Blizzards and Brews (Holiday Hollow Omegaverse)

Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dustin

S eeing Lindsay’s heartbroken expression as she looked around her tiny home had my fist clenching at my side.

I wanted to hunt down the man that took all of this from her and make him pay. From the look on Adam, Spencer, and Ollie’s faces, they agreed wholeheartedly.

Lindsay didn’t say much as she gathered everything out of her safe until it was completely empty. Then, she gave us a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“At least he didn’t take the important things, right?” she offered with a fake, cheerful voice.

My stomach turned as I watched her eyes slowly scan over the room. I knew she was picturing everything that had been here before, taking a silent inventory of what had been taken from her.

Plain and simple, that man had taken advantage of a beta who had taken a chance on him. Lindsay didn’t trust easily. She said she was having fun but if they took it this far then there was more there than a quick fling.

She took a risk, and he had proven to her that she shouldn’t trust anyone she didn’t truly know.

At least her trust in us never wavered. We’d never give her a reason to not trust us and never would.

The frustration and sadness echoed in her eyes as she headed back to the truck, and we all piled in. No one said a word until we were back at the pack house. She ran up to her room to drop everything off.

Right now, she needed something, and I wasn’t sure what we could offer. She needed an escape. Spencer and Adam were too abrasive, too angry right now even if they tried to hide it. Ollie would likely be too sympathetic, he was the softest of us by nature.

But right now, she needed to not think about anything but letting it go.

Spencer’s gaze landed on me. His eyes narrowed as I watched the gears turning in his head. He had a plan and I was glad, because I wasn’t sure what I could do at the moment.

“You’ve been behind us every step of the way,” he said in a low voice, mainly meant for me. “You’re the foundation of this relationship with her. You’ve backed us all when we needed it and made sure everything went smoothly. Lindsay needs you. She looks to you for calm, and right now, she needs that in spades.”

“That’s true,” Ollie agreed. “You helped prep Adam’s date, kept us all focused, gave support during heat when we were distracted.”

My chest warmed. I hadn’t realized they’d noticed all the things I did in the background. It was just who I was.

“I’m calling a Holloway,” Spencer said. His words hung in the air for a moment as he slowly turned to me.

“For you?” Ollie asked him. My brother was as confused as I was, the conversation wasn’t making sense anymore.

“For her and Dustin,” Spencer clarified. “She needs to escape. Take her away for a bit, be there for her. You’ve been there for all of us, and right now, I know that’s what she needs.”

Adam clenched his jaw as he stared at the other alpha. Every instinct in his body was likely yelling that he was the outsider, that he didn’t get to choose what was right for her. That we had known her for years and had some kind of higher claim.

Then he shocked me by letting out a low breath and forcing himself to relax. He nodded once at Spencer and glanced at me.

“What can we get ready for you?”

My brain stalled for a second. I wasn’t expecting this turn of events. Holloways were absolute, but I never expected the first time Spencer used one would be for me to have alone time with Lindsay. Yet, I also knew I wasn’t about to protest.

We would have all afternoon and evening to ourselves. No sharing, no drama, just me and my mate.

“I can grab some snacks,” Adam started to say but I cut him off. We both know that his version of snacks never matched ours.

“She likes road trip snacks,” I said quickly. This needed to be perfect for her. “We’ll stop for those on the way.”

Adam groaned at my words. “Can you at least make sure to feed her properly?”

“I always do,” I said, giving him a grin that said I absolutely did not. At least not to his standards. “Some days just happen to be junk food days, brother. I still can’t believe you’re standing on that hill.”

“I’m not giving up until you realize that green vegetables are not the enemy. They make you healthy,” he said with a growl that was half-hearted.

Just like that our joking had defused the tension lingering in the room. I don’t even think Adam realized it, but from the way that his shoulders unclenched, that the tight lines of his jaw had loosened, and his features softened I knew it worked.

It was funny how triplets could be so very different. Not only was it rare to have different designations, but our builds were different, and our personalities were stark opposites in every way. Yet, we worked perfectly as a group… a pack.

Spencer added to the mix just rounded us out further.

I was surprisingly grateful for Spencer walking into the bar that night, finding Lindsay first, and then subsequently the pack.

Our lives had changed drastically in only a few short weeks. Lindsay had mentioned before that she didn’t want Spencer coming in and our relationship changing to seem like she was choosing us because of him, but I didn’t think it was a bad thing at all.

If he was the missing piece that helped her find us, then how could I be mad?

At the end of the day, a pack without an alpha that could give Ollie what he needed would never work. She knew that, and even we knew that, but we weren’t willing to let her run from us because we knew she belonged here.

Now everything was falling into place, and I would be damned if I let the asshole who took advantage of her set us back again.

“I’m going to go tell her the plan,” I said, clapping Spencer on the shoulder as I walked past as a silent thank you.

He was the voice of reason among brothers, and that, in itself, was a feat.

When I got upstairs, her door was open. Lindsay was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the pile of things that she’d gathered from her tiny home. She didn’t even notice me walking up. Her eyes were blankly focused on nothing as she was lost in her head. Spencer was right, she needed a Holloway in the worst way.

I knocked on her door frame and she startled, looking up at me with wide eyes. I offered my best reassuring smile.

“It’s Holloway time. Get your ass in the car.”

Her face lit up like she was drowning and I’d just tossed her a life vest. She didn’t hesitate to jump up from the bed, shoving a few things in her mini backpack and slinging it on her back before following me to my room.

