Page 35 of Loving My Omega (The Perfect Designation Trilogy #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Five

I closed the front door behind me and locked it. Marcus was loading up the back of the Jeep with his duffle and my backpack. He swung the door shut as he walked around to open the door for me. It was pretty early in the morning but Marcus wanted to get an early start on the drive up to his parents and their flight. Apparently, the fact that we’d marked before I was officially introduced to the family was something that needed to be remedied immediately.

Getting into the passenger seat, I buckled up as he shut the door and headed around to drive. Honestly, I was still barely awake. Since it was Saturday, Marcus decided we were to get up early and drive the day, stay the night at a lodge and then head up to his families pack, or flight.

“I made tea for you, when you’re ready to wake up.” Marcus pulled out, but tapped one of the thermos in the cupholder. “Other one is coffee, so careful.”

I nodded and leaned back against the seat. He pulled out onto the road, turning right and I let out a breath. This was new territory for me.

“Driving with me?”

Leaning over, I glared at him. “Stop reading my thoughts!”

“I can’t help what you’re projecting, Colt. It will get better. I promise.”

Grumbling under my breath, I crossed my arms over my chest. “And no. I meant, going this far. I haven’t been this far from the pack.”

“You’re serious.”

“Yes! I haven’t been more south than the club just south, the club east, and since there is nothing out here…I just never left. I don’t have a car so it would take a greyhound to get to the next city over.”

He hummed as he tapped on the steering wheel. “Do you want to travel? See different places.”

“Not in the traditional sense. I’d love to see the pyramids, the archives, and all that. The beaches don’t really do it for me and I’m not that kind of vacation person.”

“So the history of everywhere?”

I smiled and nodded. “That would be fun.”

We lapsed into silence for a while as I watched the nothing, that I had stupidly tried to walk, pass by us. There really was nothing out here. It was just two lanes, cars passing by each other. I looked in the mirror and frowned.

“What is going to happen to Alpha Genesis?”

Marcus growled low for a moment. “Everyone from the pack is banned from stepping onto campus. I believe the magic has already been put into place and the students removed unless they cut their pack ties. The Council takes over from there.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great. So nothing. Lovely.”

“What do you mean? The Council will do an investigation and…”

“And they will find that Alpha Genesis was acting out of kindness as Alpha to make sure one of his pack members was safe. Some shit like that. They attacked him first. It was self defense. Whatever they want to come up with.” I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. “Case wrapped up in a neat little bribery package.”

Marcus’ eyes were on me, but eventually, I felt them leave. I did heard him think about whether or not Mike was correct. He must have said something when they were picking me up. One thing I felt was hard to believe was that Mike went to Marcus for help. I’d seen Mike boost cars before plenty of times. Apparently, he deemed Marcus the easier route despite hating being in the same room as people he didn’t know.

“It’s been so long since I drove to my parents. This might actually be nice. I don’t have to run into anyone in the sky.”

I shook my head. “Except that you can get there in a couple hours with how fast you fly.”

“Maybe. I’d still like to spend time with you though.”

My nose wrinkled. “I don’t know why you couldn’t just carry the Jeep. You know, like Beau did.”

“With you in it? Are you crazy, Colt? Do you know how insane and unsafe that would be?”

“No. I mean, it’s like the vehicles in Dinotopia . I don’t see how being in the air in a car would be any different than on the ground driving me.”

Marcus glanced at me a couple times, his face in utter shock. “ Dinotopia ? Colt, where did you even see that?”

“What? My elementary school friend was deep into dinosaurs. We watched every dinosaur movie and series out there multiple times.”

“Colt, were you even born when that came out?”

I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip. “It came out in 2002. At least the one I was thinking of. So, no?” Marcus let out a whine and I laughed. “What? We watched a bootleg version on VHS.”

“I’m surprised that you know what a VHS is.”

Huffing, I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I do. I also know what a cassette tape is before you ask.”

“And an eight-track?”

“A what?” I watched his face turn ashen before I started laughing again. “I’m kidding. I know what an eight-track is, Mar. I even have a record player in my room back at my parents house. Or, I guess I did. If it’s still my room. I doubt it. They probably turned it into a new yoga studio or something.”

