Page 18 of Worthy or Knot (Serendipity Omegaverse #3)
Eighteen
COLE
T he rental is small but cozy, done in a coastal style that feels a bit too on-the-nose for the Seattle tourist scene.
I drop onto the white sofa that sits in the front room, arranged perfectly to see the ocean view out the front window, while Megan eases off her shoes and Charlotte sets her purse on the long entry table.
“That was fun,” she says as she joins me, sitting close enough that our legs press together. “Thank you so much for making it happen.”
Desire lights through me again, stronger than on the boat, and it takes all my control to keep the groan buried in my throat.
You promised you wouldn’t look desperate, Fallon , I chide myself. Every minute in the presence of these Alphas, though, has me wanting to throw that entire choice out the window.
My voice is dry as ash when I say, “You’re welcome.”
Another door deeper in the rental closes, and then Marcus is standing in the entryway, leaning against the wall, his hands tucked in the pockets of his chinos, his watch just barely visible. God, that heat doubles in strength. It should be illegal to look that good, honestly.
“You want something to drink?” he asks, taking in me and Charlotte in one comprehensive look.
When I shake my head, his gaze shifts to where Megan must be behind me.
An entire conversation passes between them without uttering a single word, the way I’ve seen my dads communicate.
Megan runs her hand down my shoulder as she brushes by me, heading deeper into the house, already looking at her phone.
Charlotte presses a soft kiss to my cheek before standing, a small, knowing smile curving her lips.
“We’ll see you in the morning,” she says.
Marcus flashes a quick smile as she passes him, and she kisses his cheek, too, stretching onto her tiptoes to reach him.
“How about a movie, Megs?” she asks as she disappears down the hall.
A door clicks shut, cutting off Megan’s reply.
All at once, my focus is narrowed to the Alpha in front of me.
Every single ounce of desire I’ve shoved down the last day comes roaring to the surface, so strong it steals my breath.
The last several hours of being so damn close to him, smelling him on that boat, has my body humming with need entirely unique.
Nevermind that Charlotte spent most of the time in my lap, marking me with her scent at every possible moment, or that Megan never let more than a few minutes go by without touching me.
This need rising in me right now? It’s all because of him .
God, I need his scent on me, too. Maybe I should just show my desperation, let him know how much I need him right now. Alphas are already hardwired to want to satisfy Omegas. And him? With his bond scar on my collarbone?
No one will want to bend me over more than him, right?
I swallow the unholy need before I can make an idiot of myself.
He’s been so distant the entire weekend, always a step away, his hands in those damn pockets, a bored expression fixed on his face like he’s wishing he could be anywhere else.
Whatever I’m feeling, it certainly appears one-sided right now.
Best to approach this entire situation like he’s just another Alpha in this pack, another person for me to meet and get to know.
“We need to talk,” I whisper.
Shit, that was absolutely too formal.
“Yeah, we probably do,” he says in the same low voice that’s both distant and full of fire.
It wraps around me, ratcheting my need higher.
My dick hardens, pressing uncomfortably against my shorts.
And then he’s pushing off the threshold and stalking into the room, dropping seamlessly onto the coffee table in front of me.
You’re just talking, Cole.
Even still, nerves fill my stomach, so overwhelming I forget how to breathe.
“Dinner was nice,” he offers after a full minute of charged silence. “You seemed really comfortable being on a boat.”
“I love sailing,” I admit. Not that Bill’s yacht really counts as a sailing vessel, but it doesn’t seem like the type of comment that requires nuance at the moment. “I spent my gap year working on a sailboat in the Pacific Ocean.”
Until my first flare put me in an Australian hospital and then an emergency flight back home.
“Gap year?” He tilts his head as his eyebrows furrow. He leans on his elbows, letting his hands hang limply between his knees, leaving his forearms on full display. I swallow the sound crawling up my throat. “But you’re not studying now?”
