Omega. Playboy

3. CHAPTER THREE

When I woke up the next morning, my little angel was cuddled up against me. Her fair cheeks were rosy thanks to the heat of my room and a sheen of sweat made her blonde curls stick to her forehead. I opened up the windows to allow the fresh morning breeze in to cool my sleeping sister. 

I was in big trouble. Not only had I returned home and gotten beat up the precious day, I had also allowed tiredness creep up on me. I had slept from sometime around seven, after I had finished crying, till the next morning. It was somewhere around five in the morning then and I had to get started on my daily duties. 

My stomach growled to remind me the last time I had eaten was the previous morning. First Jake had taken my lunch money and then Quinn had beat any form of hunger away from my body. 

I adjusted Jessy’s sleeping posture and she mumbled some unintelligible things before curling back into an awkward position again. I didn’t have time to start adjusting her so she wouldn’t get cramps. An omega never has time.

The kitchen was a mess when I walked in to start my day as a lowly omega. I began to empty plates into the dirt bag before rinsing oil off them. There was a technique to dish washing at our house and if I didn’t follow through with it, I could very well land myself into big trouble again. 

After the dish washing, I started to rummage around for what to make for breakfast. I found a plate wrapped with foil in the fridge and it smelt so heavenly I started to salivate. My stomach was growling incessantly then as I hungered for the meal I could perceive from behind the foil. 

I set the food on the counter and started to unwrap it but my hands froze halfway. What if it was for Quinn? He would surely rip my head off if I went and ate his food. But I was so hungry! I unwrapped the tin anyway and I was blessed by the sight of my mum’s cooking. Couscous wasn’t my favourite meal by a stretch, but it would have to do.

I was setting it up to be microwaved when a wave of fear almost paralyzed me. The food could be for Quinn and I did not want anymore trouble than I had. It would be stupid to eat in a house that wasn’t mine. The house I shared with my family wasn’t mine. Quinn had made sure I understood that years ago. 

It was almost seven by the time I was done with cooking and cleaning the house and once it was seven o’clock sharp, my mum descended the stairs with her messy blonde hair gathered up in a bun.

“Good morning, mum,” I said meekly casting my eyes to the ground like a demure little girl. 

“Morning, sweetie. How was your night?” She asked but I was already making my way up the stairs she had just come down from. It wasn’t as if she cared anyway. She was just asking for asking sake not because she wanted to know how her ‘perfect’ son had brutalized me with a belt the previous day. 

“Fine,” I replied in the end. Better to answer now than have her make a big deal out of it in the future.

By the time I returned to my room, Jessy was still sleeping and I had to get her ready for school. Her school started at nine while I had to be in school before 8:01 else face another day of detention. 

“I will kill you!” The memory of Quinn’s harsh words made me shudder. 

I picked my outfit for the day, a plain maroon fitted crop top that Remi said made my eyes come alive and light blue three quarter mum jeans that I had gotten on sale for thirty bucks. 

I rushed in and out of the shower as it was cold, even for a wolf. I didn’t think my family would have disconnected my room from the water heater but I hardly got any hot water in my room.

When I got out, Jessy was gone so I quickly dressed up to follow her to her room. She was seven years old so of course she believed she was grown enough to take care of herself. She hated it when I babied her but the last time she had taken an unsupervised bath, her bathroom had ended up flooded and her body had still been greasy even after the bath. 

“Jessy, baby, I’m coming in,” I called as I opened her bathroom door. 

As I was expecting, she was soaping herself up under the running water, having the soap run down her body before she finished applying it. Her main focus was her chest and stomach as she repeatedly soaped them up, ignoring all other parts of her body. 

I turned off the water and she turned on me with a small glare. “What did you do that for?” She demanded like a little spitfire and I smiled. This one did not behave like an omega child. 

“You’re wasting water and soap,” I held out my hand for the soap and sponge but she would not let go. 

“I’m a big girl. I can take a bath myself,” She declared, pushing her nose into the air. I stifled a giggle. 

“Alright, big girl. Take a bath yourself but you have to clean other paths if your body like your hands and legs and back,” I said and she immediately started to work on her hands then she moved to her legs. 

I never taught her how to take a proper bath, always finding it easier to just help her out rather than instruct her on how to do it. She dutifully sponged every part of her body that her hands could get to. 

“Is that enough?” She asked with wide eyes and I nodded.

“You haven’t gotten your neck and behind your ears,” I added and she continued her work. It was definitely longer than it would have taken me to just bathe her but I could feel her excitement at doing it on her own.

In the end I sponged her back and hurried things up, drying her hair for her and leaving her to get into her clothes herself. 

I rushed to my room to complete my school preparation, checking the time as I combed through my blonde hair. It was already seven thirty and I still had to join my family for breakfast as was the tradition. Parting my hair at the centre, I finally allowed myself state at my reflection. 

