Page 27 of All Packed Up

It had been a few years since he’d moved in, and when he’d arrived, the alphas were already there. They’d never been a problem and seemed harmless enough.

Apparently Nic trusted them enough to go get cheese for Wendy.

“Ready to go back to bed?” he asked, redirecting her attention.

Wendy nodded, and instead of waiting for him, she just grabbed his hand and tugged him along. They passed by the abandoned bat on the floor.

“Where’d you even find that?”

“It was in the hall closet,” she explained.

“Did you wait long?”

Wendy pushed him down on the bed and situated the blankets around him before she dove in and wiggled until she found the comfiest spot. “Not at all. I only got out of the shower like ten minutes ago. Lay here listening to people… exist, I guess. Then it got to be too much.”

What had she been through with those alphas to make her so paranoid? How did she end up with them in the first place?

Nic had so many questions, but he didn’t ask a single one. Instead, he turned on the television and argued with Wendy over what to watch. They were done with heavy topics for the night.

“You don’t like comedies?” Wendy asked, cranking her neck back to stare at him, bewildered.

He shrugged. “What? The genuine comedies are hard to find. It’s all stupid humor now, like they are trying too hard.”

Wendy nodded. “I guess that makes sense. For someone with no sense of humor.”

Nic paused, mouth gaping in a small circle. “Excuse me! I definitely have a sense of humor.”

“Fine, tell me a joke,” Wendy dared.

Nic sent her an absurd stare. “That’s not how it works.”

“Then you’re not humorous. Oh well.” She shrugged and went back to flipping through the streaming options.

Meanwhile Nic continued racking his brain for a joke. Any joke. Had he ever even heard a joke? Why didn’t one come to mind?

His eyes flicked around the room, bouncing from object to object. He hoped that maybe something would jog his memory.

A lamp? Something about moths? No, that was too lame.

They were on a bed. Why not something about sex? No, that was too callous.

His gaze landed on the pillows beneath their heads. “Did you hear about the new corduroy pillows?” He cleared his throat. “They are making headlines.”

Wendy muted the television in the wake of his joke. And as they lay there, the silence a little too loud, a little too telling, Nic wished he’d just never said anything.

“Did you lay there thinking of that the whole time?”

He stiffened. “No. What? I came up with that on the fly.”

Wendy rolled her lips in to keep from laughing, and Nic smiled at her obvious resistance.

“See? You’re laughing. I can be funny.”

The omega let a giggle slip free, then she shook her head and laughed louder, turning her head into the pillow, shoulders shaking.

Mission. Accomplished.

Her scent, the tart sweetness of a deep red plum, sat heavy on his tongue and made his cock twitch.