“How could I refuse such an enchanting evening? Of course I’ll make the scene.” Jake sipped his coffee thoughtfully and laughed a little at Kyle’s charm.
Feeling somewhat better about the situation, the Omega sank back against the pillows and thoughtfully finished the last of his ketchuppy potatoes. The two of them spoke and enjoyed the remainder of the piping hot coffee for another ten minutes or so before Jake started to clear away the tray and utensils. The next time he graced Kyle’s presence, he was wearing his hair tucked under his Firedogs ball cap. The Omega had a feeling that he knew where this was going.
“So listen bud, I’ve got some stuff to do this morning at HQ. Supply runs, some drills, you know the deal. I really would’ve wanted to stay longer, but the fire waits for no one. I’ll be back later on, but feel free to kick around here as long as you want. I’ve got a spare key on the counter.” It was less a discussion and more of an explanation. And while it saddened Kyle somewhat he understood completely.
“I get it. We’re still good for dinner tonight, then?” He nodded softly and tried to hide his disappointment.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, bud.” Jake made his way over to the bed. The mattress bowed noticeably as he leaned his arms upon it, balancing himself and leaning over to give Kyle a quick kiss goodbye. The Omega thought about pulling him in for a hug, or asking him to blow off work and stay in bed together for the rest of the morning, but didn’t. He knew that being a Firedog was more than just a job for Jake, it was a large part of who he was.
Almost as fast as his surprise breakfast in bed had appeared, Kyle found himself alone in the Alpha’s apartment. He leaned back and stretched contentedly in the king-sized bed, flailing slightly against the massive, downy sheets. Luxurious and warm, they were still perfumed with Jake’s heavenly scent. The Omega forced a wistful smile. He was happy to have had such a sweet morning surprise with Jake, but was somewhat let down that their brief time together was cut short so quickly. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was a glimpse of their relationship to come. Would it simply be them forcing to steal little islands of time with one another? Smuggled visits here and there during the year? Hoping, wishing, and praying for long weekends, or those few times when either of them could spend their banked vacation days, just on travel time alone, in order to see one another?
Ah yes, vacation days. That was assuming that he had any left. Kyle wrinkled his nose. Fleeting memories firmly returned him to reality. He frowned. Ugh. Toronto would need to be addressed sooner or later, and he’d need to figure out what he was going to say to his friends back home. Considering how long he’d overextended his stay in Shale River, there was very little chance that any of them would let him get away so easily next time. What of his family? And where would he even begin to start with Jake?
Kyle cared for him, and he for Kyle – that much was obvious. But just how far did that care extend? What did Jake tells his friends and the rest of the Firedogs? Was the Alpha just indulging his high-school fantasies about banging his old high school crush that “got away”? Would they still feel this way when they weren’t completely saturated in each other’s powerful pheromones, or worse still, would they regret what they did after each had lost the other’s scent? Even if they did want to make things official and serious, it’s not like a Fire & Rescue Park Ranger used to the windy prairies and rugged wilds would have much luck finding work in downtown Toronto.
With more than a dramatic flair, Kyle flung his head backward, harrumphed, and crashed his arms against the bed – despite the fact that nobody was watching to actually appreciate his mini-tantrum. He spent the next twenty minutes or so lazing around in the huge bed, in a fruitless attempt to get some sleep. The glowing rays of light began to slowly creep through the blinds and remind him that, in fact, it was time for him to rise.
“Life. Fucking. Blows.” He made a disgusted face and sent it via Snapchat to Jess. However, after he’d hit send he realized that she would want to know how things went with Jake last night. Crap. Considering that Kyle took his snap from a dishevelled bed, wasn’t wearing a shirt, had bed head, and there were the obvious articles of a breakfast in bed off to one side, he’d accidentally given her plenty of ammunition to reply with. Double crap. Without fully realizing it, he’d left himself wide open to his phone buzzing with messages every few hours for the next day or so. If Jess picked up even the faintest scent of gossip or scandal, she stuck with it like a bloodhound.
