“When?”
“I’ll send you some tickets to your phone.”
“I like your confidence,” I remark, watching him focus on the phone, he looks up and winks when I get an alert. “That was fast.”
“I can go slow too. You know that, right? I can go however you want… but all jokes aside I’d fucking love it if you came to watch me.”
I tap on the link and read the details; his fight is in a couple of days. Maybe doable. Tapping back to his face, the expectation and hope is endearing but I leave him hanging, showing him a sponge slathered in liquid soap and the handheld shower sprayer. “Bye, Maverick. I got stuff I have to look after.”
“No! Wait.” He practically begs. “Let me take you to breakfast at that swanky place, Roda’s. Please?”
“How do you know Roda’s?” I ask suspiciously.
“I rode past it after our photo shoot; it looked like the sort of place you’d go. How about it? Me and you tomorrow for pancakes and secrets? Sneaky dip into the back room, we could pretend we’re showering?”
Sounds divine but not at Roda’s. I’m not letting my Scorned Girls know a thing about Maverick until I have a better handle on what’s going on between us.
“Make it Timmy Booth’s and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
“No shit?” He looks surprised, and it’s freaking adorable. “Oh my God yes. I’ll pay and we’re sitting next to each other, not opposite.”
“Goodbye, Maverick,” I giggle like a schoolgirl. I can even feel myself blushing at his antics. But instead of stopping, I take a step back far enough for him to see the swell of my boobs before I hang up on him. I flick the faucet to cold and stand under the shower until I get control of my lust.
Drying off and getting ready takes less than ten minutes and I’m hitching my sports knicks out my ass when I sneak into Heidi’s room.
“Ho?” I call out, despite it being pretty obvious she’s not here. But I live in hope that she’s hiding out in the bathroom. The wet tiles and the lingering steam let me know she’s at Unity though.
“She’s in the library catching up on a class project,” Raney yells out from the kitchen.
“Jesus! What the hell, why are you standing in the dark?” I squeak because she scared the shit out of me. Or it might be my guilty conscience because I was seriously about to call King since everyone had already left for class.
“Light broke. Do you think we can change it or does maintenance need to do it?”
“I’m not doing it.” I pull a face at the thought of even trying to change a bulb.
“Fine, I’ll call Dad and he can talk me through it.”
“Definitely staying,” I mumble, finding a breakfast bar and hopping up on a stool to watch.
“You need to do something about your scent by the way,” Raney says offhandedly, her eyes locked on her phone.
“What?” I spit back like an asp.
“You reek like you’re having a spike or something.” She smirks like a devil because she knows how rude it is to call an Omega out on the way they smell, best friend or not. Her whole demeanour changes when King picks up.
“Me?” His deep voice betrays his confusion.
“Not you, King. Tristan.”
“What’s wrong with her?” he demands impatiently.
I scent up a storm in response. I’m so freaking screwed.
Raney’s mood pivots when she realises she’s got King talking about me. She starts back peddling to cover the slight. “Nothing. Hey, Dad, the light in our apartment is broken. Can you walk me through how to change the bulb?”
King ignores the light comment and stays focused on me, which feeds the little happy clouds of my scent filling our apartment. “Why did you say she stinks, Raney? That’s fucking rude, kid. I raised you better than that.”
“Raney thinks I need to get knotted. Are you free later?” I yell out, watching my bestie’s eyes become narrow slits. She drops the phone and charges at me. I barely make it out of our front door with my hair in place but at least I know King’s okay.
