Honey, you have such a generous mouth; it’s why you can eat so much.
I’d rather they justnottalk to me at all. I mean, not to quote a rabbit, but what the fuck ever happened to “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” I hated Bambi…it was depressing, and the sudden, forced relationship with his father figure was random and off-putting. Where was that bastard during the start of the movie? Good goddamned thing they don’t have child support in the woods is all I’m fucking saying.
My phone’s finally stopped ringing and a few moments later, it chimes about a new voicemail. I’ll be deleting that after dinner. We stayed the whole week, at my insistence, because it was expected—but fuck, I need some recovery time after that. Plus dealing with John today. Even my own scent match doesn’t want to spend time with me, and there is no way in hell I’m going back to my parents’ house for spring break. They’ll be shutting down the dorms, though, for the twice-a-year deep clean and de-scenting, so we have to figure something out. Maybe we can swing a week-long hotel trip, just a short staycation in town?
I’m turning back to Greg and Shaggy with our impromptu dinner when my phone starts to ring again. At least this time it’s not a call I mind. Hell, a year ago, I would have been happy at the opportunity to vent about everything to my best friend. Now he’s so busy that even when he calls, he mostly talks about his pack and their gym.
I wonder if they can take in a couple of house guests and a displaced rabbit over spring break? Fuck, anything’s better than dealing with my family again.
Chapter 24
Ifeel like reheated roadkill right now. Everything aches—my eyes are blurry and my brain feels like it’s been replaced with week-old cream of wheat. Just one big, slightly mushy lump. It’s hard to focus even when Sarah folds her legs and flops down next to me on the floor, scooping an irritated Shaggy out of my lap, replacing him with a sandwich, and leaning a half-full bag of chips against my thigh as she chatters away on the phone.
Her honest laugh brings a small smile to my face, letting me know she isn’t talking to any of her family. Then I hear the low rumble on the other end and know it’s Teddy that called. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I pick up the sandwich she brought me and tear a big bite out—peanut butter and honey. At least I think so. My mouth felt sticky before, and I’m having some trouble processing everything at a normal speed.
Bringing it up to eye level, I peel the top piece of bread back and confirm what I already guessed, earning me a snort and a poke in the arm from Sarah. She pulls the phone away from her smiling face. “Do you really think I’m going to poison you? You’ve already had to deal with the batshit crazy part of my life. You’re stuck now.” At least she’s smiling as I munch away at my dinner.
My mind is still fuzzy as I stare over at her and Shaggy, making sure she has her own sandwich before I start on the other half of mine. I should have checked earlier. She hasn’t been eating normally since we got back from the holiday, and it’s not a surprise at all with some of the shit her mom and sisters said about her weight. She doesn’t understand that she’s perfect just the way she is.
She takes a big bite of her own sandwich, nodding and humming along with whatever Teddy’s saying, even though he can’t see her. We’ve both finished our PB&H, and she’s been holding the same chip for fifteen minutes so she doesn’t crunch in Teddy’s ear when the conversation finally starts to lull. She looks nervous, her eyes shifting between me and Shaggy repeatedly before squeezing shut.
Her voice isn’t much more than a squeak when she finally speaks. “Yeah, no, I’m still here. I was just…I miss you, Thicc.
“No. No, I miss your voice.
“Don’t be a dick. I need a favor.”
Teddy’s voice has been a low murmur on the other end of the connection, and Sarah’s eyes flick back to me once before she squints down at Shaggy.
“Yeah, no, we…um…we need to get away for spring break. Any chance of Sam letting us…Ok, um…are there any nearby hotels? I know I’ve been saying we’d come visit since Thanksgiving. I just…I can’t face my family again so soon. And I’m worried that if they find out I’m just staying in a hotel close to home, it’llmean another lecture on my wasting money when they have a room I could use.”
More growly voices come from the other end of the phone. It sounds like it’s not just Teddy anymore, and I’m guessing he put the call on speaker. There’s a high squeal and giggling followed by loud barking sounds. Sarah pulls the phone away from her head, giving it a puzzled look. Eventually, her name comes through loudly, and she moves it back to her ear.
She’s smiling when she talks again. “No, we can get a hotel; it’s not an issue. We have some money saved up…No…please don’t put Sam out. We don’t want to be a problem…Oh, well, Steve can just fuck all the way off. No, I just…Yes, I know you love him. Come on, Thicc, I miss you. But we can just…Ok. Ok. Yes. No…I’ll talk to Greg, but I think it’ll be a nice change of pace. Give him time away from work and home. Ok…Yeah. No, I’ll…I’ll let you know soon. I promise. Thank you, both…er…all three, um…four of you, and Jake. No, thank you. I’ll talk to you soon. Yeah…no…Soon. Bye!” She hangs up the phone, looking chagrined and smiling bashfully at me.
