Page 25 of Worthy or Knot (Serendipity Omegaverse #3)

Twenty-Five

CHARLOTTE

“ Y our furniture’s getting delivered tomorrow, right?” Megan asks from where she walks on the other side of Cole, their hands intertwined.

It’s a much more sedate and reasonable way to be walking toward one of the restaurants that sells boba nearby than the way I’m practically plastered to his side, my fingers laced with his and my other holding tight to his elbow.

It’s absolutely excessive, and yet I can’t seem to put a fraction of space between us.

Just the thought has a growl building in my throat.

Like he can sense the sudden aggression, Cole squeezes and runs his thumb along the back of my hand.

“I’m still waiting for the final expected time frame, but yes, it’s supposed to be tomorrow.”

“Great, we can spend tomorrow getting you truly settled, then,” she says with a warm smile. She glances around Cole and focuses on me. “How many classes do you have tomorrow morning?”

We pause at the streetlight, waiting for our chance to cross the street.

“Just my typical two. Mina didn’t mention me needing to cover any of the others, and I’ll turn her down if she asks about adding any on while there.”

Marcus leans forward, letting his lips brush Cole’s ear as he whispers something.

And in one of those movie-perfect moments of timing, a taxi blasts its horn, drowning out whatever he might be saying.

Cole relaxes, his shoulders dropping away from his ears just a bit.

The need to plaster myself to him, to dig myself under his skin, lessens.

It’s such a sudden change, it takes my breath.

Note to self: if you’re feeling especially touchy, your Omega might just be nervous about something .

The light finally changes, and we walk the last half-block to the restaurant.

As soon as we’re inside the small cafe, Cole relaxes even more, and I can breathe a bit better.

We order our drinks and then Megan leads us to one of the tables on the patio outside, adjusting the chairs so we’re all in the shade.

Marcus sits between me and Cole, his hand skimming Cole’s shoulder the entire time he’s situating himself.

He’s the only one of us who hasn’t actually ordered boba, opting for a tea instead.

“You don’t like it?” Cole asks.

Marcus shakes his head. I lace my fingers with his, and he smiles softly, kissing the back of my hand before focusing on Cole again.

“Never have, but Megs and Lottie both love it, so we come every couple weeks. Sometimes more often, especially in the summer.”

“Lottie?” Cole looks over at me. “Like Phantom of the Opera?”

My cheeks flush as I shrug. “I… might have been a little too obsessed with the movie when I was younger.”

Cole laughs, and the sound is so full of life, it’s practically a balm to my soul, easing away some of the nerves of all the changes happening so quickly over the last month.

The afternoon slips by in laughs and smiles and quietly offered tidbits from each of us. The patio is warm without being stifling, a soft breeze keeping the air from being too stagnant.

After a longer lull in conversation, Cole clears his throat and sets his nearly empty drink on the metal table.

“So, my dads are going to be in town Sunday for a fundraiser of some kind,” he says after a while, running a finger over his collarbone. “They were curious about getting dinner afterward and meeting you.”

Nerves slither under my skin, making me antsy, but I suppress the reaction.

Meet his fathers? It feels way too soon for that.

He literally just got off a plane and knocked on our door only a couple hours ago.

Which, to be fair, the Council’s standard timeline is pretty condensed.

Thirty days is a short amount of time to figure out if the pack is going to work long-term, so it makes sense that all of these milestones would happen on an expedited timeline.

But meeting family after only being matched a week feels like we’re jinxing the match for some reason.

I swallow the last of my drink while I sort through the mixed emotions. Marcus squeezes my hand in silent support, reading me better than anyone else in the world.

“We’d love to meet them,” Megan says.

Cole relaxes, though I didn’t realize he was nervous at all. But Marcus suddenly slumps in his chair beside me, responding to something unspoken between him and Cole, and we all breathe just a bit easier.

And then, all at once, Cole ducks his head and turns toward Megan, grabbing her hand and pulling it to his lips, effectively creating a block between him and the road.

I frown, trying to see what’s made him so reclusive all of a sudden.

It takes me a few moments to notice the camera at the end of the block, too still to be someone just randomly panning for a skyline photo to post on their social media.

