“Aww, Kelly, you know they were probably just having a bad day. You can’t take fucks like that personally. You wanna go call Sam and Teddy and have ’em bring you some food? You beenhere for at least five hours, and I haven’t seen you eat anything. You gotta be hungry by now.” She knew I left the reception with them this weekend, so I filled her in on everything else during a break earlier.
She’s right about the food, of course, and that just makes me cry harder. Everything with Sam’s family, my parents, and now this guy—I don’t know why it hit me so hard, but I really need some fresh air to dry my eyes out. “Can you just…can you tell Xan I need to walk down to the store and get some lunch? I’ll message my guys. But I need to know when my car’s gonna be ready so I can go to the courthouse and finish up the pack registration.”
Sal pulls me back in for another hug. “'Course, Kel. You can’t take care of the rest of us if you don’t take care of yourself. Go get something to eat.” The phone starts ringing again as I grab my jacket, bag, and phone out of the office and take off down the street towards the diner. I just need a quick bite, shopping on an empty stomach is a bad idea. It's a good that I always wear jeans and sneakers to work. It’s only a couple blocks, but I’d hate to walk it in heels.
Chapter 23
Fuck this shit.
Fuck Grandpa, fuck Dad, and fuck Garret with all their building a family bullshit…just fuck everybody, I want Teddy.
Garret’s in the front seat beside me, pouting as we drive towards the tiny town of Oak Flats. What the fuck kind of name is Oak Flats anyway, and why did Teddy’s mom say he was staying here? He should have gone back to the fucking omega center so that I could court him properly. Not this bullshit where he thinks he found a fucking alpha in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Where the fuck even are we, Louisiana…Mississippi…some shit out in the middle of fucking nowhere…not even sure if they have fucking Wi-Fi out here.
Garret groans beside me. He hasn’t really stopped bitching since I told him I was coming after Teddy. Fuck, I’d rather he didn’t bother to tag along, but he says he has to. Because if I’m going to get my ass handed to me by Teddy’s new alpha, then he wants to be there as backup. I appreciate it, really, but fuck you’d think he could stop complaining since he’s the one that insisted on coming.
At least this time when he talks it’s actual words instead of just muttered grumbles. “Find me some place to get some goddamned food soon, or else. I’m getting hungry over here.” So his earlier bullshit wasn’t hangry, just moody bitchiness. Fuck me,all the nope. I pull over—there isn’t exactly a curb here, so I just hope for the best as we crunch onto the gravel on the side of the road. The GPS shows a diner in town, and a mom and pop type grocery store. Fingers crossed they have a deli or some shit. Not that I would admit it to him, but Garret’s right, I kinda need a little nosh myself.
“Looks like another four miles into town, then we can hit the grocery, grab a few things for while we're here. Sound good?” The only reply I get is more unintelligible grumbling, so fuck it, I’ll take that as a yes. I put the SUV back in drive and check my mirrors…It’s no surprise at all that I seeno oneon this deserted stretch of highway. Why the fuck would he come out here anyway?
Just as my tires start to grip the asphalt again I hear a loud pop and a hiss. Garret’s side of the SUV settles noticeably. That at least gets some reaction out of him, even if it is all profanity.
Never actually heard the term “horse biting bitch” but I guess after a solid three minute rant he was running out of material. I don’t even bother getting out to check, just search on my phone again for garages in the area.
Of course, there’s only one. Why not?
I hit dial, because we’re gonna need a tow truck, regardless. We both know how to change a flat tire—in theory—but I’ll just let the Alpha Automotive Association deal with it. I pay for the shit, might as well use it. It rings through the front a few times before a feminine voice picks up. “Gabe’s Garage, this is Kelly, how can I help you?”
And fuck me, I wasn’t quick enough to respond.
“Yeah, sweetheart, you can get us a mechanic or somebody in charge to talk to. We’re having some car trouble. Thanks.” Goddamned motherfucking Garret.
