3. Chad
CHAPTER 3
Chad
After being given the brush-off by Dean earlier, I was roped into pointless conversation with my mother and her friends. She just wanted to show off her perfect, successful son. The fact I was recently on Omega in Paradise is a big hit with her friends. And, of course, she will use it to gain status amongst them.
It’s probably the first time I can say she has been proud of me since I presented as an omega. I should just walk away. I don’t want to be a show-horse for her and her friends. But I don’t; I stay and eat up the attention…because, well, I crave attention.
Jenny fawns over me like I might be part of her future. It takes everything in me not to shut her down with a few blunt words. But I don’t. My mom’s way too happy right now for me to crush her pride.
For hours they insisted on hearing every single story I could tell about my time on the show. Mostly they just wanted to know if I could see Lilah falling in love. Of course I could. I’m not blind. Still, I tell them the stories they want until I grow bored of the attention. Until the reminder of the show becomes a reminder of what led me to the show.
A reminder of Richard and not being able to please him in the end. Of not being what he wanted.
I’m on my knees scrubbing the baseboards for the third time today, my fingers raw and stinging from the bleach. But I keep going, determined to make everything perfect before Richard comes home. The counters gleam under the kitchen light, and the living room looks like a showroom. I’ve even folded his laundry into neat stacks on our bed—socks paired, shirts pressed. I tell myself he’ll appreciate all this effort. Maybe he’ll even smile and say thank you the way he used to.
But the second he walks through the door, I know I’m wrong. He tosses his coat onto the pristine couch, nose wrinkling like something’s foul in the air.
“What’s that smell?” he snaps, ignoring my greeting.
“It’s just the cleaner,” I say, trying to sound casual. My heart pounds. “I wanted everything to be nice for you.”
Richard scoffs, stepping over the vacuum cord. “I’ve had a long day, Chad. The last thing I need is a chemical smell in my face the second I walk in the door.”
I swallow hard and glance around at the spotless room. “I’m sorry, I ? —”
Before I can finish, he pushes past me toward the bedroom. My stomach is in tight knots. I trail behind him, hoping he’ll notice the neatly folded laundry on the bed. That it might redeem me in some way for the smell of bleach. Instead, he stops in front of the bed, his gaze going between the two neat stacks before he lets out a derisive snort.
“What’s this?” he demands. Then without warning, he swats the stacks onto the floor—socks and shirts scattering everywhere.
My perfume spikes with distress that I know he can smell, no matter how much I try to tamp it down. I know alphas don’t like it when my pheromones are too strong. “Richard, please…”
“You’re so desperate to show you’re useful, aren’t you?. It’s pathetic.”
Pathetic. I’ve heard that before. I lift my chin, trying not to cry.
He rounds on me, eyes narrowing. “Always hovering, trying to be the perfect omega. It’s suffocating.”
His words slam into me like a punch to the face. “I’m just…I thought…”
“Well you thought wrong,” he snarls. “I don’t want you here anymore. Pack your shit and get out.”
The floor feels like it’s shifting beneath me. “You don’t mean that—” I start, my voice shaking.
“I mean every fucking word. You’re useless. Be gone before I return, leave your keys on the counter.”
He storms out of the bedroom, then moments later, the front door slams. Silence echoes around me as tears burn behind my eyes. I take in the mess he made before shaking myself mentally. I have to go.
Pulling out a duffle bag, I toss as much of my stuff as I can fit inside. This is what I get for opening up. For thinking I can find a happily ever after with an alpha. I know better. My parents taught me that lesson long before any guy did.
There’s a hollow ache in my chest as I take the key off my keyring and place it on the counter. But beneath it is another feeling growing—resolve to never let another alpha close enough to hurt me again. I won’t let another alpha swoop in and rip away every shred of my dignity again.
As the door shuts behind me with a final click, I know it’s the end of an era and the start of a new one where I’ll never let myself get into that position again…
I yank myself out of the past and blink at the women surrounding me.
My skin grows tight with the idea of staying with them a second longer. Excusing myself from them with a fake smile, I fish out my phone like it’s ringing and I need to take the call. Then I stride out of the building and into the cooling evening air.
I pause next to the valet. It isn’t like I brought a car. I came with my mom. When the beta brings his eyes to me in question, I wave him off before heading down the sidewalk toward the small city.
It doesn’t take me long to make it to Main Street, and honestly, I miss walking since being here. In New York I could walk miles a day and that’s normal. Here…not so much. Well, unless I want to go hiking. But can you say bugs and wild animals? No thank you.
