Scum (Book 2)

96. Ideas

Chey’s POV

I’m not really sure how it happened, but Noah and I have been exchanging text messages daily, and he’s even coming to my fight tomorrow night.

He hasn’t asked me on a date or anything, but if he does, I might agree.

As he requested, I looked him up on social media and I found myself swooning over the pictures he posted. I’m not alone either.

Noah has all sorts of people following him, and some of his posts are clearly sponsored. I didn’t ask him how much he makes, but when we first met, he mentioned it as a side hustle, so it must be worth the stress of posting daily images.

“Umm, Chey, you awake?” The gentleness of the mind-link that just came in makes me smile because Jett and Marissa are always thinking of me in the most unnecessary of circumstances.

My schedule is three or four days on in an alternating pattern, and this week, all of my off days are consecutive, so I’ve been using the time to sleep in and prepare for my challenge.

“I am, why? Need me to cook?” I stand, walking out of my bedroom to find Marrissa sitting in the kitchen wearing a sad expression.

“There’s nothing in the fridge,” she says, feeling guilty because I already knew that only hunger could have woken her up at this hour, and I wonder if Nora is the same.

My brother hasn’t been posting anything on his social media, so I don’t have any updates, but she’s at least two months further along than Marrissa, meaning that it won't be much longer before she goes into labor.

“Thinking about them again?”

“I just hope they’re really okay.” I know my parents are at least still living semi-normal lives because there have been debit transactions from our family account, and while someone else could have access to their cards, I doubt that person would be picking up and paying for my father’s pressure sore prescription.

He doesn’t always need it, so we don’t always have it on hand, meaning that he’s at least seen a doctor recently.

My mother must be working more, or maybe my family is just busy in general, so his care is probably being neglected.

“Hey. You’ll see them soon, okay?” I want that to be true so badly that I just nod at Marissa, happy that I have someone like her by my side right now.

“So, should we go shopping?” Jett is at work, but I dropped him off just in case I got called into work today.

We need the money so that we aren’t always dipping into savings, especially since we’ll have to start preparing for a baby soon.

“If you think it’s safe.” Since the time Noah called the police, my apartment hasn’t had any unexpected or unwelcome visitors, but out of caution, we haven’t been going out as much.

“As long as you stay by my side, and run if I tell you to run, we’ll be fine.”

“B-b-but, I can’t run.” It takes Marissa all of five seconds to realize that I’m teasing her. She’s carrying heavy because she’s become mostly sedentary, and I don’t help by cooking anything she asks for.

Watching her enjoy the things I make reminds me of a simpler time in my life, and I suddenly wonder if any of my old pack members miss me, or at least, my food.

“But in all seriousness, if I sense danger, I want you to leave me behind.”

“How can I just-”

“It’s an order,” I gently command, effectively shutting the woman up.

“Then I’d rather not eat,” she says, crossing her arms in irritation.

“I’ll bake the cookies I told you about.” Now, Marissa is rushing me to get ready, but we’ve only just made it to the car when she gets a very unexpected phone call.

“Dyson?” The only reason Marissa has the man’s number is because he used it to send us the address to that fight we attended, but he hasn’t reached out since that time.

“No, it’s Miguel. Is your alpha near you by any chance?”

“Umm, yeah, and she can hear you.”

“Good.” There’s a short pause as the man clears his throat as if he’s going to say something important. “Did you forget the promise you made?”

“About letting you dress me?”

“Mhmm, yes. That's the one I mean.”

“No, I haven’t forgotten, why?”

“Who were you planning to dress you for the pre-fight dinner?”

“I wasn’t planning on going-” The man literally hangs up, but now, I’m confused. “What was that about?”

“I really don’t know.” With a shrug, I turn over the car engine, and head toward the cheapest grocery store in our area.

I know what I’m making, so I quickly fill up the buggy and pay, not wanting to take unnecessary chances while Marissa is with me.

I also wanted to avoid temptation, but we still ended up piling up on fruits and veggies so that we could have healthy snack options at home.

“You’re really good at budgeting.” Every time we go out, or we pay our monthly bills, Marrissa says the same thing. Sadly, it’s not something that can be taught, so she’ll just have to watch and learn from what I do. “I really need to figure this whole thing out before the baby’s born or we’ll struggle forever.” We’ve talked about it before, and I agree.