Marcus reached out and put his hand on my thigh. A mate bond was something I was going to need to get used to. I couldn’t hid my emotions behind humor anymore. He could feel me just like I could feel him. It was different from the thoughts. Those came and went unless we were openly trying to communicate through our mind. Emotions and feelings automatically flowed between us at all times.

“Did you have any records you would want to replace?”

Thinking about it, I smirked. “Yeah, I had this ancient one...Highway to Hell by AC/DC.”

He let out a loud whine as he glanced at me, looking like a sad puppy. I laughed, shaking my head. Grabbing his hand, I squeezed it before bringing it up and kissing it.

“I’m kidding. That was one of my brother’s. He was into that kind of music.”

“And you?”

I wrinkled my nose and shook it. “I always like more classical or classic, I guess. I had a lot of flamenco music, salsa, and jazz. Now that I think about it, I had a lot of weird opera vinyls too. Those are probably all out in the trash.” A sigh escaped me.

“Well, maybe we can keep an eye out moving forward. Try and rebuild it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you listen to music except for the other night.”

Shaking my head, I looked down at his hand and I rubbed my thumb over his skin. “It takes away from my awareness from my surroundings. I don’t feel safe enough to do that.”

His hand tightened around mine and I smiled up at him. “I feel safe with you though. Safe enough to be able to wear headphones.”

“I’m glad.”

We lapsed into silence and I found myself nodding off. I didn’t wake up until Marcus pulled over for lunch. We had passed the other major city that was close and headed north. Most of this drive would be on the back routes rather than the main highway. That would be out of our way too much.

The next few stops were mostly for gas. We’d drive from snow into a little warmer weather but it was starting to dip down. Apparently, the lodge that Marcus was taking us for the night was completely surrounded by snow. After putting the motion sickness setting on my phone, I was reading through the ebook version of my Intermediate Latin book. At one point, I dozed off again before waking up when Marcus pulled into another gas station.

“I feel like your other car would have gotten better gas mileage.” I got out and stretched. “Not that I’m complaining. I think the last time I was in a car this long I was five.”

Marcus chuckled. “We’ll need the off road and snow capabilities as we start climbing. The way up to the house isn’t paved. So it’s easier with the Jeep.”

He pulled out the pump and I took a deep breath of fresh air. “It smells different here already.”

“It smells like gas, Colt.” Shooting him an apathetic look, he smiled. “Yes, under the smell of gas it smells different. It will get better the further we climb up.”

“That’s good. It’s one thing I miss from the pack. The smell of the forest.” I walked around and leaned against the door as I watched Marcus shake the hose before putting it back.

Giving me a quick kiss, he smiled. “You are always welcome to roam around the back yard. I have security set up for intruders. Did you want anything from inside?”

“A water bottle. A cold one.”

Marcus blinked at me for a moment. “Anything else? Any snacks or anything?”

I shook my head. “Lunch was good. I’m not feeling particularly hungry. Water is fine.”

He made a face before turning and heading inside. Before he walked in though, he pointed to the car. Laughing, I gave him a salute and walked back around to get in. Locking the doors, I waited for him to grab whatever he needed. It took him a couple of minutes but he came out with a bag of way more than just water.

“Are you still hungry?” I asked as he got in the car.

“No. We just have a ways to go. I’d rather have dinner at the lodge and not some fast food joint. It’s also a long stretch between the nearest mini-mall and the lodge and even longer up to my parents. I thought I’d grab some things in case you do get hungry.”

Sifting through the bag, I took out the water and replaced the empty thermos in the cupholder. It looked like there were some crackers, nuts, and a few other healthier snacks. It all seemed fine. He even got an extra water bottle for me. There was also two sparkling waters but they looked a little too fancy to be water.

He reached out and took it from me, cracking open the can with one hand before taking a sip. “Not for you.”

“What is it?”

“An energy drink.”

My eyebrow rose as I set the bag on the floor in the back seat. “If you need me to drive, I can. I’ve been napping so I’m okay.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a little extra kick against the mate bond exhaustion.”

My lips pursed before I let it go. He pulled out back onto the road and I setting in for another few hours of latin. After a couple minutes though, I could feel an itch against my mind. Slowly, I turned to look at Marcus but he was focused on the road. Nothing looked wrong other than the fact that his finger was tapping a little too fast.

“What, Mar? You’re literally scratching my brain with your question.”

