Teddy was sick?
Shit!
Kelly leaves, dragging Garret along behind her like an obedient dog, and Jake, the actual dog, follows along happily wagging his tail. Sam grumbles to himself. He’s pulling out an old book from under the cabinet when I turn around with the clean bowl he asked for. He starts flipping pages, and this thing looks like it’s older than he is. There are notes scribbled in the margins, and some recipes have things crossed out and replacements carefully penciled in. My fingers itch with thedesire to look through it myself, it’s probably some sort of family heirloom though.
I always wanted to learn how to cook, but Dad said it wasn’t something alphas should do. Of course I expect he’ll lose his shit when he hears about Teddy being our scent match, so maybe giving him something less drastic to be pissy about will be a good start. I hand the bowl off to Sam, staring over his shoulder as he finally finds the section he wants. Homestyle Buttermilk Pancakes according to the title. There are so many pencil and pen marks on this page, the original recipe is nearly illegible.
Sam starts opening drawers and pulling out measuring cups and spoons, and in no time he has a lumpy batter sitting in a bowl on the counter next to my monstrosity. “Ok, gonna let that rest and rise for a few minutes while I get out a griddle. You wanna stand back there, Steve?”
Shuffling sideways, my eyes are still drawn to the book as he moves around behind where I was standing, pulling out an electric griddle and putting up ingredients. He lets it preheat while he pulls out six plates, a butter dish, and a small pot of maple syrup from the fridge. At least he doesn’t use the imitation maple flavored whatever the-fuck-that-is. That’s all they kept at college in the Dining Hall, and it was horrible compared to the real thing. Garret never seemed to notice the difference and it often makes me wonder if my brother’s taste buds work at all.
Finally, the griddle's hot, and he grabs a new stick of butter out of the fridge and runs it across the surface before adding a ladle full of batter for each pancake. This part I remember, the smell of the frying flatbread and the singed butter drags up old memories of sleepovers when we were kids. Waking up with Teddy and Garret, stampeding into the kitchen to climb up at the bar and watch Cook make breakfast. If Dad wasn’t up yet, she would try to make shapes for us. They never looked quite like what she said they were, but young me thought it was the mostamazing thing that someone could pour a pancake in the shape of a smiley face.
I’m drawn back to the present to see Sam start turning them on the griddle. He doesn’t flip them in the air like Cook used to, but the memory still brings a smile to my face, and pokes little holes in the defenses I’ve raised towards this big growly alpha that stole my omega. Shit, I can’t even blame Sam. The fault lies squarely with our old man, and us…me. I should have said something sooner. Shit.
Chapter 40
Sam has a lot of game systems down here for one person. Considering how busy he sounds, it doesn’t seem like he’d have much time to play. I open a drawer in his console storage and, sure enough, it’s filled with game cases–over half of them, including the newest Legend of Link, are all still in the sealed packaging. Of course, I want to take it out and play now that I’ve seen it. I haven’t really had much time to myself to relax with school and everything.
Would it be wrong to open his games and get things set up if he isn’t here?
Maybe after I’m properly marked.
Until then, I still feel kind of like a guest, even with the paperwork.
Of course, now with Vee and Garret here…
Can I give Vee up again if Kelly's a sticking point for him?
She accepted me, all of me, even without a history.
Shit.
I wish I had my guitar here.
Jessie.
She always helps me relax.
Makes my brain zone out.
My fingers twitch like they’re running over her strings. A quick riff playing across my mind to distract me. I sometimes make up songs, but usually just do covers. It takes too much out of me, letting my mind drift to stop and write down notes and words.
A mishmash of footfalls draws my attention to the stairs. The light ones are obviously Kelly, the heavy might be Sam or Garret, no way would Steve be hanging out with her. And then the scrambling claws on the wood announcing Kelly’s ever-present shadow, Jake. His legs are so long and gangly, I’m not sure how he makes it down the stairs without tumbling and taking them both down with him.
They find me sitting on the floor with a stack of games scattered around me, and Kelly immediately crawls into my lap and starts shuffling through the cases. It astounds me how comfortable she's become with Sam and me over the last few days, especially considering how reluctant she was to start with. I know we haven’t officially bonded, but it just feels so right having her close to me—there’s no way I’m giving this up, even for Vee.
She zeroes in on the same game I was contemplating earlier, a huge grin splitting her face. “Hey, do you think Sam would mind…?” She trails off, bouncing excitedly, and looking hopeful. My cock stirs as her ass wiggles around on it, and she doesn’t even notice how hard I’m getting having her pressing against me.
Make a guy feel inadequate over a video game, why don’t you?
I kid.
Mostly.
Unfortunately, Garret can be kind of a killjoy. He clears his throat, bringing both our attention around to him. He reachesdown to offer his hand to Kelly to help pull her out of my lap. “We were sent to find you to tell you breakfast is ready. Kelly was getting stuff out to make pancakes, but I sidetracked her. So Steve tried to make some. However, I believe that Sam is the one that actually succeeded in doing so.”
Oh, I love pancakes.
