11. Welcome to the Interweb

Chapter Eleven

WELCOME TO THE INTERWEB

Clayton

T rying, and failing, to hide my smile, I watch Indy walk out of the closet—her nest—and hesitantly head my way.

She’s chewing her lip, and she’s pulled her hands into the sleeves of her hoodie, twisting the slack between her fingers underneath the cotton and fleece. Her anxiety is still high, I don’t think that’s going to change for a while, but she’s doing significantly better compared to the first time I invaded the spare room.

I can’t believe how much the nest helped.

My dad had one, so it’s not like the concept was entirely foreign, but it was different. My parents had been together for a few years by the time I came along and he’d been happily sharing his space with my mom for quite a while by then, and when I was born, being in there with them was normal. Dad wanted me in his space, too, and if he had anxiety or anything else going on, I didn’t see it. It was just a normal part of our house, of my life, and the significance was lost on me until now.

Which is why I’m here.

Well, it’s part of why I’m here right now.

“How are you feeling today?”

Indy stops about two feet in front of me, shifting back and forth nervously. “Okay.”

“Just okay?”

She nods then moves to fiddling with the strings on her hood. Her hood that’s flipped up and hiding her hair, and almost the entire top half of her face.

Arching a brow, I tilt my head slightly. “Believable.”

“I’m anxious.”

“I can see that.”

“I didn’t sleep very well.”

I had a feeling she was going to say that. Her lack of sleep is absolutely our fault, specifically Bramley’s fault, and the more time I spend with Indy, the more I want to throttle him for his shitty behavior.

That’s his fault, though.

Because he doesn’t like all the time I’m spending with Indy, or that I’m working up to getting Nash in here.

Is he jealous? No, not of anything except the fact that he can’t accept the truth of our new situation the way we have.

Bram is in this weird headspace where he’s trying way too fucking hard to live in denial, and when he can’t, he gets pissed off and throws a fit. Like he did last night.

That six-foot-five asshat was stomping around our bedroom, barking nonsense, and breaking shit, he was throwing things like an overgrown toddler in the middle of a tantrum. All because I told him I was going to come down and spend time with Indy, and help her order some things for her nest that she wanted. Clearly, it’s a sore spot, even without first hand experience with an omega who he wasn’t related to, Bramley is someone who does know the significance of a nest, purely based on his instincts as an alpha.

Bramley is fighting those instincts—and all of us—with the same ferocity he does everything and right now, it’s making his already shitty demeanor downright vile.

There’s a big part of him that wants to be doing what I’m doing.

The giant, scary Butcher wants to shop for fuzzy blankets and overstuffed pillows, he’s probably dying to look at dim lighting and soft fabrics then charge everything on his credit card before putting it all together without letting Indy lift a finger, if she doesn’t want to, of course. Bram wants to provide for his omega—his scent match—whether he’s willing to accept it or not, and that shithead is taking it out on me and Nash.

Who also wants to be doing those things.

Nash would be here in my place in a heartbeat, he’s essentially been sitting outside the door every day like a sad little puppy dog, but he understands Indy isn’t ready, and after listening to our alpha act like a douche canoe, Nash is worried she might never be.

But… Instead of helping Bram give into his instincts, he’s fully embracing his own, almost to a fault, and ignoring our alpha for what feels like an eternity while he does. Which is cute but it isn’t helping much of anything.

Once again, I’m stuck between those two in the most not fun way ever, and now there’s another person we need to be thinking about, and on the same page for. If I try telling them that, the big one who’s going through his terrible twos while pushing forty just loses his mind, and the slightly less big one quietly scowls until you can’t tell his eyebrows from his beard.

They’re ridiculous, and they’re lucky as fuck that I love them.

The rift in our pack isn’t just affecting us anymore, it’s impacting Indy as well, and if we want her to truly be our omega the way she’s supposed to, something has to give.

And it looks like it’s up to me to do the giving.

“Do you need to take a nap? I can come back…”

Indy shakes her head and takes another step toward me, her nearly purple eyes going wide under her hood. “No, please, I’m okay. Really.”

This time I let my smile fly because the last few days, Indigo Rae seems to actually want to spend time with me, and I’m trying to show her that’s a good thing. I don’t think she’s used to that; having her feelings validated, or being around people she likes and enjoys.

Not that I know for a fact that she likes me, or enjoys my company, but I’d like to think we’re heading toward both.

“Do you want to sit?” I nod toward the bed as I set my laptop bag on the end of it. “It’ll be easier for me to show you this stuff if we’re sitting.”

“Okay,” she says as she doesn’t move an inch. “Yeah, we can sit.”

My brows raise a little as I watch her stand there, chewing her lip and wringing her hands, all while staring at the edge of the bed as if it’s made of hot coals.

I really want to know where the hell Indy was before she came here.

She hasn’t talked about it, not even with Nan, and between the fact that she has no idea how to relax or really act around people, and being little more than a corpse when Bram found her, it had to be hell on earth.

Indy isn’t ignorant, she isn’t as naive as someone who’s been completely isolated from society, but she has an almost wondrous quality about her. Like everything is new, it’s all exciting and scary, and Indy’s gratitude knows no bounds because of it. I can tell she’s had some sort of formal education, very similar to my own as a matter of fact. Indy’s rather intelligent when she’s comfortable speaking. She seems to like tinkering with things—she took apart the old school mantel clock that was broken and put it back in working order—and she really enjoys reading, and her penmanship is beautiful. But Indy doesn’t understand what the internet is.

