“His girlfriend, Deja Fox, you might have heard of me?” Cami never name drops, but she just did for me. She also just called herself my girlfriend, and I’m sure that it’s more to piss Hannah off, but damn do I like the sound of that. I want her to be my everything. The way she is sticking up to the person who hurt me is making me want her even more.
“Oh my gosh, I’m a huge fan. Can I get an autograph? Jasper, give me that Cartier bag.”
“No, you cannot have a fucking autograph. I’m not sure who you think you are, but Smith is amazing.”
“I’m sorry, Deja Fox, I didn’t mean to offend. Smith knows I didn’t mean any harm. Just an inside joke,” Hannah says. Jasper sneers at me as he hands the bag to Hannah.
“Well, it’s not funny. I think we’ll get going. We have dinner with the Sørensens tonight.” Clearly Cami knows how to get to someone like Hannah, and it’s out assholing the asshole as she name drops our friends.
Hannah’s mouth drops. “You know the Sørensens?” Hannah says..
“Goodbye, Hannah,” I say. I can tell the venom that is about to spew from her tongue, and I should walk away. Cami is basically dragging me to the car.
“Goodbye, Smith. Hopefully, you’re not still as selfish as you used to be. You know how hard it is for us Omegas. One Alpha, let alone one with no real prospects in life, isn’t someone an Omega would want to settle down with.”
“I’m about to fight this bitch,” I hear Cami mumble as she goes to spin around. I pick her up by the waist and carry her back to the safe confines of the backseat of Franklin’s car.
Cami is huffing, and she smacks my chest lightly.
“Who is that bitch?” she asks.
“She’s the Omega that fucked me up.”
She breathes in and out and calms herself down. “Why was she being so mean to you?”
“Because she’s a mean person?”
“Smith, I need more.”
I exhale and take off my hat and run my fingers through my hair. “I met Hannah at the end of senior year. We were so in love, or so I thought. If you ask Kelsey, she and my mom always knew she was a social climbing bitch, but neither of them passed that along to me. Anyway, we were together for a few years, just her and me. I thought we were happy, I was even open to the idea of a pack. She wanted to wait to bond, and said she wanted all of her packmates to bond with her at the same time. I understood that she had needs. I wasn’t being selfish. So, when I got my first security job, it was located in Miami and we moved down there. We’d just turned twenty-one, and Hannah was going to have her first heat any day. She joined an Omega dating app and found Jasper, Oscar, and Anthony. At first they seemed okay, kinda snobbish, but what do you expect from three guys who were born with silver spoons in their mouths?
“I got through the heat with them fine. Sharing wasn’t a big deal. I realized I could do that and it wouldn’t be a hardship. It was after that when things really got worse. She stopped sharing a bed with me. She started to degrade me in front of the other guys. Constantly asking what I brought to the pack and why she put up with me. I was phased out slowly until the night that completely broke my heart.”
Cami takes my hand in hers and she looks at me with watery eyes.
“I had a job to do that night, and while I was gone, she bonded all of them and they packed my shit up and left it on the curb. I didn’t have anywhere to go right away and had to get a hotel. I tried to call her and see what I could do to fix things. She told me I was too selfish with her time and that I didn’t bring enough for the pack and they were kicking me out. That I wasn’t wanted any more, that I was never enough and would never be enough for an Omega. I’ve never felt lower than in that last year of trying to make things work. Cami, I tried so fucking hard. I just don’t understand why I wasn’t good enough for her or them. Why I was worth being with her for almost five years and then she dropped me for the first rich Alphas that gave her attention.”
She squeezes my hand tightly, and I can see the pity in her eyes. Not exactly the emotion I wanted from her.
“I didn’t tell you this because I wanted you to feel bad for me. I just need you to understand that I’m not just being a dick. Cami, I’m fucking scared.”
She’s still holding my hand as she thinks about what she wants to say. She’s quiet for so long and I take that as her realizing that I’m damaged, and that she doesn’t want my baggage.
Franklin parks in the garage and we both get out of the vehicle.
“I’m going for a walk.”
“Smith, let’s go inside,” she finally speaks.
“I just need to clear my head,” I reply as I walk away.
“Smith!” she yells my name, but I keep walking.
There’s a hotel bar right across the street and I plant my ass on one of the bar stools. Thinking about how bad today sucks. I don’t get drunk, but a slight buzz as I sip on my whiskey. My phone has been buzzing nonstop and I’ve been ignoring it.
I truly believe the universe is out to get me. The moment I decide to move forward, tell Cami how I feel about her, the past comes and bites me in the ass. It’s clear to me that Cami and Hannah couldn’t be more different, and the idea that I even compared them all is completely ridiculous. Cami would never treat me the way Hannah did. My self-worth has been so tied up in what Hannah thought about me, I’ve self-sabotaged myself. I was so worried about Cami pitying me or seeing me differently I didn’t even give her a chance to talk. I took her silence as a negative and got defensive. I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair.
I pull out my phone and look at the last text message from Cami.
