“Well you thought wrong,” he snarls. “I don’t want you here anymore. Pack your shit and get out.”
The floor feels like it’s shifting beneath me. “You don’t mean that—” I start, my voice shaking.
“I mean every fucking word. You’re useless. Be gone before I return, leave your keys on the counter.”
He storms out of the bedroom, then moments later, the front door slams. Silence echoes around me as tears burn behind my eyes. I take in the mess he made before shaking myself mentally. I have to go.
Pulling out a duffle bag, I toss as much of my stuff as I can fit inside. This is what I get for opening up. For thinking I can find a happily ever after with an alpha. I know better. My parents taught me that lesson long before any guy did.
There’s a hollow ache in my chest as I take the key off my keyring and place it on the counter. But beneath it is another feeling growing—resolve to never let another alpha close enough to hurt me again. I won’t let another alpha swoop in and rip away every shred of my dignity again.
As the door shuts behind me with a final click, I know it’s the end of an era and the start of a new one where I’ll never let myself get into that position again…
I yank myself out of the past and blink at the women surrounding me.
My skin grows tight with the idea of staying with them a second longer. Excusing myself from them with a fake smile, I fish out my phone like it’s ringing and I need to take the call. Then I stride out of the building and into the cooling evening air.
I pause next to the valet. It isn’t like I brought a car. I came with my mom. When the beta brings his eyes to me in question, I wave him off before heading down the sidewalk toward the small city.
It doesn’t take me long to make it to Main Street, and honestly, I miss walking since being here. In New York I could walk miles a day and that’s normal. Here…not so much. Well, unless I want to go hiking. But can you say bugs and wild animals? No thank you.
Stopping outside of the small mom and pop diner, one of the original places in Blue Ridge, I locate Lakelyn through the glass. She’s blushing like she’s just embarrassed herself again. I shift my attention to the man in the booth in front of her.
He watches her, a guarded look on his face, and I wonder about the relationship between them. Even from this distance I can see the attraction on both ends. Who wouldn’t be attracted to that beta, though. She’s light and sunshine, it radiates off her. Everything I’m missing right now. The reason I’m standing out here in front of her place of employment on the same day I met her.
Can you say stalker?
I shake the thought away. She seemed to want to see me again. The slight smile when she left me standing with Dean told me that. Still, I hesitate, watching them. When she rolls her lips together and barely looks back up at him, I push into the diner.
I glance around the tiny place, before allowing my gaze to settle on her. A slow smile curves my lips at her wide-eyed expression.
Without a word, I slide into a booth that is about five away from the guy she’s been talking to. She moves over, a pretty blush on her freckled face, as she stops in front of my table.
“Hey,” she greets me with a smile playing on her lips.
“Hey yourself, beautiful. I told you I’d stop by.”
She licks her lips, dipping her eyes to her order pad before bringing them back to me, the flush on her cheeks deepening. “I didn’t know it’d be today.”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and glances back at the man currently staring daggers at me. I don’t have to look at him to feel his attention on me. Pure alpha. The omega in me has a whimper attempting to break free just from the feel of his eyes on me. But I shove it away. I’m not here for him. I don’t need orwantan alpha, I remind myself for the millionth time.
I shrug, sliding my palm over the tabletop and rapping my fingers against the surface, attempting to play it cool instead of the stalker I am. “What can I say, you intrigued me. I want to learn more.”
She holds back a smile that I’m sure would flash her straight white teeth at me if she allowed it. And suddenly I want to see it. The real deal. I'm not sure how to coax it out of her. With anyone else, I could turn on my charm and encourage her lips to form a happy smile. But it’s lost on me at the moment, and I feel more like a young omega who doesn’t know how to flirt.
“What can I get you?” she asks.
I drag my gaze from her eyes down to the notepad in her hands.
“I’m guessing you’re not on the menu,” I say. A surprised laugh pops from her mouth, and I’m graced with her full smile. A pleasant thread of happiness courses through me, and I know I’ll quickly become addicted to her laughter and warmth. “Pity.”
She doesn’t answer me, taking my words as harmless flirting. I’m sure she deals with a lot of it. And honestly, I’m surprisedthat she’s a virgin. Although, with the alpha in the other booth glaring at me, maybe it isn’t a mystery. Not if he hangs around enough. He probably scares people off. There’s an edge of violence to him. A raw, untamed energy that flows from him, and it takes everything inside of me to ignore his attention.
I tilt my head to the side, keeping my gaze on her. “So is that brooding alpha a friend of yours or?—”
She glances back at him before bringing her deep sapphire eyes back to me. The way she nibbles on her lower lip nervously isn’t missed on me. And I look back at him, taking in his dark looks. He’s attractive and definitely my type if I were after a bad boy. I’m not. Besides, his attention is all for her.
“How are you still a virgin with him around? It would be hard not to jump him with all of that chiseled intensity focused on me, and he’s definitely focused on you.”
