Page 37 of The Knotty Omega

“Just ignore him,” Ollie stage whispers.

“Umm… I honestly couldn’t tell you.” I grimace, knowing I haven’t been taking care of my car as well as I should have been.

Titus’ frown deepens. “I’m going to take it to my guy, okay? Not today, but some time this week. I don’t want you driving it until it’s been declared safe.”

Looking down at the ground, I feel ashamed suddenly. Are they going to think I’m incompetent, or that I can’t take care of myself? This is so unlike me. My omega instincts are at war with the security measures I’ve put in place to protect myself. Cady from three days ago wants to let it roll of her shoulders and say fuck this guy. But my omega? She wants our alpha to be proud of us, not think we’re stupid.

A second later, a finger is under my chin lifting my face up. It’s Titus. “Hey, none of that, gorgeous.” His thumb traces my cheek. “I’m just a grumpy bastard who needs to feel in control. You can tell me to go fuck off any time you like. You’ve been on your own for a little bit now, but you don’t have to bear it all by yourself anymore okay? We’re each going to have different ways we want to take care of you, and mine is making sure you’re safe at all costs…even if I’m a bit overbearing at times.”

I blink, not even realizing I had a tear in my eye until now. “I don’t want you to fuck off.” I shake my head. “Thank you…for looking out for me.”

Titus only gives me a brief, tentative smile, before turning around and pulling out his phone, presumably to call his car guy.

Ollie turns to me, a big, goofy smile on his face. “Do you want to see the nest?”

***

“It’s so pretty," my mouth drops open, “how do you guys have this already?” I’m in awe of the nest, which is on the second floor of the house, and is decorated in soft, pastel colors with every kind of plush blanket or pillow I can imagine. Twinkle lights hang from the ceiling, lighting up the soft blue walls, and there’s a white desk in the corner, ready for a laptop to set up. The bed is circular, with raised edges so it almost looks like a birds nest, and certainly big enough to fit all six of us.

“We may have subconsciously started buying things for it after we scented you the first time,” Mattie admits, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “If we were out and saw something, we’d grab it, not really thinking about why. It wasn’t until last week we realized that we have a whole closet full of nest items, and an omega we were going to meet. So we put it all together. It won’t hurt our feelings if you want to move things around or if you don’t like something. Just let us know and we’ll replace it.

“No,” I shake my head, wandering over to the desk. “I love everything, it’s perfect. I haven’t had a nest in years.”

“Why is that, sweetheart?” Simon asks, sidling up next to me.

“Oh you know, trauma and all that. Part of suppressing my omega nature.” I swallow roughly.

“You don’t have to tell us anything until you’re ready.” Simon nuzzles my cheek sweetly.

“Thank you for understand—Hey!” I cry out, spotting a cup of pens on my desk, then turn to look around at my alphas, “These are my pens!” I’d recognize the promotional pen from my favorite author, N.K. Joone anywhere. Add in my pink puffball pen that went missing a month ago, there's no way this is a coincidence.

“Ah, that would be me,” Archie raises his hand sheepishly and steps forward. “I may have gotten into a bad habit of stealing your pens to ummm…hoard your scent.” The way his face turns red is absolutely adorable. “I figured I should give them back, though admittedly I thought we’d have more time before showing you this room.”

A laugh bursts out of me, and I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing a kiss to his lips.

“That is simultaneously both the weirdest and sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Archie chuckles. “I live to serve.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ican’t get comfortable, no matter what I do. The bed is as soft as a cloud, the temperature is perfect, but nothing I do allows me to fall asleep. I wasn’t able to pack a bag from my apartment with clothes because whoever broke in tore literally everything up. I'm just glad I take my laptop with me everywhere I go or that would have been destroyed too. I’m lucky that Mattie shoved his phone at me with an omegas only clothing store app up, telling me to get whatever I need and it’ll be here tomorrow. Now though, I’m in a pair of Ollie’s boxers, wearing them as shorts, and Archie’s t-shirt.

The guys showed me where each of their rooms were in case I needed anything during the night. Simon is to my left, while Archie and Mattie’s room is to my right. Ollie's and Titus’ spaces are in the hallway on the other side of the giant media room that’s at the top of the stairs. Two giant, squishy couches, a huge TV, and three different gaming consoles fill the area, making it a place I’m sure I’m going to be spending a lot of time in.

My stomach rumbles and I check my phone, seeing that its two in the morning. The guys had ordered Thai food for dinner, but I was so unsettled by my apartment being trashed I didn’t eat that much.

Hoping there's leftovers in the fridge, I tiptoe down the stairs as quietly as I can, and I let out a sigh of relief when I make it to the kitchen without waking anyone up. When I open the fridge, I almost squeal when I see a container of delicious, creamy, brie cheese. They told me I’m welcome to anything in the kitchen, so I find some crackers in the pantry and make myself a plate.

Footsteps have me whirling, ready to apologize to whoever I woke up with my banging around.

It’s just Ollie though, wandering into the kitchen in nothing but a pair of low-slung pajama bottoms and hoooooly hell. His tattoos don’t stop at his arms. His whole chest and torso are covered in colorful pictures and swirls of ink. They don’t hide his toned abs either. Abs that I want to run my tongue over, feeling every ridge—

“Tink?” He cuts off my internal swooning as he looks around, rubbing his sleepy eyes. He looks absolutely delicious with his blonde hair all sleep-rumpled.

“Hey, sorry I couldn’t sleep.” I hold up the cheese and crackers in explanation.

“Oooh midnight cheese.” He grins and comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as I continue to assemble my plate.

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