Page 107 of The Beta: Part Two
“Talia.”
She turns back around.
“You’re a good omega. I know it’s still strange for you, but you’re a good omega.”
She gives me half a smile and leaves me to dwell and sulk about not being able to be there for her second heat, even if there are some legitimate reasons for me to sit it out.
~
Breakfast is ruined the next morning, not surprisingly by something that I’m responsible for.
Talia made a gigantic quiche. It’s delicious. We’re all sitting at the table together, which is pretty damn nice, eating and drinking coffee, when Alex reaches across and takes the cup of coffee out of Talia’s hand right as she’s taking a sip. An entertaining course of emotions plays across her face until she settles on confusion.
Jasper clears up that confusion by putting his cup of omega tea in her hand and switching to juice. She’s quiet for a minute, just staring at the cup in her hand, then she gets up and crawls into Corso’s lap to cry. He, Reid, and Alex all glare at me. I’d be dead twelve times over if their looks could kill me.
“I know,” I say, looking down at my half finished breakfast. “I know. We did so many things wrong when she was a beta, and we didn’t do much better after she became an omega. I let a thousand little things slide because it was easier for me to let her try to figure it out on her own. I should have taken care of her the way she was taking care of Jasper. I don’t know how to make up for it. I don’t think I can.”
“Well, you better figure it out, buttercup,” Alex says, “because if she cries again over some shit that’s your fault, I’ll figure it out for you.”
“Don’t yell at Devon,” Talia says into Corso’s shoulder. “He was just trying to protect Jasper. And it’s just coffee. I just forgot, is all. I’m not always going to be this emotional. It’s because I’m going to go into heat every ten minutes for the rest of my life and I can’t have coffee and now they have to get implants because of me.” Corso starts purring and carries her out of the kitchen.
“Fix it.” Reid sounds deadly. “I don’t care how. Fix it.”
All I can do is nod. I’ll spend the rest of my life fixing it.
“We’ll make it right,” Nathan declares. “We will. We were all awful.”
“You didn’t know.” Jasper’s trying to save us. He keeps trying to save us.
“Don’t take up for them, peaches.” Alex is talking to Jasper, but still glaring at me. I’m almost completely confident that he’s given Jasper that nickname specifically to grate my nerves, but I’m not stupid enough to call him out on it right now.
~
Reid, Kaleb, Nathan, Trent, and I get shiny new hip implants the next day. Corso is very, very angry that I let Trent and Nathan see Talia through her first heat without implants, but there’s nothing we can do for it now. So he doesn’t bitch…too much.
Honestly, I feel like an even bigger ass than I already did after this morning’s disaster. Corso is right, I should have done better by Talia in so many ways. I’ll never be able to atone for all the wrongs I’ve committed against her.
Obi, Talia’s brother’s beta, strolls through the door with a wide grin on his face and rubbing his hands together menacingly, “Who's going first?”
Me, obviously. “I am. Thank you for coming. And for your discretion.”
“And for your discretion,” he mocks. “I've been dreaming of stabbing you for years, Johnson. I'm just happy to finally be given the opportunity. Where's Trent? I've wanted to stab him since we were kids. He knocked out one of my teeth with his fat head when we were nine years old.”
“You should have passed the ball,” Trent says, coming down the stairs, “it's not my fault you're so damn slow. I'll go first, Devon. Don't argue with me. You can go next.”
Normally, I would argue. But we're all getting the implant, so the order we get them doesn't really matter. Besides, I trust Obi. He's a damn good medic. I'll never understand why he went into counseling and reproductive studies when he could have been a doctor.
“Alright, let's get started. I'll get you two taken care of while we wait for Nathan and Kaleb. I told Jamison I was coming over to check on Talia and Devon, but I didn't tell him what else I was doing. It took some convincing to get him to stay home, so I'm trying to be quick.”
“Where do you want to do this? Would the kitchen work? We could lay on the table.” I'm sure Talia won't mind using the kitchen table as a makeshift exam table, considering we laid her out on it recently.
Reid, Kaleb and Nathan come into the kitchen just as Obi is putting the bandage on Trent's hip.
“Stop being a baby, you're not even bleeding.”
“You put it too deep. Are you sure you're a licensed professional? A good doctor wouldn't be so rough.” Trent, as always, is dramatic.
“I'm not that kind of doctor. You're done, princess. Next!” Obi calls.
