19
Jai
Since Jai hadn’t planned to spend the night at Nickolas’ house, he had nothing to wear the next day and had to stop by his apartment to change. Luckily, Nickolas offered Robert to chauffeur him there and then to work. He would have refused, but with him being in the posh part of town he wasn’t even sure there was a bus that ran to his neighborhood.
He was on a total high at work. The feeling of happiness he’d been feeling the night before hadn’t abated. Not even when the sneering, lecherous alpha Reid had dumped a ton of work on his desk for him to complete.
Not even his attempts to make Jai feel uncomfortable clicked that morning. Jai had spent the night in his alpha’s arms, and woken up to delicious morning sex. Even losing his breakfast for the fourth morning in a row didn’t spoil his mood.
He steadily made his way through the pile of work he’d been given, humming under his breath. At lunchtime, he decided to sneak away and spend it with Nickolas. His alpha had told him repeatedly that his assistant was discreet, and would never say a word, and no one would dare to barge into the boss’ office. Although, he thought with a frown, Nickolas had complained about his assistant being away on a family emergency, and he was having to manage with a temporary replacement who wasn’t used to the way he worked. Jai was sure if he mentioned he had an appointment and the assistant told Nickolas he was waiting, it would be no problem.
He left the building and went to the nearest bistro, actually spending his money on sandwiches. He settled for a plain ham sandwich since the thought of anything else made him feel ill. He got a BLT for Nickolas, figuring the alpha would like that. Everyone liked bacon.
Jai headed off to see Nickolas, only to be told that he was busy and he would have to wait. He took a seat and looked at his watch. He only had about forty-five minutes left for lunch. He wished he had texted or called Nickolas directly instead of showing up unannounced. But he wanted to surprise the man. He thought Nickolas would like that.
The temporary assistant, an omega too, who clearly had no idea who Jai was, leaned across his desk to whisper confidentially, “I shouldn’t say anything, but the boss is with his fiancé. Apparently, he’s just back from a trip and decided to check in.”
“Really?” Jai said, even though he was feeling sick to his stomach at this point, “Are you sure it’s his fiancé,” Jai asked feigning interest, “And not just office gossip.”
“This is definitely not office gossip. Where have you been? Do you live under a rock? Everyone knows that the boss is engaged to that socialite omega, Asa something or other. I always forget his last name.” the assistant squinted and bit his lip, a frown marring his face as he tried to recall the name, “Anyways, never mind his last name. He’s on Instagram, blond, gorgeous. They look like the perfect couple. Omegas like us shouldn’t even compete.” He finished with a dramatic sigh.
“You wouldn’t believe how breathtaking he looks in person. Oh my God. I would die for skin that smooth!”
“Asa…” Jai murmured the name. “I’ve never heard of him.”
“Wow. You must be living in the dark ages, sweetie.” The omega said, clearly enjoying sharing his knowledge with a captive audience. Or so he thought.
Jai was trying his best to keep his cool and not let on how much he was dying inside.
“You should see how he hugged Mr. Ricci when he arrived. Gosh. They are so cute.” He gushed. “The minute he saw him, he just dived on him. A reaction most of us mere mortals can understand, obviously. Let’s be honest, Mr. Ricci is to die for. Have you ever seen a more perfect alpha?” the assistant said dreamily.
Jai wanted to give his alpha the chance to explain, so he pulled his phone out and dialed Nickolas.
“Hello,” Jai said when the phone was answered.
“Hello,” Nickolas replied him in a clipped and impatient tone, the alpha had never used when speaking to him.
Jai suddenly felt nauseous, like he’d been kicked in the stomach over and over. In a voice that sounded tinny even to his ears, he said, “I was wondering maybe if we could do lunch.”
“I can’t do lunch,” Nickolas informed him, without any explanation.
“But I’m already…” he started to say but was cut off by Nickolas.
“Unfortunately, some unexpected business has come up. I’ll call you later… okay?” Nickolas said. “Okay?” Nickolas prompted, sounding colder than he’d ever heard him and quite impatient too.
“Okay,” Jai croaked, but Nickolas had already hung up.
His hand was trembling so much as he put his phone back in his pocket and slowly stood up. Suddenly his body felt heavy and he wasn’t sure which way was up.
He made his way back to his cubicle and put the sandwiches he’d bought in the desk drawer, managing to get back to work even though he felt like his world was caving in.
He didn’t have to wait long before he was summoned back to Nickolas’ office. He was surprised by the text telling him the man was free, and if Jai still wanted to do lunch he should come up.
This could not be happening. He was praying that he would go into Nickolas’ office and everything the gossipy assistant said would be a lie. There was just no way Nickolas would do this.No way.
But even thinking that, the other more logical part of himself asked him how could he have been so foolish? He realized that he had never actually asked Nickolas if he was single. But why would he think otherwise? Why would he think that an alpha who had pursued him would be engaged to be married?
He must have made his way up to Nickolas’ office in some sort of trance because he could honestly not recall a moment of how he got to the executive suites. The omega at the desk looked up when he entered, all professional this time and said, “Mr. Ricci is expecting you.”