He laughed. “I was just wondering why you don’t like junk food. I’ve never seen you have a soda, chips, sweets…anything. I expected to have to be fighting you on food choices but I find myself eating healthier because of you.”

I cocked my head to the side. “That’s your question you’ve been itching to ask me for the last forty-five minutes?”

“Yes. Actually for over a week. Even if you couldn’t eat them, I expected them to be on hand or just stored in your cabinets. There is nothing.”

Putting my phone down, I couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know. I didn’t really have access to it as a kid. My mom went on this whole ‘everything she eats needs to be grass-fed, come from grass, or smell and taste like grass’ diet. Dad kept his stash of snacks in the garage while Sam and Heather kept theirs in their room.”

“You didn’t?”

Shaking my head, I shrugged. “I was too young to have my own snacks. So I just grew up sneaking the snacks that my mom had on hand or that their personal chef made for me. Parmesan cheese chips baked in the oven, egg bites from the free-range chickens, zucchini chips, and her favorite was these curry-lime cashews. I think the closest I got to junk food was popcorn with weird toppings.”

Marcus looked at me, trying to look horrified but there was too much humor in his face. “You’re kidding.”

“Some of it was good. I just never got a taste for it. When I went into high school, I had the first chance in the vending machines. Except that it all didn’t taste good. It tastes like too much salt or too artificial. Sodas were just liquid sugar. Nothing really ever tasted good. So I think by the end of freshman year, I decided that none of it was for me.”

“So you just refuse to have it?”

I shook my head again. “I don’t refuse. Rin is the one who is the junk food enthusiast. So, I try it from time to time and remind myself why I don’t eat it. Mike doesn’t have it around either because besides being a texture nerd, he refuses to be adventurous. His adventure when we go to La Salsa on First street is getting a bean, rice and cheese burrito.”

He nodded. “That seems on point for him.”

“What about you? I mean you keep everything pretty clean in your house. I haven’t seen you really with junk…”

Funyuns.

The thought hit my mind like a slap in the face and I physically flinched. Blinking, I looked at Marcus before bursting out laughing. He kept glancing at me while I leaned forward, laughing.

“That…I didn’t even finish my sentence!”

“What?”

I dabbed a tear from my eye. “Funyuns?”

His face turned red. “I…no…that’s…it’s not…”

“Mar, it’s okay! You can like junk food. It’s not a bad thing. It’s not some sin. I might razz you about it but if you like Funyuns, it’s okay.”

Sighing, he rubbed his face. It was odd seeming him without his glasses but since we had mated, he would leave his glasses off most of the time. I didn’t need to worry about it and I still had mine on the moment we stepped out of the house. Part of me missed it but there was something about being able to see him without him hiding behind his glasses that was nice.

“I love them. I don’t know why. There is just something about them that hits. In college I used to get a box of bags delivered to my dorm every week.”

“Every week ?”

He nodded slowly. “It was an addiction. I don’t nearly have it as much anymore. Maybe about once a month. Usually when I know I am going to be grading a particularly bad group of papers or something equally silly. I’ll go through an entire family size bag in one sitting.”

The mental image of Marcus hunched over eating Funyuns out of the bag as he read terrible poetry made me laugh. I really hoped I would be able to witness it first hand at some point. Despite him looking mortified that I found out his secret snack addiction.

“Mar, you are welcome to eat Funyuns in front of me any time. Unless I smell it and it makes me sick. Then you’ll have to covertly eat it somewhere.”

Laughing, Marcus nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. What will you do if you start to have cravings for junk food? I can still stock some things if you want. Not a lot, mind you. You need to eat and gain the correct type of weight but a few snacks for cravings wouldn’t be bad.”

My nose wrinkled. “Maybe later. Just eating right now, and at the portion sizes I have been eating, are getting to be a bit much. I’m glad I haven’t had to deal with cravings too. I’ll deal with that when we get there.”

“If you’re sure.”

He reached out and brushed my cheek. “We should be at the lodge around six if it’s not too bad.”

“What time will we leave in the morning?”

“I’d like to leave around six but that might be a bit early.”

Sighing, I leaned back in the seat and pulled up my phone again. “You may have to carry my sleeping butt out to the car. I don’t know if I can do two days that early anymore. As soon as I stopped the docks and now the cafe…my ability to get up early has gone out the window.”

“It doesn’t help that I keep you up either.”

I chuckled. “No. No it does not.”