Scum (Book 1)

21. Normal

Liam’s POV

I have never been treated as well as Chey’s being treated by the flight attendants, who’ve given her so many freebies that I’m starting to get jealous.

I had no clue that airlines could hand out food vouchers, but Chey straight up asked, and they handed her a bag full of coupons that she’s beamed over for most of the flight.

By the time we were landing, Chey had a free airline backpack, a cooling face mask, a headset, dozens of Caramel Dutch waffles, a neck pillow, and a blanket.

We’re in preferred seats, so no one is questioning why she’s being treated differently until she’s invited into the cockpit for a second time and accepted.

The man behind us insists that she’s a ‘distraction’ to the pilots. I kind of agree with the man because Chey is extremely pretty, and because she’s as dense as a rock, she sometimes does things that can and will distract any man.

“Sir, she’s an unaccompanied minor, it’s common -for children to watch the plane land.”

“That’s no minor; she looks like a damn bikini model.” That was funny, but I’m sure Chey would find it disrespectful, so I glare through the seats menacingly. “I just hope that she doesn’t have a panic attack in there… that’s all.”

The man has a valid point, but before the pilot makes an announcement, Chey comes back to her seat, fastening her seatbelt so fast that I intuitively do the same.

“I couldn’t do it,” she whispers, making the man behind us chuckle.

He’s clearly been paying attention to Chey for most of the flight, which I don’t like specifically because he is our kinsman. However, the way the woman is breathing lets me know that she needs me more than his face needs my fists.

“Hey, calm down. You can do this. In fact, you have to.”

“I know, I just…” Chey hasn’t even looked out of the window, so I know that her fear is real, I just don’t know what to do about it.

Eventually, the flight attendant nudges me and tells me to squeeze the girl’s hand, so I do, only I wish that I didn’t.

Fortunately, we landed without issue, but I may have to see a doctor over a broken hand.

Cheyenne’s POV

The flight wasn’t that bad, and the car that Alpha Lucas rented for us is so cool that I forgot all about the anxiety I was feeling, and he forgot all his complaints of a broken hand.

We pulled up to our accommodations in style, and because I’ve never been to a hotel, I spent my time looking around the place while Liam checked us in. I end up by the pool where a good ten other people who look similar to Jenna’s age are sitting around talking.

“There you are.”

“Can we go swimming?” Liam makes a face, but Jenna agrees, so I dart to her side and link arms with her.

It’s early afternoon, so we have time to get dinner and then spend a few hours playing around. At least according to the way that I budget my time.

Jenna and Royce are in a separate room, likely because they are a newly fated couple and still hormonal, so Liam and I part ways with them, but as soon as we enter the room, he and I are stunned.

“Chey, I am so sorry.” There is one bed in the room, and it looks like the event organizers rented Liam some sort of honeymoon suite. “They must have assumed.”

“It’s okay. I can just sleep on the couch.” I toss my bags into a corner, but Liam hasn’t moved, and a few minutes later, Royce and Jenna come into the suite.

“What do we do?”

“Chey obviously takes the bed.”

“Tell her that.” It suddenly occurs to me that Liam is extremely uncomfortable about the sleeping arrangement, so I offer to stay elsewhere. “What? That’s not what I meant. It’s just that… you’re a girl.”

I don’t know why, but Royce and I make eye contact and start laughing. Yes, I am a girl, but I haven’t been called one in a long time.

“I can always hang out in the hotel lobby if you want to entertain guests.”

Liam’s POV

Chey is getting the wrong idea, and Royce is finding it so funny that he keeps laughing with the girl, knowing what my concern is.

I would feel like an absolute jerk if I made Chey sleep on the floor, but at the same time, I don’t want to sleep on the floor either. That puts me in a weird situation where I would have to sleep next to a girl who's been described as a bikini model by a random male, and I can’t exactly disagree with the description.

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“What? Alpha Liam, do you know how bad that would make me look? You have three days worth of events to speak at. Besides, I’m smaller than you, the couch is fine.”

“It’s an order.” Chey stands, bowing her head to me to show that she’s submitting to my ‘request’ which earns me a punch from Jenna.

“She’s supposed to be your date. If you order her to do things, people will get suspicious.” My sister’s right, but she doesn’t understand my plight.

