Page 2 of Such a Tempting Omega (His Alpha Desires #7)

Hirsch

Every time my phone rang, my stomach tangled up in a knot and my heart slammed against my rib cage.

I shoved the phone away making it slide along the mahogany desk.

It reached the edge but didn’t topple over.

Honestly, I would’ve been relieved if the damned thing had broken.

As much as Kyle wanted to get away from me, he sure did call and text a lot. His control issues knew no boundaries.

Once the lease was up on the apartment, his number would be blocked.

Leaning back in the plush leather desk chair, another thing he’d “graciously” left me—his word, not mine, I scrubbed my hands over my face. How did it come to this? Where had I gone wrong? How had I not seen the red flags early on.

Because I thought I was in love with him.

And now, I slept on an air mattress I bought in Aldi’s “aisle of shame” for five dollars.

A humorless chuckle burst from my mouth.

Man, Kyle must’ve seen me coming from a mile away.

I’d been tossed out of my family home on my ass five minutes after my high school graduation cap landed on my bed.

Not because my parents didn’t love me or because I was a bad kid but because I was eighteen, and in their book, that meant it was time to go.

Very unlike any other pack I had ever heard of.

They said it would be good for me. I’d learn to stand on my own two feet. Grow a thicker skin.

What my minimum wage jobs—two of them—got me was a studio apartment that had stealthy roaches and questionable plumbing. I ate the cheapest of food and got by on three hours of sleep.

Kyle slipped right into my life and promised me the world.

And like the hungry, lonely omega I was, I lunged for the carrot he dangled in front of me.

No more working seemed like a dream.

No more lack of sleep.

Goodbye roaches and haunting sounds of dripping hot water at night.

He promised me the good life.

What a fool I’d been. Nothing is truly free and Kyle proved that over and over.

He villainized my family and friends until I no longer spoke to any of them. Aligned me with his friends so that everyone in my circle defended him on the off chance I gathered the courage to talk back.

Not only did I not have to work, but after I’d rested up and wanted to get a job, he insisted I not work. That whatever I needed he would provide, heavy on the need part.

It took me years to recognize the invisible prison I’d participated in building while kneeling at the base of the pedestal I’d put Kyle on.

When I caught him cheating, he blamed me.

Left me with nothing but this fucking chair and the giant ridiculous desk. At least the lease was paid for another three months. He left me that and similar time left on an annual pass to Cuffed, the club where he’d met his new boy toy, who was barely out of high school.

Now I had to go back to the beginning. Find a job that would support me with no education but my high school diploma.

My only experience was some jobs waiting tables and a small stint at a coffee shop.

There was no way I could afford this penthouse. Maybe I could sell this damned desk and chair for enough to afford a deposit at a new place.

I applied for everything I was qualified for and some that I wasn’t. Couldn’t hurt to take a chance but with a big gap in my employment, I knew some were longshots.

I even went so far as to reach out to some of my old friends to see if they knew of any jobs available, but only a few responded.

I didn’t blame them. I’d abandoned them, not because of who I was or who they were but because it was easier than listening listen to Kyle drone on about how he didn’t like me going out and claim they were bad influences.

I’d sold myself for temporary security. I probably deserved what I got.

Sliding the chair back, I got up and went to the kitchen. My hunger had vanished the night Kyle left me, but I had to take care of myself. I was far too thin.

My food intake was another thing he’d controlled, all in the name of caring about my health and not wanting me to let myself go.

I didn’t have the energy to cook a whole meal, so I opened the refrigerator and retrieved eggs. I would fry them up in butter and have them with toast. The meal that always satisfied in my opinion.

Kyle had cut me down to egg whites. I shuddered at the memory.

After my simple dinner, I stared at the walls. Ruminating. Overthinking until all my stupid made-up scenarios made my head hurt.

I didn’t have friends to go out with anymore. The ones he’d inserted in my life left when he did.

But I did have a membership to Cuffed. Kyle was into some things I wasn’t but told me that his participating in them with others wasn’t cheating. Even if it tipped toward sex, as long as it didn’t cross a line that was constantly shifting. When I disagreed, he called me silly and overemotional.

Maybe I was.

Cuffed was the first club I’d ever been to. I didn’t know the rules, only what was right in my heart.

I watched Kyle participate in all kinds of bondage and other kinks I considered intimate and personal.

He scoffed at my concerns.

Then again, he was constantly cheating on me, so why would he care?

Maybe it was time to explore what I liked.