Pack of Lies, page 22
With Marlowe being the exception, of course.
He was plastered to her side, half in her lap, and she didn’t mind at all.
Occasionally she got this guilty look on her face, and I was pretty sure it was because she was planning on leaving us when the threat passed. She didn’t want to get too comfortable — or let us get comfortable.
There was no point in reminding Marlowe, despite his clinginess. He knew. Reminders would only make him more desperate to have her falling in love and staying. If he came on any stronger, I’d have to talk to him about boundaries.
“They need to jump because the track has hazards,” Marlowe said. “I can throw things onto the road to slow you down. That’s usually the strategy Quentin takes. He likes to play dirty.”
My grin turned into a smirk, and I risked moving a bit closer to their relaxed duo. “I don’t play dirty. They put stuff like that in the game because it’s allowed to be used. “
“No one else uses dirty tricks. We all just race.”
Marlowe was smiling despite his complaints, and I moved closer until I was pressed up against his side. Thorn didn’t look uncomfortable, her body still relaxed and expressive gold eyes peering at the TV.
“You enjoy my dirty tricks, cupcake. Don’t lie. And you like it when I win, because I take my reward when I do.”
My omega went bright red, his cock rising in his pants. The jeans were thick enough they kept it contained, but his arousal perfumed the room with cotton candy. I imagined Thorn could smell it, despite her dulled senses.
When she went pink as well, trying to extricate herself from Marlie, it confirmed my suspicions. I risked placing a hand on her shoulder, hoping she didn’t smack me away.
She froze but didn’t.
“I’m sure Marlie would give you a reward too, if you won,” I said. “Better learn how to use the tricks.”
Marlowe fidgeted and I moved until we weren’t touching anymore. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a little extra blackberry and orange in the air, too. She didn’t hate me. I was starting in a good place.
“I don’t think I’m going to win,” Thorn said after a long, tense pause.
My mate had gotten himself back under control, his arousal calmed for the moment. His intense arousal over the past few days made a hell of a lot more sense now that I was aware of Thorn’s existence.
He had felt her through the pack bond, known that there was a new mate waiting for him if his mates had been kind enough to tell him. I imagined being close to her was a special kind of torture for my easily-aroused omega.
It would be for me, too. She was tantalizing and gorgeous and had just enough vulnerability in her expression I was desperate to protect her.
“We can think of a reward just in case you do, though,” Marlie said.
“What did you have in mind?”
I saw the dirty thoughts racing through his head. The things he wanted to do to her... I could only imagine. Marlie loved being submissive, enjoyed being humiliated to an extent. Like being put in the corner or denied an orgasm or called a slut.
Nothing overly mean; not for his sensitive soul. But I could imagine Thorn forcing him down between her legs and not letting him breathe until she came multiple times.
He would love that.
Fuck, I was firmly on the dominant side of the spectrum, and I would love that too.
Standing abruptly from the couch, I ignored the prominent bulge I was sporting. It was impossible to hide, and maybe it was better for Thorn to know she affected us. I doubted Denzel had let any cracks in his demeanour show. “I’m going to make a snack. You two haven’t eaten enough today.”
I didn’t hear what Marlie ended up offering Thorn because I was watching their hushed conversation from the kitchen, but I imagined he’d played it safe. Probably offered to bake her a cake or something. He would do that regardless, but he could play it off as a fun reward if she won.
Chopping up some vegetables for a couple of sandwiches was soothing and gave me a chance to watch the rest of the pack.
Everyone except Denzel was in here.
Reese and Jubilee were just making themselves scarce.
Jubilee sat at a bar stool, spun to face the kitchen but very obviously staring over his shoulder at the two omegas. Reese was leaning back against the wall near the staircase, ready to sprint upstairs if he was told off for watching.
They were both remorseful, the way Denzel should be. I wasn’t sure what to tell them about whether Thorn would forgive them. I didn’t know her well enough. However, neither of them were making any great strides by staring and doing nothing.
Leaning across the counter, I grabbed Jubilee’s chin and turned him to face me. I caught his lips in a kiss, making sure he was dizzy with lust by the time I pulled away. His scent was heightened, aura pulsing with energy, and I wondered if Thorn could tell.
From the way she snapped her head back to look at the TV when I caught her eyes, I imagined she could.
Grabbing a piece of cheese, I folded it a few times and pushed it past Jubilee’s lips. He chewed in stunned silence and then swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“She won’t forgive you if you never talk to her,” I murmured, brushing a strand of turquoise hair back from his face.
“What am I supposed to say? We lied. I’m not even the one that told her about the lie. I was going to listen to Denzel until he changed his mind about what to do.”
His hands trembled as he fretted, both placed on the bar counter.
“Apologize. Grovel. Give her something she wants or needs. You and Reese know the most about her. What does she like?”
“Colouring books. Going places. She would make jokes about how she needed us to take her on walks like a dog.” He looked lost as he listed her likes.
“Bring her somewhere, then. Maybe the day after tomorrow, because we know Marlie’s shopping trip is going to take all day.”
“The last time we went on a date, none of my calculations came up with the right activity. Plus, she ended up in the hospital. It was horrible.”