“Jess! Triple crap!” Kyle exhaled slowly as he realized that Jake was his ride last night, which meant his options were limited. He wasn’t even sure if Shale River had Uber yet, but knew that Jess was fairly reliable. She’d ask him way too many questions, but at least it wouldn’t be as icky as asking dad to pick him up. The Omega would rather walk home than pursue that second option, he nodded to himself.
Recalling what happened the last time he headed home, he hatched a plan to return home relatively free of the Alpha’s scent. He hung his clothes around the bathroom and then took a nice, steamy shower. After allowing himself some silly little smiles in recollection of last night’s truly epic sexy performances, he rinsed off twice. Kyle tried to shake most of the water from himself while still standing in the tub, and then tip-toed around to find Jake’s laundry basket. He took a fresh towel, one that at least didn’t reek of the Alpha, and dried himself off before carefully hanging it up.
Donning his clothes, he checked himself out in the mirror. He clearly was wearing the same clothing from yesterday, but didn’t look too worse for wear. He couldn’t really tell if they smelled like the Alpha or not. Kyle knew that his shirt certainly had the scent of smoke, sweat, and fried food, but he remained sceptical if it was as drenched in Alpha pheromone as Jess would probably claim. Grabbing some of Jake’s spray-on deodorant, he gave himself a few good swishes. He let it pool and bubble on the fabric of his dark top, hoping it would sink into the fabric and mask any other scents. Like sexy ones.
He texted Jake a sweet little note and thanked him for a great evening, an even better night, and a wonderful morning. Rather than leaving now – the door would lock behind him as he left – Kyle hung around Jake’s living room. He sat upon the edge of the couch, connected to Jake’s wifi, and waited.
Nine seconds later Snapchat jingled happily on his phone.
“OMFG where are you/were you last night????”
“I’ll only tell if you come and pick me up,” he texted back, and started mentally preparing himself for the exacting, one-woman Grand Jury that was Jess Daniels. She’d leave no stone unturned in her quest to root out every last scrap of gossip, one of the most highly sought after commodities in the sleepy town of Shale River. And just like dealing with a fierce legal team, Kyle would admit to a lesser offense, such as hooking up, in order to hide a much greater one. Like how he and Jake were filthy horn-balls who befouled most of the surfaces of his apartment. Or how they were playing without raincoats during the intensely risky days just before Kyle went into heat.
“Just the tip. Fuck, you’re such a bad boy Kyle. A bad, silly, happy boy,” he whispered to himself as he shook his head. Even the briefest memory of last night’s taboo indulgences were causing his cock to stiffen. He cleared his head and focused on what was important: getting his made-up story right so that Jess wouldn’t get too clear a picture of what had gone down.
Another soft buzz let him know that he had another message. He rolled his eyes and wondered what demands Jess would be making of him in order to secure his ride home, but fell silent as his pulse stalled for a few seconds. It was from Mike. Kyle thought that the Beta had given up the chase, as it’d been so long since he’d heard from him.
“Me? I’m doing well. Work has been stressful as all hell. Kinda want to scoop you up and head out to the family cottage in Muskoka as soon as you’re back… you know, lock you down before some big sexy cowboy does first! lol j/k Seriously though, I’ve really been missing you. It’d be so nice just to hear your voi
ce again. No pressure, I’m home all night after five. Love to hear from you. xoxo.”
He closed the message and turned off the screen on his phone. He felt bad but didn’t know why. When he left Mike, it was a clean break. Kyle was obvious that they were going their separate ways, and while the handsome Beta understood his words, Kyle got the idea that he had no idea why. Mike was safe, good, and decent, and Kyle was fairly certain that if he wanted to, the two of them could probably be married with a litter on the way in less than a year. But was that what Jake wanted?
Mike and Jake, Jake and Mike, the two bounced around the Omega’s head over and over again.
Fuck.
They couldn’t have been more different. The Beta would’ve happily spent the afternoon comparing paint swatches of toasted pumpkin, seafoam, and eggshell for the nursery that they’d build, setting up a sensible education fund, or personally researching the safety of all of their toys before a single one crossed the threshold of their immaculately clean downtown condo. He was polite and decent and kind, and most guys would kill to get a chance to grow old alongside him. But Mike just… wasn’t Jake.
