“Well, we’d better get a move on with that,” I hum.
More silence hovers, and I squeeze my eyes. I’ve messed it up, pushed her too far. I switched back to flirt mode and forgot I didn’t want to be ‘that guy’.
Yeah, maybe we exchanged more licks than words, but I want her to be as all in as I am. So, I quickly change the topic.
“Hey, do you want to hear about the time I got caught jerking off in a cow barn when I was seventeen?” A grin splits my face because I know she’s going to love this one.
The silence won’t leave, but I can feel the tension has eased. She doesn’t speak, so I take it as my cue to go on.
“Okay, so, I walked in on one of my mom’s friends using the bathroom during a dinner party and—”
“What!?” she gasps, and I burst out laughing.
I don’t care that we have practice tomorrow. I’ll stay on the phone with her forever if she asks. She needs me, and I can finally do something about the deep ache that’s haunted me since we met.
Kane
I’ve been searching for her for so long that I’m going insane.
I sayso long, but it’s barely been a week. Her phone call spoiled me. Staying up with her for half the night let me prep her for pack life. Or, tell her all the weird things about myself so she can decide if she wants me. Even if my stories put her off, she still promised me a date.
That isn’t the problem, really. It’s how Timber is gatekeeping the hell out of her, and he doesn’t know he’s doing it.
He doesn’t know the torture I’m going through when he cracks open his lunch box, and I want to deep throat every carrot she’s stroked with her gorgeous fingers just to show Timber what I could do to him if he let me.
Every day I have to deal with the blend of maple syrup and coffee, and she still hasn’t agreed to meet up.
And, like a crazy alpha, I keep going back to the hospital to find her.
I can’t go on game days, but I can slip away at the oddest times when we’re at practice so that I can run into her.
The end result is that I drift toward the children’s wards because they’re always so happy to see me. At least some people are. And the kids’ wards are off from the main hospital corridors. So I can play with them while also keeping an eye out for her.
Miles, the Head Coach, is furious because I keep bailing at whatever time suits me during the day, but he doesn’t realize it’s all meticulously planned.
He says he’s going to put me in holdouts if I don’t stick around for the whole practice, but I have Marilyn to back me up. Because I’m not only hunting formyomega. There are tons of photos and articles online and socials about how I’m such a good Samaritan for keeping the kids’ company. And I’m not exactly going to come out and say I go to the hospital every day to find the omega I ate out and can’t stop thinking about.
Parents love me hanging out with their kids, and it’s way more fun than sitting in the waiting room, hoping for a glance of her. Plus, my stupid alpha brain keeps wondering how many babies Ollie and Timber want when we finally pack up, so it’s practice for our future as well.
It takes a week of messing around before I finally see her again.
I’m sitting on the floor in the middle of the play area, stacking blocks with the younger kids, when I hear a familiar voice.
I shoot up like lightning.
“I’ll be back in a while, okay!?” I shout to them and their nurses, and I get a chorus of cute yeses in return.
I’m running to the doors of the ward just in time to see a familiar beanie, band shirt, and ripped jeans float past, pushing a guy in a wheelchair who looks suspiciously familiar.
Ollie’s laughing with him as they enter a room at the farthest end of the corridor.
I try to be sneaky about it, but the problem with being hotter than hell is that people notice me. So a passing patient asks for an autograph, and another wants a selfie, and suddenly I’m being dragged away from her.
When the door to the room opens, and I finally see her again, I break through the crowd and race down the corridor. But I nearly lose her on a corner, and I sprint like a mad thing to get to her.
“Ollie!” I shout. She freezes, spinning around, and her eyes widen as she sees me. She takes a shaky step back, but I’m not letting her get away this time.
It doesn’t matter how she bolts like a greyhound; I’m on to her.