I swapped out of my hoodie into a fresh one, knowing damn well she’d want those windows down, before snagging a second and handing it over to her.

“Adam will kill me if I let you walk out without one.” Her smile softened as she shrugged out of her backpack and slid the hoodie on before putting it back in place. The sweatshirt definitely swallowed her, but she looked so damn cute I couldn’t help but lean down and brush a kiss across her lips.

“Come on, let’s go scream out lyrics until we can’t speak. We’ve got a gas station to hit for snacks and an open road waiting for us.”

“Hell yeah, we do,” she said, putting her sunglasses in place and heading for the door.

The guys were still waiting where I left them. I waited patiently while she said goodbye to them, trying to offer reassurances, but they didn’t need it.

We could already see the change in our girl.

Lindsay and I climbed into my car. I waited until she was buckled in before I started it up. We didn’t bother with music as we headed to the closest gas station, which was about a five minute drive.

It felt like old times again, seeing her hop out of the car and rush toward the front door, casting glances back at me as the wind ruffled her hair in her face. The wave of nostalgia that hit me was strong, but I wanted to stay firmly rooted in this place here, the one that meant she was mine and she wasn’t holding back anymore.

We walked down each aisle, Lindsay grabbing new snacks for us to try and tossing them my way. In minutes, we had a supply big enough that it could feed us all for a week.

She gave me a warning glance before she headed for the coolers, grabbing out drinks that Adam definitely wouldn’t have approved. But this wasn’t about him. It was about us, the open road, and releasing all of this extra tension.

She didn’t even protest as I paid for the snacks, taking the bag from the cashier and leading her back to the car. Lindsay plugged her phone into the aux cable and started pulling up our favorite playlist. She waited to blast my eardrums until I was heading down the backroads away from Holiday Hollow.

“Ready?” she asked, her smile bright and sparkling, life coming back into her face after that blow. I was so fucking proud of her for not letting this keep her down.

“Ready,” I promised.

That was all she needed to hit play, the music blasting through the speakers and our voices joining the mix as we sang at the top of our lungs.

An hour later, my voice was hoarse and we were well outside the town. That sad smile had been completely wiped from my girl’s face and a sense of pride and relief filled me.

“Oh look!” Lindsay exclaimed, pointing to a sign on the side of the road. “Sled fest!”

I made note of the exit and a few minutes later I was taking the ramp. “Let’s do it, Linds.”

“This is going to be so much fun,” she exclaimed.

I’d do anything, be anything, to bring her happiness and joy. The fact that I was able to do that by being myself and giving her this made me feel worthy.

Being a triplet was amazing, but sometimes, we fell prey to people looking at us as a whole instead of individuals. Even more so when our designations hit.

Suddenly, I had an alpha and omega for brothers who came with a new set of characteristics while I more or less remained the same.

There was a brief moment where I’d felt like I got left behind, but thankfully, I had the best brothers in the world and they always made sure to make me feel the opposite.

The fact that Spencer had called a Holloway for me and Lindsay told me that he would be the same.

We quickly found Sled Fest, the crowds were big but manageable, and got our tickets and sled before we took it up one of the big constructed hills.

“This is just what I needed,” Lindsay said, bumping her shoulder against mine. “Thanks, Dusty.”

“Anything, Linds. You know that.”

She sighed. “I just feel stupid, and you know I hate feeling that way.”

“I know, but I also know you’re anything but. So, why did you let him stay, Linds? That’s not like you.”

“The truth?”

“Always,” I said seriously.

“I was exhausted of constantly denying my feelings for you all, and I was lonely. When he said he wanted to stay a couple more weeks so we could spend time together, it made me feel wanted.”

My stomach turned. “I’m not going to ask if you loved him. But, I’ll be honest and say that it kills me to hear. I’ve always wanted you, Lindsay. Always. There hasn’t been a single day of my life that I remember that I haven’t wanted you with me. When you broke things off with me–”

Fuck, my voice broke. The line moved forward and provided a brief distraction but then once again, we were at a standstill while the next wave of riders went.

“I never loved him,” she said, after a moment. “Not even close.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“I do,” she said, that fierceness I loved so much emerging once again. “We started something together and then when our designations hit and you all were stuck in the city for a month, I completely got scared and bailed. I was trying to protect myself, protect all of you, but I’m not sure what it ultimately did. I’m sorry, Dustin. Truly, I am.”

I hadn’t realized that I needed to hear the words until she said them.

Leaning in to kiss her, she met me halfway, absolution lingering on her lips. Slowly, sweetly, I tasted her, groaning at the taste I’d missed so much, the taste I had clung to and dreamed about more times than I could count.

“I love you, Linds,” I said, resting my head against hers once I pulled away.

“That’s nice,” she said with a smile, pulling away. I noticed then it was our turn to go down the hill.

“‘That’s nice?!’”

She laughed. “Yep. Super nice. Thanks, Dustin.”

“You little brat,” I said outrageously, grabbing our sled and following after her.

I set the sled down and she got in front, waiting saucily for me to join her. I wrapped my body around hers, nipping the bottom of the ear.

“You’re trouble.”

“You’ve always known that,” she said. “But you love me anyway.”

I chuckled. “I do.”

The light turned green and we tipped forward as the gate lowered. I wrapped my arms tight around her as she gripped the reins.

The whole way down she screamed that she loved me from the slope tops. Now I just wanted to hear it while I had her under me once again.