Page 51 of The Omega's Fake Mate
There was no point pondering Zander’s sleepwear any longer, though. Grabbing my bag, I headed to the bathroom myself to brush my teeth and get ready for what I assumed was going to be a sleepless night.
Zander had already settled into bed by the time I came back from the bathroom. I almost had to laugh when I saw the book in his hands. Of course he’d packed a book. He tried to appear casual, but I knew deep down he was holding on to that book the same way a child far from home held on to their stuffed toy. He was nervous too. I had to think back to what he’d told me earlier, about our last phone call when we were children.
Was there any chance he still felt that way about me after all this time?
I shook the thought off. This was not the time to have that conversation. I wasnotgoing to make out with Zander in my twin’s guest room, and if I started thinking about it, I was never going to sleep.
“Something wrong?” Zander asked, making me realize that I’d stood hesitating by the door for too long.
“No, nothing.” I climbed into the bed beside him. “You better not be hogging the blanket tonight.”
“I’ll try not to.” He only gave me a short glance before focusing on his book again.
“What are you reading?”
He actually had to look at the spine before he could reply. His attentionsowasn’t on that book, even if he wanted it to be. “The Silmarillion.”
“That sounds boring.”
“No, it’s actually…” He stopped and put the book aside, rubbing his eyes. “No, you’re right. It is boring. I think I’m just going to sleep. Okay if I turn the lights off?”
“Sure, go ahead.” Maybe if I couldn’t see him anymore, I could pretend like he wasn’t there and then my heart would stop beating so fast.
Even with the lights off, though, I could still hear him breathe. I could still feel the warmth his body radiated and I could still smell his scent in the air. Closing my eyes, I inhaled through my nose, catching it in my lungs. It was such a familiar scent. Sure it had changed a bit since we were children, turned all muskier and more alpha like a rich wine ripening over time, but underneath all that, I could still smell the base note—Zander.
I’d feared that I wouldn’t be able to sleep with him in the same bed, but in reality, there was comfort in knowing he was close. Without conscious thought, I relaxed, feeling safe, as if I’d found shelter in a storm, a warm fire to rest by and the guarantee that everything was all right with the world. In the end, I drifted off with Zander’s scent in my nose before my brain could even start overthinking the reaction I had to the alpha next to me.
* * *
Rhys didn’t havetime to talk in the morning. Of course not. He was busy cooking our breakfast and then eating and then cleaning up after us. When I offered to help, I was told that was improper. In spite of my omega status, I was still a guest in the house, after all. Jeremiah graciously offered to show us around town while his mate was busy, though.
I grudgingly agreed, if only because I wanted to know what sort of place my brother lived in. To be honest, Crystal Bay didn’t look too different from Oceanport on the surface. I thought the lack of mountains made it less pretty, but I might have been a little bit biased. The streets were cleaner than Oceanport’s, but that was probably because every alpha had an omega trailing behind them to pick up their trash. I didn’t literally see that happen, but I could picture it. The few omegas I saw out and about in the cold seemed sort of demure to me anyway, while the alphas all pranced around as if they owned the place—which they probably did.
I felt eyes on me only twenty minutes after we left the house. Some lusty alpha staring at me from the porch of his house. He didn’t stop looking at me until Zander took my hand and glared him down. I’d never seen my friend act so territorial before, but in the moment, I was glad to have him with me.
When we got back to Rhys’ place after the tour, my brother still didn’t have time. There was always something he needed to do while his husband sat in front of the TV and drank beer. It was infuriating, and I wasn’t going to put up with it much longer.
As soon as dinner was done and my brother vanished back into the kitchen to do the dishes, I got up from the table to follow him.
“Where are you going?” Jeremiah asked.
“I'm going to help Rhys.”
“Rhys can handle—”
“I don't care.” Before Jeremiah could get another word in, I was out of the room. He was probably going to tell Zander all about how he should discipline me for that. Whatever.
“Nick?” Rhys looked up from the sink as I came into the kitchen.
“Yup.” I grabbed a dishrag from the counter and joined him by the sink. “You look like you need some help, and you also owe me a talk. So, I can dry the dishes and you can wash the plates and while we're doing that, we talk.”
For a moment, I got the feeling that he wanted to argue, but then he simply sighed and dropped another plate into the soapy water in the sink. “All right,” he said like someone who knew he had no other choice. “I don't know what you want to talk about, though, so you can start.”
Could I ever.
“Okay, first off, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Excuse me?”