The Alpha would’ve roughhoused with his pups outside till they were more grass stains, skinned-knees, and dirt than child, and then taken them fishing along the Bow river. He would’ve helped them smoke the meat over hot rocks and charcoal after a lecture about fire safety, and followed it up with the kinds of fish they could pull based upon the season, what lure they used, and whether it was raining or not. He would’ve personally built a crib using his own sweat and blood, not based upon some government or industry standard determined in a lab, but what he knew would keep their pups safe, happy, and warm.
Probably from a tree that he’d felled himself too… while shirtless.
Fuck. Fuck.
Kyle shook his head in an attempt to put the brakes on his steamy thoughts. He was saddened. He knew that he would never forget the time that he had spent with Jake, but the more he thought about it the less certain he was. Mike was ready to go and definitely wanted to start a family today, but did Jake? And by settling down with an Alpha and ditching the Beta, was he just doing what society expected all Omegas to do?
“What is wrong with me?” He huffed and leaned back as far as he could in his seat, squashing the cushion. Two guys, two amazing guys, and only he could possibly screw it up this bad. He frowned. Kyle was still fully in the Jake camp, but was aware of what made Mike an attractive option. He’d need to figure out what Jake thought their status was, and somehow softball the question of pups. Some Alphas would turn tail and run, but he knew that Jake wasn’t like that.
Not at all… right?
He’d get back to Mike later. Certainly not now, while sitting in Jake’s apartment. Probably after he’d swung a few casual questions past Jake to suss out just what it was they were doing, how long they were going to be doing it for, and where he saw himself in three years.
Kyle opened the door and stepped into a humid summer morning. The sun was already well along in its ascent and had been warming things steadily. It was going to be hot, and like something he thought he’d left in Toronto, humid as well.
The door had already clicked shut behind him and facing his options, he made his way down the hall to the stairs outside. Seconds later he found a patch of shade and sat on the edge of a curb. Despite moving around to various other patches of shade beneath the beautiful, large oaks that hedged-in the parking lot in front of Jake’s building, the warm, breath-like air continued to wash over him. It drew out his sweat and made him uncomfortable in his own skin. It was hot, muggy, and slightly overcast.
He was almost happy to see Jess pull into the parking lot in their dad’s beater. Almost. She rolled toward him slowly with a ghoulish leer on her face. Jess had probably already lined up the first dozen questions, if the grin she wore was an indicator of anything. Slumping over somewhat upon the hard concrete, Kyle sighed and rose to his feet. Might as well get it done with. This was shaping up to be a truly magical ride home.
Twenty Two
“Kyle Henry Daniels, what in the crapping shit do you mean I’ve run out of questions?!?” Jess shrieked at her brother. She enunciated her words with a playful frustration and swatted at him in disapproval. They’d pulled out of the Tim Horton’s parking lot less than five minutes ago when Kyle decided to play his trump card. It went over about as well as planned.
“Hey! Hey! Use your words not your fists.” Kyle laughed as he deflected Jess’ continued flailing. “And… and… eyes on the road Miss Daniels!”
“Oh, no, no, no,” she smirked. “You needed me to pick you up from your secret little love nest. So I dragged my ass out of bed at bitch o’clock to give you a lift home. You can be sure as shit that no Uber driver’s out this early, and the taxis don’t really get out this far into the sticks. As is well understood, Mr. Daniels, I am entitled to my questions.” With her hands upon the wheel she seemed more diplomatic, but only slightly.
“Jess, we’ve already played twenty questions and you took the liberty of attempting to get to forty by asking two at a time. Don’t think that I didn’t notice that.” He defended himself as best he could, but was entirely sure that Jess was just using this time to recharge for a second battery of interrogation.
“You know, I hear you and yet I’m still reminded that this taxi don’t come free, broseph. The caffeine was only a partial payment. I mean, you can always get out and walk.” She signalled and began to pull the car over to the unpaved gravel shoulder. The boat-like and unwieldy Country Squire reluctantly followed her directive and soon the familiar hiss of loosely strewn rocks could be heard dancing and clattering against the wheel wells of the car.
