Page 75 of His Sassy Omega
Jamie raised a brow, looking me over from head to toe, while I tried not to squirm under his perusal.
“Goddess, shut the door,” another deep voice cut in. “Were you all raised in a barn?”
Another large body came up the walkway from behind us. This brother was not as broad across the shoulders as either Lachlan or Jamie, but no less impressive in his size. His hair was a shade lighter than the black of his two brothers. It was a rich, sable brown, like a dark roast coffee. A neatly trimmed mustache and goatee framed his upper lip and jaws. He was just as handsome and sexy as his brothers, though.
His blue eyes ran over me, assessing the same way Jamie had, but I felt like it was in a completely different way.
“Finn!” Lachlan grabbed his brother in a hug, which turned into them both shoving at each other, like little kids.
Finn. So, this was Wade’s nemesis. I’d be keeping my eye on this one, if for no other reason than to try to figure out why he disliked my best friend so much. Or why Wade disliked him so much, as the feelings were on both sides.
“Get out of the cold, you idiots.” Finn scoffed at his brothers. “At least close the door, if you are going to stand around in the snow.”
“Wait, I forgot something.” I rushed back to my car, sliding a little in a slick spot and hearing Lachlan growl under his breath before I righted myself. Once I had my packages secure, I hurried to catch up with him.
“Dessert,” I told him when I saw him eyeing the cookie platter in my hands, “and a gift for your mom.”
I’d taken an hour out of my day yesterday, to rush over to Sinclair’s department store and purchase some insanely expensive gourmet chocolates. I knew better than to show up someplace without a hostess gift. My parents had raised me better, and I had no doubt my mom would somehow find out. I never knew how she always seemed to know these things, but she did.
Lachlan closed the door behind us, blocking out the cold and snow which was falling faster now, and shaking his damp head. “You didn’t need to do that, you know?”
“I know,” I said, stamping the snow off my Vans. I should have worn my boots, but we’d been lucky so far this year and hadn’t had much snow. Looks like we were in for a white Christmas after all, the way the snow was coming down in heavy sheets. “My mom would kill me if she found out I had showed up empty handed. Believe me, she would find out. She’s got spies everywhere.”
He helped me off with my coat, then ushered me past a homey looking great room, into a richly paneled dining room. The long, mahogany dining table seated at least twelve. The room smelled amazing, the tangy scent of tomato sauce and garlic filled my nostrils. My stomach growled loudly, and I was sure everyone had heard it.
A petite, beautiful blonde woman, seated at the head of the table, stood and hurried over to us. She couldn’t have stood more than five feet tall, and her chocolate brown eyes sparkled. “You must be Quinn. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m so very happy to meet you.”
Before I could formulate a suitable response, she pulled me down into a hug. “I’m a hugger.” She gave me a good squeeze, then paused, sniffing. “Oh,” she whispered and pulled away. I resisted the urge to sniff myself. Did I smell bad? I’d showered when I’d gotten home, and I usually smelled like my kitchen, which wasn’t a bad thing.
Lachlan waved a hand at the only one of his brothers still seated at the table. “Quinn, this is my brother, Brendan.”
He did the introductions, and Brendan stood, shaking my hand over the table of food. Brendan and Lachlan looked the most alike to me, standing side by side. Brendan’s hair was more salt and pepper, heavy on the salt. He wore silver, wire framed glasses, that did nothing to detract from his handsome features. He would make someone one hell of a sexy, silver fox daddy.
“Come, sit, eat. I made pasta and garlic bread.” Mary pointed to two vacant seats, and I slid into the chair Lachlan had pulled out for me.
With all the quads sitting next to each other, my eyes glanced from one to the other. While they did look alike, there were enough differences that I would easily be able to tell Lachlan apart from them. Though I doubted that had been the case when they were younger. I couldn’t imagine them as babies, all looking exactly alike. How had they been able to tell them apart? I was curious and vocalized my question, as Lachlan took it upon himself to heap a pile of pasta and meat sauce on my plate, with some garlic bread on the side.
Mary laughed. “I had these different colored bands I kept on their wrists. It was the only way we could keep them straight for years. I think they wore those bands until they were about three. Their personalities had developed by then, so we took them off. We were able to tell them apart at that time. Though other people couldn’t.”
“Wow Mom,” Jamie teased, “What if you accidentally switched one of our bands? Or we did? Maybe I’m not really Jamie. Maybe I’m Lachlan.”
“I should be so lucky,” Lachlan muttered under his breath, while I dug into my food like the starving man I was. I got the impression from bits and pieces that Lachlan had shared, that he wasn’t always happy about being the oldest. It seemed to come with a lot of expectations and responsibilities that his other brothers didn’t have to contend with.
I was about four bites into the amazing spaghetti and sauce, content to listen to the brothers tease and pick at each other, envious in a way an only child is, when queasiness rolled over my stomach. I nearly dropped my fork, as I tried to take a deep breath in through my nose.
I’d been battling this stomach thing for weeks now, off and on, and hadn’t mentioned it to Lachlan. I was convinced that the infrequent, random bouts of nausea were due to exhaustion and stress. I hadn’t thrown up since I’d had the flu weeks ago, but there were times it felt like it was a good possibility. I put my fork down, and quietly pushed my plate away from me.
“Quinn?” Lachlan’s voice was filled with worry. “What is it?”
I shook my head, pushing my chair back quickly. “I’m sorry, may I use the restroom?” I knew my words were short, my breathing quick, but I was seriously trying not to puke over my plate.
“There’s a half bath off the kitchen, through that door,” Mary told me, pointing to a door opposite the one we had entered from. I hurried through it, walking quickly, but not wanting to draw more attention to myself than I already had.
The door took me into a large, spotless kitchen, filled with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops that any other time I would love to gawk at. I gulped, looking around helplessly, my hand over my mouth. Iwasn’t going to make it to the bathroom. I could feel hot bile in the back of my throat, and there was no stopping it.
I rushed to the wide farmhouse sink and puked my guts into it. Knowing Lachlan’s entire family could hear me hurling, and not giving one fuck. I gasped, sputtered, choked and dry heaved. I could hear the sounds of numerous feet rushing to the kitchen.
An arm wrapped around my waist; a hand wrapped itself in my hair. Pulling it back, and out of my way, as I heaved again. A part of me wanted to fight against the steel muscled arm around me, but I didn’t have the strength. My legs were shaking, threatening to dump me on the floor. That arm was the only thing keeping me upright.
