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5

Jared

Around the room I went, every three minutes starting a new “date,” though honestly, three minutes was barely enough to exchange names, let alone get to know a person. And while I technically hadn’t come here to find my new significant other, these people had. They were all nice enough, hopeful of finding their future One, and they deserved my undivided attention. I could acknowledge that much. There was just one problem with that, though.

Liam had already claimed all of it.

He was amazing. Curious and eager, the kind of person who made me feel seen. I’d recognized that about him the moment I met his eyes across the table, over my now-dwindling stack of treats. He had this thick brown hair, with curls that he’d tried to tame with product, but the curls were winning. His eyes were a mesmerizing shade of blue, from a navy outer ring then shifting through aqua to almost green around his pupil. They made me yearn for tropical seas.

He was so relaxed meeting all these strangers. I’d bet he was the adventurous type, ready to try anything, whether it was a picnic in the woods or skydiving—he looked like he wouldn’t be afraid of anything, ready to take on the world. But he also seemed the type to be completely at ease spending a night in, pizza and popcorn and a movie while cuddling on the couch. Gods, I was just dying to learn all there was to know about him, because at the rate my overactive imagination was going, I would have a whole fake life created for us before I even learned his last name.

The entire next hour as I went table to table, I kept glancing back at where Liam sat, leaning around leaves and fern fronds, and it sent a thrill through me to find that more often than not, his gaze was already on me too. When I rounded the loop of tables, and found myself across the aisle from him, I couldn’t resist the draw I felt. I quickly leaned over and whispered, “What’s your favorite color?”

“What?” he asked, confused but laughing.

“Quick! I only have a few seconds, and I need to know everything.” I motioned with my hand, begging him to hurry. “Any pets? Allergies?”

“Green, no, and no,” he answered quickly before I had to dart back to my table.

I already regretted not having the time to ask follow-up questions. Why green? Like, deep forest green or something pale or neon? And did he not have pets because he didn’t like them? Whoever I dated had to like dogs, it was etched in stone.

When I’d moved on to the next table, and I was doing the whole “uh-huh” smile-and-nod thing, I peeked over my shoulder and saw Liam waving to get my attention. When he saw I was looking, he held up a piece of paper that said, “Same questions!” He pointed at me. The woman sitting across from him turned around to see where he was looking, and when she saw us trying to communicate, she gave me a thumbs-up.

I patted my pockets for a pen and came up empty. “Hey, have you got a pen?” I asked the guy across from me .

“Huh? Oh, uh… no?” The guy, whose name I hadn’t even registered, looked confused but not annoyed, but as he caught on to what I was doing, he leaned in to help. “Can you flash him pictures from your phone?”

“Ooh, good idea.” Pulling out my phone, I quickly found a picture of Lulabelle and held it up, which made Liam put a hand over his heart, and I could just hear his awww from here. But before I could decide what my favorite color was today—I mean, it had been cherry red, but I was suddenly leaning toward a tropical blue—the bell rang again, and I had to move even farther away.

“Good luck,” my date said as I grudgingly got up and kept moving.

“Thanks,” I muttered, feeling a little glum, but there were only a handful of tables left until the end, which meant I could finally get a chance for some one-on-one time with Liam, without any pesky bell-ringing deadline.

My nerves got increasingly agitated the closer I got to the end, heart thrumming and my knee bouncing under the table, and I kept rubbing my sweaty palms on my pants on repeat. I hadn’t been this giddy in… ever . I had a serious case of cookie breath, but I reasoned that it could’ve been worse.

I nearly jumped out of my seat at the final bell, mumbling a vague thank-you to my last date, then I swiveled to look for Liam in the crowd. Where was he?

But then I heard a raised voice saying, “Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight.” Maybe we hadn’t spoken much, but I could’ve sworn that was Liam’s voice. Why was he talking? Where was the owner with the brightly colored tie?

I moved around a potted plant with narrow spiky leaves so I could see whoever was addressing the crowd, and sure enough, it was Liam. My stomach lurched again, but this time for an entirely different reason. Was he… the owner?

He was smiling, his gaze panning over the crowd. “I’m new to the neighborhood, so it really meant a lot to me that you all stopped by. If you haven’t had a chance to grab some of the complimentary coffee and desserts, please, help yourselves. I hope you all had as much fun as I did.” And then he had the gall to blush as he searched me out in the crowd.

