Romance Omega Style [Resistant Omegas 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) (2 page)

“Really? I wonder who that would be?” he asked with a feral smile. It was a small room so he didn’t have to go far to move me into his arms. I chuckled as he buried his face in my neck and started sniffing me. “Hmmm, smells like the man I love. You must be the blond I can have.”

“You can have me as soon as we cast off,” I purred as I teased my fingers under the waist of his jeans. “Lief and Carter are going to have to switch off driving. I think we should make sure there’s nothing we can help with that he might need. Plus, we don’t know how long until we’re shipping off.”

“Good call. Keep this hot for me,” he mumbled as he moved his hands over my ass. I fought back a flinch. Brody wasn’t the only one who had snuck off that morning and the tats I’d gotten were still very, very tender. But hopefully well worth it. “Let’s go see if our mate needs help.”

“Always.” I smiled as I slipped my hand into his as we headed out to search for our mates.

* * * *

Carson

“This isn’t anywhere near enough food,” Asher grumbled quietly. “Shit. Brody’s going to blame himself.”

“No he won’t,” I said quietly as I rubbed the man’s shoulder. “We don’t know what will be at the island and we couldn’t have planned for that. Plus, Brody thought it was only three or four of our inner circles. We have eight, plus three more Omegas, and two handfuls of guards. I’m shocked we all fit on the damn boat. So it really is a good thing he got such a massive yacht. Make me a list of what you need or even just hints, like more bread, more meat, or such and we’ll get it done.”

“I need more frozen basics,” he answered as he started furiously writing on a notepad. “Brody got everything fresh and that’s great but for storage purposes we have the fridge and coolers full but we have huge frozen stores down in the hold for fish and whatnot that’s empty. I know we’re going fishing during the trip and Brody got shrimp and lobster traps for the island but we don’t know if there’s really going to be any there.”

“Good deal. I’ll see it done,” I assured him. “Load up what you’ve got and we’ll bring a shitload of frozen everything and basics wrapped so they can be frozen.”

“We have a plan.” He shot me a smile as he handed me his quickly written-out list. I headed back up to the main deck to find my men and whoever else could help.

“What’s the word on food?” Tristan asked me.

“We need more of everything. Mostly what we could freeze.” I saw Brody standing close so I made sure to add on more to my answer. “We added more people than we had planned for. Brody did great with everything he got, filling up all the cold storage, but it’s not going to be enough with the extra people. Asher says we have tons of freezer space in the hold used for fish the boat could bring back and we need to fill it.”

Brody smiled shyly as he walked past us, not wanting to intrude or let on that he’d been listening. Tristan gave me a wink when he was gone.

“Nicely done. He was so worried about all of this as if it’s all his fault if it goes wrong because the idea was his.”

“He’s young,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “But then again, so are you so you know
exactly
what it feels like to start something you don’t feel old enough for and worry that you’re going to fail everyone.”

“Pot, this is kettle, you’re black,” Tristan drawled. “You’re a whole year older than me,
old man
.”

“Exactly why I speak from experience. I’m going to get a posse together and do some major grocery shopping while you handle things here.”

“Okay. Lief says we should get out of here long before the tide starts coming in. Apparently Brody got a badass yacht that’s like one of the fastest in the world. I wonder what criminal bought it before the Italian government seized it.”

“And if the plan was to outrun them,” I chuckled. “How fast we talking?”

“Lief said like a hundred knots which is like over a hundred and fifteen miles per hour. So we’re looking at just under a nine-hour ride to the island. He’s checking calculations on gas so if we end up needing more, we’ll handle that.”

“Cool. You get the prep and I got the food.” We bumped fists like idiots who were best friends and loved to goof around before we broke up. I walked out where some were still loading up gear and bags while others were kind of in a holding pattern. “We need to make a massive food run so I want at least three inner circles on this so we can hurry and cast off. I volunteer mine, who else?”

“So sweet of you, baby,” Declan chuckled.

“I said I would handle this and there’s no way you guys would let me roam Miami without you,” I drawled. “I just skipped the middle part.”

“Good deal. I’m starving,” Ian said.

“Surprise, surprise,” I snickered. My mate could eat his weight in food a day and still be hungry. Where he put it all was beyond me.

“If we get clams and supplies, I know how to do a real clam bake,” he offered.

“If we can find frozen, sure, but we’re on frozen-food and food-to-be-frozen duty,” I informed him as Edric volunteered his inner circle and so did Lennox. “Then let’s do this.”

Ten minutes later we were at one of my favorite places to shop… Costco. Everything and anything in bulk with lots of samples. Good times to always have by all.

“We’re not getting a cake, Rowan,” Edric growled at his mate. “Freezer stuff only.”

“We can
freeze
a cake,” Rowan defended.

“Go for it. I love their cake,” I chuckled. “We’re going to need dessert too.”

“Fine, I’ll apologize for not thinking you were right as always later,” Edric drawled when Rowan stuck his tongue out at the Omega.

“Glad to see my mates aren’t the only goofballs in the group,” I chuckled as mine were talking to the butcher.

“So normally we’d have to order the whole pig but you had someone bail on you and we can buy this one?” Ian asked, looking as if he was going to drool on the thing. “Can we freeze it for a few days before cooking it?” I laughed when the man nodded and Ian pumped his fist in the air. “We’re so in then!” He saw me staring at him and smiled. “Babe, I got us a whole pig.”

“Of course you did.” I smiled at my gorgeous redheaded mate as I walked over to him, his deep green eyes sparkling with mirth. “If anyone could wrangle a full pig for our trip it would be you, my love.”

“I think you mean that as a compliment so I’m taking it as such.” He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss before snagging some samples as we walked by. “Can we freeze cheese because this is really good?”