His tremors got worse and I gestured for him to hop off the stool and come around to my side of the counter. He obeyed without question, yelping when I grabbed him and pressed his back up against the counter. My lips came down to his ear and nibbled, my gaze catching on Thorn’s once again.
I could scent blackberries from here.
She liked watching us, and we’d barely done anything yet. Only our top halves were visible from the living room.
Shoving my leg between Jubilee’s legs, he whimpered and rubbed his hard cock against my thigh. “Quentin, we shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
One of my hands slid under his shirt, the other going up to his head and cradling the back of it. I trailed my lips down to his neck, not taking my eyes off Thorn. Marlowe was rambling about the game, scenting us but not realizing our arousal was distracting Thorn as well.
“Why not?” I asked, pressing my teeth to his neck.
He jerked, his hands going down to my torso and trying to push me away. I didn’t budge.
“She’s right there. It’s impolite. What if she doesn’t want us to be together like this? I don’t think anyone told her yet.”
“Inhale, baby, and tell me what you smell.”
In his panic he clearly hadn’t been paying attention, because he did as I’d demanded and gasped.
“Thorn is watching right now, and from that arousal I seriously doubt she’s opposed to this.”
My fingers tweaked one of his nipples, his body relaxing beneath me as he hitched a leg over my hip. Jubilee’s cheeks were flaming red, embarrassed to have an audience, but it turned him on too. Knowing she was watching. I didn’t know how far we should take this, but I bet I could make him come in his pants without doing anything too uncouth.
I knew every single one of Lee’s weak spots.
His neck was one of my favourites.
Not being able to mark him was one of the only reasons I was annoyed about not being an alpha. He deserved claiming marks up and down this gorgeous pale skin. I couldn’t leave anything permanent, so I did the next best thing.
My teeth sunk in, my mouth sucking at his flesh. He groaned, and Reese’s gaze snapped to us for the first time. He looked back and forth between us and the omegas, realizing why she was so delicious at the moment.
Marlowe glanced at us too, panic in his expression for a moment before he caught where Thorn was looking.
Right at me.
What a good girl.
These thoughts in my head were nasty, and taking things way too fast considering her situation, but I couldn’t stop it. I would never act on anything. At least not until she’d confirmed that she was staying.
Having her watch, however? Putting on a show stroked something in me.
Detaching my teeth from Jubilee, I licked the sensitive skin and he shivered. His hips were rutting against me, his movements desperate.
“We’ve got a bigger audience now, baby,” I purred in his ear, too quiet for anyone else to hear. “Marlie’s watching too.”
“Fuck, Quentin,” Jubilee groaned. “I can’t come in my pants.”
“Why not? I think it’s hot.”
“I don’t think it’s a good first impression.”
I disagreed, but he looked so concerned. Like he thought she was going to reject him purely because she thought he was quick to the draw. I couldn’t imagine she would, but I revised my plan anyway.
Slamming my lips to his, I undid his belt and shoved his pants down his hips. My hand wrapped around his length, and when I parted from him I murmured an order under my breath.
“Be loud, baby. Really fucking loud for me, OK?”
He nodded, hair falling into his face.
I dropped to my knees, sucking down his cock as his hands grasped desperately at the edge of the counter. Lee wouldn’t last long with me here, and he did as I’d demanded. His moans echoed through the kitchen to the living room. If anyone hadn’t known what we were doing, they knew now.
Fondling his balls I stared up at his pretty flushed cheeks, his glasses falling down his nose. When I swallowed around his cock he choked and thrust forward.
His next moan was long and low, cum filling my mouth faster than I could swallow. Some dripped from the corner of my mouth, and I didn’t bother to clean it up. I rose from the ground and kissed him until I’d messed up the both of us with his cum.
Then I pulled back and met Thorn’s eyes again with a smirk.
She’d watched the whole thing, her pupils blown.
Marlowe didn’t know where to look; at us, or her.
Reese’s attention was firmly on the omegas, awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot as he tried to relieve the pressure in his pants.
Looking back to Jubilee, I helped him put his pants back into place and do them up. He was visibly flustered, just the way I liked him.
“She was watching you the whole time, so I think you have a chance at a date,” I murmured. “And I doubt she thought the last one was horrible, but I’ll help you plan it. OK?”
He nodded several times.
“I’m going to head upstairs and take care of this quickly,” I continued, adjusting my tight pants.
“I can—”
I cut off Jubilee’s offer, as tempted as I was to take him up on it. “No. You’re going to go sit on the couch with our omegas.”
“Isn’t this a little awkward?”
“Only if you make it awkward.”
Grabbing his hand, I brought it to my lips and kissed it. Thorn and Marlowe had turned their attention back to the game, both looking dazed. I dragged Jubilee through the dining room to the living room, pushing him to sit on the far end of the couch.
“Be back in fifteen,” I said, pressing a kiss to his head.
As I walked upstairs to slip into the bathroom, I already knew it wasn’t going to take fifteen minutes.
And I may have fucked myself over by getting Thorn and Marlowe aroused simultaneously, because I didn’t think there was any scent that could possibly be better than cotton candy mixed with blackberries and oranges.