The vehicle came to a stop and neither said anything. It hummed and sputtered obediently upon the gravel. Row upon row of tall corn stood silently at attention. Green and golden-topped, it waved softly in the wind. Kyle stared out at the vastness and wondered how long it’d be before one of them broke their silence.
“Still nothing?” Jess asked. She raised her eyebrow theatrically even though he wasn’t looking at her. “You know this old broad doesn’t always start right back up again, ‘specially if someone floods her. I’ll just call Briggs and he’ll send someone to grab me in less than twenty. You’ll be stewing in the hot sun, brewin’ up a fantastic case of swamp ass on these leather seats in this air-condition-less beast. Do you really wanna be showering off your sins at three in the afternoon, or whenever the tow truck eventually gets around to dropping you off?” Jess upped the ante by placing her thumb and forefinger on the keys in the ignition.
A cool wave of fear washed over Kyle. He knew that Jess was right. More importantly, he knew that she was crazy enough to do it, even if she was bluffing about Briggs’ ability to deploy his deputies to her rescue. Only his sister was nutty enough to risk a prairie afternoon baking in a car sans air conditioning in order to pursue the finest and freshest gossip.
“I need you to know that you are the most terrible sister in the history of terrible sisters. And I need you to know that I’m counting Hitler’s sister too.” Kyle slumped against the warm leather seat and exhaled. Like an overtired toddler attempting to avoid bedtime, he went limp and refused to look at his captor.
“Ha! Hitler had a sister? Ass!” Jess guffawed as she slapped Kyle’s shoulder. He refused to comment on the matter any longer, but it didn’t matter. She’d immediately perked up and beamed a sunny smile. She checked her side mirrors, signalled politely, and then eventually merged the massive vehicle back onto the empty stretch of hot pavement.
“See? We’re much better as a team.” She spoke in a sing-song tone that straddled the line between genuinely cheerful and obnoxiously shitty. “Now spill.”
Kyle would’ve slid down further in the seat but the belt prevented it, digging deeply into his belly. He sat up taller and crossed his arms.
“Okay, fine. I honestly don’t know what our status is, because it’s never come up.”
“Hmm. Okay, hmm.” Jess nodded a few times as she processed the words. She squinted as if she were attempting to figure out a difficult math problem. “Has Jake made any mention of, like, ‘the future’ or ‘in a few months from now’ or anything like that?”
“Well, sort of, but……”
“…but what? You mean to tell me that you and your lumberjack loverboy never actually got around to talking the entire time that you slept over at his place?”
“N-no, it’s not like that. I think that we’ve discussed long-term plans, but I just don’t really fully recall. I had a choppy sleep. And, and I mean, it’s not like he’d run off or anything. That’s just not who he is.”
“Trouble remembering conversations? Giddy like a schoolgirl around him? Plenty of bed-based TLC? Tell me something, what does Jake smell like?”
Kyle’s face immediately lightened as his eyes took on a distant cast. A brief grin curled up at the edges of his face. He was about to speak but was interrupted by Jess.
“Ha! I knew it! You’re sooo in love with him. You’ve fallen for that big handsome Alpha. Hard.”
“Wait, I don’t know about that, I mean, we’re just…”
“In love? Kyle don’t be a wuss about it – we’re not in high school anymore. You can totally admit that you love him to me.” Jess smiled at her twin and danced her head back and forth in a silly-happy dance. He could tell that she was positively brimming with joy.
“It’s not that I don’t know or not, I just don’t know if he’s the right guy for me, you know?” Kyle spoke mournfully. He felt guilty even admitting it.
“Okay, truth time. Maybe it’s cause we’re twinsies, but everything that you’re describing and feeling? Yeah, I got that when I realized that Briggs is my man. We, uh, don’t need to discuss what happens when you, like, smell his shirts or anything, but I mean, you can’t argue with who you are.”
His Prairie Omega Box Set Page 16