Page 21 of Bailey-Rose: The Complete Duet

The heat of someone coming up behind me with the added scent of sweet tea warned me that one of my guys was in the bathroom with me. “Baby girl, what exactly do you think has gone wrong so far?”

Lifting my gaze, I looked at him in the bathroom mirror. “Everything.”

He leaned against the bathroom wall, arms crossed, watching me. “Yeah, you’re gonna need to lay it out for me because this has been one amazing morning for me so far.”

“Even after I body slammed into you?” I challenged.

Gareth grinned. “Baby girl, waking up with you in my arms and crawling all over me is not something I’ll ever regret. Was the wakeup rather jarring, sure, but you’re cute, so I’ll let it slide.”

“How can you say that after I drooled on you?” I demanded.

“Oh, it wasn’t just me. You also left your mark on Yun-Sun,” Gareth added.

I tossed my hands in the air and sank to the floor, head in my hands. “God, I’m a disaster.”

A moment later, a body slid down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Bailey, I’m gonna need a little insight here because I want to make sure we didn’t somehow give you the impression we were expecting a superhuman Omega. Everyone has drooled in their sleep at one point or another. In high school, I played football and got tackled more times than I can count, not to mention kicked or stepped on by cattle. Having you crash into me was like getting hit with a pillow. Okay, your elbow was a little sharp, but there’s not even a bruise to show anything happened. So forgive me if I sound like a dick, but I think you’re being a little hard on yourself here.”

Unsure how to even respond, I rested my head on his shoulder, mulling over his words. “I don’t want to cause any more work for people than necessary,” I finally admitted. “All my life, the people around me have had to be given a list of things to be aware of, or Crew had to come along to keep an eye on me. It was so hard to make real friends who didn’t care about my family name and run at the first sign of how damaged my heart is. After a while, I stopped trying and accepted I would only have my family who would love me no matter what.”

“Hmm,” Gareth hummed as he nuzzled my head. “Never being an inconvenience is a hard task to achieve. I’m guessing even if I tell you not to worry about it, you won’t take that to heart.”

“At this point, I feel like it’s something I do without even realizing it,” I added. “It’s like telling someone not to breathe or blink. How do you simply stop doing something you don’t even realize you consciously do?”

“I think it’s something we will all have to work on together,” Gareth reasoned, pressing a kiss to my temple. “Now that I understand how you view things, it will help me to reassure you. Same with the others… we’re your Alphas, pack for life. I know it won’t happen overnight, but one day you’ll learn to trust us when we say we don’t see you as anything but perfectly ours.”

With a soft sniffle, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “How is it possible that you’re real? I keep thinking this is a dream, and I’ll wake up to find this was all a product of my lonely imagination.”

“I’ll be real with you, baby girl. I pinch myself constantly to make sure this is really happening. Things aren’t going to be perfect all the time… it’s just how things work with people. However, when it comes down to it, I know we’re all meant to be a family, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep us together,” Gareth assured me as he looked me right in the eye. “Now, take a moment and go change into something that makes you feel totally confident and comfortable. When you’re done, meet us in the living room, and we’ll head out for a fun day with your pack.”

Grabbing onto the ounce of bravery I gathered during this conversation, I leaned in and kissed my summertime Alpha. He tasted as sweet as his scent promised with the brightness of lemon making my nose tingle. The soft touch of his hands spanning my back made me feel safe and secure in his hold as our kiss deepened. After a moment, he pulled back his gray-blue eyes, bright with intentions that had me biting my lip.

“Go. Change. Now,” Gareth ordered with a stern tone I didn’t really believe but wanted to respect.

“Right,” I agreed with a jerky nod.

Not so gracefully, I jumped to my feet as my knee got stuck in the fabric of my oversized shirt. Thankfully, Gareth had excellent reflexes catching me, but we both crashed to the floor again. Mortified that I’d turned into a baby giraffe who couldn’t even manage to get to her feet, I groaned. However, Gareth started to laugh, and it was so infectious I couldn’t help but join in, realizing how ridiculous all this was.

The bathroom door opened, and Warrick popped his head in. “Sorry, I couldn’t take it any longer. My FOMO was going crazy. You two good?”

“For all our sakes, I think you should help Bailey to her feet,” Gareth suggested.

Needing no other encouragement, Warrick stood before me, hooked his hands under my armpits, and hoisted me up. Once I was securely on my feet, he released me and offered Gareth a hand, who took it and hauled himself to stand next to me.

“You all right to make it to your room without one of us?” Gareth questioned, suddenly a little unsure by the look he was giving me.

“Don’t worry, I can send an SOS signal from my monitor if I need help, but I think I got this,” I shared.

Both men looked at me for a moment then Gareth motioned for me to go ahead of them. Feeling cheeky, I blew them a kiss before dashing off toward the stairs. Glancing over my shoulder, they both had a dopey smile as they watched me. That had me grinning like a fool that little old me could have an effect on them like that.

Bursting into my room, I found Eli sitting on my bed, head in his hands. It brought me to an abrupt halt. “Elee?”

Hearing me, his head shot up, and I saw his eyes glassy with tears. “B, I thought you were heading out for breakfast?”

“I decided to change, knowing we’d be in public,” I offered, motioning to my clashing clothes as I walked over. Dropping to my knees, I rested my hands on my big brother’s knees. “What’s wrong?”

He gave me his best attempt at a smile, but it didn’t meet his eyes as he stroked a hand over my head. “Nothing, B, nothing’s wrong. In fact, you might say things are amazing. My precious baby sister found her pack. Now she’s finally going to have all the love she deserves five times over.”

“Elee, don’t,” I chided. “Don’t pretend, not with me. You and I don’t do that with each other. Brutal honesty, remember?”