Now, hours after having an Omega in my care, my views had changed. Was this the right match, as my friends proclaimed? It was too soon to tell. But maybe I could see myself with a boy who matched my needs. A boy who was sweet and needed love and care.
“You work too damn much,” Moore stated. He knew me well; knew where my thoughts had taken me.
“What else do I have to do with my time?” I lifted a shoulder. At my words, or maybe my movement, Charles flinched. Just a twitch in his fingers, a shift in the way his spine held itself too straight. I saw the way his breath caught, the way his body shifted like he was bracing for something that hadn’t come yet.
I hadn’t raised my voice, yet he folded inward as though he’d learned that even boredom could be a punishment from an Alpha.
“You have time now to figure that out.”
“I could always return the boy tonight.” Not that I would. But if I wasn’t pleased, I could return him in exchange for a different one.
Charles’ body slumped for a moment before he righted himself once more. It was as though the light had gone out, dejection filling every cell of his body with thewords I spoke. Like he thought he was a disappointment to me.
“No you won’t.” Adrian stated. He pulled slightly away from Moore, eyes wide like he couldn’t believe I just spoke those words. “If you do I’ll take him.”
“Relax, boy.” I mentally waved away his worries, but the words were for the Omega in my lap as much as the one across from me. “Charles will stay, even if nothing comes of it.”
If all I could offer was some down time for the boy, than so be it. What I did with my time with a rented Omega was on my terms, and no one else’s.
Chapter 6
Charlie
Adrian’s fingers brushed against mine before curling around them in a gentle way. I had to blink the world back into existence, unsure of how long I sat stiffly on Alpha Harris’s lap.
“Come on,” he said, voice low. “They’ll want food soon.” So did I, but that part was left unsaid. It was well past my dinner time, and my body was protesting a missed lunch, and now a late dinner.
I slipped from the Alpha’s lap, a chill replacing the warmed against my backside as I did so.
Adrian didn’t let go of my hand, which I wasn’t sure if I liked or not. It’d been so long since I’d seen him; so long since I got to speak my mind to someone who actually cared about what I thought. Not that I’d willing talk openly here in a stranger’s house.
He led me down the hall, the Alpha’s voices drifting after us. Their words were low, but still whispered around in the air, following us like a breeze through an open window.
Adrian didn’t flinch. He just kept walking, my hand clasped in his own. My palm was slightly sweaty, but not from fear. Never with Adrian. But from the way my mind instantly spun in swirls of thoughts that wouldn’t stop.
The kitchen was warm, clean, and quiet. He let go of my hand and moved to the counter, pulling out bread, slicing it with practiced ease.
I followed mechanically. As if we’d done this a hundred times before. Making sandwiches was easy, something I did do on kitchen duty weekly.
We worked in silence for a while, me laying out slices, him layering meat and cheese like it mattered.
“You okay?” he asked eventually, not looking up.
I didn’t answer. Truthfully, I wasn’t. I hadn’t been in a very long time. Most likely not since that first time I was rented out.
I knew my role, knew my place. But it was never going to get any easier. Not for our kind. I wasn’t lucky enough to be picked by a kind, caring Alpha, and that wasn’t ever going to change.
I glanced at him. He was focused, calm. But his hands moved faster now. Adrian was content, not seeming to have a care in the world as he placed another layer on the bread.
The voices in the other room rose in laughter, echoing off the mostly bear walls.
“I’ve worried about you,” Adrian lifted his eyes to me briefly. “I hated leaving you.”
“Everyone leaves.” The words were whispered, afraid that somehow the Alphas would be able to hear them.
People left. Left me disappointed and sad more than anything. but each of the Omegas I befriended over the years disappeared. Either like how Adrian left, whogot a happy ending it seemed, or they were killed by the hands of an Alpha.
My ending would most likely be at the hands of one, too. It was destiny, or so my gut told me.
