But I’d grown to love my little tower and I knew Edison still enjoyed taking care of the plants in the greenhouse, even if he refused to admit it.
Though they were both busy, this time around they were both in near constant contact with me, my phone pinging with texts from one of them even now as I peeked around Collum’s massive frame at Kailey who was practically red in the face.
“Did you only become friends with me because of my brother?” It was the question that had been on my mind ever since I watched the two hold hands.
Kailey was supposed to be the first friend I made as an adult and it was all tainted now.
Kailey looked as if she was about to cry. “At first, yes, he always spoke so highly of you and I just wanted to get to know you…”
That was all I needed to hear, I turned back to my camera as Collum gently began to guide her back to her own station.
“You don’t understand!” She tried again, this time loud enough to draw the attention of some of the other students who were also working at their own stations.
There were enough curious gazes on me that I either needed to leave class for the day or let Kailey say her piece and midterms were coming up.
With a heavy sigh, I gestured for Collum to let her go and step aside. The man nodded before turning his back to the both of us to continue to watch the rest of the class with suspicious eyes.
If I thought Rhodes stood out like a sore thumb, Collum stood out like an entire foot. The man had refused to wear anything other than the stiff black suit and he also refused to take out the wired earpiece that connected him to the rest of my security team.
It was like I was constantly being followed around by a secret service agent.
“What don’t I understand, Kailey? That you used me? Set me up?” I asked with a sigh.
“You don’t understand what your brother is going through right now,” Kailey stepped in close to whisper the words to me.
“Whatever he’s going through is of his own making. He shouldn’t have gotten involved with the people he has.” We were both dancing around mentioning the five families. There were too many ears present and I didn’t want to get Edison in trouble for saying something flippant.
“He didn’t have a choice, Perrie, after you left your brother was left to pick up the pieces of your father’s mistake. Don’t you care even a little bit?”
I did care. Far too much. But I also knew that Romey had gotten it into his head that I would be better off in a sham of a marriage while I lived the rest of my life in our childhood home, oppressed by parents that didn’t give a shit about me.
I wasn’t even sure how to convince him that I loved Edison and Rhodes—or even sure I wanted to.
Nor had I said the words ‘I love you’ out loud to either of the alphas. It still felt too new, and besides, Rhodes was still twitchy about the whole pack thing and keeping it a secret.
“I care, but not enough to wade into his bullshit,” I told her, turning back to my camera. “You can go now that you’ve pleaded his case.”
“You’re being cruel, Perrie.” Kailey’s tone was almost scolding as she continued to stand next to me.
“You wouldn’t know what cruel is if it bit you in the ass, now go before I show you real cruelty.” I put my best ‘Rhodes’ look on my face and waited for the beta to deflate and walk away before sighing with relief.
“Are you all right, ma’am?” Collum asked me a few minutes later as I stared dazedly at the screen of my camera, trying to remember what I’d been doing before Kailey interrupted me.
“Fine,” I reassured him, finally just giving in and powering it down. I’d have to hurry to catch up later on in the week, but there would be no work getting done today. “I’m going to pack up and then we can grab some lunch.”
Collum nodded solemnly, his hands clasped in front of him as he continued to draw the gaze of the other people in the room.
“Collum?” I began as I packed away my camera equipment and got ready to leave. “Is there any chance that you’d maybe consider a university baseball cap? Maybe a t-shirt?”
There was a pause before: “No, ma’am.”
Sigh. Well, a girl had to at least try.
“Stunning! Absolutely gorgeous!” Oona cooed as she stepped back to observe her handiwork.
I gave myself a little twirl in the mirror, watching as the champagne colored satin material shimmered in the daylight coming in through my bedroom windows. “It’s pretty, but why do the backs of these dresses always have to be so low?”
Like most of the formal dresses in my closet that seemed to grow by the day, the material of the dress draped along my lower back, just above my butt. By comparison the front of the dress was much more modest, cutting into an elegant square neckline that highlighted the topaz jewelry on my neck and ears.
“Because I love to look at it so much,” Edison’s voice came from the doorway where I turned to find both him and Rhodes standing. Edison crossed the space quickly, taking my hands in his as he leaned down to press a kiss to my lips. “You look beautiful, pet. You are going to make everyone at the Gala stop in their tracks.”
Reaching up, I wiped away the shiny gloss that had transferred onto his lips and grinned up at him. “Even if it means a bunch of random men are looking at me?”
Edison grimaced before lifting his hand and snapping his fingers. “You’re right. Rhodes, get the nun outfit.”
“The only nun outfit we have on hand is definitely less appropriate than what she’s wearing,” Rhodes said as he joined us, a small grin on his face.
“Oh, you two stop teasing. She looks lovely and if other men look at her then it just means that you have the prettiest omega of the bunch,” Oona insisted, already brandishing the lip gloss wand to touch up my makeup.
Oona was the only other soul in the house that knew about our freshly formed pack, though I was absolutely certain she’d known about Edison and Rhodes for far longer than she let on.
“I’m not opposed to a nun outfit if you’re both in priest ones,” I told him innocently with a flutter of my lashes, as I let Oona apply more gloss.
“My goodness,” Oona muttered, crossing herself. “I am going to go out and pretend like I heard none of that before the good lord strikes the three of you right down. You three better hurry or else you’ll be late.”
Oona hurried from the room still muttering something under her breath about us being heathens. Edison and Rhodes at least had the decency to wait until the door shut to start laughing.
