Good.
I hope I hurt him as much as he hurt me.
“There is no coming back from what you did.” I lift my chin to look him in the eye, and I tell him exactly what I said I would in my tiny bathroom, the place I go to find strength in a world that scares me. “Don’t come back here. I never want to see you again.”
And I turn around, hurrying to the bus stop before I’m late for work.
Callum is waiting for me at the bottom of my apartment building. Torin must have told him not to bother with flowers, because he has both hands buried in his pockets.
He opens his mouth.
“No,” I tell him firmly, skirting a wide berth around him. “Whatever you came here to say, whether it’s an apology or threat or warning you’re here to deliver, I don’t want to hear it. Go.Away.”
And I jog up the stairs and into my apartment building, pulling the door shut behind me so he can’t follow me inside.
Scowling and muttering curses all the way up the four flights of stairs to my apartment, I’m ready to scream when my phone vibrates as I unlock my front door.
Theyprobably found out my number if they figured out where I live. It’s probably Archer since he hasn’t appeared at my apartment yet.
I yank my phone out of my bag and stab my finger on the answer button without looking.
“What!”
It’s so beyond rude that Mom would have had a fit if she heard the way I just answered the phone. My teachers at Haven Academy, the finishing school for omegas, would have held me back a year because clearly I was more rough than smooth around the edges. Definitely not fit for polite society. My dad would have shaken his head and gone out to play golf, leaving Mom to be outraged on his behalf.
And River? My little sister, whom I have missed every single day, would have covered her mouth to hide her smile. She would have secretly wished to step out of line without someone waiting to shove us back into the role of the quiet, obedient omega we were trained to be for almost all of our lives.
The old Juniper would have cared.ThisJuniper does not care.
I was late to work, and it cost me an hour of pay I can’t afford to lose, and it was all because of the stupid alpha sitting on the top step outside my apartment, trying to convince me of something that isn’t true.
“Sorry, is this a bad time?”
My anger deflates at the unexpected male voice.
“Oscar?”
Torin’s warning makes my back tense instinctively.
Wilkes Booth.
Torin is jealous. He was lying. You cannot believe him.
“I can call back another time if you prefer,” he says.
I shut my front door and lock it. Then I step out of my sneakers and pick up my bag from the floor where I dropped it, my phone tucked against my ear. “No. I was going to call you about the thing at the coffee shop.”
But I didn’t know what to say. And clearly, Torin’s ominous words have already started to infect my brain. I remind myself that Torin is jealous and will say anything to turn me against Oscar. Maybe I can’t trust Oscar, but I sure as hell can’t trust Torin.
“Yeah, that was a bit of excitement I didn’t need. Are you okay?”
I pause on my way to the refrigerator. “Me?”
“Yes, you disappeared.”
I wince.
I ran away while my former mate was beating up my date. I felt bad about it before. Oscar reminding me of it is making my cheeks burn with shame all over again. “Um, it was overwhelming.”
