Page 21 of The Omega's Fake Mate
“Just be glad I'm not making you change Hope's diapers.”
“Yuck.” Reason number two I was never going to be a parent.
Kade grinned. Then the humor faded from his face again. “You're really gonna do this, huh?”
“Yup.”
My friend rubbed his temples as if he could feel a headache coming on. I almost felt sympathetic. Kade was scared of the Vinists and he had good reason to be, but couldn't he see that was exactly the reason I had to do this?
“Just wish me good luck,” I said.
“All right.” Kade offered me his hand. “I wish you good luck. And that your childhood friend or crush or whichever has a little more common sense than you do.”
I smiled. “He was always the brainy one.”
But he'd also always had a hard time saying no to my crazy plans.
I could only hope that hadn't changed.
8
Zander
I'd hopedthat I would see Nick again before he went back to LA, but I hadn't exactly expected him to come waltzing into my store the next day while I was on my lunch break. What was it with people and ignoring my lunch break?
I swallowed the piece of peanut butter sandwich I had in my mouth and got up from my chair. There was some light fall drizzle going on outside and Nick shook his head as if to shake the rain drops out of his light brown hair. I kind of wanted to sit him down and offer tea or coffee, but I doubted he'd come here for that. He was holding my book in his hand, though, which made me wonder about the reason for his visit.
Did he like the book?
Or was he horribly offended that I'd given him such drivel?
Finally, he looked at me. “Eating on the job?” he asked, pointing at the remainder of the sandwich in my hand.
To counter that, I pointed at the sign on the door behind him. “We're closed.”
“Oh.” He scratched the back of his neck. “You should really lock the door when you're closed.”
“Yeah, I know. I keep expecting people who come to my bookstore to be able to read. My mistake.”
“Oh, burn! Okay, you win this round.” He licked his lips, as if he was nervous about something. For a few seconds, he did nothing but stand in the middle of my store like he didn't know what to do with himself or how to start the conversation he obviously wanted to have. After another moment, I took pity on him, even though he had interrupted my lunch break. He was Nick. I could never be mad at him. Not for long anyway. When he looked like he was uncomfortable, I wanted nothing more than to change that.
“Did you like it?” I asked, nodding at the book in his hand if only to get the conversation going again.
“Oh.” His gaze snapped to the book as if it reminded him of why he was here. “I haven't read all of it yet. Dude, it's only been aday.”
I refrained from telling him how many books I could read in a whole day. “But you've read some of it?” I asked instead.
“Yeah.” He shrugged to downplay this fact. Then he walked deeper into the store until he was just a step away from my desk, but the piece of furniture was still between us. For a second, he seemed lost again, then a sense of determination settled in his eyes. I knew that look. I hadn't seen it in over a decade, but by God, I knew that look.
It had gotten me in trouble often enough.
I had to admit it appeared a bit different on adult Nick than it did on child Nick, but the effect was the same. I couldn't tear my eyes away from his.
“You have some sort of crazy idea you want to tell me about, don't you?”
Nick's lips curled up. He didn't seem lost at all anymore. No, before me stood an omega ready to take on the world. I would continue to deny this, but I'd always liked Nick's crazy ideas and his will to follow through on them. He made life... interesting. I would never forget the time we snuck out of our parents' houses after curfew to stow away on one of the ships in the harbor. We never made it far before getting caught, but at ten years old, I was totally ready to run away and go explore the world with Nick by my side.
I'd grown up since then, of course, but part of me still felt this pull to give in to whatever madness the omega in front of me had planned.