who had been monogamous before that. I think it also shattered Griffin a little bit more than he’ll admit too.

Griffin acts like a hard ass, but his mother passed away when he was a kid. The pack that had surrounded her had gotten lost without their Omega. All of them grieving differently when it came to her loss. Their Beta mother ended up trying to stay with Griffin while his fathers had been in and out of the picture. The only family he had that was stable had been Vaughn’s.

“It’s bullshit to say that you need to focus on hockey and take it seriously, when just a few months ago you came to us and talked about how you wanted to have Terry be in the pack with us.” My words come out and I see him flinch at her name.

It’s true.

We all were happily going to welcome her into our lives and we didn’t even like her that much. But Vaughn did and we liked Vaughn so we were willing to do that for him.

An arm is slung around Vaughn as Griffin pulls him in for a side hug. He is trying to offer him support because he knows how much he hates talking about what happened.

Not talking about it isn’t going to change anything.

“My parents said she wasn’t for us, Mick.” Apollo is speaking softly to me. He’s trying to use kid gloves as if I need the buffer.

I don’t.

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