Page 59 of Finding the Forward: Part One
Dean shook his head. “Jonas checked her out. She’s nice. Maybe if you’d meet her, you’d understand.”
“I’d hate to see you get hurt, Boo-Boo.” With a shake of his head he left the room, beer in hand.
“She’s not going to hurt us.” Anguish filled me. He thought she was using me? That’s why he wouldn’t meet her?
“Change is hard. He might feel threatened by the presence of another alpha. Eventually, they’ll have to settle this.” Dean held me close, purring for me, trying to soothe my nerves.
Territorial alpha bullshit. Okay, I could see that. AJ didn’t understand she wasn’t like the usual female alphas.
Giving Dean a kiss, I left our penthouse and drove to her place, parking in the spot she told me to, then went up to their place. I knocked on the door, clutching the gigantic bouquet.
“It’s open,” a female voice yelled.
Fiveyoung Maimers lounged on the couch, eating takeout, and playing video games. Two of them were twins–one dressed in black with goth makeup, the other all cutesy.
“Take that, you asshole,” Mercy yelled, punching buttons on a controller. “Date is here. Quick break?” She eyed the flowers. “What are you compensating for?”
“Having an overzealous omega.” I gazed longingly at the food on the coffee table. Fried chicken. Mashed potatoes. Something deep fried. Biscuits. The smells alone made me drool. “Where did that come from? It looks amazing.”
I could use some chicken that wasn’t baked.
“Team Mom made it for us,” Kaiko, the rookie with the black and pink hair, replied.
“Verity can fry chicken. Oooh.” My belly gurgled. One of my moms made delicious fried chicken. Smelling it always brought back happy memories of summer picnics.
“She’s pretty good at cooking. Can’t grill worth shit, though.” Mercy shoved an entire biscuit in her mouth.
“Was that the do—” Verity stopped short, one hand on the wall of the hall that separated the living room and kitchen from the bedrooms. “Hi, Grif.” A hand smoothed her hair, and a wide grin broke out on her face. One that made me feel adored.
“Hi. You look amazing.” That tight lavender dress hugged her ass, showing just enough cleavage to tantalize. Her feetwere bare, toes painted light purple–like her nails. Like always, she looked beautiful, but her makeup and hair were different–definitely an evening look with the pouty lips, and the artful curls coming loose from her updo.
“You two are so dopey.” Mercy rolled her eyes.
“I think they’re sweet,” the only guy of the bunch said. He had a bunch of dinosaur tattoos.
“Have fun, be safe, don’t add to the population, don’t subtract from the population, don’t end up in jail because I’m not bailing your ass out, and be in by curfew, or you’ll be grounded,” Mercy stated, obviously mimicking someone, but I wasn’t sure who.
“That impression wasimpressive,” Verity told her.
The goth girl sized me up. “Team Mom has a curfew?”
“She was mimicking one of our parents.” Verity’s eyes fell on the flowers. Her hand went to her heart. “You brought me flowers?”
I held them out, my arm shaking a little. “Dean picked them for you. I hope you like them.”
Please like them.Maybe I should have gotten something less chaotic?
“Thank you. That is the most beautiful bouquet I’ve ever gotten.” Closing the gap between us, she planted a soft kiss on my cheek.
Relief sloshed over me. Okay, good choice then. Something about her touch made me giddy–and horny, as I willed myself to not have a hard-on with all the Maimers present.
The guy whistled as he sat stretched out, sipping a soda.
“If we’re not allowed to date the hockeys, are you not allowed to date the hockeys?” Kaiko asked Verity, grabbing a biscuit off the table.
The guy shook his head. “We don’twantto date the hockeys because we don’t know where they’ve been.”
A couple of them laughed.
