Chapter 23
Focusing on the game I was supposed to be trying to win was nearly impossible.
I slammed my fingers down, pressing the spacebar way too hard as I tried to evade the killer, but it was no use. I was so fucking distracted worrying about my date with Marcus that I'd totally missed them getting behind me, dragging me back to his lair with my health bar depleting rapidly.
"Sorry, guys," I sighed into my mic, leaning back in my chair in an attempt to alleviate the tension building in my shoulders.
It was no use, I'd spent way too long crouching like a shrimp in front of my monitors today, and the only thing that was going to fix it was a hot shower.
Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. I was destroying my win stats anyway by feeding, I might as well get a jump on getting ready.
Even if I wanted to pretend like this was no big deal, a date that was built entirely out of obligation.
.. I hadn't spent any real time with Marcus since my heat.
And, if I was honest with myself... I was curious about the alpha.
He was gruff and distant, but... There was a subtle sweetness that lingered under the surface that I wanted to dig my fingers into.
Rip apart like wrapping paper to see what I was really dealing with.
Offering the camera a bright smile, I shrugged in a way that I hoped read as charmingly self-deprecating. "Alright chat, I'm cooked as fuck, might as well hop off and save my ego."
b1gd1ckb33
getting on afterdark?
betadaddee1
its okay eva! ^-^ !! u tried! !!
go0nmaster4k
spicy time? hoping for a repeat of the other night.
britfan_22
playing like DAWWWGGGGGGG SHIIIIIIIT
"No, I don't have time for Afterdark tonight. Let's try for tomorrow, okay?" I waved, and clicked my camera off, closing the little sliding cover over the main webcam that pointed towards my bed, pushing away from the desk with a little sigh.
Since I'd signed the contract a week ago, I'd expected that the guys and Indi would've been trying to spend time with me nonstop, but so far things had been actually pretty normal. Indigo and Joon texted a lot, and Cameo showed up in chat whenever I went live… but Marcus?
Maybe he was just waiting for tonight.
I headed for the bathroom, grabbing a fluffy black towel on the way that I sat on the edge of the vanity.
I'd learned a long time ago that anything other than black towels were a waste of money.
Even with my hair in pastels, I'd ruined enough whites and light pinks to default to darker tones now.
I only managed to save my sheets by sleeping with my hair up and in a wrap.
Which, if the internet was to be believed, was good for it anyway, so, win-win.
The shower ticked on with a hiss, and I called out to my speaker to start playing my getting ready mix.
An everything shower was like, the obvious move, right?
I'd signed up to be a free-use baby factory, and from what I remembered Marcus was pretty demanding, it would make sense that he'd expect to cash in on our deal. So...
Everything shower it was.
I brushed through my hair, tossing the brush onto the towel and knocking both to the floor in the process as I got into the shower to start washing.
A thump that didn't quite sound like the music made me pause midway through my lather, sliding the glass door of the shower open to listen.
Since the break into my car, I'd been a little skittish.
There's no one there, I told myself firmly. Get a grip, Eva.
Obviously, whoever had broken into my car was just looking for some cash or valuables or whatever, there wasn't any reason they'd break into my apartment. Or even know my address.
I was just being... anxious.
Maybe I should lay off the horror movies.
Being an omega was exhausting. How was I supposed to have the energy to have sex after I washed, conditioned, scrubbed, exfoliated, shaved, and moisturized?
By the time I finally turned the shower off the glass door was totally fogged with steam and I wasn't sure if I'd hurt or helped my shoulders pretzelling my body into a hundred different positions to try and see if i'd missed any spots.
I stepped onto the bathmat, grabbing my towel off the vanity and nearly knocking my hairbrush off the counter in the process.
Wait, hadn't I knocked this over?
I wrapped myself in the towel, as if that was going to do anything for me as far as having to fight for my life butt naked.
"Clara, turn down the music to ten percent." Then, like the absolute dumbest bimbo alive, called out, "Hello?"
Nothing, obviously.
Maybe I'd picked it up already? It had been a pretty harrowing hour of personal maintenance in the shower, and I was distracted... it wasn't the furthest thing for the realm of possibility that I just... forgotten.
God, Eva. Get a fucking grip...
Laughing at my own jumpiness, I dried off, opening the mirrored medicine cabinet to pull out my toothbrush. But, when I closed the door, movement out of the corner of my eye in the darkened hallway made me jump, wheeling around to catch—nothing.
"This is fucking pathetic," I complained to myself, picking up my phone to text my group chat with Indigo and Joon.
3 kateers
I keep spooking myself that someone is in my apartment :(
lol, maybe its me!
haunting you since you're going on a date w/o me :(
indi
if you wanted a date u should've asked, stupid alpha.
joon
MARCUS WAS TOO FAST
indi
so... just to be clear. you are not in my apartment?
only in spirit.
ha, get it?
indi
hilarious
need us to come over princess?
joon
no, no! i'm soooo just being silly.
I texted them on and off between brushing my teeth and styling my hair, making quick work of my makeup before I'd run out of steps that I could do without leaving the relative safety of my bathroom.
Giving my hair a final dust of hairspray, I misaligned the nozzle and accidentally blasted myself in the face with the product, covering the inside of my nose and mouth with an absolutely disgusting coat of chemicals.
Ugh.
Spitting into the sink and trying to rinse my mouth, I grabbed my phone and headed for my room.
My rental wasn't anything fancy, but the apartment wasn't dreadful either.
.. except for the lack of a bathtub. Whoever decided to skip that and put in a standing shower only was soooooo totally an alpha.
I was just lucky that Omega's Lust had the most decadent baths on the planet in their rooms. There was nothing like a long soak while you were in heat, it always made everything better.
what does Marcus like? Skirts?
how am I supposed to know?
joon
Skirts. Dresses. Shorter the better. He's a thigh man.
indi
how tf do you know that?
joon
what alpha isn't?
indi
I laughed as I pulled a pair of panties from my drawer, tugging them on and inspecting myself in the full length mirror in the corner of the room.
Tempting, for sure. But I'd need to figure out what I was wearing before I decided on a bra.
come over after your date, I wanna see you all dolled up.
indi
ok ;)
u gonna be good until then?
if by “good” you mean pout, maybe
joon
HEY!
indi
I laughed, tossing my phone down onto the bed before opening my closet to thumb through my options, being as ruthless as I could when it came to narrowing down my choices.
Luckily for me, short skirts weren't exactly an endangered species in my wardrobe.
My fingers landed on the silken strap of a minidress and I tugged the fabric closer to inspect the color.
Light pink, more on the side of blush than peach.
The color was fine, but the real star of the show was the cut, low up top and high from the thigh, the exact sort of thing that Indigo was implying Marcus would like.
I pushed aside the other hangers with a squeal of metal against metal, moving to remove the dress from where it hung.
A scream tore from me and I staggered back, still gripping the hanger as a white mask loomed out of the darkness, followed by a thin frame dressed in all black.
The mask itself was familiar, the eye holes shaped like horizontal half moons with streams of thick red paint like blood pouring down the pale cheeks. A pair of sharp horns sprouted from the head near the temples.
I staggered a few steps, brandishing the hanger like a weapon at the intruder.
"What do you want!? Please don't hurt me!"
The masked man chuckled, the sound cold and condescending as he caught my wrist with long, skeletal tattooed fingers that I would recognize anywhere.
My fear cracked, giving way to a wash of something far more pleasant, my still-quickened heartbeats making every move feel like it was life or death.
"Tesoro," Cameo tutted softly, disappointment dripping from his subtle accent. "Is this really the best you have to fight me off?"