15. Lucas
Six weeks pass quickly. Mainly because I’ve kept myself busy with hockey games, training, and trying to stop Stanton from jumping off a building.
I can’t get Scarlett out of my mind and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t find her, even though I’m absolutely certain I can smell her.
I’ve been ramping up my exercise routine. Hitting a boxing bag is great for blowing off steam. And after hitting the gym this morning, I grabbed my water bottle and towel and headed back to my apartment.
Smiling at the doorman, Trent, as I enter the building. He’s dressed formally in a suit with a heavy wool coat over the top. I point to my mouth. “I’m smiling. So, what are your words of wisdom today?”
“You still look like you lost,” he says.
“I did. But not hockey.”
His head bobs like he knows already. “A woman?”
I shrug my shoulders.
Trent says, “If you find someone who makes you smile like that, never let her go.”
“Hockey makes me smile.” I test him.
“Really? You’ve played hockey for years, yet that’s the first genuine smile I’ve ever seen you give me.”
I grumble as I walk away, then I turn back to him. “I found someone.” Exhaling a deep breath, I continue. “But I lost her.”
He pats my shoulder. “She’s not lost, she’s hidden. The best treasure is always hidden. You have to dig deeper for it.”
I chuckle. “She’s an omega...” I hesitate. “But it’s her scent. It’s like she belongs to me.” I lift my chin high and pull the hem at the neck of my tee shirt lower to let him see the small claiming bite she made on my flesh. “She did this.”
“She felt you too. She could probably smell your scent as her mate.”
“Why doesn’t she want to be found?” I ask, expecting Trent to give me the answer nobody else can.
“Be patient. I heard a tale once about a man in first-class seats and his alpha got crazier and crazier on a flight because he could scent his mate.”
“His mate?”
“Scent matching.” He confirms. “When he got off the plane, she was waiting at the end of the gangway for him.”
“She knew.”
Trent nods. “It’s powerful. She won’t be gone forever.”
I glimpse at the cars as they drive down the street, wondering if she’s ever been back to New York to look for me since that night. Why would she?
“But this one wants to be a beta.”
I hate the pitying look he throws at me when he sighs. “Oh!”
A steel band binds itself around my heart. Exhaling a heavy breath, I murmur, “Yeah. I should go.”
My footsteps are as heavy as my heart as I walk across the tiled floor to the bank of elevators.
The moment that I step inside, my phone dings with an incoming message.
I groan when I see my father’s name.
Henry: I need to speak to you about the charity event your team is hosting.
I’m in no mood to speak to him or listen to his latest demands. I mute his calls. He’ll expect me to call him back immediately, like the control freak he is.
This time, I’ll call him when I’m ready.
Inside my apartment, I shower and dress in a clean pair of shorts and a tee shirt before I step out of my room to get some breakfast.
I feel Stanton’s eyes burn into me as I walk past him to get a drink.
It’s been the same for the past six weeks.
Because he blames me for losing his omega.
He forgets she was mine first, but still, I never wanted things to turn out this way.
The tension between us—both at home and on the ice—is unbearable. His gaze is heavy, the same as always, accusing and resentful.
I grab a glass from the overhead cupboard and fill it with water, trying to ignore the tension radiating from Stanton. But it’s impossible. The air in the room feels heavy with unspoken words. I wish he would just shout at me, tell me how he’s feeling.
I can’t stand it any longer.
“We need to talk,” I say after I take a sip of water.
He grunts.
“We’ve let an omega get between us. She’s torn our bond apart.”
“You claimed we never had a bond. That we’re not a pack.”
Stanton blames me for letting her slip away, for not being there when she woke. For leaving her to sleep. He thinks I did it on purpose because of my father. I’ve tried to tell him it was a mistake. I tried—but he doesn’t care.
And maybe he’s right. Maybe I could have done more.
“I never believed we had a bond until her.” I set the glass down with a shaky hand, unable to meet Stanton’s intense stare any longer.
The weight of his anger these past weeks is suffocating, making it hard to breathe. But I know that deep down, beneath all the hurt and resentment, there’s still a chance we can be friends. “I called you that night, nobody else. I wanted you to share her with me.”
“And now she’s gone. You did something wrong, Lucas. She deleted all access to you. I should never have left you alone with her.”
“Your mother died that night,” I grunt.
He lowers his face to stare at the floor before pushing his hands through his hair.
“I’m sorry.” I know Stanton is still grieving his mother. How can he not?
I also know the hatred he feels for me right now is consuming him from the inside out. I can see it in the way his hands tremble slightly, the way his jaw clenches and unclenches, as if trying to contain the storm raging within him. But what he doesn’t understand is that I’m grieving too, in my own way.
“I miss her, Lucas,” he admits quietly, his voice raw with unspoken grief. “I miss her so much it hurts.”
“She was your mom. You’re entitled to feel the way you are.”
“I miss my mom. But I miss Scarlett…”
“You knew her for hours. You probably can’t remember what she looks like.”
“I felt her, and her perfume caused my body to sing like nobody ever has before. I know if she wasn’t so deep in her heat, she’d realize I had the same scent.” Stanton looks up at me, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face.
I could argue that Scarlett is mine, but he’s not ready to hear that today.
“I never wanted this to happen,” I say roughly, hoping my words will reach the part of Stanton that still considers me a friend. “I never wanted to lose her, or for her to come between us.”
“She was ours.” His words are soft as he looks up at me, his eyes meeting mine for the first time since the tension began to build in the room. There’s a flicker of something in his gaze, not only hurt and anger, but there’s a need there. A need only an omega can provide.
I swallow. I feel the same way.
“But she’s gone now,” he says, his voice rough with emotion. “And we’re left picking up the pieces of what we briefly had and let slip through our fingers.”
“I’m still looking for her. I know she’s the one, Stanton. But…”
He interrupts. “And your father? How are you going to deal with him?” His jaw clenches and there’s a tightness around his eyes.
Despite the tension hanging in the air, I refuse to let our friendship wither away. “She’s the one, Stanton. She bit me in her heat.”
His shoulders slump, a gasp of air expels from his lips. “You told me, but if she was the one, you’d feel her through the bond. And you don’t.”
Taking a deep breath, I meet Stanton’s gaze head-on. “I know when she’s upset.”
“You told me you never felt her.”
“I lied.” Because I wanted her for myself.
“You think she’s your omega?”
“I know she is, but it’s over, Stanton. What I was about to tell you earlier is she never wanted to be an omega. After her heat was over, she was getting a beta implant.”
My shoulders feel heavy when Stanton presses his face into his hands.