I really didn’t want her to touch me.
“They didn’t tell you about the bet? It’s okay. You weren’t the bet. It was simply that if Steven got in the penalty box at all during the playoffs, he had to take Marilyn’s chosen omega out. As long as you had a good time with them that all that matters,” she assured me.
I wiggled out of her grasp as politely as I could and stared at her. “This isn’t about the bet. Steven told me the moment they met me. The only problem is, I now know that I’m not the omega Marilyn chose. They’ve been taking the wrong omega out all week.”
“Mistaken identity happens. Obviously there was chemistry between you three. I saw it at the club. Does it even matter?” A little frown tugged at the corners of her pink lips.
“It does. Because it wasyou.They were supposed to meet you. You gave me the dragonfly clip and thenleft the bar.” Anger built up inside me. “They could’ve been axe murderers or awful people. You literally set me up without my consent.” From a safety perspective, this could’ve turned out badly.
“I wouldn’t have left you with axe murderers. While they didn’t know who they were meeting, I knew whothey were. Not only did I look them up, but Jackson checked them out with his friend,” she replied, still not understanding.
“What were you thinking, switching with an omega you don’t know and having them meet with strange alphas?” My frown deepened. “You’re into Jackson. I get it. But couldn’t you have said,Hey I’m supposed to meet these guys, and I don’t want to because I’m into somebody else. Do you wanna meet them for me, they’re nice,or some other sort of conversation? Or you could’ve simply left and let it happen, if it happened. But you actually gave me the clip. Yes, I already was wearing dragonflies, but that signals intent on your part.” My voice shook a little.
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. Please let me explain?” she pleaded.
“I’m listening.” I’d give her that much, because I wanted to understand the thought process here.
Claire sighed heavily. “I never agreed to this. I was voluntold by my aunt. I keep telling her I’m not interested. But she’d decided that I need an alpha ofherchoosing, and this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”
“I hear you. That sounds frustrating.”
“It is. My aunt has zero respect for my time. I have a lot going on during this trip. It wasn’t purely social and I wanted to spend some time with Jackson. I feel like she isn’t hearing me. Still, even though I didn’t want to, I went along with it. I wore a dragonfly clip and sunglasses. I went down to the bar at a specific time, and I asked Jackson to meet me, with the full intention of meeting Ashton and Steven, and explaining everything to them,” she continued.
Jackson was talking to someone and looked over at the two of us with concern.
“Okay. That seems like a good plan. What changed? Why did you set me up instead?” I was confused and still a little angry.
“After you told me how shitty things were with your ex, I thought since you were on spring break that it would be nice for you to have some cute hockey players show you around. They’re supposed to be nice guys. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she confessed.
“You could’ve asked. I’ve spent this whole week thinking that I was specially picked for them and I wasn’t. I was a mistake. I’m always the mistake.” My voice broke and the tears ran down my face.
“Oh, Sweetie.” Claire tried to hug me.
I took a step back. “Don't touch me. You don’t understand. I’m being blamed for my break up because I wasn’t a good enough omega. For one week I felt good enough. I felt special, and I’m not. I’m just a mistake. Again.”
Her face crumpled. “Oh. I’m sorry. You’re right, I fucked up big time. I never should have given you the clip and left you. We saw them at the bar. We should’ve had them join us. I could have explained everything, then seen if maybe they were interested in you instead. I had no right to do that,” she apologized. “We did stay for a few minutes to make sure you were okay.”
That didn’t make me feel better.
“You should’ve told me from the beginning. Or better yet simply set a boundary with your aunt.” My arms crossed over my chest as if hugging myself.
She sighed. “She won’t listen. Surely you should understand. You have matchmaking aunts who made you go down to the bar in the first place.”
“I did. But at the same time if I would’ve said,No I’m not doing this, they’d listen. You crossed a massive line. All it would have taken was for one of the guys to mention me by name to Marilyn and it would have been over.” I frowned, still not understanding how she thought she’d get away with it.
But she was probably used to everything working out.
“You're right and I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I never should have done that to you.” Her forehead wrinkled. “But you’re not a mistake, Kai. It’s clear they are really into you. The bet wasn’t for the whole week, but yet you’ve spent every day with them. You’ve obviously had a great time–as have they.”
“It turning out well doesn’t make it better,” I retorted.
She blinked. “It doesn’t make it better. You’re right. I made a bad choice.”
“This is really shitty. I go back home early tomorrow. I’ve just had one of the best weeks ever and it wasn’t even my week to have.” That was just too much after the accusations of not being an omega enough.
“Kai, please don’t get hung up on that. It was your week. You could have stopped after drinks. It continued because you all wanted each other,” she replied.
“It’s not that easy.” I was really hung up on the fact that I wasn’t the right person.