“I don’t think so but we can get some when we get home,” I promised him as I grabbed his arm. He looked at me then and I cupped his cheek. “Always assume it’s a compliment because I don’t ever seem to be able to find anything wrong with any of you.”

“I love you too, Carson,” he said affectionately. “Don’t be nervous about the trip. We have a plan to get out if we ever need it now. I’m excited. Maybe we should just run so we can live on a deserted island the rest of our lives.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “I do love when you’ve got a tan.”

“We’ll see,” I giggled before giving him a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. The butcher loaded up the pig, which was wrapped so it could go in the freezer, and I was glad I got a flat cart instead of a normal one. Then we headed for veggies while everyone else got other stuff to freeze. I stared at my men and smiled as they went for their favorites. Ian got corn on the cob, Declan made sure to get carrots, and Taylor picked up so many potatoes and French fries I wondered if there were any left for the rest of the store.

“You can’t ever have too many potatoes,” Taylor assured me. “They go with everything.”

“I agree.”

“I’m slipping off to go get something else we’ll need for our Valentine’s Day cruise with a bunch of mated couples,” he chuckled as he kissed my hair.

“Flowers?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Chocolates and lube,” he snickered. I threw back my head and laughed as he jogged away. Oh boy. God only knew what my mate would come back with when he was that excited.

“Having fun?” Declan asked as he moved behind me, his fingers intertwining with mine as we pushed the cart. “It’s nice to see you smile and laugh.”

“Yeah, it feels good,” I admitted. “After everything with the Council, nothing has felt right again, you know? Like we might have made enemies of our friends by what we did but at the same time, we got rid of bad apples. I just feel like we’ve been walking on eggshells since we started the Omega Network and I hate that. I hate that I dragged us all into this because of what I wanted.”

“Hey, don’t ever say that,” he chastised gently as he kissed my shoulder. “This was our fight too. It always has been. You didn’t drag us anywhere. We walked this road right with you the whole time.”

“You’re right. It has been your fight too,” I agreed, as I smiled up at him. “You fought to save me.”

“Well worth the fight,” Declan purred as he eyed me over. “We did the right thing and ended up with the man of our dreams because of it.”

“We need to work on your dream world’s expectations,” I snickered. He raised an eyebrow at me and I knew I had him. “I dream of Brad Pitt and here you dreamed of a scrawny twink.”

“I like lithe twinks,” he countered as his eyes flared in anger, not even missing a beat. “I’d take you over Brad Pitt any day. So you have fun with your dreams of other men.” He turned and stormed away from me heading breakfast foods we could freeze too.

“Shit,” I swore as I pushed the big-ass cart after him. I knew he hated when I disparaged myself but it really had just been a joke. I didn’t really dream of Brad Pitt, though I did get hard when I watched the trailer for his new movie coming out where he was kicking zombie ass.

“No, I won’t calm down this time,” Declan hissed to Ian. “Does he not understand how much we love him? Always with the jokes that we need to have higher standards or wake up and see that he’s not worth it. I used to think it was just his low self-esteem after being abused and fine, I could be patient because of that. But it’s years later, Ian.”

“It’s gotten better,” Ian challenged. “Now it’s only jokes as opposed to constantly asking us if we were really happy with him and weren’t planning on leaving.”

“Is joking about it really any better?” Declan shot right back. “Or is he better and just fishing for compliments? Maybe he doesn’t have low self-esteem at all and just is an attention whore. How much longer is he always going to be the victim we have to coddle and everything always be about him?”

I gasped at what he said, drawing both their attention. Ian winced and Declan went pale when he saw me. “Neither is your answer. It was a
joke
. I don’t really dream about Brad Pitt. I was joking because what you said embarrasses me. I came to apologize and explain that I’m just not good at taking compliments so I crack jokes. Even people who haven’t been abused aren’t always able to accept compliments.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he realized he’d truly fucked up.

“Fuck you, Declan,” I choked out and then turned away from him before I started crying in front of everyone in the store. I left the cart, knowing one of them would get it because there was no way to push the thing and make a fast exit.

As I ran I passed the alcohol section and supposed that was a really good idea right then. I got four huge bottles of strong rum, thinking that it was fitting for a Caribbean Island adventure, and headed to the checkout. Taylor caught up with me there and didn’t say a word, which I appreciated. I took my box with my booze, not letting him carry it for me, and went to the little café section as I waited for everyone to finish shopping.

I ordered two huge slices of pepperoni pizza and ignored everything and everyone else. I was trying to be reasonable and not just book it out of the store so it would be all about me and the fact that I couldn’t go anywhere alone and unprotected. I didn’t want to give Declan any more fuel for his fire.

“I don’t know what happened other than Declan had tears running down his cheeks as Ian was shouting at him before I got there to shut them up and Ian told me you ran towards the front of the store. Can you fill me in?” Taylor asked gently after I put away my second piece of pizza.

I stared at him a moment, wondering if he felt as Declan did. Could they all have and I was just too blind to see it? “No, nothing worth repeating,” I answered after deciding to say nothing. I didn’t want any drama surrounding me while we were on our vacation… Since apparently I always needed to be coddled and everything was about me.

At least that’s what one of the men I loved thought. But then again, did I really blame him or all of them for thinking that if they agreed with Declan?

Edric

“What’s going on?” I asked Carson as we rode back to the yacht with all our purchases. I’d seen Ian yelling at Declan in the store and then my friend bought a bunch of booze. That couldn’t be good. So when we loaded up, I made some excuse up about needing to talk to Carson alone. We could drive together in the caravan and not worry about getting attacked or something.

Blaine hated the idea but I just shrugged and closed the door in his face. I had powers and they had brute strength. I didn’t
constantly
need to be looked over and to be honest, I was getting fucking tired of it.