Stopping outside of the small mom and pop diner, one of the original places in Blue Ridge, I locate Lakelyn through the glass. She’s blushing like she’s just embarrassed herself again. I shift my attention to the man in the booth in front of her.
He watches her, a guarded look on his face, and I wonder about the relationship between them. Even from this distance I can see the attraction on both ends. Who wouldn’t be attracted to that beta, though. She’s light and sunshine, it radiates off her. Everything I’m missing right now. The reason I’m standing out here in front of her place of employment on the same day I met her.
Can you say stalker?
I shake the thought away. She seemed to want to see me again. The slight smile when she left me standing with Dean told me that. Still, I hesitate, watching them. When she rolls her lips together and barely looks back up at him, I push into the diner.
I glance around the tiny place, before allowing my gaze to settle on her. A slow smile curves my lips at her wide-eyed expression.
Without a word, I slide into a booth that is about five away from the guy she’s been talking to. She moves over, a pretty blush on her freckled face, as she stops in front of my table.
“Hey,” she greets me with a smile playing on her lips.
“Hey yourself, beautiful. I told you I’d stop by.”
She licks her lips, dipping her eyes to her order pad before bringing them back to me, the flush on her cheeks deepening. “I didn’t know it’d be today.”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and glances back at the man currently staring daggers at me. I don’t have to look at him to feel his attention on me. Pure alpha. The omega in me has a whimper attempting to break free just from the feel of his eyes on me. But I shove it away. I’m not here for him. I don’t need or want an alpha, I remind myself for the millionth time.
I shrug, sliding my palm over the tabletop and rapping my fingers against the surface, attempting to play it cool instead of the stalker I am. “What can I say, you intrigued me. I want to learn more.”
She holds back a smile that I’m sure would flash her straight white teeth at me if she allowed it. And suddenly I want to see it. The real deal. I'm not sure how to coax it out of her. With anyone else, I could turn on my charm and encourage her lips to form a happy smile. But it’s lost on me at the moment, and I feel more like a young omega who doesn’t know how to flirt.
“What can I get you?” she asks.
I drag my gaze from her eyes down to the notepad in her hands.
“I’m guessing you’re not on the menu,” I say. A surprised laugh pops from her mouth, and I’m graced with her full smile. A pleasant thread of happiness courses through me, and I know I’ll quickly become addicted to her laughter and warmth. “Pity.”
She doesn’t answer me, taking my words as harmless flirting. I’m sure she deals with a lot of it. And honestly, I’m surprised that she’s a virgin. Although, with the alpha in the other booth glaring at me, maybe it isn’t a mystery. Not if he hangs around enough. He probably scares people off. There’s an edge of violence to him. A raw, untamed energy that flows from him, and it takes everything inside of me to ignore his attention.
I tilt my head to the side, keeping my gaze on her. “So is that brooding alpha a friend of yours or?—”
She glances back at him before bringing her deep sapphire eyes back to me. The way she nibbles on her lower lip nervously isn’t missed on me. And I look back at him, taking in his dark looks. He’s attractive and definitely my type if I were after a bad boy. I’m not. Besides, his attention is all for her.
“How are you still a virgin with him around? It would be hard not to jump him with all of that chiseled intensity focused on me, and he’s definitely focused on you.”
She throws her head back with a laugh, her neck on full display. Tempting in ways she probably doesn’t realize. Before she can cut off her laugh, he’s sliding out of his booth and striding our way with determined steps.
He drops an arm around her shoulders, and she tenses slightly beneath the weight. Then he presses his lips to her temple, lingering like she’s his.
“Introduce me to your friend,” he murmurs, bringing his gaze to me. Tension radiates from him, and his eyes suck the air from my lungs and make it hard to remember what words are. Wild, untamed green, fierce and captivating as the heart of nature itself. It’s no wonder he lives here in Blue Ridge, he screams rugged mountain man if I’ve ever met someone who does.
I force myself to smile. My lips curl into my trademark pout effortlessly as I pin him in place. Damn, up close and personal, he’s even hotter. Pure animalistic alpha pours from him. He’s staking his claim on her. Not that she seems to realize it. His musk alone screams back off, she’s mine.
Yet, it makes something inside of me wake up and take notice. I shift in my seat as blood decides to rush between my legs. I’m up for a challenge. At least I won’t be bored.