20
Nickolas
Nickolas looked at his omega. He was as pale as death, his red hair a striking contrast against the pallor of his alabaster skin. He didn’t think humans could look so pale.Fuck!He had fucked up majorly. He didn’t think Jai would believe him if he said the past few weeks had changed everything for him, or that the only reason Asa had shown up at his office was that Nickolas had sent him a message saying he needed to speak to him once he was back in town. How was he to know Asa would show up at his office when he had never done so in the past?
It was like karma was coming for him. Why now? When he had been planning to tell Jai about Asa at the weekend, after once and for all breaking things off with Asa.
Why, why did Asa have to be out of town? And why had Nickolas felt he needed to do the right thing and wait until he could tell him face to face to break things off? Why couldn’t he have just taken the coward’s way out for once in his life and broken the charade of an engagement off by text?
Jai might not fit into Nickolas world, or be what his parents wanted or expected from the omega he married, but he wanted him there. Permanently. And he’d been trying to clean up the mess he’d made, but now he was alpha enough to admit that he might never get a chance to explain.
He made it to Jai’s side in a matter of seconds, he tried cupping his elbow to lead him to the sofa, seeing as Jai looked like a stiff breeze would knock him over, but Jai flinched away from his touch.
“Please give me a chance to explain. It’s not what you think.” Nickolas found himself begging for possibly the first time in his life. “I wish I could have been the one to tell you, instead of you discovering it however you did. But please. Please give me chance to explain.”
“What is there to explain?” Jai said in a dull lifeless voice, “You’re engaged and I’m the stupid omega you used to amuse yourself till you… what?… got tired of me? Till the wedding? Was I one last hurrah for you before you settled down?” Jai threw at him in a pained tone Nickolas never wanted to hear from his omega as long as he lived.
“No… I…” he was interrupted.
“Did you laugh behind my back at my ignorance? ‘Look at the country bumpkin. He doesn’t know anything, so I can lie to him and mess with his heart’.” Jai said now in tears. “… how could you have lied to me the way you did?”
Nickolas felt the need for some reason to point out, “Technically, I didn’t tell you a single lie,”
Jai looked at him like he’d caught Nickolas kicking a puppy, a look of distaste, horror, disbelief on his face, “But youknew!You had to know that I had no idea you were engaged. If you couldn’t tell me the truth, you should’ve left me alone.”
The part of him that was alpha and hated being censured reared its head briefly, pointing out that he had been careful not to lie, and how dare the omega call him a liar. But he squashed that part as quickly as it came. This wasn’t 1890. He’d fucked up in a huge way. His omega had a right to point it out.
“It’s complicated,” Nickolas said lamely, “technically, I wasn’t cheating.”
Jai looked at him a venomous look in his eye, gone was the broken look, “Do you have a fiancé?”
“Yes. I mean no… I mean, it’s not that simple.” Nickolas finished on a sigh. Where was all the eloquence he was famed for when he needed it?
“Oh? And how do you make that out? You’re either engaged, or you’re not. It’s that simple” Distress made Jai’s voice rise half an octave. “You have a fiancé. In my book that makes you engaged. You made me theotheromega. If everyone found out, I would be the slut who seduced you.No onewould believe I didn’t know you were engaged. Everyone would know what a fool I made of myself.”
Nickolas tried placing his hand over Jai’s, but the omega shook it off like he’d been scalded. “Then they would be wrong. Because we know the truth. You didn’t make a fool of yourself. That isn’t how it is between us. Please give me a chance to explain.”
“You want to explain? Now you want to explain. When it’s too late. When you’ve been caught. Isn’t that convenient? Don’t you mean you want to lie? Lie to the dumb omega who didn’t know any better. Bet you had a good laugh at my expense.” Jai said, bitterness coloring every word. “You pretended to be someone you weren’t. The alpha, the man I thought you were, doesn’t exist.” Jai choked out on a sob.
“I never lied to you, Jai, please believe that. Never once did I tell you an untruth. I simply omitted some pertinent details.” Nickolas said, in a pleading tone.
“Is that rich alpha speak for ‘the rules don’t apply to me so I can do whatever the fuck I want’? What was I? Just a plaything for you to pass the time?” Jai said, his throat convulsing as he tried to hold in tears, but failed.
“Jai, I promise Iwillfix this. I was trying to fix the situation. I didn’t want you to find out the way you did.”
“You mean you didn’t want me to find out,period. Maybe in a few months, you’d have come up with a reason we weren’t working out and tossed me aside. Maybe even get me fired.” Jai said.
Nickolas found that his omega’s hurt intonation hit him like a punch in the gut.
“Clearly you believe that you have a God-given right to do exactly as you please, regardless of how it might affect others. If I’d known any of this, what happened between us would never have happened. I guess it’s all my fault for throwing myself at you like a cheap whore.” Jai mumbled, choking.
“Please. Never call yourself that. I don’t see you that way. I never saw you that way. Please, just give me time to clean up the mess I’ve made. Please, let me make this right, and give me a chance to explain.” Nickolas begged.
“There’s nothing to explain,” Jai said in a dejected tone.
“Jai, please, I swear I was going to tell you.” Nickolas tried again.
“After you’d had all your fun, right?” Jai asked, sarcasm clear in his tone even through the tears. “How long have you been engaged?”