When he caught the look on my face, though, his expression stuttered, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

Everyone clapped but me. I was currently debating on whether or not I should make a break for it, but that stubborn incorrigible streak of mine was at least a mile wide right now. Anger and indignation burned hot in my gut, and my hands balled into fists at my sides, my fingernails digging into my palms.

There was a stampede toward the snack table, but I stayed right where I was, glaring at Liam as he made his way toward me, zigzagging through the crowd. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

As much as I wanted to tear a strip off him, I couldn’t make a scene since these were also Crave customers, so instead, I grabbed him by the hand and dragged him outside. I blatantly ignored the way his hand felt in mine, so warm and steady, and as soon as the door was closed, I dropped his hand like I’d been burned and rounded on him.

“You’re such a liar!” I hissed, jabbing a finger at his chest.

His jaw gaped, eyes widening in shock. “What are you talking about? How am I a liar?”

I waved my hands vaguely, unable to stand still. “You didn’t tell me you were the owner of the café. You tricked me!”

I hated how hurt he looked at my accusation. “What? You’re being ridiculous! Why do you care if I’m the owner? ”

“Because I work at Crave!” I barked loudly before I could tone down the volume.

He reared back as though struck, his gaze tracking to Crave across the street, windows dark at this time of night. Then he chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “Oh, you are something else. You accuse me of lying, and meanwhile, you’re the one spying on me!” Liam dug his fingers through his hair, giving his curls their wild freedom, and I hated how adorable it made him. “Here I was thinking you were a nice guy, that we had a connection, chemistry, that maybe there could be something between us. Spouting all that bullshit about my butter tarts, and meanwhile, you’re probably just here to steal the recipe.”

Damn, I wish I’d thought of that, but I ate all the tarts without bothering to save one for Hugh. “Yeah, well… I was lying about your butter tarts. They were shit,” I sputtered, nearly choking on the bald-faced lie as I searched frantically for something mean to say. I had to argue against what he’d said, because it was all true. I had been spying on him, and there absolutely was something between us. But I couldn’t date the competition. It was a conflict of interest!

Liam smirked. “Tell that to the crumbs all down your shirt.”

I needed to get the hell out of here. Now. “Look, you just stay on your side of the street, and I’ll stay on mine,” I spat, already turning to storm off.

“Sounds perfect!” he shouted after me. “I never want to see your stupid face again!”

The long walk home started off as more of a stomp, my blood pumping hot in my veins. I’d worked up a real head of steam, and I cursed Liam for the first three blocks. But then the cool night air began to cool my temper, and guilt began to surface. I wasn’t that guy, not really. I didn’t sling cruel barbs like that. I couldn’t get the hurt look in his eyes out of my head. If he weren’t the competition, I would’ve turned right back around and apologized.

“Fuck, you idiot,” I muttered, cursing my stupidity as I finally stepped off the elevator at my apartment complex and made my way down the hall. I never should’ve set foot in Grounded. I honestly hated myself for the stupid idea in the first place, because now that I knew how good his baking was, I was doubly worried about my boss’s business. Liam almost deserved to win—but Hugh deserved it more.

Gritting my teeth and doubling down, I stepped into my apartment and put my keys on the hook by the door, then kicked off my shoes and grabbed a beer from the fridge. This was a get-drunk-and-forget-my-mistakes kind of night. And since I wasn’t a drinker, two beers oughta do it.

Feeling like something I’d scraped off the bottom of my shoe, I clicked on the TV and brought up the show I’d recorded on my DVR. It was the latest episode of that stupid reality show, Lonely Alpha . Might as well watch their drama so I could believe that maybe someone was more screwed up than I was.

And the show was all the drama I could’ve hoped for and more. One of the omegas was feeling all jealous after someone else won a challenge and got a solo date with the alpha, Leo Schuster, so what did they do? The next morning, he put superglue on a mug handle before he passed it to his competition, resulting in a screaming match, followed by a shattered mug and some missing skin.

Huh… competition… I blinked as I watched the whole thing blow up in their faces.

A dark, dangerous idea began to form in my mind. A little harmless prank to help scare off the competition. And maybe to help remind my traitorous heart that Liam was not playing fair, pretending to flirt with me and making me think I had a chance at something more.

Maybe it was time to bend the rules a little, or better yet, ignore them entirely.