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Auggie draped his arms over me, bringing us cheek to cheek in the mirror. “I’m really sorry about what happened to you, babe. I’m kind of jazzed about the idea of you and me being neighbors, though.”
It would be nice to have someone I knew close by without them being directly in my space. I wasn’t friends with any of my neighbors and I liked the idea of Auggie being only a floor away.
“Oh, fuck it. I’m gonna bother my landlord right now.” Auggie pulled out his phone and sat down in one of the chairs next to me while I added a helping of glitter to my hair. “They’re pretty fast getting back to me.”
He wasn’t lying. Before we were set to go on stage, I had a viewing scheduled. I still hadn’t decided if I was getting rid of my apartment, but there was something soothing about having this in my schedule.
“Are you gonna have our mutual cutie move in with you?”
“We are so not there yet.”
“Right, right. You’re secret forbidden lovers. But what about if you weren’t a secret anymore?”
“Still a no. I’ve never, ever lived with a partner.”
Auggie beamed. “No time like the present to start.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved at him with my toes. “This is not a conversation we’re having right now. I’m not moving in with Luca, secret or not. My space is my space and he couldn’t live in an omega-only building anyway.”
I ignored Auggie pouting, instead pushing him toward the stage so he could do his performance before I had mine.
Hanging back so I could watch him defy gravity on the pole, I leaned against the wall and considered my options. It was difficult for me to reconcile that leaving where I was was a matter of safety, no matter how much security had increased. Kevin and Rodney knew where I lived and where I worked. I hated it, but I was pretty sure I needed to take at least one of those things out of the equation.
I survived the rest of the night. My performance was nothing special, but the audience was mostly here for my body and not the specific acrobatics I could do.
Morning, or at least what passed for morning for me after I worked at the club, came too fast. I peeled myself out of bed and into the shower, and I was greeted by Sidney, Allie, and Luca at the breakfast table when I emerged again.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Allie handed me an extra-sweet coffee.
I took it in hand and sipped the elixir. “Bless you.”
“I’m ready to help whenever you want to get started,” Luca said.
Shit. I’d forgotten to text him last night about the change in plans.
“Actually, I’m gonna hold off on moving things over at least for a couple more hours. I was talking to a friend from work last night that also lives in an omega-only building, and I was going to swing by and check out one of the available units.”
All three of them perked up.
“That’s great, Loons!” Allie chirped.
“You can come with if you’d like, Luca. Since you’re already here,” I added hastily. “We can load up both cars anyway.”
“Sure, sounds like a plan.”
Once I had gotten through my coffee and the French toast Sidney made for me—a delightful perk of staying with them was that he did all the cooking—the four of us loaded up my vehicle and Luca’s with all the stuff from my temporary nest.
“What are you two up to today?” I asked the happy couple.
“Sidney has a half shift at the clinic in a little bit, and I promised Mama Marino I would go shopping with her.”
“I can’t decide which of us is going to have more fun,” I teased. I bid the two of them goodbye and gave Luca the building address, and we each drove over in our separate vehicles.
Auggie was waiting for us in the lobby when we got there. “I thought you said Cutie wasn’t moving in?”
“He’s helping me move stuff today and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let him see what I’m considering.”
Auggie gave me a knowing look, which I pointedly ignored. He grinned at Luca and squeezed my beta so tightly his back cracked.
