“I can’t imagine why, but I guess he must be more appealing to omegas.” Gears gave me a dismissive once over.
Being around Gears could kill a guy’s confidence. I was lucky I had my omega to compliment me. “I know I’m incredibly attractive, thank you very much,” I muttered.
Talia went up onto her toes and kissed my cheek. “You are.”
“She’s wearing rose-coloured glasses, I think,” Hawk teased. He’d managed to sink two balls on his turn, but then passed it over to Gears.
“All of you are so cruel to me,” I complained. “Not like you two get a lot of omega attention.”
Gears smirked, exchanging a glance with Talia. Hawk went red. I was definitely missing something, but I wasn’t going to ask.
I wanted to take my omega and enjoy some time alone with her. Now that the others were acknowledging their feelings for her, they kept stealing my cuddles.
“Are you done catching up with them?” I asked Talia, kissing the side of her head. “Because we could leave at any point.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I came for you. The staff told me you headed out here. I have to go talk to Jurah and Penn, and I didn’t want to do it alone.”
Oh, god. The fathers.
Upside—she hadn’t mentioned Nico, and he seemed to be the one who wanted us dead the most.
I managed a flimsy smile for her. “Of course, princess. I’ll come with you.”
Maybe another show of my unwavering support for their daughter would make them like me. I still wasn’t quite sure how my first impression had gone, overall. Time for a second, I guess.
“Thank you.” She slipped out from under my arm, going over to the pool table as Gears sank the final ball, completely wiping Hawk out in one turn. “If you guys need anything else out here, let one of the staff members know.”
“Any chance you can convince your dads to give us our bikes back?” Hawk asked. He didn’t seem fazed by his sudden loss of the round. “They had them confiscated at the gate. Said they needed to be checked for bombs or something.”
That checked out.
I was surprised Gears wasn’t freaking out more, though. That bike might as well be her omega, for how much she cared about it.
“If my bike comes back with a single scratch, Mercy’s going to owe me a whole lot more than $700 for bike parts,” Gears muttered.
The price had already gone up from $500. I held back a snicker. If Mercer didn’t come pay her soon, he was going to have a monumental bill on his hands.
“Yeah, I can get my fathers to send them back to you. They should have been checked over by their guys by now. And I’msure they didn’t scratch it. All my fathers’ guys are careful about stuff like that.”
“Thanks, Talia,” Hawk said.
She smiled at him and I stalked back over to her, draping my arms over her shoulders and resting my chin on her head. I wasn’t jealous, exactly. I just wanted to be a part of anything she smiled at.
Which might be a little bit of jealousy, but whatever.
“Come on,” I said, trying to steer her in the direction of the door. “Give me a quick garden tour so I can amp myself up for seeing your fathers again.”
“You need to amp yourself up?” Gears snorted. “They weren’t that scary.”
“You try dating one of their daughters,” I shot back. “Bet they’d be scary then.”
“Doubt it.”
“We’re officially not friends anymore,” I declared. “You’re too mean to me.”
She rolled her eyes. “If you say so.”
Talia let herself be steered to the door and out into the chilly morning. “He’s not serious,” she tossed back over her shoulder at Gears.