He adjusts, and his knee brushes mine. Good god, I can’t breathe right now. Just like standing in line at the gala, I can’t do much more than freeze and hope the unearthly need for this man to press me into a wall dampens. Marcus grunts like he’s been punched.
“Cole?” Even his voice feels far away, but not in that terrifying way right before I have a flare.
I clear my throat and run my hand through my hair.
“No, I’m not studying at the moment. I thought it would be easier to handle the matching process if I wasn’t trying to balance coursework.”
It’s true enough and doesn’t betray just how bad the sickness has been getting since the beginning of the year.
Within the bond sickness community, especially those just graduating high school, there’s often a lot of unspoken pressure on whether someone is in school.
If they are? There’s a belief that they aren’t so sick they’ve lost hope of getting better.
His shoulders relax. “That makes sense.”
He sits up, pulling away from me, and I practically sob at the loss. Internally, at least. I’m as still as a statue on the outside. I force a swallow and then the words fall out in one quick rush I immediately wish I could take back.
“I totally get if you don’t want this. The attention is a lot, and I don’t know if it’ll ever settle down.
” God, I think I’m going to throw up. I don’t want him to say he doesn’t want me.
I don’t want him to say he does want me.
What if the OBS continues to get worse? I run my hands through my hair again, feeling my fingers tremble against my scalp.
“Don’t feel like you have to say yes just because of the bonding. ”
My stomach clenches as I wait for him to take the out, to finally admit he’s only trying to do the “proper” thing since our fuck up three years ago.
His eyes widen as shock floods the bond for a heartbeat. And then he’s leaning forward, palming my knees, and I practically groan from the sudden touch. His focus narrows on me, on where my Adam’s apple bobs as I swallow down a second sound.
“You think I’m only doing this because of the bond?” he asks.
Nutmeg surrounds us, so incredibly potent. I want to burrow into it. Instead, I continue on without answering his question.
“I’d understand if you don’t want me.”
“Don’t want you?” he drops from the coffee table with a fluid grace, wedging between my knees as his hands tighten painfully.
Need races through my veins, electrifying me. He sucks in a startled breath, and I know he can feel it, that it’s so powerful it’s overridden the suppressor.
“Well, yeah.” I shift under his touch, my dick so damn hard. “You’ve been distant when Megan and Charlotte haven’t. I figured it was?—”
“Fuck, Cole, stop,” he cuts me off with barked command. His nostrils flare as he breathes deeply, like he’s trying to keep himself under control. “Let’s start with the truth: I can’t even feel the bond most of the damn time, not with the suppressor I know you’ve been taking.”
I grimace, and he growls. Growls should make me worried, should fill me with dread. They’re signs of anger, of an Alpha right on the edge. My wires must be crossed, though, because instead of cowering under the sound, this one has me wanting to melt into him.
“Which means everything I’m doing is outside of that existing.
How can it influence me when most of the time I forget it’s there?
” He cups my cheeks, pressing a thumb into my lips.
I can’t help but let them drop open. His eyes darken, and the nutmeg intensifies until it’s all I can focus on.
Another consuming wave of need rushes through me, and he grunts, clearly feeling that one, too.
“And, Cole, I need you so bad I’ve spent the last day in physical agony.”
“You have?” My voice is nothing but breath.
He nods. “Every single time I see one of the girls touch you, I want to bend you over and bite you again just to prove it was me who had you first.” His cheekbones sharpen, and the nutmeg surrounding us like a cocoon gains a new edge, a sweet taste that betrays his overwhelming need.
“I told them I’d give them time to meet you.
I didn’t want them to feel pressured by the bond.
But now? Fuck, Cole, I need you so damn bad. ”
Something scared that’s lurked deep in me, kept from truly enjoying the last day with them all, settles.
Without panicking over what he might think about me, about matching, about my sickness, I twist my hands into his hair and kiss him, letting his arousal-drenched scent sweep me away in a wave of need so strong I might not ever surface from it.
“You can have me, you know,” I whisper against his lips.
A ragged “good” is his only reply before he’s stripping me.