Page 111 of Dream Girl
“I love him.” I leaned into Wes. It had been fun to meet Wes’ dad and some of his friends and family. The backyard was full of people laughing, eating, and having a great time.
Music played in the background, since their fancy backyard had a sound system. Also, a giant grill and a bar. Evan and I had blown up balloons and hung streamers. Riley made an enormous banner that saidHappy Birthday, Wes.
I watched as Evan, Lexi, and a few others playedflying disc, which was frisbee. Spencer was at the grill, being assisted by Marcos, Riley, and their friend Kilroy, who just wanted to play with fire. They kept chasing each other with flaming sticks. Lena, Lexi’s packmate who owned a bar, played bartender.
Even Brennan seemed to have fun as he and Jett sat on a giant wooden swing with their drinks.
This… this was nice.
Katie came over to me. “Hey, Evan says you play piano. Should we play something?”
“Um, sure. I probably don’t know anything you do.” I’d done a quick search for some popular classical piano pieces, and while some of them sounded close, none of them were the same.
Wes kissed my temple. “Go for it.”
“The boys are treating you okay, aren’t they?” she asked as we crossed the backyard. “We haven’t really had time to talk.”
“I adore Evan, and I’d never do anything to hurt him,” I blurted.
“Oh, I don’t think that at all. I’m not sure anyone that matters does,” she told me.
I sighed and looked at Brennan and Jett on the swing.
“Yeah, he doesn’t matter.” Katie rolled her eyes. She had red hair and eyes that were just like Brennan’s. They even had similar builds, though she was a little shorter and slighter.
“He’s head alpha, so he sort of does,” I muttered, recalling what Luc, the integration counselor, had said about his acceptance being critical.
“All that’s a him problem, not a you problem,” she replied. “You have a room, right? Do you have what you need? Has Wes taken you out?”
“I have an adorable room and more stuff than I could want. We went on a date last night, it was fun.” I grinned. It was so thoughtful.
Katie and I went inside. The cake Evan and I made this morning sat on the table. We’d also gone to the home store, and I’d picked out a lavender candle for myself along with a few other things. Evan and I also stopped at an art supply store, and I got Wes the charcoal set Evan said he wanted, offering to give Evan some baking lessons in return for getting it for me.
“Just checking. Wes can be a little oblivious and complacent. Also, Bren and Wes suck at courting. Spencer’s probably amazing at it, though.” She gave me a sly look. “What? I see how he looks at you.”
He did? Part of me perked up.Hey, down girl. You already have two guys, and you barely know what to do with them.
“Spencer? If I accept this job, he’ll be myboss.” I ducked my head, cheeks warming as we went over to the piano in the big open area on the second floor. I hadn’t spent much time on this floor.
“And?” She laughed. “It’s not uncommon for omegas to work with a mate or packmate. You working with Spencer and Wes wouldn’t cause anyone to blink as long as you can actually do the job you’re hired for.”
Therein lay the problem. I’d looked over several projects, and I didn’t feel qualified to joinanyof those teams.
She stretched her fingers. “Do you like to play duets?”
“Absolutely.”
Opening the piano bench, she got out some sheet music.
While I didn’t know anything she did, for obvious reasons, I was an excellent sight reader.
We played a few things, laughing when one of us messed up. This was fun. Evan, Rami, who was Katie’s omega, and Lexi wandered up. It felt so good to play again. The notes tickled all the correct parts of my brain.
Brennan barreled in, anger on his face. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Playing the piano, want to join?” Katie didn’t seem taken aback by his anger.
“No. I don’t like you playing my fucking piano,” Brennan retorted.
