Page 19 of Follow the Rhythm (Fairview City Omegaverse #2)
“We’ll be riding on the same bus,” I answered with a smile. “I suggest you get used to me.”
She bristled and turned to Ellis. “I’m not comfortable with an Omega traveling with us. Aren’t you worried about the implication?”
“And what implication is that?” I asked, stepping towards her.
“Please, Bea, you are ruining my good mood,” Ellis said dismissively.
“The press is going to think you’re together. Which is what you want, I’m sure,” Bea said, advancing on me, too.
I laughed derisively. “Are you that insecure?”
“All you Omegas are the same, using your pussy to get ahead, using your stench to trap Alphas.”
“And you’re so different? Would you still be his ‘brand manager’ if you weren’t fucking?” I said, standing my ground.
“Are you going to let her talk to me like this?” Bea glared at Ellis.
“I think you brought that on yourself,” Ellis said.
Bea huffed and whirled out of the room. Ellis met my eyes in the mirror, and my old friend was gone again.
“Shouldn’t you have her back?” I asked. Something about the way he didn’t seem to care about her at all rubbed me the wrong way.
“Not when she doesn’t deserve it.” He turned to face me. “Is she right? Are you trying to ‘trap’ me, Jess? It is quite a coincidence, you showing up out of the blue like this.”
My blood boiled. “Of course not. I have no interest in trapping anyone, especially you .”
He stepped closer. His scent hit me - juicy, fresh orange and cinnamon that tickled the back of my throat. It didn’t overwhelm me like Charlie’s, but there was a part of me - that girl on the rooftop - that couldn’t help but respond to it. And his eyes were as arresting as always.
“It wouldn’t be hard,” he said, his eyes flicking down to my mouth. “I’m easily corruptible. Especially for you, darling.”
“Don’t,” I said warningly.
“Don’t what?” he asked, stepping even closer. I cursed my biology, the inner Omega who loved the attention and didn’t want to back away. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I jerked my head away.
“Don’t turn this into some game,” I hissed. “But it’s good to know how little you think of me.”
Hurt flared in his eyes. He stepped back carefully. “I didn’t mean-”
“Fucking spare me.” I turned on my heel and left with as much dignity as I could muster.
I walked blindly through the hallway, my heart beating an erratic rhythm to match the storm of emotions raging through me.
Before I could make it outside to the tour bus, I bumped, literally, into Charlie again.
He gripped my shoulders to keep me from toppling over.
I’d blame my hormones for the bad balance.
And the effect of his scent, like cherry pie straight from the oven, which stoked the flame of my anger into something more dangerous, for making my perfume spike.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said.
Charlie smiled. “Good to see you too.”
As he smiled down at me, I watched my scent hit him in real time. His pupils dilated, and his grip tightened slightly on my shoulders.
“Are you trying to torture me?” he groaned.
“I do my best.” I ran my hands recklessly up his chest. He grabbed my hips, and I felt his already hard length against my stomach.
“Stop me, Jess,” he growled. “If you don’t want this, stop me now.”
I didn’t stop him. Instead, I slid my hands under his shirt, reveling in the warmth of his skin.
He pulled my hair to the side and drew his nose slowly up the side of my neck, growling softly at my scent.
When he kissed my throat, sucking gently, I couldn’t hold back my whimper.
His lips traveled from the sensitive spot under my ear, across my jaw, to find my lips.
His kiss was as intoxicatingly sweet as I remembered, and I drank him in eagerly. I poured all of my anger and frustration and pent up desire into the kiss, and he took everything. Charlie pulled me closer until I was plastered against him, grinding against him.
When he slid his hand up my waist and brushed his thumb gently over my peaked nipple, I felt it like a bolt of lightning right to my core and actually whined. The desperate sound of my own voice was enough of a jolt to bring me back to reality.
We were in a hallway, for god’s sake, where anyone could see us and cement my reputation as an Alpha-trapping harlot forever.
I stiffened in his arms, then backed away. I clenched my hands behind me, as if they couldn’t be trusted. Charlie looked like he was in physical pain.
“I’m sorry. That was unfair,” I said, my voice uneven.
Charlie nodded tightly. “It’s fine. I’m glad we kept ourselves under control,” he said. I swallowed against the dryness in my throat.
“I, um, need to go,” I said and left before he could say anything else. I ducked through a random door to try to collect myself. The room was dark, an unused dressing room.
We weren’t even one day into the tour, and I was already almost hooking up with Charlie and thinking about following Kieran into his shower. I’d even had a friendly moment with Ellis , even if he had ruined it.
“Get your shit together,” I said to the mirror. The woman looking back at me, with her hair mussed and her eyes bright, looked nearly as wild as one of my illustrations.