“So do it.” He rubs my thigh, leaving his hand there.
“It’s late,” I argue, but it’s only to triple check he thinks it’s okay.
He doesn’t get the chance to answer because my phone lights up, illuminating the inside of our Range Rover.
“Oh my…” I whisper, looking at him and then answering the call. “Raney?”
She doesn’t speak right away, and in the quiet I hear the tell-tale sounds of someone crying.
“Raney? Are you okay?”
She answers, using a weird sound as opposed to words before someone else picks up the phone. “Simona, sorry. This is Kozantine. Raney needs a moment.”
“Okay,” I answer quickly. And then I wait, but first I have to know. “Koz, is Raney okay?”
He laughs quietly, barely making a noise. But it's unmistakably a laugh. “Yes. She’s exhausted. She should besleeping right now,” he growls and it’s clear it’s directed to her before he comes back to our conversation. “Except she apparently cannot go another second without speaking with you. Now though she’s running, carefully micina, to the bathroom. She’ll be right here.”
I look at Dom, gripping his hand on my thigh while I wait. I can hear people speaking in the background, but I can’t understand what they’re saying. It takes a few minutes but eventually Raney clears her throat.
“Hey, Sim. I know I sound like a lunatic, but I really needed to hear your voice. I couldn’t go to sleep without talking with you.”
“Are you okay, Raney? You’re scaring me. Do you want me to come see you?”
She takes a big, noisy sigh. “Yes, I’d love that. But”—she takes another louder inhale before speaking—“the but is a big one, Sim.”
“Oh my god, Raney. I wanted to tell you, I’m so sorry I didn’t.”
“What?”
“Hey? I thought you were calling because Tristan told you.”
“Tristan told me what?”
“No, you tell me first.” I back pedal at a hundred miles an hour, annoyed at myself for putting my foot in it.
Dominic growls under his breath, feeling my distress rising. It’s not a frustrated growl, and all it does is wrestle the beast inside me back down so I can think without panicking. Then it’s my turn to take a moment. I’m calmer when I answer. “Sorry. Like you, I have something to tell you. I was seriously about to call you. I haven’t been honest with you, Raney, and I hate myself for it. But keeping my secrets was necessary.”
I hear her gasp. I can literally picture her hand over mymouth, her eyes wide with worry. “What, Sim. Jesus, please don’t tell me you’re sick. I need you so much. Shit, Koz, get on the phone and get someone down to pick Sim up. She’s in trouble!”
I feel her panic and distress over the phone. “Raney! No, I’m okay. I’m as safe as can be, and weirdly that wasn’t what I was calling to tell you. Well, it was in a way, but more importantly I wanted to tell you I’m packed. I’m Simona Torres now.”
You could hear a pin drop.
“Excuse me? Torres? Why do I know that name? Koz?”
“Raney, I can answer that for you. Dominic is one of my Alphas, and you met him when you had to see Reid.”
“Dominic. Dominic? Like Koz’s lawyer Dominic?”
“Yes.”
She sucks in a gulp of air. “Alright then.” And then she stops talking and clearly starts contemplating something before it’s her turn to shock me. “I want to see you, but because my emotions are so fucking volatile all I do is spend my days crying, eating and sleeping. I beg you, stay away, it’s so embarrassing for me. Anyway, even if you did come over I wouldn’t let you in the house in case you looked at one of my Alphas the wrong way. Which I know you wouldn’t but try telling my Omega that, she’s feral. No, shit, someone needs to talk about losing your fucking mind when you’re pregnant.”
I’m sure I heard her say she was pregnant. But is Raney pregnant? “Sorry, Raney, can you repeat what you just said?”
And then she bursts into tears, wailing in my ear. “See even you, my beautiful, sweet best friend in the world thinks I’m crazy. I mean, I totally get it, I am. What a perfect end to my day. Not.” She moans, sobbing before the call disconnects.
I’m so thrown, so stunned, all I can do is look at Dominic, who is laughing under his breath. He looks at me, his teethflashing in the headlights of the oncoming traffic. “Amore Mio, I am sorry, but your girlfriends are…”
