Page 101 of In Doubt

“I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

“You haven’t caused any trouble,” Connie insists, but I’m not sure she’s right as I gaze towards the bedroom door. “Where are you now?”

I swallow. “At a private villa.”

“On your own?”

“No,” I screw up my face. “There are alphas here.”

“Are you safe?” Connie asks, her voice more anxious than before.

“Yes, Connie, I’m fine, honestly. They didn’t do anything to me. It was me. Getting lost in my own head.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetie,” she says with sympathy. “Where’s Sia?”

“Back at the dorm.”

“Dorm?” She hums to herself. “I’m going to find you a fuck-off five-star hotel. Get you and Sia checked in and send Ric over to come get you. Just hold tight, OK, sweetie? Let me sort this for you.”

I sniffle, wiping away more tears from my cheeks. “Thank you, Connie.”

“I know how much you were looking forward to this trip. Being an omega really sucks sometimes.”

“It’s OK,” I manage to say with false bravado. “I can always come back another time.” Although they’ll never be another opportunity to impress Professor Weaver and the other researchers like this.

“Are you going to be alright, sweetie? Do you want me to stay on the phone some more?”

“No, I just want to leave.”

“Leave it to me then. I’ll call you back as soon as I’ve sorted everything.”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“Love you Giorgie,” Connie says, making me cry all over again. “We all do. We’ll get you home as soon as we can, don’t you worry about that.”

She hangs up and I place my phone down on the bed. I need to call Sia next but that conversation has drained me. I’m tired, hungry, thirsty and filthy. I at least need something to drink before I do anything else. Omegas are meant to be careful about keeping hydrated during a heat, but I’d downed the bottles of water in the room early on and had been too scared, too screwed up, to ask for any more.

When I rise up onto my feet, the room spins and I have to clutch the headboard and wait for the dizziness to pass.

Gingerly, I pad across the room. I’m sore between my legs and I want nothing more than to sink into a cooling bath.

I turn the key and draw back the door, finding Jake sitting by the entrance. He jerks awake, scrambling to his feet immediately. He looks about as bad as I feel. Dark shadows ringing his eyes, his hair a matted mess around his head, and days’ old stubble sprouting on his chin.

“Giorgie?” he croaks.

“Hi.”

“Are you OK?” His gaze skims anxiously over my face and my form.

“I am.” I chew my bottom lip. He’s slightly blurred as I squint at him and I force down a choke realising I have no idea where my glasses are. “It’s over.”

His shoulders sag in relief. “What can I do? Do you need anything?”

“A drink,” I say, clutching the wall as that faint feeling returns. He peers over his shoulder as if he doesn’t want to leave me to go fetch water. “I’m going to use the bathroom.”

In the bathroom, I splash warm water over my face and wash away as much of the dried slick and come on my thighs as I can. I need a proper shower, but I don’t trust myself not to faint under the water. Drink and food will have to come first.

I don’t love the idea of parading myself in front of the alphas looking this way and smelling the way I do too. There isn’t much I can do about it though.