Page 24 of Pack Larsen

“I went to apologize to the spicy, little brat, and she brushed me off like she had better things to do than listen to an apology I, apparently, didn’t mean,” he quickly explains, sounding riled up by the notion that Silver pied him off. Me? Well, I’m all too amused by it, because there are very few people in the world who talk to Rage like I do.

When his explanation does very little to, well, explain, and I remain reclined on the ridiculously comfortable bed in just a shirt and baseball shorts, he glares and announces, “She’s heading to work in sexy tights with short as fuck denim cut offs and a shirt that looks like it would be found on an erotic dancer. Her scent was almost non-existent, only a faint shadow of what it usually is, and I’m pretty sure she was talking on the phone to another dude, too. Said something about taking something off and leaving it there.”

Well, now, that has my attention.

Sitting up and discarding the car magazine I’d been skimming through before I was rudely interrupted, I frown at my twin and ask, “What are you talking about?”

“Exactly what I said. She’s dressed like a walking sex symbol and on her way to meet a guy. She said she was going to work, but who dresses in pink fishnets and cut-off shorts to go to work?” my brother rushes, a lot more worked up about this than I would have credited him for being. Like we share a brain, he rolls his eyes and groans. “I don’t even know why I’m so pressed about it. It’s not like I like the girl.”

“I think you’re full of shit,” I counter, voicing my thoughts before filtering them. Not that I would to my brother, but he’s a prickly bastard lately, and the rich omega we’ve found ourselves rooming with is a sore subject. I thought it was because she had money coming out of her perfectly pert ass while we’ve been suffering for months on what little money Pace is bringing in at the school’s radio station, but this particular development has me second guessing my brother’s moods and their causes.

Rage glares, as expected, and says, “When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.”

I shrug, unbothered and beyond used to my brother’s bad moods. “I’m just saying. You wouldn’t be in here demanding we stalk the omega if you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t like her,” he mutters in denial, and I raise my eyebrow.

“How many ways do you want me to prove you wrong? Or shall we both save time and agree that we both like the girl?” I ask patiently, receiving a signature bored look from my brother that says more than words would. He’s not impressed with my observation, but he’s not denying it, proving me right. “So, why do you keep being a dick to her?”

All the fight leaves him suddenly, and he drops into an armchair that came with the room, scrubbing his hands over his face while he grumbles, “I don’t even know, man. It’s like my brain thinks one thing and my mouth says another. I get all pissy over the way she seems to throw money around, say something stupid that hurts her feelings, then feel like shit for it afterward. This is why I said it was better if I was indifferent and mute around her. I wouldn’t spew stupid shit that way, and I don’t have to risk falling for a pretty, rich girl who’ll drop me the moment she finds something better.”

“You really think Silver is like that?” I wonder, because I sure don’t get those vibes from her. In fact, Silver seems to be the purest, bright beam of sunshine I’ve met since Aero stumbled into our lives as a foster kid, accompanied by his shadow, and misery guts, beta that we all love.

“They’re all like it, bro,” he answers, even though I can hear the doubt in his own words. Because sure, every girl with money that we’ve met in life so far have been the same. Selfish, entitled, and quick to rub their money in our faces. But that was when we were working part time at the mechanics in our old hometown that saw plenty of wealthy people passing through. Apparently, it seems to have left a jaded mark on my brother, much deeper than I thought. Or maybe it was the way Veronica treated Munro that has him repelled by sexy, little omegas with a healthy cash flow.

Clicking my tongue against my teeth, I carefully mutter, “You might want to rewire what you think you know, dude. I was talking to Aero earlier, after you disappeared to sulk and think up an apology, and it turns out she’s not the pampered princess we all assumed she was when we Googled her. You know those photos we saw of her with her parents? How happy and adorable their little pack looked?”

“Yeah? There a point to this?” he volleys, and I smirk.

“It’s all a lie, bro. Just a pretty picture. As it was, Silver’s parents are genuine cunts who controlled every aspect of her life before she ran away and started living with her grandparents. Aero said something about her not being allowed to choose what she wants to wear, what to do, or even what to eat. Her family is rich, yeah, but that didn’t mean she was. At least, not until she moved out of her family home,” I explain, condensing all Aero told me earlier when he tried to explain to me that we’ve been wrong about the pastel-haired beauty.

It takes a moment for my words to sink in, and I watch the moment they finally register in his mind, his head falling back on a defeated groan that would make me laugh if I didn’t feel sorry for him.

“Well, that makes me feel like a bastard,” he damn near whines.

“You are a bastard. We both are,” I quip, grinning at him when he glares.

“As in like shit, not as in products of a man’s infidelity,” he clarifies as though I wasn’t already aware of what he meant. Ignoring my mocking grin, he asks with a note of pleading, “So, how do I fix what I’ve clearly fucked up on the first weekend of living with the sweetest omega we’ve ever met? She won’t let me apologize, ran away as though she couldn’t get away from me fast enough, and told me to have a blessed day. What the fuck do I do with that?”

“She told you to have a blessed day?” I snicker, rubbing my hand over my mouth, because if there’s one thing I wasn’t expecting from Silver Gage it’s how funny she is. I’ve been more amused in the past two days than I have in years, and it’s all down to the omega’s smart mouth and dry humor. I mean, who lounges outside with cocktails, watching her new roommates carrying their meagre belongings into a home that looked like it was built directly from a magazine.

Rage snaps his fingers in front of my face and scowls at me. “Focus. I need help.”

Rolling my eyes, I mutter, “If you’d bottled your judgmental shit before spewing it to Silver, then you would be just fine.”

“That’s not helping. Does that look like it’s helping?” he snaps, genuinely looking stressed about the idea that he’s been a dick to the girl who has offered us a place to stay, for free, and has only asked for a single fake date in return.

I wince, feeling a little bad for mocking him, and I decide that helping would probably benefit us both. Since I’m not currently on Silver’s shit list, or at least I don’t think I am, I don’t have anything to make up for. Meaning I can help put Rage in her good graces where we can hopefully build on.

“I think Aero is on to something,” I declare, thankful the omega isn’t in the room with us, because I don’t need his bragging and smug looks following me around for the rest of the night. “We need to actually make an effort here. Befriend her. Not hiding from her, ignoring her olive branches, and definitely not sassing her for having money when we’re barely scraping by.”

Rage’s jaw clenches, and I see the flicker of regret flashing through his matching blue eyes to mine, his head nodding in agreement slowly. “So, how do we do that?”

I roll my eyes, retrieving my cell and finding the number of the perfect person who can help. Pressing dial, I wait for a call, smiling at my brother when he sends me a questioning look.

Lowie answers quickly, bypassing the usual greeting by muttering, “Let me guess, you fucked it all up already and need a place to stay?”

“Hello to you, too, brother. Nice to speak with you. We’ve been well, thank you for asking,” I return with a mocking politeness that I’m sure our friend is rolling his eyes at.

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