I wish Bee had clarified what she meant by ‘soon.’ I thought she’d meant a few weeks, not a damn day.
Was that really only yesterday evening? Fuck.
Kai is more determined than I ever would have believed possible. He’s not going to simply go away or accept that I’m not interested in welcoming him back with open arms, just so he can leave me again. I’m going to need to scare him off, or irritate him off, anyway. A fake alpha boyfriend might just be the only thing to do it. It’ll help keep him at a distance at least, providing a wall of alpha muscle for me to hide behind.
Damn it, I’m going to need to convince Benson to lie for me a little longer.
Chapter Four
This might be my most chaotic plan to date, but I’m desperate.
Please, please, please let Benson say yes,I silently beg the universe, prepared to offer him just about anything he asks for. Anything to get him on board.
What the hell do I even have to offer him?
Not enough.
I shake off the negative thoughts and lift my chin. Maybe he’s an alpha who enjoys begging, and my desperate, pathetic pleas will be enough? That actually sounds fucking absurd, even to me. Last night while standing in the shower, staring at the wall until the water ran cold, I went over all the things I can offer in exchange for his help. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot to give an alpha like Benson.
Or anyone, honestly.
But I’m here at the farm, ready to beg on my knees if that’s what it takes.
“Hey!” I holler at the alpha when I finally spot him up ahead, fixing a wooden fence post for the goat pen.
Benson’s head snaps around, his startled eyes locking on me. I don’t exactly have his phone number, so I couldn’t call to warn him I was coming over. Probably for the best that I surprisedhim with this, anyway. It’s harder for an alpha to reject a needy omega in person, and I’m not above using any advantage that I could possibly have at this point.
“Plum?” he calls back unsurely, like he’s half-convinced he’s imagining my voice. His brows furrow as he turns and rises from a squat until he’s standing and facing me fully.
His dirty blond hair is a little darker than usual, slightly damp from sweat, and his bluish-green eyes follow me as I walk over to him. I try not to squirm under the intensity of his gaze, barely resisting the urge to fuss with my clothes. I wore another one of my dresses today, a dark green one this time, deciding that looking good couldn’t hurt my chances when making such an insane request. I did throw my jean jacket over my shoulders on my way out of the door, though. The chill has reached the point where I can’t really go without one.
“What’d I do to deserve this visit?” he asks with a smirk once the shock of seeing me on his farm appears to wear off. I’ve been here for the Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Village the last few years, but outside of that, it’s been a while.
I take a deep breath as he glances at my body and the green sundress I’m wearing. I nibble my bottom lip, concerned by how much I like the way he looks at me.
“I need your help,” I admit, drawing his attention away from my body and back up to my eyes. The truth is that Benson has been flirting with me for months, and I’ve always ignored it.
His older brother, Nick, is the alpha everyone thinks I want, and in a way, I do. Nick’s handsome, constant, and reliable. However, the truth is something much too embarrassing to admit to anyone. Ever. Including my best friends. No, especially not to my best friends. They don’t need to know how messed up my head still is. They already worry enough.
Right now, I’m in desperate need, and Benson is my best hope at keeping Kai at a distance. He’s myonlyhope, thanks tomy panicking at the Halloween party. He’s also the last person I would’ve ever thought I’d be going to for help, but here we are.
“What’s wrong?” he asks as his playful smirk drops and is replaced with a concerned frown. Alphas can’t resist an omega in distress, and I am sincerely fucking distressed.
Taking one last deep breath, I lay all my cards on the table, hoping he doesn’t laugh in my fucking face.
“About the other night,” I whisper, wincing at the memory and the way things have only escalated since then. “I need you to be my fake boyfriend for a little longer.”
BENSON
The day I stopped thinking of girls as icky and started to notice how pretty they are was the day I realized the prettiest one of all is Plum Evermore. I didn’t know anyone else with pure white hair or dazzling silver eyes. I was drawn to her unique beauty. Unfortunately for my younger self, she’s a year older and, at the time, couldn’t be bothered with an annoying kid like me. Or boys at all, to be fair.
She’d been through a lot, and I envied her strength, even when I was still too young to truly understand it. I admired the way she didn’t let her pain dim her light or turn her cold and mean. I wanted to be like that too. Strong and full of light, no matter how shitty the adults around me were. Whenever Dad would go on a rampage, I would think of her silver eyes and theway she always kept her head up, even when they were shining with unshed tears.
As the years went by, she only got stronger, smarter, kinder, and more loving. As well as undeniably beautiful. Then, when I was fifteen and she was sixteen, she started dating Kai.
Kai, the beta that’s going to be the best man at my little sister’s wedding next month. Of course, as a dumbass teen, I hated the guy for taking the girl who barely knew I existed. I did some stupid shit to get her attention whenever Plum and Sable came around to hang out with Rhian.
Long before Nick was even on her radar.
