Page 13 of Temporary Omega

He was chattering so much he barely gave Luca a chance to get a word in, when he finally paused, Luca promised, “I’ll be over when you come back.”

“Oh, but we could catch up tomorrow,” Riley started again. “Won’t you consider staying?” his friend asked and pulled back again. This time Riley took a second and studied Luca’s face.

He saw the moment his friend realized all may not be well, “Luc, is something the matter?” Riley started.

Fuck, he wasn’t ready for this. Not only didn’t he want to have this conversation with Riley, he didn’t want his friend’s happiness dimmed by his problems. Add to that, he was keeping Lincoln waiting. What if the man got impatient and left?

Luca glanced over at Grayson, who was now looking at him, probably picking up his husband's concern. Crap.

“Is everything okay?” the alpha began. “You do look…” Before he could finish whatever he was saying they were interrupted by Max, running into the room screaming for his papa.

Thankfully, it was enough to distract the newlyweds; both of them were still at the stage hearing Max call Riley papa was a novelty.

Luca used the distraction to his advantage and slipped away.

When he walked out of the party and made his way outside, Luca couldn’t spot Lincoln immediately, his anxiety began rising at the thought the alpha may have decided to leave without him. It wasn’t until the man made himself seen, appearing from Luca’s left from the other side of a pillar that had kept him hidden from view where he’d been waiting, that Luca’s shoulders sagged in relief.

Apparently, he’d been more worried about the alpha changing his mind than he’d admitted to himself.

Luca was wrong earlier, he realized now, his options weren’t limited, they were non-existent.

“Ready?” Lincoln prompted, standing beside Luca.

Luca released a breath.Here goes nothing,he thought.

“Ready,” Luca answered, and followed behind Lincoln, hoping like hell he wasn’t walking into the lion’s den.

6

Linc

Linc breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized how much he’d needed... wanted the omega to say yes. Linc told himself it was because he couldn’t imagine the omega–Luca, his name was Luca–he couldn’t imagine Luca out there homeless.

But that wasn’t the whole truth.

Linc had no idea what Luca would have done, maybe he would have been okay. Although, Linc had a feeling that was wishful thinking on his part. It was more likely that he wouldn’t have been.

Luca seemed the kind of person that would try not to inconvenience anyone because Lincoln knew that if Luca had asked his friend Riley if he could stay a while, at least until he figured things out, Riley struck Lincoln as the kind of guy that would have said yes.

Lincoln couldn’t speak for the other omega, since he didn’t know Riley well, but he did know Grayson, Riley’s husband, and he knew his friend would have said it was no problem. It wasn’t like those two didn’t have the room in their home.

Lincoln had to admit, though, that the moment he’d gotten the idea, something had clicked. It felt right. Linc wasn’t sure why of all the people he could have picked, all of them he knew so much better than the man sitting beside him, Luca had been the one that clicked. Linc wasn’t sure why the idea of taking him home to meet his papa didn’t seem wrong. And he wasn’t ready to examine his reasoning.

He could have told Grayson himself, forcing the omega’s hand, but Linc had wanted the man under his care. But now wasn’t the time to examine his motives.

All he was willing to admit was now his immediate issue of acquiring an omega was solved. Why did the word acquiring sound so cold all of a sudden? Especially in regards to Luca, a man he had just met.

Linc reminded himself this wasn’t a romantic thing between them, so cold was good. They had a mutually beneficial arrangement and that was all it was.

All it could be.

Linc had no need for an omega. None whatsoever.

Liar,that pesky inner voice screamed, but Linc ignored it. What did it know anyway?

They both went back to the party separately and at the agreed upon time, they made their excuses to the couple, again separately, before leaving. Linc waited just outside the door, a part of him wondering if the omega would show up. He did.

Luca wasn’t sure he wanted anyone to know of the situation yet. He’d said he would tell Riley when the time was right… whatever that meant.