Before I can open my mouth, she starts talking to me. Her hands are moving quickly over Shaggy now, and he gives an annoyed little honking noise before head-butting her fingers and trying to steal her tortilla chip. “No, no. No chips for you, you little thief. You don’t really want this anyway; you’re just being a butthead.”
She’s stalling on talking to me, and we both know it. At the same time, I don’t want to make her feel pressured. If my mind was clear, I would already have heard what they were talking about, but work is just kicking my ass so hard this week—we’ve had to have rotating extra coverage for investigations into how the alphas that assaulted Lily got onto the grounds, but there was a lot of foot traffic that night. It’s kind of a clusterfuck. Moreover, in my worry for Sarah, I’m barely functioning tonight.Thank goodness my weekend started an hour ago, and I can sleep while Sarah is in classes tomorrow.
My girl chews on her lower lip as she finally meets my eyes. What the hell made her so nervous all of a sudden? Her voice warbles a bit when she talks. “So…um…you wanna make a road trip over spring break? Go visit Thicc and his pack? I know you don’t want to see your family, so I’m just trying to think of options.”
Her eyes shift nervously from side to side, refusing to meet mine as my mind spins. I don’t want to drive to Mississippi…and I don’t particularly want to fly either, but I can see if we can afford that. I’d hate to put Shaggy through the plane trip, not to mention he’d need his own seat since he’s hardly cargo.
Still, I can understand what she meant about not staying local, and while the idea of having her so close to my own family terrifies me, she doesn’t know where they live. She doesn’t know that we’ll practically be in spitting distance of the Arkansas state line where they finally settled down. I’d be happy…Ok, not happy. But I would tell her if she asks. I just hope she doesn’t ask.
So, with no real argument at hand, I just plaster on my best smile and give her the only truth I can. “It’s all good. It’ll be nice to see Teddy again and see how he settled in with his pack.” Her eyes narrow at me for a moment before I add, “And to let you kick some alpha asses if he isn’t as happy with them as he seems to be.”
She’s almost smug as she settles back against the couch, and I can practically see the wheels turning as she starts making plans for the break. It’s still a couple of months away, but I figured out early on that planning, re-planning, and organizing all help her deal with some of her chaos—how she often feels like she has no real choices in life. Letting her mind wander—and pulling my clothes out of a suitcase for the next two months whenever Ineed to get ready for work—is a small price to pay for her to feel in control.
Chapter 25
Ihate airports. They’re crowded, and smell…and if it’s bad on my sniffer, I can’t imagine how much worse it is for Sarah’s sensitive omega senses. Poor Mr. Shaggbutt is irritated, even after sitting between us on the plane. Heck, the trip was shorter than when we drove out to her family’s for Christmas. Still, he’s been stuck in his carrier since the shuttle picked us up this morning, and I can’t blame him for being irritated with the situation.
Thankfully, Sarah already found our luggage and has a cart that she’s loaded up with Shaggy’s travel accommodations as well as our suitcases. She’s currently shoving through the crowd on her way to the car-rental desk. She booked the flight and the car the same day she started packing, back in January, and has been checking periodically to make sure they still have all of herinformation. She’s meticulous to the point of obsession about this trip going smoothly.
I’ve reached the stage where I’m not sure if her level of organization skills terrify or astound me—she could probably take over a small country with a couple of months to make preparations. Before I can even catch up, she’s smiling politely at the woman behind the desk and plucking the car keys out of her hands, nearly running me over as she swings the heavy cargo cart towards the car rental lot. A couple of loud thumps sound from Shaggy’s carrier, and she slows down to talk to him. “I know Shag-man. I’m going as fast as I can. You just gotta hang in there a bit longer. I’ll call Thicc once we get outside and make sure everything’s set up for you. Ok?”
Neither of us expect the little mad bastard to reply, and we aren’t disappointed as she starts picking up speed again, almost running over a couple of packs standing in the middle of the lobby talking. Everybody else is going around them, and they look like they might be there for the duration, just shooting the shit. Until Sarah runs over somebody’s foot. I can’t even blame her, that cart looks heavy as fuck and I’m panting to catch up with her as she speeds across the room. There’s a lot of shouting, which she ignores other than to fling one hand behind her, shooting the bird at the entire group. Several loud snarls and growls break out, but she’s already out the sliding door.
