Page 86 of Fourth Base with the Alpha

“And Isabella agreed to date you?”

“Fake-date me,” I correct, although they all look at me as if I’m insane.

“You were faking it the whole time with Isabella?” West says, clearly trying to straighten the idea in his mind.

“Yes.”

“But you stayed the night together at Steve’s house. I saw you kissing her – like really kissing her.”

“Yeah.” I take a gulp of water, trying and failing not to think about kissing Isabella.

“It didn’t look fake to me,” Ash says. “It looked like you really liked each other.”

“Yeah,” I sigh. Because it didn’t feel fake. It felt real. To me anyway. Because, fuck, I like her. I like her a lot. More than anyone I’ve ever met. I can’t stop thinking about her.

“So …” Trey says, “if it was fake, and now, what? Over?” I nod. “Why are you sad about it, man?”

“I’m not sad.” I’m fucking heartbroken.

“Hunter, you are.”

“Okay, I am,” I snap. “So what? It was an arrangement. The girl’s not into me in the same way I am her.”

“Bullshit.” West slams his hand on the table. “That girl is crazy about you. You can’t fake that. You can’t fake the way she looked at you. You can’t fake chemistry.”

I shake my head, squashing the ham in my fist.

“You kissed her?” Ash asks.

“Yes, I kissed her.”

“And how was the kiss?”

“What does it matter?”

“Because you know how the song goes, man – ‘it’s in his kiss’. If she liked you back, you’d know by that kiss.”

I consider his words. “The kiss, the sex–”

“See, I knew there was sex involved.” West slaps my shoulder.

“–were the best I’ve had. But that’s because it was with Isabella. That’s because I’ve caught feelings for her. It doesn't mean she wants me back.”

“She went to Sweden with you.”

I shake my head. They don’t know. They weren’t there this morning. The way she accepted the end of everything. Let me walk away. This was always a business arrangement for her, one that got a little out of hand, but an arrangement all the same.

Because an omega like Isabella, bright, beautiful, full of joy and sunshine despite the crap she’s been through, could never love a man like me. Cold, humorless, heartless. A man like my father.

Kim was right. We aren’t suited.

20

Isabella

I don’t hearfrom Hunter for the next three days, and that tells me everything I need to know. I always suspected that what passed between us – all that rolling around together in bed in Sweden – was a bit of fun while our fake-dating arrangement was underway. Because as soon as the arrangement ended it was like a door slammed shut. He strode straight out of the office without a word and nothing since. My phone is full of the messages we’d sent back and forth during our fake-relationship. But now it is over and my phone is silent.

Am I sad about it? Sometimes I think there isn’t enough of my heart left to feel. Because I’m numb. I don’t feel anything.