12. Dante

12

Dante

I wake up with my shoulder killing me. It doesn't help that I slept in a tangle of bodies and ended up with Ellis's weight heavy on my injured side. I carefully extricate myself from the makeshift nest without waking anyone up. Ellis rolls over, but just grabs Meggie like a child with a teddy bear and falls right back to sleep.

They look so peaceful together. The two people I love most in the world, wrapped up in each other. It makes my heart ping with a sense of contentment I've longed for my whole life. Before I knew Meggie was an omega, I was scared about how it would be to be with her, but I was willing to try. For her, I was going to fight my alpha urges, knowing I would never leave her for an omega the way my dads left my beta mom. But now, it's like the universe gave me this gift that's so much better than I could ever have expected.

Resisting the urge to wake them both up and show them how incredible I think they are, I head to the shower and turn it as hot as it'll go to let the water soothe some of the ache. It doesn't do much.

I get out, wrap my shoulder in an ice pack, pop some over-the-counter pain meds and hope for the best. Thankfully, we don't have a game today, but we have reserved a pool for practice.

"Hey." Ellis rubs sleepy eyes as he stumbles into the kitchen, going straight for the coffee. It's alright if they want us to eat meals in the cafeteria, but coffee in the apartment is a necessity we had to implement.

I try to pull a shirt on before Ellis notices the ice pack taped to my shoulder. But he turns around just before I get it over my head. It's hard to put on a shirt when you can only lift one arm higher than shoulder level without pain.

His eyes narrow, and concern radiates through our bond. "Your shoulder acting up?"

"Nah, just precaution."

I don't want him to worry about me. Or go easy on me during the games. This thing with my shoulder has me thinking this might be my last Olympics, and I want to go out strong. With gold around my neck.

Ellis raises his eyebrows like he can tell I'm lying. I'm sure he can feel at least some of my pain in the bond, but I've been trying to block him out as much as I can.

"It's fine, babr, let it go," I say.

After a brief pause to assess me, he grins like the Cheshire cat. "I'll let it go, if you agree to paint your nails for our first game tomorrow."

"Not gonna happen."

"Oh, come on, we can all do it." He slaps my ass. "It'll be good luck."

An hour later, every single one of my teammates is awake and on the floor in the living room, painting our nails.

"I can't believe we're doing this." Oz blows on his right hand while shaking his left in the air.

There's only one person who could get us all to agree to go along with Ellis's plan and she's sitting right in the middle, smiling an innocent smile that makes my own lips lift. She's so perfect for us.

I nudge Ellis with my painted toes. "Happy?"

His smile is damn near euphoric. "You know I am."

And I do. The pleasure in our bond is as bright as the sun on a hot summer day. Sitting with our omega in his lap while she paints Nils's fingernails, he's practically giddy. He's been trying to talk us into this for years, saying it would be good luck and good team building. The minute he proposed the idea to Meggie, she latched onto it like a barnacle to a ship and refused to let any of us get ready for practice until we all had painted nails.

At least they let us pick our own colors. Ellis always wears red nail polish for games, so Meggie chose to match him, but she added cute little white dots. I picked a deep blue, continuing with the patriotic theme.

To my bonded's credit, my shoulder actually hurts a little less. Sure, it might be the ice pack that's still on it or the pain reliever or the hot coffee, but I think feeling connected to my team has to help. Water polo is a group sport. If my shoulder acts up during a game, my team's got me.

"Have any of you ever stacked donuts on your penis?"

Meggie's question is so out of the blue it makes me snort a laugh. "What?"

She gives an adorable shrug and focuses on her pinky nail. "Just saying, if I had a penis, I'd try to stack donuts on it."

"Donuts don't have a big hole in the middle, baby girl," Oz answers with a wink.

"Oh, you could totally fit donuts on your dick," she laughs. "They're dough! It's stretchy and soft!"

"Not like a bagel," Harrison adds, blowing on his nails to dry them. "Bagels are more firm. They'd—Why am I joining in this conversation?"

"I'd love to know what women would do with a penis if they had one." Nils's smile is slow and curious as he studies Meggie over his own red nails. "Go on," he goads.

Meggie sticks her tongue out at him for putting her on the spot, but she continues despite the little blush creeping up her cheeks. "I'd also put temporary tattoos on it."

"Ellis's cock is already nicely decorated." At my words, a slight color blooms up the back of my bonded's neck. Not as bright as Meggie's blush, but just as enjoyable. Teasing his piercing with my tongue is one of my favorite ways to torture him.

"I'm out," Harrison shakes his head and stands to leave, but Meggie wraps her hands around his ankle.

"Can I tattoo you?" Her laugh is giddy, and Harrison's lips can't stay in the frown of disapproval he tries to wear.

He gives into the smile and points to Oz. "I think he should be the target for dick decorating."

"Meggie can give Little Oz any attention she wants." He replies. "I'll even bring the bagels."