Page 121 of The Gift
“Probably not. Our next appointment is too important, Bails, we’re going to give you everything we own. I want to replace all those dark memories you’ve got locked away with good things we do as a pack.”
“We need to stop and get waterproof mascara, you keep this up,” I blink away the tears that could easily be there. “Don’t pretend I’m not giving you everything too.”
“When did I say that? Bails, you’ve already given us everything. Your money and assets are what dreams are made of, but you are all we need. I couldn’t be prouder… well that’s not true, if you were barefoot, pregnant and …” He chuckles, and damn him, there’s something about Koda chuckling that makes my skin break out in a thousand goose bumps.
“You’re pushing this baby thing, Koda. Are you after an heir?” I interrupt before watching him closely.
“I need to make my intentions clear. We’ve got lots of good times ahead. I want to be able to whisk you away without notice on the back of my bike and disappear for days until the rest of our pack finds us. I want to fill the walls of our home with photos; where we’ve been, people we’ve met, nests we’ve built and fucked in. I want memories that I can see and hold, because you keep making my head spin to the point sometimes I don’t know if my life is real. I touch you and I know it’s real, but then all these things pile up in my head and I wonder how lucky I got.”
There’s nothing I can say. But Koda isn’t finished speaking either.
“And then, there’s this primal thing in me, Bails, driving me to impregnate you. Not because I want an heir, but because I want to see your stomach swell with our baby, to know you and I made something incredible. So yeah, I keep saying it because I want you to know if one day you decide you want us to put a baby inside you, we will. I have to be really, really honest. You say the word about wanting a baby, and I’m barricading the door until I’ve got so much of my seed in you they won’t have a chance of being bio-dad the first-time round.”
“I’m completely and utterly sold. In a few years. We’ve got some serious living to do first.” I smirk, turning around and pulling his face down to mine. “The strangest thing is, Koda, your intentions sound awfully similar to my dreams.”
He kisses me so gently, his lips barely touch over mine, but by god, it’s a screaming loud proclamation, a declaration and everything I’d ever wanted.
Without any more discussion, we join the rest of the pack, and Ashton shakes his head, “Bailey girl, you can’t smell the way you do when we go meet the suits. Poor Alpha Gordon will have a coronary.”
“Nah, it’s all good. I’ll distract him with the smell of junk food. We’re getting cheeseburgers and fries first. Maybe even a thick shake.”
“You know I’m shoving my fries in your shake, right,” he laughs, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, wrapping his arm around my good shoulder.
“Yeah, because you’ve never done that before, have you,” I hip check him, laughing as we climb into the car.
The appointment with the lawyers goes on for hours. All of us get a little antsy at the complexity of the documentation, but this one is on the A-team. Because in the incredible work the Alliance has done, they have added clauses upon clauses, layered with more clauses protecting omegas in every situation, including the one we’re currently doing— joining our assets. If for some reason we don’t work out, or if they die, or if I leave, I keep everything.
In our case, it’s kind of unnecessary since we’re all financially independent, but I want to be an example for any lost or hidden omega too because while I know how fortunate I am, I’ve been one of the unluckiest people around too.
It’s taken me a long time to accept there are indeed good versions of both alphas and packs out there. Ones who want to protect an omega’s freedom, even if that includes them leaving the pack. Shutting out the voices in my head telling me it is another trick is occasionally a battle, some days those voices are all I hear. The difference is now I’ve just got four louder, more insistent ones who remind me of the truth. Plus, I’ve got an alpha who fucks the demons out of me.
“I need a break, please.” I interrupt Gordon who’s writing down account numbers and details as I recite them.
Moving away, towards the drinks and snack table, I open a mineral water, the bubbles refreshing and clarifying. Henley comes over before I have even finished the small bottle and directs me to the far corner of the boardroom, taking me out the doors and on to a patio where the lights of the skyline soar around us.
He says nothing. He stands there, with his hand on my lower back, his thumb trailing up and down, while the evening breeze, and the noise of the traffic fills the night.
I watch the late-night traffic below us letting the changes that keep happening in my life, fall into place.
Money has always represented freedom. Financial freedom means if I need to, I can vanish without a trace. Most certainly I have been guilty of frivolous spending. I’ve dropped a bucket full of cash on fashion, jewellery, and cosmetics. I’ve invested well, again my girl Lennon is the whiz there, but my small investments quickly turned into gigantic ones. My pots of gold keep swelling and swelling. And a lot of my wealth doesn’t take into account what I earn working, which is disposable money.
ThebreakI needed was to lock away a bucket full of emotions bubbling up while we complete the latest list.
Over the past few days, the A-team and I have done a lot of talking. A lot. We’ve shared secrets, and one of those includes the accounts I won’t be writing down. There’s a part of me fighting to share everything with them, but my need for independence is stronger. I know, I know it with all my heart, they hold nothing but blazing pride for me in those confessions I made. And they’ve been nothing but supportive of my independence but, Jesus, sometimes I feel like I’ve let them down.
I hate the doubts that are as much as part of me as my hazel eyes.
Watching life go by is the reminder I need that everything will be okay, even the noise in my head is okay.
I turn away from the view and look straight into his eyes, and everything I figured out I already see in his insightful eyes. “Damn you, Henley,” I whisper, cupping his cheek.
“Your freedom and independence is worth everything, just like you are. We’re pack and always will be, but you still have to be you, Bailey. And that will not negate how we feel about you. Can I kiss you now, love?” He smiles, ending our discussion before it really starts, because in a handful of words, he’s summed everything up perfectly.
“Yeah, I think you can,” I answer, my heart damn near exploding out of my chest.
Ashton
Rounding the corner, I nearly fall flat on my ass. This woman keeps knocking me off my feet and this morning is no exception.
