Austin Chapter 1

Austin

“You’ve always been my favorite friend.” Curling up against Tanner, I batted my eyelashes at a slightly confused Shane who just stood there staring at me. He was so cute. Dominant and sexy with Tanner but still easily startled and fun to tease.

Tanner snorted. “You can’t go. No unmarried omegas.”

“You’re no fun.” I huffed and pouted at Shane prettily, changing tactics. “I bet you can think of a way to get me in. You’re so smart and I bet the owner would love to help a strong alpha like you.”

Laughing, Tanner shoved me away and moved between Shane and me. “No, be gone, witch.”

I grinned. “I have to see it.”

I was tired of having to bribe customs people to get sex toys. It was a ridiculous waste of money when there was a store on the other side of town.

Tanner snorted. “I can’t even get in. There’s no way he’s sneaking you in.”

Just to make him crazy, I gave him a sweet smile. “I know a way Shane can get you in the store. All very nice and legal-like, too.”

One.

Two.

Thre—

“Go find someone else to torture.”

I had to duck the notepad he threw at my head as I laughed. Shane was still looking at us like we were from a different planet, but his eyes started to widen once he got it. If they were married, Tanner would have no problem going in.

Shane wasn’t as startled by the idea as Tanner seemed to think he should be. But Tanner was too busy trying to decide what was more important, throwing something else at me or guarding Shane.

“There has to be a way around the law.” I was an upstanding citizen who followed the laws—mostly—but there had to be a way to bypass one that was silly and completely unnecessary. I was a grown-up—for the most part—and I paid a hell of a lot in taxes. That should mean something.

But no, I was too precious and innocent to risk in someplace vulgar like that.

Innocent, my ass.

“If you get arrested, we’re going to be under too much scrutiny to go ahead with the club.” Tanner raised one eyebrow. “And we’re supposed to meet Graham to go over the plans later this week.”
I hated it when he was an adult.

A boring adult.

“You take away all my fun.” Giving him a perfectly sexy pout, I looked up at Shane. The big hunk was trying not to laugh, but I could see the smile peeking out around the edges of his stern expression.

“How about you and I go to Vegas? I bet we could get married, come back here and shop, then get divorced again before dinner. I know a guy with a private jet.” I waggled my eyebrows and then dodged another notepad.

“Go drive someone else insane.” Tanner was so sexy when he got worked up. It really was too bad he was a sub too.

“I can’t. I’m supposed to be driving you insane because we were going to dinner to talk about the outline that Graham sent.” Graham was polite and didn’t mind working for a group of omegas. He also didn’t ask too many odd questions we couldn’t answer. Which was helpful.

And also a bit sketchy.

But if he wanted to pretend to keep his head buried in the sand, I wasn’t going to be the one to point it out. He’d even bought the stupid meditation room lie.

Very sketchy.

But Shane said he was family and he came across as trustworthy, so I was going to go with my instincts. My luck with dating might have been shit, but I knew when a partnership would work.

Tanner sighed. “Why did I agree to this?”

“I’m pretty sure I caught you after a quickie, so you were probably loaded down with all those feel-good hormones.” It was just a random guess, but the way Tanner blushed said I was right.
“I hate you, drama queen.”

I rested my hands under my chin and gave him a sickeningly sweet expression. “Aww, you say the sweetest things.”

Shane coughed, but it didn’t completely disguise the laugh that had tried to bubble out. Tanner gave him a frustrated look. “Don’t egg him on.”

That had Shane wrapping his arms around Tanner and nibbling on his neck. I couldn’t hear what Shane said to tease Tanner, but Tanner blushed. Squirming, Tanner was breathless by the time Shane straightened and gave me a teasing grin that said how much he loved driving Tanner crazy.

He fit right in.

“I’m not waiting while you guys get off. I’m starving.” My goal had been to get lunch with Wade earlier, but he’d canceled at the last minute and I’d gotten distracted talking to my real estate manager about the new plans. By the time I’d realized how late it was, I’d had to head straight over to Tanner’s.

Tanner said something under his breath, but all I caught were the words “slut” and “hungry.” Shane must have heard all of it because he barked out a laugh and smacked Tanner’s ass. “Naughty boy. Do you need to be punished?”

Fuck. They were so hot together.

I wanted a relationship like that. Well, not someone as sweet as Shane, but an alpha who looked at me with the same passion and love that Shane watched Tanner with. If they didn’t end up married within the year, I’d eat my favorite panties.

“Food. I was promised food.” I shook my head as Shane continued to whisper in Tanner’s ear. He glanced over at me and winked, clearly enjoying the way he was making Tanner squirm.

