Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
I spent hours lying awake in my bed last night as I mentally prepared myself to beg Nick for his help, but now that I’m here, I want to chicken out. The only thing that’s keeping me here is the idea of facing Kai as a single woman.
“I doubt he bites. Unless… maybe if you asked him to,” Benson teases in my ear, pushing me toward his brother.
In favor of waiting until we know what his brother will or won’t do, we’ve held off on talking about any rules. He dropped me off last night, and after a long, hot bath, I picked my outfit and planned a speech.
Nick is waiting in the dining room, eating his breakfast with his back turned to us. He knows we’re here. If he hasn’t scented us yet, he’s certainly heard us by now. Plus, his brother warned him I was coming.
With a deep breath and a single step forward, I falter. Spinning back around to face Benson, I let him see my panic.
“I can’t do this. I can deal with Nick rejecting my playful advances, but this is not a joke.
If he says no, what do we do? Did you talk to him this morning?
Did you tell him how desperate I am? That I begged you to help?
What did he say?” I ask in a frantic whisper, searching his eyes for all the answers, and deflating when he winces.
“Uh, not much before he chased me off with a hose,” Benson admits, frowning as he glances over me at his big brother.
“Fantastic.” I sigh, nodding my head sharply.
“I told him everything you told me. It’s going to be okay. He’s grumpy, but he’s a good man. He won’t be able to resist an omega in distress anymore than I could,” he says, resting both his hands on my shoulders, but I panic.
“But you said no the second time! You resisted!” I point out, but the alpha just scoffs.
“Pfft. Only so you wouldn’t think I was a freak that likes being used as eye candy to scare off ex-boyfriends,” he teases, winking at me. “Seriously, Plum. I was always going to help you. So will Nick.”
“Okay.” I breathe, trying to wrangle some calm composure into myself.
“Probably,” he adds slowly with a shrug, instantly ruining my attempt.
“Benson!” I hiss, turning to glare, but he just wiggles his brows at me, and I feel myself slump, realizing he’s just trying to push my buttons.
I stare into his eyes for a long moment and then nod once, determined to try, even if I’m about to fail miserably.
I unzip my light purple hoodie, hand it to him, and adjust my boobs in my bra so they look perky and cute under the tank top.
Then I turn to him, holding my arms out at my sides. “How do I look?”
“Sexy as ever,” he rumbles, blinking slowly as his eyes rise from my chest to my face. Right. Probably shouldn’t fondle myself with him standing so close. Noted. Although, the look in his eyes is flattering. I’ll pocket the information for later, either way.
“Great.” I huff, spinning to face Nick. I march over to him before I lose my nerve and decide to retreat to Benson for a second time. “Stop pretending I’m not here. If you just let me plead my case, I’ll leave you alone once I get an answer.”
“Plum,” he grunts, setting his fork down and looking up at me.
“Before you say no, just…let me speak,” I beg, planting myself right in front of him, hands on my hips as I meet his eyes.
“Full of fire already, I see.” He tilts his head and folds his arms over his chest as he leans back in his chair.
“I know you probably think this is a terrible idea, and I spent all night going over every reason not to, but none of them outweighed the number one reason I have to do this.” I reach over and grab his forearm, hoping he can see how desperate I am.
“If I don’t have a buffer, in this case, a brick wall of alpha muscle, between me and my ex, then Kai will come in like a sledgehammer and destroy all of my defenses.
He knows how to get under my skin, and I’m only so strong.
” I shake my head. “Actually, scratch that. I’m fucking weak.
” I bare my soul to the alpha before me, hoping he hears me.
Not just what I’m saying, but all the things I’ve been too scared to admit, even to myself.
“Maybe Kai won’t be deterred if he thinks I have two boyfriends, but I can tell you right now, if he thinks there's an easy way in, he’ll take it.
He doesn’t know the weakest link is me, and I’d rather keep it that way.
” I sniff, hating the tears that threaten to fall.
I woke up before the sun for this makeup, damn it.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.” I drop my grip on his arm and turn away from him, composing myself. This is so fucking embarrassing.
Thankfully, he gives me my space as I take several deep breaths, trying to get my shit together. When the urge to cry finally passes, I face the alpha once again. Benson is watching us from the doorway, giving us space but still offering support.
