Page 59 of Gamers' Omega

I hummed as I nestled against him. “Sorry for being weird at the beginning.”

He kissed my forehead. “No need to apologize, Sweetheart. We all know you’re working through things. You could have told me no, and I’d still have enjoyed watching you come just from my hand.”

I let out a happy sigh. “Why do you all call me Sweetheart?”

“Hmm?”

“Except Beck, all of you now call me Sweetheart.”

He chuckled. “I think it just happened. Do you want us to stop?”

I thought about it, then shook my head. “I… I think I like it.”

He leaned in and kissed my hair. “Good.”

∞∞∞

The sound of the vacuum came from the small bedroom while I stood on the counters to clean the tops of the cabinets.

“Bathroom’s shiny,” Tony declared. “If any of you shit in that toilet, you’re in charge of cleaning it again. And Heaven help you if you get water spots on the mirror.”

I laughed. So did Beck, who was off to one side going through my tiny pantry.

“I will say this,” Beck started as he transferred several cans to a box. “Nothing’s out of date when you move so often.”

“You might find something questionable once you get to the fridge,” I warned.

“Who doesn’t have something questionable in their fridge?” Ian asked from where he was dusting in the living room. “Do those people even exist?”

I chuckled and carefully edged around the sink. “Well, I’ll just blame you guys if something is going off in there. I’ve not cooked here very much lately.”

“So feeding our mate is a bad thing?” Tony teased.

I froze. The words had existed in my head until then, but I hadn’t dared speak them.

“Eric?” Beck asked. “Are you ok? Is there a cobweb up there?”

“What did he say?” I whispered.

“Huh?” Beck asked, then, “Oh.”

“What’s up?” Tony asked.

“You broke Eric with the M-word.”

“M-word?” Tony asked.

“You called him our mate,” Ian clarified. “I mean, it’s true, but probably not the ideal time to say it.”

I clung to the cabinets as I tried to catch my breath.

“Come here,” Beck said softly, squeezing my leg. “Tony broke you, so he can finish cleaning the tops of the cabinets.”

I let Beck help me down from the countertop, then followed him to the living room where he tugged me onto his lap.

The vacuum stopped.

“Everything ok?” Freddie asked as he walked out of the bedroom.