That blew my fucking mind.

In this day and age, finding someone who not only isn’t one hundred years old but is actually younger than I am, and has no idea what the internet is? I about shit.

She told me she’s heard of it, mainly in the context of shopping, which is a concept she understands as well, but when I brought up ordering things from Amazon, Indy gave me the cutest confused look I’ve ever seen.

It’s like she was living in some sort of pioneer village right on the edge of some major city.

I’m curious as fuck, but I won’t push. Indy can tell me when she’s ready.

Or when I explode from the number of questions I have that are starting to stack up in my head.

“Indy?”

“Yes?” she responds but doesn’t move.

“Are you going to sit?”

“Yeah.”

I shake my head with a smirk. “Sometime today?”

Her gaze slowly shifts in my direction and she blinks a few times before a nervous smile curves her lips. Indy nods then walks right up to the edge of the bed and turns but as soon as I round the end of it to join her, she freezes. “You’re going to sit, too?”

“If that’s okay.” I grab my left pant leg and tug it up far enough to show her my shin rod. “I won’t if you don’t want me to, but it would be a lot easier on me.”

After a few tense moments, Indy nods, and we both sit.

She watches me closely as I grab my laptop and turn it on, positioning it on my thighs so she can see the screen. I start tapping on the keys and sliding my finger over the mousepad, quickly getting us to Amazon’s home page. Indy scoots a little closer, her eyes fixed on everything I’m doing, probably not even realizing her leg is an inch or two away from touching mine.

I don’t say anything, though. I don’t acknowledge it at all because the last thing I want is for her to freak out and shut this down when I’m just trying to help, and I’m thrilled to finally be this close to her.

“So, what do you want to look up first?”

Indy glances at me before going back to the screen. “Blankets?”

“Sure,” I say with a smile. “Blankets it is.”

A couple hours later, I’ve come to the realization that getting our omega to find things for herself without some sort of mild anxiety-fueled guilt, wicked hesitance, or intense indecisiveness, is going to take a lot more coaxing than I anticipated.

Adding the last body pillow to the cart, I sigh when I look at the number of items.

Nash is going to be disappointed.

I’ll be using his card today, mainly so he can see what she ordered and start buying her things himself, but also because Bramley is gone, again, and if I was going to steal his, I wanted to max the thing out.

We’ll get there.

I look at Indy’s face as she scrolls through her cart—she got brave about forty minutes in and asked me to show her how to work the Amazon —her hood down, and every beautiful inch on full display.

She hadn’t stopped smiling since she picked out her first item, and the way the indigo color of her eyes almost danced in the firelight made me want to keep her shopping forever.

“You’re sure this is it?”

Indy nods, still scrolling. “I’m sure.”

“There isn’t anything else you can think of that you might want for your nest?”

She shakes her head and looks at me, her excitement more than clear. “I’m just happy to have one at all.”

My heart squeezes at that but I don’t let her know. She’s made the same comment once or twice already and it’s another thing that has me curious about where she came from if she wasn’t even allowed to have something so vital for omegas.

I keep my mouth shut, though.

“Well, pretty girl, if you’re all set, then I need to go get the funds from our sugar daddy of the day.”

Indy frowns. “What?”

I chuckle as I set the laptop to the side and push up off the bed. “I need to get Nash’s credit card.”

“Oh.” Indy sits up straight, her eyes darting to the door. “Is he… Is he going to come in?”

“Not if you don’t want him to.” Limping to where I know that big worry wart is waiting, I rub my thigh and try to hide my wince. “He really wants to say hi, though.”

I stop with my hand on the knob and turn back to Indy, who nods. “I could say hi.”

Grinning like an idiot, I pull open the door, then bark out a laugh as Nash falls backward into the room, his head thumping on the floor between my feet.

“Fall asleep waiting?”

He scowls up at me, rights his glasses then scrambles to his feet. “Wasn’t expecting that.”

“Obviously.”

“Dick,” Nash grunts as he wipes his hands off on his jeans. “I didn’t think…” His eyes wander over my shoulder and my grin grows as I watch him swallow hard. “I…”

“Don’t be rude, Nashy. Introduce yourself to the pretty girl.”

I step out of the way but make sure my alpha knows not to come in, simply clearing the line of sight between them for whatever happens next.

“Hi,” he grunts like an idiot.

Indy takes a deep breath and pushes her hair behind her ears, maintaining eye contact with him despite her obvious nerves. “Hi, Nash.”

“I’m Nash.”

I roll my eyes and get ready to call him out on how stupid he is but stop when I hear Indy giggle.

“I know. I’m Indy.”

He smiles a bit and nods, but thankfully doesn’t say anything else. Which is when I reach into his back pocket and pull out his wallet.

“Thank you,” Indy says softly. “For the new things for my nest.”

Nash nods again and scrubs a hand over his hair. “No problem. Happy to do it.”

Before this gets weird, because I can tell my alpha is about to get weird, I push him back through the doorway and start to close the door. “I’ll be out in a few.” Then I whisper, “Go take a shower, you’re throwing your scent like a dumbass and no one needs that right now.”

With a slightly embarrassed expression and one final nod, Nash says goodbye then makes a beeline toward the stairs.

I understand why Nan wanted me to break the ice for everyone, but my alphas— our alphas—better get their shit together or I’m taking Indy and we’re running away from them until they do.