Lights, Camera, Omega (Hollywood Omegas #1)

“Not until you get your fuckin’ head outta your ass,” I growl back at him.

He turns around, his expression clearly hurt.

“Why the fuck are you mad at me right now?” he snorts, baffled.

I begin to close the distance between us, my patience thinner than usual.

“Magnus may be a piece of work sometimes and a hard-ass when no one needs him to be, but you’re doing your own share of fuckin’ up right now, Cos,” I warn.

“You can’t be serious right now.” Cosmo shakes his head in disbelief.

“Oh, I’m dead serious Cosmatos Silver, so you better pull up a seat and listen to me when I’m talkin’ to you.” I point my finger squarely at his chest as I come to a stop in front of him.

Cosmo’s expression softens slightly, and he pulls a metal stool away from a nearby work table to sit and listen.

“You asked me ‘what happens if she’s the one?’ right before we started courting Daphne.” I cross my arms in front of my chest.

Cosmo looks at his feet.

“I told you that we’d stick together—no matter what. But turns out, that only went one way I guess, since you were keen to leave the rest of us in the dust,” I say flatly, my eyes fixed on Cosmo, though he won’t look at me.

“I didn’t mean—” Cosmo begins.

“Ah-ah Mr. Lamont, hold your tongue—I ain’t finished yet,” I bite out, my Wyoming showing through my spent patience.

“And then, after you decided to go on ahead alone—you went and bailed on your omega as soon as the going got tough,” I press on, Cosmo palming his own face at this realization. “You left her there while you went off with your injured pride to lick your wounds.”

Cosmo looks up at me. All the anger drains from his face—a look of pleading knitting his brows, turning down the corners of his mouth, and shrink-wrapping his eyes in tears.

“Luckily for all of us, while you’ve been wrong about plenty of things, you weren’t wrong about Daphne. She is the one. She stepped up to support Magnus, and she did it without making you the bad guy—even if you certainly look like one after those theatrics.” I pull up a stool beside Cosmo, no longer towering over him and wagging my finger.

“But I think we’re all going to need some answers about the money, the mystery trips—Magnus wasn’t wrong when he said the optics are not good,” I say with as much bravado as I can muster, but the truth is, I’m scared. I don’t want to believe the worst, but every point Magnus brought up only raises more questions.

Questions that only Cosmo can answer.

He nods gravely, taking one of my hands in his—still splattered with a few different colors of paint.

“I do owe you an explanation. All of you,” he speaks softly, but firmly.

“And you need to apologize to—” I begin, but Cosmo cuts me off.

“I’m so sorry Sol, really—I’ve been a complete and unmitigated ass.” Cosmo reaches forward with one of his hands and gently touches my face.

“I’m going to make it up to you all. I know what it looks like, but Pack Silver is everything to me. I promise that I remained—that I will continue to remain true. I can explain the money and the visits easily enough… But it’s going to take some doing to really make it crystal clear.” He cups my cheek with his hand, and looks deeply into my eyes. Some of the jittering anxiety inside me goes quiet. I know those eyes. Cosmo is telling the truth.

“Good. I accept your apology.” I turn my face so I can kiss the palm of his hand.

“You owe Magnus a double. He really wants what’s best for you—for all of us, and you did him pretty dirty,” I add softly.

“You know it’s not about him wanting to control you, right?”

Cosmo lets out a long sigh.

“No, I know it’s not. He’s not my father,” Cosmo breathes quietly.

I nod in silent agreement.

“I’ve never really given him the chance to really help me…” Cosmo trails off, but before I can ask him what he means by it, he’s shaken it off.