How had he even noticed that?

“We should go,” Marcus says, altogether serious.

I grab his empty drink and toss it in the waste basket with mine. By the time I return, the others are standing, Marcus acting as a barrier of sorts for Cole. Megan has his hand in a tight grip, keeping him plastered to her side.

“Sorry,” Cole mutters once we’ve crossed the street and the camera disappears.

“It’s all right,” Megan says at once. “If being with you means cameras, we’ll learn and adapt.”

My phone’s going off with the first notification before we even make it back to the townhome. I suppress the claustrophobic reaction and send a single word back to Kirsten’s question about meeting him.

Text from Charlotte: Soon.

MARCUS

The light in the kitchen turns on, pulling me out of my half-asleep stupor on the couch.

The TV is already off, probably by Charlotte at some point in the evening.

I rub my eyes and reach for my phone, trying to remember just exactly what part of the spreadsheet I’d left off on.

I’d meant to finish through the first two hundred entries so I was on target for the board members’ meeting at the end of next week.

The time flashes on my phone’s lock screen, the brightness of it making me grunt. Just after one in the morning. Fuck, I hadn’t meant to fall asleep working again.

“Marcus?”

Cole’s soft voice has me sitting up fast enough the darkened room spins around me.

He’s paused at the top of the stairs, a hand rubbing at his collarbone as he stares at me.

I can’t help but notice all he wears is a set of black joggers slung low on his lean hips.

He looks absolutely rumpled. It makes me want to press him up against a wall.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

He nods. “Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t realize you were down here.”

I wave away his worry and stand from the couch, tucking my phone into the pocket of my jeans. “Fell asleep working, no worries.”

His frown deepens instead of disappears.

“You didn’t need to take today off for me,” he whispers.

It’s not so much what he says as the emotion that filters through the bond that has me crossing the room in long, determined strides. No way in hell am I letting him think he’s something other than the best damn treasure of my life.

His breath catches as I crowd into him, urging him against the wall beside the stairs without ever touching him.

Apple slowly surrounds us, and my dick jumps like it’s a personal invitation.

It’s only then I realize that the collarbone he was tracing is the one with my bite. He’s been tracing my bond scar.

Fuck me .

“I’ll take every single moment I can to be with you,” I mutter, my voice way more gruff than it needs to be. Nutmeg blasts out from me as I watch his fingers trace one of the lines of the scar. “No amount of time will ever be enough.”

Slow down, Harper. He’s literally just moved in today. He doesn’t even have furniture yet.

Too late, though. I’m not about to take back those words when they’re the God’s honest truth.

Luckily, they don’t seem to bother Cole.

He relaxes against the wall, and his hand slowly but surely twists into the hem of my shirt.

The emotions gradually morph under my sternum, the nervousness fading into contentment.

“Even with the cameras?” The words are barely whispered, like he didn’t mean to actually say them.

My stomach tightens. “Even with the cameras,” I assure him. “We were serious earlier. It’s part of you being with us, so we’ll adapt. It’s worth learning to adapt.”

His body relaxes in increments against mine. Fuck, I want to lick my scar, want to bite him again so people will know I’m his, that no matter how many pictures they take, how many random people comment about it on social media, he’s ours .

“You sure you’re okay?” I run my thumb along his chin.

“Promise,” he says. “Just couldn’t fall asleep. Figured I’d grab something to drink and then put on a movie to pass the time a bit.”

His eyes half-close and his breath shallows out as I finally let my body press fully into his. His scent explodes, betraying his need just as thoroughly as the pulse of desire across the bond.

“I have a different idea for tiring you out.”

The corner of his mouth curls into a knowing smirk. “Oh yeah? Don’t tell me you’re going to teach me backgammon.”

“Definitely not.” I scrunch my nose in distaste. “But it might involve your back, Omega.”

He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to because in the next second, before I can even prep for it, his lips are crashing against mine and his tongue is sweeping into my mouth.

I guide his legs around my hips and then slowly climb both flights of stairs, not pausing for a second until the door to my room is closed and his back hits the middle of my mattress.