Scum (Book 1)

8. Overruled

Liam’s POV

My mother has this thing about throwing parties for me, and it's starting to get exhausting. I’m here for a weekend, school ends in about five weeks, but I’m sure she will organize something when I move back, then a graduation party shortly after.

I feel like she’s doing this to overcompensate for the fact that I haven’t found a mate, but neither has Royce or Kelvin, so I don’t feel broken up about it the way people assume. I am in a foul mood right now, but it's not because of being mateless.

I’m angry because my girlfriend had a small disagreement with my father, couldn’t take that she was wrong, and then accused him of trying to belittle her when he pointed out that even ‘omegas’ knew the answer.

I don’t even remember the question; I just remember my father’s reaction toward Porsha’s short temper, and then him summoning me to his office. In that small amount of time, the woman left me, and now, this party, which was being thrown for pack members to meet her, has become awkward.

Cheyenne’s POV

Although I said I was ready to go, I found myself frozen in my room, thinking all sorts of weird things. If I end up getting into a fight right now, would tight jeans hinder me from moving? I start flexing around, trying to make sure I’m still agile, while Nora just shakes her head at me.

“What are the chances that you get into a fight today?” She’s right. Today’s celebration wasn’t planned, but security should be plentiful especially since they didn’t call for me. “Chey, you look good. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”

I take my friend's word and we leave the room, but as soon as my father sees me, he starts shouting for Dallas, who comes running down the stairs. He’s also off today, so we were planning to go to the party together, but my brother looks at me, and points toward my room, telling me to change.

“Dallas babe, what are you talking about? She looks nice.”

“And that’s unacceptable,” my father says, waking my mother who worked a double kitchen shift and went straight to bed.

“My goddess Cheyenne. You look beautiful, what’s the occasion?” I go to open my mouth, but Dallas grabs my arm roughly.

“There is no occasion, and she’s going to change.” My mother huffs, smacking my brother’s hand away while staring him down.

“Want to tell me why?” She asks, folding her arms in a way I know means trouble for the man, and using him being scolded as a distraction, I bolt out the front door, but I can tell he gave chase not long after.

Dal hasn’t caught me yet, which makes me look back to see why he’s moving so slow, which is when I see my best friend clinging to his back for dear life. I stop running, planning to just go back to the house and change because I don’t want to cause problems in their relationship, but Nora has him wrapped around her finger, and before I know it, the man is smiling and nodding at whatever she’s whispering into his ear.

“Do I really look that weird?” I ask with a pout, drawing my brother’s attention back toward me.

He doesn’t answer, and instead spouts off several rules that I ‘must’ follow, and I nod at each one, thinking that like me, Dallas is afraid people may start to belittle me because I’m dressed up.

“By the way, don’t mention Porsha.” I don’t pry because it’s none of my business, and we walked toward where the party should already be started.

I spot Brandon and Mac, who I rarely see without their toddler. I quickly make my way toward them, wanting the woman to see that the clothes she gave me won’t go to waste.

However, as soon as I approach, she stiff arms me, then covers her mouth in shock when she realizes what she just did.

“I’m so sorry Chey, I didn’t recognize you.”

“What did you think I was doing?”

“I thought you were coming to flirt with my mate.”

“Eww,” I exclaim. “He’s marked.”

“Changes nothing,” Mac says. She circles my person, while Brandon keeps his eyes elsewhere, and then I feel my butt being roughly grabbed by the woman, causing her mate to splutter his drink everywhere. “Damn girl! Where were you hiding all of that? And these?” She goes to poke at my breast, but her mate grabs her hand, and glares at me.

I take several respectful steps backward, knowing that mated couples can be irrational at times.

“I just wanted to say hello, and now I desperately need to say goodbye.” The couple chuckle, apologizing for the awkwardness of the interaction, which I hope is an isolated incident.

I then spot Hector in a group of males who are closer to me in age, and approach them as usual, but they also don’t recognize me until one of them literally sniffs the air in front of me, which is somewhat offensive.

“Chey?”

“Really?” I question. “You had to identify me by scent?” My feelings are actually hurt, and I try to walk away from the group, but one of the guys pulls me back.

