Page 15 of Bubblegum Pop

Itore my door open as soon as they knocked, dragging in their scents as it cracked open, sucking in sweet mango and passion fruit, undercut with Odin’s perfect lemon vodka.

I’d spent my life searching for safety, and they fell straight into my lap.

It had been three weeks since I began working the floor at the Club, and no matter how much money they poured into the parties every night, it was exactly the same as Stevie’s. I had to perform, only now I wore expensive clothes and shoes, and attended fancy parties wearing a large gem around my neck to signal I was a whore. No, sorry, a host.

And four weeks since I’d met my scent matches, of spending nearly every day with them constantly by my side but not being able to touch them, and saying goodbye to them each night as I went off with another alpha.

I spent the first week bouncing all over the place, excited like a stupid child who thought she could have everything she wanted just because I’d found my matches. I let it go on though, because I hadn’t craved anything so badly that I would lie to myself about it.

Even though I kept telling myself not to be romantic, that life didn’t work that way for people like me, I couldn’t stop my heart from soaring as their shadows fell over me, a giant wall of alphas there to protect me.

And, despite knowing that life was never sunshine and roses, I had a plan.

“You’re going to scare people off if you look at them like that,” I said, smirking, tilting my head back to admire my alphas.

Apollo stood in front of me, his chin dipped to the floor, his gaze skewed. Odin and Zeus towered above us both, and Odin fixed me with a hard glare while Zeus’s brow creased in pain.

Zeus’s lips parted, about to speak. His aura expanded, reaching for me with his alpha energy, and my omega instincts lit up as I responded. My body curved without even thinking, basically presenting myself to him. I’d gone for a tennis dress—tight around the top and loose around my thighs, high cut, enough to show my ass cheeks if I swished my hips. All they needed to do was step forward and take me.

“It’s time to go,” Apollo said, his voice hollow as he moved back to make room for me.

I nodded, still smiling despite the darkness in his expression. It wasn’t hard to guess. We were going to discuss my first heat, after all.

Zeus led the way, with Apollo beside me and Odin behind me, the three of them surrounding me with their auras, driving me wild. I was nothing but a ball of mush around them, and it made it easier to perfume for any alpha guest who looked at me.

I was surprised my heat hadn’t come during my training. I thought it would, because my body knew I needed them. It was like I’d been waiting to find them before I properly awoke as an omega and now that they were here, I could finally take that step.

According to the other omegas, Geno was usually the one to talk to us about our heats, but Michael had called me to his office instead.

I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but it would be the perfect opportunity to ask Michael. Because I wasn’t going to be sold to just anyone—my pack was going to buy me for my first heat.

It wasn’t like we had talked about it, but I had to have them buried deep inside me or I’d go insane, and I was sure they felt it as well. I was already going crazy having to fuck other alphas while they stood outside the room ‘guarding’ me. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be; we needed to be together, and my heat was the best time to make it happen.

Whenever I did bring up that we were scent matches, they shut me down instantly, repeatedly stressing about my contract, like it was a big, bad spider hanging over our heads, waiting to reel us into a trap.

But I didn’t believe it. I wouldn’t let the contract keep us apart.

My body knew I shouldn’t have sex with anyone else but them and, each time I fucked a guest, a hum of pain buzzed throughout my body, telling me over and over again it was wrong.

I tried to be subtle when I asked another omega about it. She instantly gasped, holding the bottle of painkillers over my head as she demanded to know who my scent matches were—as if I’d share something like that with someone I’d met a month ago. Though, if it wasn’t clear from the fact I couldn’t stop slicking around my alphas, then I wasn’t sure what else would make it obvious that they were mine.

“Come on.” I nudged Apollo, rubbing my bare arm against his suit, marking him in case any other omegas got ideas. “Don’t look like that. It’s a chance for us to finally talk about it.”

“Quiet!” Odin hissed from behind us as a growl rumbled from Zeus.

“Candy,” Apollo said calmly, as if he was patiently talking to a child. “We already agreed not to mention it in public. Anyone could be listening.”

I pressed my lips together, biting back my complaint. There were cameras all over the Club and, from the way they reacted every time I tried to talk to them, they had microphones, too.

“But it’s not a problem anymore,” I said. “As soon as we talk to Michael, we can be together, can’t we?”

Apollo’s jaw clenched as he shook his head. “That’s not possible.”

“Why not?” I faced him as we turned the corner, heading for a set of stairs. “Even if we haven’t known each other for long, I still want my heat to be with you. Don’t you want that?” I thought I’d have to go through my first heat with scumbags from Stevie’s, that I was always going to be trapped in places like that until I was eventually murdered or I died from an overdose.

I’d been given a second chance, and I finally felt like a real person, so I let myself hope for more, and now I was determined to get what I wanted.

Then was Zeus’s turn to hiss as Odin grunted from behind me.