There’s a beat of silence before the phone hangs up.
“This is the only fucking garage for forty goddamned miles, you shit. Let me talk!” I slap my brother in the back of the head. We have a silent battle of wills for a few minutes where he glares at me, but at least he keeps quiet while I hit redial. It rings twice this time before a different female voice answers. “Gabe’s Garage, Sal speaking, what can I do for ya?”
“I am so sorry, first of all, my brother was an asshole when we called a minute ago. But regardless, my name's Steven, and we really do need help. We’ve had a flat about four miles outside of town, and need a tow truck, and at least one new tire.”
Sal has a deep and kind of sultry chuckle that makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise as she answers, “Not a problem, man. I’ll pass along your apology when Kelly gets back from lunch. Now, as for your problem, do you see any mile marker signs or anything where you are?”
“Honestly, it’s all flat, with nothing but grass…we may have passed a barn a few miles back.” Her laugh is lighter this time, like she’s genuinely enjoying us being lost. Not that I blame her after Garret earlier. “My GPS just shows us four miles south of town.”
“Ah, yeah, ok, so you passed Springfield about forty-five minutes ago? Yeah, I know where you are. Just gimme your call back number, vehicle make and model, along with the color. I’ll see who I can send out there, shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes.” She makes a few hums of confirmation as I rattle off my information, before I thank her for her help.
I feel like I should apologize again. “Thanks Sal, I really appreciate it. Oh, do you need my AAA information or can you just get it when we get there?”
“We can take care of that when you get to the office. Kelly handles all that stuff, and she should be back from lunch by the time we get you sorted out. See ya’ in a few.” She hangs up and at least Garret’s stopped glaring at me. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop the lecture he starts in on again.
“What are we doing here, bro? I know you and Teddy were together. I get that you miss him, but he’s an omega now, and omegas don’t share. You know how Dad and Grandpa are about family. Dad wants grandkids man, we can’t have Teddy if we want to have kids or a real family.” I know all the excuses, but fuck, we’ve been to multiple omega centers trying to find a match, someone we can agree on, and it’s just not happening. Teddy was more than just my friend. We knew we were going to be a pack; we knew we were going to be together.
I can find women attractive, in an aesthetic way. Just like I can find a piece of artwork or a song beautiful, but I’ve never met a woman, omega or beta, that I want a relationship with like I had with him. Hell, I’ve met very few men that I can see having a relationship with like we had. Teddy’s special, he’s mine, my teddy bear, and his designation coming in as an omega just confirmed it.
Not that we’ve seen each other since that happened. Our dad found out, flipped his shit, and forbade us from seeing him again. But fuck that miserable lonely old bastard. I need Teddy. Neither of us have much else to say as we sit here and wait for the tow truck.
Thankfully, it’s only ten minutes, but it’s a hell of a shock when a tall alpha female steps out and introduces herself as Sal. She smells kind of like shop grease and pine, and I’m not sure how much of it is her, and how much is her job. She asks how we’re doing and makes general conversation with us as she gets the SUV hooked up, and Garret and I join her in the front of the tow truck while she takes us back to town. We tell her we’ll be stayingin town for a bit, but not the reason why, if she knows Teddy, we don’t want him to find out we're here yet and avoid us. She tells us that the pack that owns the garage is out for their honeymoon, so they aren’t readily available, but she and Kelly work together as temporary office managers until the Gabe of Gabe’s Garage returns.
We pass the grocery store I was looking for just before we turn into the parking lot of the garage. I tell Sal that we’re going to walk down to grab some food while they get the car pulled in. She pushes some papers into my hands to sign, and makes sure I hand over the keys, then waves us off so she can get back to work. I hand the papers to Garret—he’s the paperwork guy. He glares at me, scribbles his name a few times, and hands them back to Sal.
We skip the front office and head straight towards the store. Garret pulls me down the sidewalk, his stomach rumbling is a loud background to the frustrated grumbles coming from his mouth.