By the time they were done and Shane straightened to stand behind Tanner, we were all hard and Tanner was blushing. He was so cute. Such a dirty mind but he still blushed like a virgin omega on his wedding night. I was just glad it wouldn’t affect the club.

The club was a wonderful idea and something I should have thought of on my own, but I hadn’t been sure how everyone would react. We’d all talked about our fantasies and needs for as long as I could remember. But talking was a long way from getting groped or spanked with everyone around.

As the first couple, Tanner and Shane were setting the tone for the rest of us. I just wasn’t sure if they realized it or not. Tanner had mentioned that they’d talked about Shane’s feelings on the club and about how they wanted to just be themselves in front of us, but it was still nice to see Shane smiling and teasing Tanner.

Not that I’d mind if he actually followed through on the threat to spank him.

I hadn’t dated in a while, but I wasn’t dead.

It was really too bad they were both so completely gaga over each other. A threesome could’ve been fun. But just looking at them, it was clear they’d never even thought of it.

“If we can’t go into the store, what about if we invite him to the warehouse or out to dinner?” Tanner shifted so he could glance between us. “And we need to figure out if it’s the sale of sex toys to omegas in general that’s the issue, or if it’s broader.”

I shrugged. “I say we just get the company to purchase the toys. It’s basically a separate legal entity and shouldn’t fall into the same category.”

There was no way they’d thought of every loophole. We just had to find the right one for this situation. Over the years, I’d found that most lawmakers just wanted plausible deniability, not to actually fix a problem.

Not that my sex life was a problem.

It had just hit a bit of a snag.

I’d had high hopes for the bookstore owner. He’d been cute and hadn’t come across wimpy. But the money…one day I was going to find an alpha who didn’t care about my net worth. Finding one who didn’t mind that I was a bit…interesting for an omega and who didn’t mind the money was harder than I’d expected.

Show up in a few tabloids and everyone got nervous.

Have a few million dollars lying around and everyone got nervous.

Ask to be spanked and everyone got nervous.

It was ridiculous.

Shane nodded. “I think that could work. We definitely want to look at the legal ramifications just in case, but I have a feeling he’ll know what he can and can’t do.”

“Do we know his name?” I’d tried looking up the shop online but there was nothing.

It was Shane’s turn to blush. “Um, no.”

Tanner grinned, but I had to tease him. “So, were you too busy ogling his ass or the sex toys to ask?”

Shane coughed a few times and glanced at Tanner, who wasn’t any help, before turning back to me. “Let’s say he was attractive but not an overly friendly owner.”

Sexy and grumpy, huh? I could work with that.

“But hot, right?” I licked my lips and grinned at them both. “How hot?”

Tanner sighed. “I thought we were going to dinner?”

“Spoilsport.” Rearranging things in my head, I agreed. “Yes, but let’s stop by the store first. Shane can go in and ask his name and see if he’s interested in selling products to a local company.”
Tanner nodded but looked up at Shane. “He seemed open to the idea of omegas submitting and wasn’t put off by it?”

“He didn’t seem to believe me at first, but once he realized I wasn’t just wandering around in there for no reason, he was helpful.” Shane stopped to think for a moment. “I won’t claim to know him very well, but nothing I saw makes me think he’d have an issue with it. If anything, I’d have guessed he was a Dom himself.”

Interesting.

“I was told sexy and grumpy, not a potential Dom.” They were holding out on me.

Tanner chuckled. “Guessed…he said guessed. We don’t know anything about the guy.”

“Well, it’s time to rectify that error.” I glanced down at my watch, a slim, delicate piece that was decidedly more feminine than what most people thought a male omega should wear.

Like what was between my legs should get to dictate what I wore.

Ridiculous.

“Let’s get going, then.” I glanced up at Tanner. “Can I ride with you and you drop me back off here after dinner?”

Because if I couldn’t, that would mean I’d have to wait even longer to figure out what the owner said. My patience was good but not that good—unless it was for business. And hunks who sold sex toys did not fall under that category.

Tanner chuckled but nodded. “That’s fine.”

He glanced up at Shane. “That okay with you?”

Shane gave him a quick kiss. “Of course. I can still drive you crazy with Austin around.”

Tanner blushed, but I chuckled. “I like the way you think.”

But did he realize he would also be torturing me, so in a sense he would be playing with us both? Probably not—and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him.

“I don’t even know who to tell not to egg the other one on. You’re both terrible.” Tanner’s comment led to him getting another pop on the ass and I might have moaned.

