Without hesitation, I headed into the bedroom, but I clicked on my messaging app to see who all had been texting me and what they had to say.
My dad was pissed, of course. He wanted to know where I was and demanded that I return to Kincade Slopes at once.
I ignored the texts and put my phone down as I sat on the bed. Quincy’s aversion to touch was evidently gone. As soon as I opened my arms to him, he crawled to me and curled himself in my embrace.
And he started crying again.
I hated what had been done to him, and I hated the bastard who’d done it to him more than anything I’d ever known. Chester whoever he was had better hope he never came within ten miles of me.
“It’s okay,” I whispered against my omega’s head, kissing and stroking him. “I’ve got you.”
“I’m sorry I’m crying so much,” Quincy said, his voice absolutely miserable. “I’ll try to stop.”
“No, baby. You cry as much as you need to,” I insisted, rubbing his back, then tipping his face up to kiss away his tears.
“That shouldn’t feel so good,” he said, snotting as well, which I didn’t kiss. “I’m not supposed to be able to feel any connection with an alpha anymore.”
“Who told you that?” I asked, shifting so he could rest his head against my shoulder. We were both still naked, but it felt even better than if we’d been clothed.
“The doctors. After the procedure,” Quincy said.
“Well, that was a stupid assumption for them to make,” I said. “There are all sorts of connections that people have with each other. Omegas can actually be friends with alphas. There doesn’t have to be a bond involved. They can even fall in love with them.”
I was sure I’d taken things too far by saying that. Quincy sucked in a breath and was still for a second.
And what was I thinking, really? It had still been less than twenty-four hours, although it was getting close to dusk again now. Mate bonds aside, I couldn’t assume my feelings for Quincy were anything other than adrenaline and affinity.
Screw that. I was falling in love with him.
“How many times did your dad call you?” Quincy asked, muscling himself to sit on his own so he could look at me with baleful eyes.
I grinned sheepishly and tapped my phone a few times. “Looks like four,” I said.
“Only four?” Quincy asked with a watery smile.
I chuckled.
We sat there silently for a moment, studying each other. I wanted so badly to believe that what Quincy and I had, even though it was brand new and feeble, could be enough to defy meta-biology and heal his ability to bond. I wanted the force of my affection for him to be enough to make everything better.
It wasn’t going to happen. I was enough of a realist to know that.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked gently.
Quincy lowered his head. The sadness that radiated from him had my throat squeezing up.
He picked at the bedcovers and said, “I think we should go back.” A long, heavy pause followed before he glanced up at me and said, “This was so much fun, but we can’t really run away from our problems.”
“No, we can’t,” I agreed.
I reached out to still his picking hand, then turned it so we could slide our fingers together. After everything we’d done in the last twenty-four hours, after all the fucking and near breeding orgasm, simply holding hands with Quincy, my heartgoing out to him, meeting each other’s eyes and seeing the care and the trust that had been so easy for us to form, was the most intimate act of all.
“Do you want to use that tiny little shower first?” I asked him at last. “I’m not sure I could even fit in it.”
Quincy laughed and lowered his head again, this time with a sense of relief, like the storm had passed. “Yeah, I’d better,” he said.
We got up and got a move on. Quincy tested out the tiny RV shower while I listened to my dad’s messages—all of them angry demands that I return to Kincade Slopes—then tidied up the bedroom.
I wasn’t able to take a shower once Quincy was done, but I was able to rinse off using a rag that I found in an overhead cupboard. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it was okay for the time being.