I was addicted, and I didn’t even know if I would ever smell it again.
TWENTY-NINE
THORN
I’d slept fitfully, my thighs damp with slick.
Quentin was brazen.
He’d known I was watching, and he’d taken it further with Jubilee, anyway.
Maybe it was because I was watching.
Who knew.
All I knew was I couldn’t get the image of them out of my head, nor could I erase how Marlowe’s bulge had corresponded with a heightening of his scent so intense I’d been shocked at how much my nose was picking up.
We’d settled back in like nothing had happened afterward, Marlowe and I ignoring our arousal as we played the game. I was horrible at it, as expected, but I’d had fun. We’d gone to sleep late, but I was awake early, sitting at a bar stool in the kitchen.
Staring at the empty spot where Quentin had gone to his knees and made Jubilee come in his mouth.
I shouldn’t find that hot.
Jubilee shouldn’t be so damn endearing. He’d caught me before bed and apologized, and after the show I’d only been able to nod numbly. I couldn’t be mad when he was only doing as Denzel had ordered.
Or could I be mad?
Maybe.
Probably.
I was well within my rights, but my heart wasn’t going to allow it.
Footsteps came from the stairs and I turned to look over my shoulder. Jubilee stopped short when he saw me. There was a pile of papers in his arms and he was wearing an outfit that made him look even more like a nerdy professor than the one I’d first seen him in. A plaid button up was unevenly buttoned over a black tank top, dark brown corduroy pants tight on his hips.
“Oh. I didn’t know you would be awake,” he said.
He’d turned on his heel to head back upstairs, but I stopped him.
“It’s your house. You’re allowed to be down here.”
“No, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“The only one I’m uncomfortable around is Denzel.”
I imagined the pack lead was sleeping on the couch; his scent was heavily layered on the fabric. However, I had yet to see him on it. Thank goodness.
I wasn’t sure what I would do when I had to face him without backup.
Smack him?
Flee?
Argue?
Cower?
He evoked so many different emotions in me, I didn’t know what to think. His betrayal hurt the most, because he’d been the one to orchestrate it.
Denzel had me falling for him and asking for him in sensitive moments, while he was off fucking his real omega.
“Are you sure?” Jubilee asked, dragging me from my thoughts.
“Certain. You apologized last night.”
“An apology doesn’t fix it.”
“No,” I agreed.
He tentatively walked up to me, placing his papers down on the counter and taking a spot on the bar stool beside mine. It was where he’d been sitting last night, before Quentin had pulled him around to the other side of the counter.
My cheeks flushed as the thoughts had more arousal flooding me.
I tried to focus on the contents of his paperwork instead, the numbers making no sense and taming my hormones. “Is this for work?” I asked.
Jubilee’s cheeks went pink and he shook his head, but didn’t elaborate.
He grabbed a pencil from a cup of writing implements on the counter and started scratching at equations, my eyes following the way his fingers flexed and released. I’d never thought fingers could be sexy, until his.
One of the equations looked vaguely familiar, my nose scrunching up as I fought to recall where I’d seen it. The Centre? No.
“Is that the date equation you were using?” I asked, finally putting my finger on it.
“Um, yes.”
“What date are you trying to work out now? An apology date with Marlowe?”
“No. I was thinking, uh, maybe the two of us could go on a date.”
He dropped the pencil and rubbed the back of his neck instead. Brown eyes rose to mine, shy behind his glasses, his hair mussed from sleep. I got the impression his rest had been as fitful as mine, but for a different reason.
His guilt was palpable, same as it had been when he’d apologized.
“There’s not really much point,” I said quietly, dropping my gaze. “I plan on leaving. I thought you knew that.”
“But what if you would have an amazing life here with us?”
“There’s nothing amazing about Denzel breathing down my neck.”
“He won’t. He’ll either pull his head out of his ass or I’ll challenge him for pack lead like I should have when he decided to lie about the GPRE.”
I stared at the spot where he’d been pressed to the counter again.
Casual affection like that was within my grasp.
Would I get that anywhere else? Maybe. I’d be living life as a beta if I went into hiding. I could find a beta partner and create a life with them.
Except, I would have to lie to them. Didn’t that make me as bad as Denzel? I couldn’t tell them the truth or I’d risk them outing me, accidentally or on purpose. I’d be creating a life based on a lie, and if I was ever discovered I’d bring my partner’s whole life crashing down.
No, I couldn’t do that.
This was my only chance at affection.
It being my only chance wasn’t good enough, though. I needed to feel something for them; to trust they wouldn’t keep me locked up like the Centre had, like the traffickers had before that. To trust they wouldn’t neglect me like my parents had.
“Can we please try?” Jubilee begged. “Please. I want to make it up to you, whether you decide to leave or not.”
“Yes,” I said. “To the date. Don’t try too hard, though. You don’t need those equations, because I only need you.”
I hadn’t decided to agree when I spoke, but the words gave me my answer. My instinct was to say yes, and I was struggling to determine how much of my affection for Jubilee was biology and how much was just him.