That earned me a questioning look from both of them, but I just smiled sweetly.

Tanner rolled his eyes and took Shane’s hand, starting for the door. Following, I couldn’t resist poking them one more time before we got out the door and I would have to behave. “You know, you both have such great asses. I can’t wait to see them at the club.”

Shane tripped over his own feet and barely managed to catch himself. Tanner just groaned. “You need a hobby.”

I had one: driving him insane.

Shane managed to right himself and took a deep breath before opening the door. He gave me a “behave” look that sent a shiver through me as I walked through the door. “Promises, promises.”

Tanner groaned again.

“You need to get that checked out. It sounds like you’re constantly having to clear your throat.” Smiling, I put on my best sweet omega face and followed them down to the parking garage. Tanner’s employees were always so polite and eager to work, but I couldn’t help wondering what they would have thought about his relationship with Shane.

It wasn’t anyone’s business. I realized that. But people were nosy and judgmental. Would his work change if they knew or would they move on, realizing that nothing he did in his private life had to affect the company?

I wasn’t sure and that drove me crazy. People would expect insanity from me. I’d built up a careful image of just enough drama that people ignored most of what I did. They expected insane, so when it was only mildly interesting everyone tuned it out. It was wonderful camouflage.

Tanner didn’t have that security in his life.

None of the other guys did.

I just hoped this didn’t come back to bite them in the ass.

****

“He’s been in there forever.”

Tanner snorted. “It’s been five minutes.”

“How long does it take to ask his name and see if he wants to sell us sex toys?” I flopped back in the seat as Tanner chuckled.

“Longer than five minutes.” Tanner turned in the passenger seat so he was looking at me. “Do you really think he’ll be able to sell to a business that’s just run by omegas?”

“I think if word got out that legislatures were preventing omegas from running a company because of discrimination, that would not get the reaction they’re going for.” The headlines for it would be interesting. “They want to say they’re preventing omegas from being taken advantage of and keeping us safe. There will always be ways around those laws, though, because I don’t think anyone really cares about them.”

Tanner rolled his eyes. “Activists like Shane’s mother do.”

“That’s because they’ve been sold a line of shit based on fear and no one really looks at what they’re doing. They just assume that because it’s what they want, then it’s what we have to want too. A beta that has no interest in BDSM should not be making laws to say what an omega should want.”

We needed more—

Tanner interrupted the thoughts that were swirling through my brain. “We need more omegas in politics.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” I’d never looked at why, but most politicians were alphas and betas. Omegas were running a lot of the top companies, so it was impossible to say we weren’t equal. But maybe it was time we aimed our ambition in a different direction.

I focused on Tanner and he shook his head, laughing. “I don’t like that look on your face. I’m not running for politics and your background is too interesting.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “There have been way more colorful politicians than me. But neither of us has the time.”

That didn’t mean we couldn’t let our money do the talking.

“I think I’m going to start looking around at some of the people who are thinking about running in the next elections.” I started rolling the idea around in my mind. “Sizeable donations in the right places might make some headway.”

“I’m not bribing anyone.”

I snorted. “We just need to make sure politicians with views we agree on are getting enough attention and money. I think working from the ground up by helping to fund the campaigns of local politicians who want to change some of these laws might be a good way to start.”

There would be a lot of research involved, though.

“I need to see if I have anyone who can start looking into this.”

Tanner seemed to agree, but he wasn’t as enthusiastic as I wanted him to be. “Let me know what you find. I think it sounds like a good idea, but I don’t want to draw attention to the club.”

He was right, but he was clearly underestimating my ability to fly under the radar.

Want to read the rest?

Sometimes you have to leap before you look.

At least, that’s Austin’s philosophy on life. He knows better than anyone that looks are sometimes deceiving, but when he thinks he meets Mr. Right—who appears to also be Mr. Tall, Sexy, and Dominant—he’s ready to jump in headfirst. It isn’t every day that an alpha Dom falls from the sky and drops right into his lap, and he’s not going to question fate.

Looking twice at every situation has always been Silas’s motto, but he’s ready to make an exception for the firecracker omega who holds nothing back. Austin is outrageous, has no filter, and is utterly devoted to his friends. The fact that he’s also a submissive who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it makes him almost perfect. But when perfection comes with millions of dollars and paparazzi, maybe they could both use some caution.

Sometimes it’s just chemistry, but sometimes when the right person comes into your life it just might be fate. Figuring out the difference isn’t always easy, but it’s worth the effort if it brings you everything you always dreamed of.