Chapter 4
Chapter Four
This might be my most chaotic plan to date, but I’m desperate.
Please, please, please let Benson say yes, I silently beg the universe, prepared to offer him just about anything he asks for. Anything to get him on board.
What the hell do I even have to offer him?
Not enough.
I shake off the negative thoughts and lift my chin.
Maybe he’s an alpha who enjoys begging, and my desperate, pathetic pleas will be enough?
That actually sounds fucking absurd, even to me.
Last night while standing in the shower, staring at the wall until the water ran cold, I went over all the things I can offer in exchange for his help.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot to give an alpha like Benson.
Or anyone, honestly.
But I’m here at the farm, ready to beg on my knees if that’s what it takes.
“Hey!” I holler at the alpha when I finally spot him up ahead, fixing a wooden fence post for the goat pen.
Benson’s head snaps around, his startled eyes locking on me.
I don’t exactly have his phone number, so I couldn’t call to warn him I was coming over.
Probably for the best that I surprised him with this, anyway.
It’s harder for an alpha to reject a needy omega in person, and I’m not above using any advantage that I could possibly have at this point.
“Plum?” he calls back unsurely, like he’s half-convinced he’s imagining my voice. His brows furrow as he turns and rises from a squat until he’s standing and facing me fully.
His dirty blond hair is a little darker than usual, slightly damp from sweat, and his bluish-green eyes follow me as I walk over to him.
I try not to squirm under the intensity of his gaze, barely resisting the urge to fuss with my clothes.
I wore another one of my dresses today, a dark green one this time, deciding that looking good couldn’t hurt my chances when making such an insane request. I did throw my jean jacket over my shoulders on my way out of the door, though.
The chill has reached the point where I can’t really go without one.
“What’d I do to deserve this visit?” he asks with a smirk once the shock of seeing me on his farm appears to wear off. I’ve been here for the Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Village the last few years, but outside of that, it’s been a while.
I take a deep breath as he glances at my body and the green sundress I’m wearing. I nibble my bottom lip, concerned by how much I like the way he looks at me.
“I need your help,” I admit, drawing his attention away from my body and back up to my eyes. The truth is that Benson has been flirting with me for months, and I’ve always ignored it.
His older brother, Nick, is the alpha everyone thinks I want, and in a way, I do.
Nick’s handsome, constant, and reliable.
However, the truth is something much too embarrassing to admit to anyone.
Ever. Including my best friends. No, especially not to my best friends.
They don’t need to know how messed up my head still is. They already worry enough.
Right now, I’m in desperate need, and Benson is my best hope at keeping Kai at a distance. He’s my only hope, thanks to my panicking at the Halloween party. He’s also the last person I would’ve ever thought I’d be going to for help, but here we are.
“What’s wrong?” he asks as his playful smirk drops and is replaced with a concerned frown. Alphas can’t resist an omega in distress, and I am sincerely fucking distressed.
Taking one last deep breath, I lay all my cards on the table, hoping he doesn’t laugh in my fucking face.
“About the other night,” I whisper, wincing at the memory and the way things have only escalated since then. “I need you to be my fake boyfriend for a little longer.”
BENSON
The day I stopped thinking of girls as icky and started to notice how pretty they are was the day I realized the prettiest one of all is Plum Evermore.
I didn’t know anyone else with pure white hair or dazzling silver eyes.
I was drawn to her unique beauty. Unfortunately for my younger self, she’s a year older and, at the time, couldn’t be bothered with an annoying kid like me. Or boys at all, to be fair.
She’d been through a lot, and I envied her strength, even when I was still too young to truly understand it.
I admired the way she didn’t let her pain dim her light or turn her cold and mean.
I wanted to be like that too. Strong and full of light, no matter how shitty the adults around me were.
Whenever Dad would go on a rampage, I would think of her silver eyes and the way she always kept her head up, even when they were shining with unshed tears.
As the years went by, she only got stronger, smarter, kinder, and more loving. As well as undeniably beautiful. Then, when I was fifteen and she was sixteen, she started dating Kai.
