I’ll have to ask him and see. It’ll be a good test.
Beau startles slightly as I return to my seat, settling his phone down quickly and looking up at me. The flush from earlier washes over his face above his beard and creeps down his neck, and there’s a strange tension in his posture.
It deflates some of my hopefulness.
“Sorry about that. My friend wanted me to check in and give her an update.”
“Ah, sure.” He nods, but can’t quite meet my eyes.
What the heck made him so uncomfortable?
When I was younger, I would’ve tried to ignore it. Or worse, tried to appease him. Now, I just ask.
“What’s wrong?”
His eyes flash up finally to meet mine, looking a little panicked. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but there’s something I need to tell you.”
My brow furrows, stomach sinking. Here comes the letdown.
“Oh. Okay.”
What am I supposed to say? No, don’t tell me this thing that suddenly has you sweating like a whore in church. No, don’t ruin this.
I need to know. I can’t leave this first meeting, where our scents aren’t a factor and my head is clear, without what is clearly vital information for me to know about him.
“Are you a clown?” I ask, trying to lighten the increasingly tense mood.
He lets out a small bark of nervous laughter. “No.” A pause. “Are you scared of clowns?”
“Yes, like any sane person, I’m scared of clowns. They’re creepy and awful!” I shudder.
He chuckles, a hint of lightness returning to his face before the nervousness takes over again. “I’m not a clown, but, uh…” He swallows hard, looking down at his hands, which are gripped together tightly on top of the table.
My gut tenses, readying for the incoming punch.
“I, um, I’ve seen you before.”
I blink at him, waiting for him to say something else, but he doesn’t.
“Like we’ve met? I feel like I would’ve noticed, given the whole scent match thing.” My laugh is forced.
“No, we haven’t met. But I recognize you. I’veseenyou.” He gives me a pained, apologetic look.
“Seen me? Like on socials?” I don’t understand why he’d be so weird about that.
Beau releases a groan. “I promise I would’ve said something sooner if I’d realized, but I was so nervous that I didn’t really put the pieces together of why you seemed familiar, and…shit, Ruby, I’m so embarrassed and if you want to leave, I completely understand.”
I watch him squirm in his chair, his face turning an even brighter red, and it finally clicks. “Wait. You don’t mean you’ve seen my Slick content, do you?”
I’m not embarrassed about being a Slick creator or making adult content, and it was bound to come up when we gotaround to asking about what we do for work, but it’s just so…unexpected.
Sure, I knew a handful of my subscribers were alphas, but I’m very niche. The alphas that want omega on omega content go to creators that cater to the alpha gaze.
Beau nods, searching my face for a disgusted reaction.
I’m too surprised to be weirded out. “Really? Why?”
He wipes at the sweat beading on his brow. “I feel like the ‘why’ is pretty obvious. Please don’t make me say that I…”