“I don’t want you to think I’m trying to use my tears to sway you.
That would be a cunt move. I’m trying to be honest with you.
More honest than I’ve even been with myself.
” I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest now.
“I was trying to use my cleavage against you though, if I’m being completely truthful,” I tease, hoping to dissolve some of the emotional tension that’s grown thick in the air.
“I hadn’t noticed,” he says, lifting one brow and then smirking.
“Maybe I should flash you to see if that helps you notice,” I snark, cupping my breasts for emphasis, smiling when he laughs and shakes his head at me.
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, but I do need your help.
Benson and I haven’t talked about it yet, but you can have your own rules, and we don’t have to do PDA.
I doubt you’d want that,” I say, and he raises his brows at me, but my need to fill awkward tension overwhelms me, and I keep going.
“I just mean, if you don’t like the idea of anyone seeing you kissing me, we don’t have to do that.
We can just tell people we’re private. I mean, you don’t have to do anything.
I’m just saying—” Thankfully he cuts me off mid-ramble, and I snap my lips shut.
“You think that if I’m with my omega, I wouldn’t want everyone to see us together?
That I would want to hide how badly I need her?
Or that I wouldn’t want everyone to know just how feral she makes me?
” Nick scoffs, rising out of the chair, taking three steps closer, and crowding me against the table as I bump it with my ass.
“That’s where you’ve got me all wrong, Plum.
There's a reason I’ve been single for so long, and it ain’t because I can’t handle kissing my girl in public.
” His words are a deep growl that sends shivers through my body, all the way down to my toes.
I’m surprised by his dominance and his willingness to show it to me.
“You just haven’t wanted anyone badly enough,” I assume, and he tilts his head, watching me as I lean back, hands planted on the table behind me. Nick drops his hands to the edge of the table at either side of my body, our faces just inches apart in a mimic of last night.
“Something like that,” he grunts. “I don’t care what rules you have with my brother,” he adds, leaning in another inch until our lips are just a breath apart.
“I’m the kind of alpha who would treat his omega very well, no matter who’s watching, and I’m not going to be a shitty partner just because this isn’t a traditional courtship. ”
His words sink in as his heat washes over me, his scent filled with confusing amounts of desire. My heart pounds in my chest as excitement courses through my system.
“Wait. Are you saying yes?” I ask with wide eyes, ready to start crying again, only this time from pure relief.
“Yes, Plum. I’m saying I’ll be your boyfriend.” He smirks as he says it, using the same taunting tone I always pull on him.
NICK
This is the craziest fucking thing I have ever agreed to. Not because I don’t want to help Plum. Just seeing her in distress as she explained herself was enough to sway me. Okay, that’s a lie. I was in this the second I heard the words ‘our omega’ come out of Benson’s mouth.
This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done because I just said yes to faking something I don’t know if I can actually fake.
My feelings for Plum? My desire for her? They’re already real.
Fuck, even now, as she squeals, leaping into my arms as she chants her thanks in my ear over and over, she’s threatening my sanity. Having her body wrapped around mine like she's a goddamn squirrel, and I'm a tree harboring her kidnapped nuts, is fucking with my instincts.
How the fuck am I supposed to pretend to be a fake boyfriend? If we have to make this look real, then doesn’t it have to be pretty fucking close to real? How the hell are we going to do that without falling for the lie?
I’m a damn fool.
Benson struts over, joining us, grinning like the asshole he is.
He told me about the arrangement again this morning, making it pretty fucking clear that he has no intentions of faking anything until I chased him off with the hose.
Thoughts of Plum already take up so much of my day, and I couldn’t concentrate on my chores.
The hose was the only thing that got him to shut up.
“You said yes?” he asks like he didn’t stand in the doorway watching the entire conversation, and I roll my eyes.
Would Plum be wrapped around me like a damn snake right now, trying to squeeze all the blood out of my body and into my cock, if I’d said no? Actually, I don’t know the answer to that. There’s a chance she would have done anything, including kidnapping me, to get me to agree.
I would have said yes to anything. She thinks she’s weak, but she doesn’t even know the power she has over me yet.