Everything looking back at me was plain. From my limp blonde hair to my boring brown eyes, my slightly pointed nose and my thin pale pink lips. My face was a boring round shape and a dusting of freckles, barely noticeable, like four or five, dotted my nose. There was no prominent cheekbones or captivating eyes and I hated what I saw in the mirror. I hated it. I hated myself.

“Clara, your food will be cold very soon,” Jenny shouted from the dinning room, startling me out of my self loathing.

Everyone was gathered at the table when I arrived. The only empty seats were either beside Quinn or directly opposite him. Suddenly, the pasta I had been craving that made me prepare it for breakfast began to make me uneasy. 

The memories from the previous day were still fresh at the forefront of my mind. I could still feel the whip of his belt against my skin even though most of the marks had faded and the wounds were completely healed.

I froze at the foot of the table, trembling lightly as my wolf started to whimper in fear. I wanted to turn and run away, far far away from him and his wickedness. I wanted to crawl under the table and hide or better still, run up to my room and never reemerge. 

“Good morning,” My devil of a brother called in a cherry tone that fooled my parents but his eyes were set ablaze with anger and only the other omega in the room shifted in discomfort. 

“Morning,” I answered in a small voice, choosing to take a seat opposite him, right beside Jessy. Her small little hands automatically squeezed my thighs in solidarity as I shakily got into the dining chair. 

“You’re shaking terribly,” My mum said, peering closely at me. “Are you feeling alright? Haven’t eaten anything poisoned? I heard someone is selling drugged edibles at your school,” she added. 

“I’m fine. I haven’t eaten anything funny,” I replied in a monotone. 

Mum was a nurse at the pack hospital and she treated everyone like they were her patients. She wasn’t exactly a bad person or even a bad mum, not by a long stretch, but she was too busy fixing up people to notice what was happening in her house. All her duties had fallen to me; taking care of the house, making sire everyone was fed, taking care of Jessy, because my dad was a lazy asshole who only knew how to eat and drink wine. His prosperous stomach is an evidence to his bad eating habits.

“When last did you eat? I saved you some dinner because you didn’t come down for diner last night but it’s still in the fridge, wrapped up as I left it,” She confronted and I poked at my food. I didn’t want pasta anymore.

Of course it was still in the fridge like she had left it. I already buried the foil I had first taken off the food in the deepest part of the rubbish bin and then I proceeded to wrap the meal up in the way she taught me to do. 

“I wasn’t hungry last night,” I muttered, tired of all the attention I was getting. 

“That’s unlike you, dear. Are you sure you’re alright? I asked Jessica to check up on you and she said you were already asleep. Quite an early time to sleep eh? Tell me what’s wrong with you? Do you have a headache? Have you spoken to your wolf recently? Is she responding normally? Has there been a change in your sleeping pattern? “ My mum fired off questions after questions before I could even answer any of them. 

“No, yes, yes and no,” I answered her questions

Her mouth opened and she started to fire up another stream of questions but my father’s gruff voice silenced her. 

“Stop babying her, Clementina. There’s nothing wrong with her. She was just being lazy as usual,” My dad said and my eyes stung. 

Lazy. I was the most hardworking person in the entire household. In fact, I did more work than every other person, my mother included, combined. I cooked, I swept. I cleaned, I mopped. I was literally Jenny's mother, helping her with her assignments, attending her parent - teacher meetings, putting her to bed most nights and waking her up every morning. I cleaned everyone’s room on Saturdays and then I went to the pack house to clean more people’s rooms. Coming from a man who did nothing but taste wine, it sure stung. 

“Oh, Bill –“ Mum started to say but Quinn cut her off. 

Quinn, my twenty two year old brother who had refused to go to college or move out. He was a delta like my parents and their favourite child. Everyone loved Quinn. He was easy going and had a charming smile and he never had problems with any of the boys in the pack. Quinn was the poster boy for a friendly next door neighbour but I knew him. 

When things didn’t go his way, he went into his room to punch things. When mum asked him his life plans, be would smile and give her some bullshit before going off in his room. When dad asked him to join a friend in wine making, he had said some rubbish about thinking things through then he had gone into his room to rant and scream and break things. It wasn’t long before mum started to notice the dents in his wall and after deceiving her with a poor lie, he had found another way to let out his anger problems. A vessel that could not be dented. Me. 

“She’s starting to be a brat, Ma. Didn’t the school call you yesterday when she forgot to pick up Jessica? She was off gallivanting with people out of her social status and she forgot the time. She’s turning into something else,” He said and I jumped up abruptly.

There was a daring smile on his face and even my indifferent dad had some kind of gleeful excitement in his eyes. Jessy tugged at my hand as if she was trying to stop me from creating a scene, but I wasn’t stupid. I could not create a scene without detriment to myself.

“I’m late for school,” I said and I was. It was already ten minutes till eight o’clock and it was a solid fifteen minutes walk from my house to the school. Grabbing my bag, I said “Goodbye,” and only Jessy answered.

I had to run extremely fast.