As soon as our lease is up, I’ll be moving into my own apartment, leaving the couple with all the bills to handle on their own.

It’s as much for my sake as it is for theirs, so there are no hard feelings between us.

“If you keep up with the sales, you can do what my sister-in-law did. She pre-purchased months’ worth of diapers and wipes for half the normal price.”

“I really wish I could meet your family. They sound like amazing people.” My family is amazing, and despite the issues I had with my mother, it doesn’t take away from the fact that, until Dallas and I were old enough to work, she did everything to keep us happy and healthy.

I didn’t even know we were poor until I overheard my mother venting to my father about back-to-school shopping.

That was a very pivotal moment for me, and because I wanted to help, that was the first year I wore my brother’s clothes, and the beginning of me realizing that in order to survive the tongue lashing I received from my classmates, I needed to learn how to fight.

If I weren’t a good student, I probably would have been kicked out of school for all the altercations I had, but it only took a year for people to start fearing me, and that's the timeline I’ve given myself to attack Alpine.

________________________

Marissa and I had just made it near our neighborhood when she received another call from Dyson, which was actually Miguel using his mate’s phone.

“I’m in your area. Tell me where you live.”

“For what?”

“What do you mean, for what? I’m dressing you for that dinner, and that’s final.” I can’t help but to giggle at the man, but a promise is a promise.

“Why is it important?”

“Girl, I get that you’re from a place where little things don’t matter, but if you don’t show up to the pre-fight, people won’t respect you, even if you win.”

“What does that have to do with clothes?”

“It’s marketing. Who doesn’t want to dress like an alpha?” I can see that being true, but…

“I have to cook and pick up Marissa’s mate later.”

“I can do that for you,” That wasn’t Miguel’s voice but Dyson’s. “You’re already doing my mate a huge favor, despite him rudely forcing it on you.”

“Oh, please babe, that girl was ready to fight us for walking behind her. If she was mad at the way I spoke to her, she would have told me.” Miguel is right, I wasn’t offended, and I’m still not offended. However…

“Can you not call me girl though?”

“Sure thing, sweety.”

“NO! Not that either.” Liam called me ‘sweety,’ and while he was probably just emulating his father, that endearment is now an irritant.

“Okay, okay. I’ll just call you regular Chey.”

“Without the ‘regular’ though, right?” The question makes the men laugh, and even Marrissa had to giggle.

“You’re a funny little alpha, but yes, Chey without the regular.” After agreeing, calling Jett, getting his opinion, and having a drawn-out conversation about the murder spree Marrissa and I will go on if he’s harmed in any way, we finally give the men our address, and arrive to find them waiting at our door.

“Let me at least get dinner started before we go through those.” I point to the several large suitcases in the hall because I know from experience with Jenna that I’ll be trying everything in them, on.

“As long as we can stay to eat, sure.” I don’t know when this became a back and forth, but Miguel isn’t being disrespectful, he’s just being himself. Still, I’ll keep a close eye on his behavior, just in case he thinks he can boss me around. “Are you guys just moving into this place?” Our apartment isn’t well furnished, but we have what we need.

“No, but money is tight.”

“My mate and I were like that in the beginning too, but we eventually found a way to make it.”

“By dressing people?”

“And stripping.” I laugh, but Miguel doesn’t look like his mate is joking.

“Don’t judge us,” Dyson adds, making himself comfortable on our couch. “It pays well.”

“I wasn’t judging. I just never met a stripper before.”

“Don’t get any ideas, it’s not the same for women. My mate and I mostly work private events, so unless they ask, people won’t know what we do.”

“But is it what you really want to do?” I don’t know how I know, but I don’t think Miguel likes his job.

“Two things can be true at the same time. It’s not what we want to do, but we're using our bodies to our advantage while we still can. Eventually, I’ll have enough to buy a food truck, and with the sales from that, Miguel will officially launch his clothing line.” I love the fact that Dyson’s dream doesn’t just end with him, and I wonder if my mate will support me in any career I choose.

“What about you?”

“Right now, I work in a nursing home, but once I join a pack, I can get back into the were-nursing program.”

“Join a pack?” Miguel questions. “Why not just formally register your own?”