“Whatever are you thinking, omega?” James asked, his voice a low purr. “Your scent is delicious.”
“Mm…” Len agreed, pulling away from Tris to take a deep breath of me, which just drew the attention of the rest of the table. Eyes glittered, teeth flashed—it was feeding time at the zoo, and I was on the menu.
“Bacon,” I said crisply, using my cutlery to take a piece from the platter and then spear it on the end of my fork. I crunched into all that salty, meaty goodness, making enthusiastic noises in response. “Damn, I love bacon.”
“Well, there’s always more—” Jackson started to say, flushing with pride, but a low chuckle from the alphas let him know I was bullshitting.
“This isn’t about bacon,” Len said with a smirk. “But thanks, Jacks. This looks freaking awesome. You always were an amazing cook.”
Ooh, was that some warm regard I heard? I watched the two of them closely as I munched on my breakfast.
“Eat your food, omega,” James chided, “and let them take care of their own relationship.”
“So we’re acknowledging that?” Tristan was conspicuously grabbing what he wanted, stabbing the bits he liked with his fork, and then moving them to his plate. When everyone’s eyes were on him, he grinned. “The whole Len and Jackson thing?”
“My grandmother did warn me what being with two omegas could be like,” James said on a groan, rubbing his face, but Jackson sat down, staring at his plate for a second before he slung his arm around the back of his chair and regarded the rest of the table head-on.
“I dunno, are we?”
Len looked up slowly, and now I felt bad. He was such a solid guy, you felt like you could get away with a bit of mischief without consequences, but he looked like he’d been ambushed.
“What needs to be talked about? That was fucking hot but—”
“Don’t.”
Oh shit, the table was about to be hit by the equivalent of an emotional nuke in three, two, one…
“Don’t do that. If you don’t feel the same, then fucking say so, but don’t pretend.”
Right then, I could see why I found Jackson hot. He had a lot of Len’s sweetness and need to look after people, but there was also something brittle about him that reminded me very much of Tristan. Which helped the whole dynamic around the table make sense.
“I know what I felt and I know you saw that too. You might not feel the same.” I hated the way Jackson’s voice broke on the words, everyone going still, silent now. “But that doesn’t change the way I feel. The way I’ve always felt. Len—”
“Jackson.” Len’s eyes flicked around the table, as if…what? He was embarrassed? Confused? Uncomfortable?
“I’ve always fucking loved you, always.” The bomb was dropped, silence reigned, nothing competing with Jackson for attention. “When we went our separate ways, when you went looking for that omega you were always waiting for. When we pretended like we were just old buddies. None of that made a fucking difference to what was inside me. I’m not an omega, I told myself. Nothing was going to happen, because that’s what you needed. I loved you enough to step out of the way and make sure you got your chance at that, but now?”
I got a sense of what Len was dealing with as Jackson’s focus switched to me, then Tris.
“You’ve got your omegas, and they have another alpha—”
“And you’ve got a beta,” Tristan finished for him, tossing the rest of his bacon down on the plate before glancing at me. “We have a beta.”
I nodded slowly before the two of us turned to him.
“We have a beta,” I confirmed, Jackson smiling wolfishly at
the two of us in response.
“To be honest, if it was just art boy here and his two beautiful charges, would I be hanging around? Damn straight I would.” I started to squirm at having Jackson’s entire attention, something that just made his smile widen before he looked at Tristan. “I’ve spent a lot of years out in the suburbs, dating a lot of nice women, but not really getting what I want and I couldn’t work out why. Some were kinky as fuck and kept me panting after them. Some were fragile and brought out all my protective instincts, but this…”
His eyes flicked between the two of us.
“It’s hot, the vibe, the shit you got going on, but that’s not it.” He frowned slightly. “You created something last night, something I didn’t even know I wanted or needed. My cock felt like it was gonna bust my zipper, but my heart.” He pushed his hand underneath the open collar of his shirt and grinned as he settled it over his breastbone. “It was one hundred percent in.” The smile faded. “I’m one hundred percent in, if you’ll have me.”
God, this was way too much for little omega me. Jackson had put it all out there, and now he was waiting to see what we thought.
“You know what we think,” Tristan said, his tone much more gentle. “You’re hot, have a dick like a Coke can, and you make damn good bacon.” His grin was a little feral as he picked up a piece. “I’m a simple man with simple tastes, and that covers just about all of them.”