Kai, the beta that’s going to be the best man at my little sister’s wedding next month. Of course, as a dumbass teen, I hated the guy for taking the girl who barely knew I existed. I did some stupid shit to get her attention whenever Plum and Sable came around to hang out with Rhian.
Long before Nick was even on her radar.
I watched Plum and Kai date for three years, hating every second of them being together, even though he clearly made her happy. When I heard they finally broke up, I thought I might have a chance with her eventually, but she was heartbroken in a way I don’t think anyone expected.
It didn’t help that Sable had already left town for school, and I was really worried about Plum being so alone.
Thankfully, my sweet saint of a sister quickly swooped in to comfort Plum.
The two of them got really close, really fast. For a while, I thought maybe their friendship would make it easier to get Plum to look my way, but the beautiful omega wasn’t interested in anything to do with men.
At least, she wasn’t until, to my complete fucking surprise, she started flirting with my oldest brother, Nick.
He’s ten years older than her, and at thirty, he wanted nothing to do with a twenty-year-old omega.
Nick has been single my entire life. Not one girlfriend brought home to meet the family. Not even rumors of him dating anyone. There have been rumors of him having one-night stands, but not many, and over the last nearly four years, I haven’t heard anything.
So, from where I stood, it looked like Plum decided to crush on the most emotionally unavailable alpha in town after having her heart broken by her first love.
For a long time I couldn’t tell if she just saw him as a challenge, but now I think she must have seen him as a safe option.
The unavailable older grump can’t break your heart if he never takes it to begin with.
Either way, I tried flirting with her every time he shot her down, hoping she might notice me. Really notice me. I don’t think she ever did, though. Maybe my desire for her was too obvious or just too much for the girl who wanted to avoid the risk of another heartbreak.
The closest I’ve ever come to getting her attention was last month. The night she found me walking on the side of the road, half-naked and beyond drunk.
She’s barely acknowledged my existence since she helped me out, so when she turned to me for help at the Halloween party, I was shocked but immediately on board.
There was no way I was going to deny her, even if I knew it wouldn’t lead to anything between us.
I didn’t spend years yearning for her attention just to reject it the second she looked my way.
Then, the most fucking incredible thing happened. Her scent changed when I looked down at her. She stared back into my eyes, her peppermint scent sweetened, and for a moment, it was like Kai wasn’t even there. For that one moment, I thought maybe she was finally seeing me.
She took my hand, leading me out of the bar, and like a lovesick puppy on a leash, I followed her.
The second the night air washed over us, it was like the spell broke, and she left me standing in the parking lot, wondering if I imagined the connection between us.
I spent the entire night and all of yesterday replaying it all.
Did I imagine that look in her eyes, the way her scent turned into peppermint candy?
I’ve been wondering if I’d lost my one and only chance to show her I can be what she needs. Until now.
“About the other night,” she murmurs.
She’s staring up at me like I’m her only hope.
Her beautiful silver eyes lock on mine, plush pink lips parting as she watches me.
There’s a hint of desperation in her peppermint and evergreen scent, but there’s also something sweeter.
Her scent lights me up from the inside, and her cheeks flush bright pink as she swallows, clearly struggling to get the rest of her words out.
Every instinct screams at me to throw her over my shoulder and drag her to the barn so I can knot her until she’s mine forever…
I ignore them. That would be too much and way too fast for an omega like Plum. For any omega, if I’m honest. I’ve got to take my time with her. I need to make her fall in love with me, and I have to do it before she realizes it's even happening.
“I need you to be my fake boyfriend for a little longer,” she finishes, wincing at her own words.
“Why’s that, Sugarplum?” I lift one brow, trying really hard to hide my shock and, more importantly, my excitement. I should thank Kai for coming back to town so early, or this moment might have never happened.
“Kai,” she growls through gritted teeth, like she hates saying his name. I can’t blame her. Their breakup was brutal and very public. I didn’t witness it myself, but I heard all about it. The whole town did.
I was surprised to see him at the Halloween party. It was something Plum clearly wasn’t expecting either, to say the least, but I’m sure fucking thankful he was there. Plum wouldn’t be looking up at me like this right now if he hadn’t been.