“You look… like a girl,” Hector says, smacking my hanging ponytail that took me hours to smooth. “It’s hard to imagine that you’re the same person who can kick my ass.”

“I can prove it to you if you want?” The look I got from Hector after that statement was strange, and the wide eyes of our friends let me know I said something off. “Come on guys, tell me what's wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Hector tells me how my words could have been construed as flirting, but because, within our group, the four of us are among those who want to wait to find our mates, they know that I didn’t mean it that way.

“I’ve said similar words before.”

“But you weren’t dressed like that,” Louis replies, drawing a circle in the air.

“And you always smelled like Dallas, but today, you smell like… something pleasant.” This conversation is about to get weird, so I shut it down, making the men chuckle. “Still Chey,” Raul says, clasping my shoulder the way he normally would. “I hope you know that we are going to talk about you as soon as you walk away.”

“Don’t make things weird.” The men laugh so loudly that I chuckle as well, but Dallas appears out of thin air, making my friends disappear.

“Are you flirting?” He incredulously asks.

Liam’s POV

Honestly speaking, I just want to go back to my room and call Porsha, but Royce has bet two-hundred bucks that I will do just that, and I plan to win that money by refraining. I like the girl a lot, almost on the border of love, but what she did today has upset me enough to not want to immediately call her and start ‘begging’ for a second chance.

I don’t even know why she affects me so much, but when I’m with her, I feel like the biggest man around. It could be because I know that she’s an alpha, or maybe it's because she’s actually drop dead gorgeous; all I know is that I don’t want to lose her, and if humbling myself every now and then does the trick, I’m fine with it.

“Who the f*ck is that?” Royce nods toward where there's a woman talking to three of the ‘holy crew’ who want to wait for their mates.

She must be new to the pack, otherwise, she wouldn’t be trying to get their attention, only, my father didn’t mention anything about taking in new members. However, shortly after we spotted her, the men scattered.

“Why is Dallas talking to her?” Kelvin asks, clearly just as attracted to the woman as we are.

From where I’m standing, I can tell that her body is amazing, and if she’s not a fighter, then she’s an instructor of some sort. I would love to see her in a dress, or less, and for the first time since meeting Porsha, I’m turned on by another woman.

“Rock paper scissors?” I bow out respectfully, not wanting to place dibs on a woman, and wanting to remain faithful to my girlfriend. However, I also don’t want any of the guys I’m with to enjoy the beauty in front of us, so I try to make them feel like crap about what they’re doing.

Both men just stare at me, breaking into sarcastic laughter before pointing out my hypocrisy in several other situations from before I was taken.

“Whatever,” I say. “My father is linking for us.” That was a lie, but I mind-linked the man in advance, so I know he won’t out me.

“When did we get a new member?” I ask, pointing to the woman and Dallas, but my father just looks confused, and based on the way Dallas looked in our direction, he linked the man to bring the girl over, which was not what I wanted.

If she’s as interesting as she is hot, I may have trouble resisting.

The closer the woman and Dallas get, the lower our jaws drop, and when she’s close enough, she runs to my father and gives him a tight hug.

“Wow, Cheyenne, I didn’t even recognize you.” I noticed how my father didn’t keep his hands on the girl for too long, and I’m not dumb enough as to not know why.

She’s no longer a child, and to avoid any sort of rumor from spreading; it's important for him to remain distant and aware.

“Hello alphas, Beta Royce, and Gamma Kelvin.” Chey’s behavior hasn’t changed, but with the way she looks right now, she might as well have invited all of us into her bed. It’s Royce who speaks up first, and he’s clearly annoyed.

“D… What the hell were you thinking?”

“You think I didn’t try to stop it? My mother overruled me, and Nora… ‘made promises’”

“Eww,” Chey says, snapping our attention back to her. “You guys are overreacting. I don’t look that different and everything is covered.” The girl spins, and our eyes struggle not to travel to her ass, but my father clears his throat to save us.

“Chey dear, go find your Luna and ask her what the ‘problem’ is, and Dallas… you go with her.” The man nods, and they leave, confusing me until my father turns to glare at us. “Off limits,” he says, looking directly at Royce.

“Alpha, all jokes aside. Chey’s like a sister to me; I would never disrespect her that way.”