“Don’t worry bro. I’ll help you make sure that Dallas doesn’t get the wrong idea if you share a bed with her.” Apparently, Royce also doesn’t know why I’m being weird, and he gives Chey the wrong impression again.

“If that’s what you’re afraid of, then we can call Dallas and tell him the problem.” Before I can even speak, Chey is already calling her brother, but he hangs up on her and calls me.

“What is my sister talking about?” I explain the situation to him, reminding him that the events organizer made the rooming arrangements. “And you can’t change it?”

“If I do…”

“They’ll know she isn’t your date.” I’m glad that Dallas isn’t being unreasonable about the situation, but I know that if it were me, I’d be livid. “How does Chey feel about it?”

“I don’t think that she understands the implications of this.”

“Chey is Chey. Unless you tell her outright, she won’t understand.”

“Do you know how weird that conversation is going to be?”

“I absolutely do. I was the one who had to tell her she needed to start wearing bras.”

“WHAT?!”

“Don’t even ask how that went. I blocked it out of my memory, so all I can tell you is that my mother tried, failed, and called me in as a reinforcement.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“What?”

“You do know I’m going to ask her about the conversation, right? I mean, I feel like I have to, and this situation is already weird enough.” I have to move the phone away from my ear because Dallas practically shrilled into the device. “It’s not funny. She’s like a sister to me, and I don’t know how to proceed.”

“Just treat her the way you would treat Jenna.” That’s simple enough, so I let Dallas get back to whatever he was doing before we disturbed him.

I wasn’t expecting Chey to have overheard the conversation, but she must be coming into her wolf soon, because without prompting, she offers how her brother convinced her to start wearing bras.

“He told me that they could be torn off in combat.” Jenna covers her chest, and while I’m not a woman, I can understand how that would be terrifying.

“Dallas doesn’t need any daughters,” I half joke.

“But why?” Chey obviously doesn’t see anything wrong with what her brother said, and now, I feel like she shouldn’t have a daughter.

“Chey, do you think that you’re a normal girl?”

“There’s no such thing as normal.” I can’t exactly argue with her because normalcy is relative.

Some packs glorify women like Chey, some packs shun them. In others, women run everything, and in some packs, women have no voice at all.

Alpine, our pack, is a mixture of sorts. Our women tend to get pregnant early, not that anyone is forcing them, but that results in a lot of professional males who are fated to females who are barely high school graduates.

Because of the mate bond, they aren’t worried about being left behind by the men they are with, but in the event of death, things become complicated.

The pack helps where it can, but just like with humans, school, childcare, and other household items aren’t covered by taxes. We have free childcare for those women, but it’s limited because nannies have to be paid too.

Fortunately, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are part of what the pack provides its members, so we don’t have anyone who’s starving, unless of course they work during serving hours.

My plan to help women like that was inspired by Chey, who is likely going to work herself to death if she doesn’t get into the were-nursing program. I don’t want to see that happen to her, and the closer she gets to eighteen, the sooner it might become a reality for her, or even Jenna.

Royce is a ranked pack member, similar to an army general, and while Jenna has completed some college, she doesn’t plan to go back because it would take her away from her mate.

She didn’t opt for a school that offers online courses, but she can transfer her credits to a lesser institution and get her associates, which may help her if she ever had to get a job outside of the pack.

I would never want that to happen, so I plan to implement a small tax that we’ll use to cover childcare for widows and widowers. It may not go over well with everyone in the pack, but I’ve asked Chey for her opinion, and she loved the idea.

As one of our highest earners of the pack’s employees, Chey is also one of the highest taxpayers, so her opinion is important.

“Okay, enough about ripping off t*ts. I’m hungry.” I’m glad that Royce said something because I didn’t know what to say to Chey.

Calling her abnormal would be offensive, and I don’t want to go that route when she’s doing me such a huge favor, an expensive favor, but a big one nonetheless.

“Chey… are you not coming?”

“No, I can hold out until breakfast in the morning.” Chey holds up the keycard holder with the hotel schedule on it, and I wonder how many nights she went hungry.

“It’s covered under our agreement.”

“In that case.” Chey smiles and darts out of the room.

“We have to fix that about her,” Jenna says.