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“You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”
He shrugged. “My brother is the charming one. Let’s just say I can relate to being the quiet one. He never made me feel like less but sometimes, his friends acted like I was annoyingly tagging along.”
“People suck,” I said, hating that he could relate. It’s a shitty feeling.
“Sorry didn’t mean to derail. How does the quiet kid get to be a tea expert?”
“My dorm mother tended to the gardens for the horticultural classes. My major was accounting, so getting outside was a nice break from all the numbers and programs. I’d help her out and she’d share her knowledge. She knew more than anyone I’ve ever met about plants.”
“I’m sure that helped with homesickness,” he offered. It would be true for most, but he didn’t know my parents.
“Homesickness didn’t exist for me.”
His eyebrows furrowed and he turned to me for a quick glance. “But I’ve heard you’re close to your family.
That had a grin spreading on my face. “Oh so you’ve been asking around about me.” The teasing had a warm tint spreading on his cheeks. There was a lot more to this beta than I expected.
“Maybe,” was all he gave me as he hyper-focused on the road. Taking pity on him, I kept going.
“My roommate in college had really severe asthma. I asked my mentor about it and she taught me how to make a salve for her chest at night that would help and this particular tea blend. Over the next few years of living together we tweaked it and perfected it. She taught me everything I knew and even after college it’s been something I enjoy doing.”
“Do you still see her a lot?”
“No, unfortunately. She moved out to California with her boyfriend. I sent her off with the recipe and we catch up through email every so often,” I admitted.
“Well, I appreciate that you’re trying to find something to help. You don’t have to do this.”
“I’m helping because I can and I want to. Hopefully, the store has even a fraction of what we need. Does he struggle with sleeping because of his coughing? If so, I think I can do a separate blend for that.” I was already scrolling for another mix.
“He definitely does. I think that’s part of the reason he’s so weak and fatigued, he can’t really get any solid rest to heal,” Dean admitted.
“The doctors just aren’t helping?” I asked. Omegas occasionally had to fight with doctors to take them seriously, but not usually alphas.
“They’ve tried a few different things, but nothing’s working. Hell, they haven’t even given an official diagnosis.” I could hear the defeat and frustration in his voice. What he was dealing with was heart-wrenching. I couldn’t even imagine how I would handle the same situation with Tori or Micah.
My hand was moving before I could fully process, resting on Dean’s in a moment of silent support. He looked over at me, blinking hard. I could tell the emotion was hitting him, so I just left my hand and turned to look out the window.
After a few beats, he moved away long enough to turn on the radio before taking my hand again. I didn’t pull away, my body craving the connection as much as my heart did. I’d been wrong about Dean and with all this stress, I couldn’t blame him for having a moment of weakness. It didn’t excuse screaming at me but I was willing to find out if it was a character flaw, or simply a moment of weakness.
Once we hit Averton, I finally broke the unspoken moment between us and adjusted my GPS to lead us to our destination. We drove straight through the little city and out the other side, passing fields and more trees than I could count.
“Is this right?” he asked as we passed an older man rocking on his front porch, watching us pass by.
“We still have a mile to go. It’s on this road, to the left,” I said, shifting my phone so he could see the screen as well.
“I’m still shocked you’re doing all this and taking a chance on me,” he said. It was almost like he thought he wasn’t worth the time or effort, or undeserving. I had a feeling that there was a whole lot more to the breakup and the separation of the twins.
“I’m saying this and expect no response. But you should consider talking to someone about this. It’s alright for people to help out and be nice to you,” I told him. “And I was also needing one hell of an escape from Main Street, so it worked out. We can escape together today.”
He didn’t say anything and I let the guy think it over. Things somehow got way heavier than either of us intended but I wasn’t upset with finding out more. It seemed that we both needed a friend and despite him not wanting to be just friends, we were starting that way.
“Oh, and before we get into some awkward moment, I’m buying the ingredients,” I told him.
Dean scoffed at that. “Hell, no. There’s no way I’m letting you foot the bill for this.”
“If it works then I can make more and whatever ingredients I have left, which will be plenty because I know I’ll buy more than I need, I’ll use for later.”
“You’re stubborn, aren’t you?” He laughed. “No wonder you went on a date with my brother, he’s stubborn like you.”
