“Oh, I’m starting. I saw your last couple of videos.” There’s a pause, the exact length of a man choosing violence. “So. Claire, huh? You mentioned she’s our neighbor, the girl from the bookstore. The pretty Omega next door who made you bake sweet buns like a desperate housewife with abs.”
I bite the inside of my cheek because laughing will only encourage him. “When are you back?”
“End of this week. Early next at the latest. Lease is signed, storage is handled from our last place, and if I eat one more hotel burger, I’m going to start chewing drywall. Jakob texted too. He’s booking a flight from Auckland. Couple more days with his family, then he’s coming home.”
Home.
He says it like it’s already decided. Like weeks ago we weren’t in Austin, packing up half our life and pretending this wasn’t agamble. Now, home is a house in Mistberry Cove that is more permanent, for settling down, to escape the horde of fans.
It fits better than it should.
“How’s Jakob doing?” I ask.
“Good. Tired. You know his parents. They’ve probably got a binder titled Suitable Omegas for Our Emotionally Repressed Son.”
“They still blaming us for him not settling down?”
“Obviously. We’re the corrupting influence. The food-blogging pack of doom.”
I tense up. “They can fuck right off with that.”
Corey’s voice gentles, just a little. “Yeah. He knows.”
I stare toward the dark window, where Claire’s living room still glows warmly across the yard. “Good. Because Jakob doesn’t need a match shoved down his throat by people who think love is a scheduling issue.”
“Careful,” Corey says. “You almost sounded emotionally intelligent.”
“Must be the new place.”
“Or the Omega next door.”
I don’t answer fast enough, and Corey laughs, low and wicked. “Oh, this is going to be fun. Tell me she’s perfect for us.”
I stare back toward Claire’s house, my jaw tightening even as heat rolls through me. “No. I’m telling you we’re going to be careful.”
“Sure, big guy. You keep telling yourself that. Anyway, I looked Claire up.”
My smile drops. “Yeah, and?”
“She got chewed up pretty bad.”
My grip tightens around the phone.
Corey’s voice loses some of the teasing. “She didn’t look mean, Bro. She looked like she wanted the floor to open up and do her a favor.”
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “That’s what I saw too.”
“And now she lives next door to us.” His grin comes back into his voice. “This should be interesting. She’s also very cute. And if she’s half as interesting as you’ve been making her sound in every single text you’ve sent us, then maybe when we get home… save some for us, yeah?”
I laugh. “Get here first. Then we’ll talk.”
“Oh, I’m getting there. Try to stop me. Okay, I’ve got another call coming in. Go be neighborly or whatever you’re calling it.”
“Night, Corey.”
He hangs up, and I set the phone down while Damien materializes on the counter beside it, pressing his head against my forearm, purring.
“You hear that? Your other two daddies are on their way home,” I murmur, scratching behind his ear.