6. Sterling #2
Omegas need touch, crave human contact. We can get sick without it. Touch-starved. I once heard my aunt talking about it. At the time, I’d thought how sad that would be—how lonely—and I never imagined I’d understand it so intimately.
But here, wrapped up in JP’s arms, my body comes alive.
It’s like my skin has been frozen for years and he’s the sun thawing me out.
Every press of his fingers, every slow, careful stroke of his hand down my back, makes something in me unravel.
Like I’ve been holding myself together with fraying thread and his touch is what finally cuts me free.
I lean into him. A soft, barely-there whimper escapes me again, before I can stop it.
“Thank you,” I whisper into his neck.
This time, JP stiffens. The sudden shift in his emotions is so palpable, it’s like a physical blow. His entire body goes taut, muscles coiled tight beneath my touch, his expression shuttered and distant.
And then—he’s just gone.
He stands and jerks away so abruptly that I lose my balance, tumbling backward and hitting the hard bench with a thud.
The impact makes my teeth snap together, and when I look over, JP is as far away from me as he can possibly get in this cramped cabin.
His shoulders are hunched, his gaze fixed on something—anything—that isn’t me.
The movement is sharp, unexpected, and confusing. The loss of his warmth is immediate and jarring, the cold rushing back in with a vengeance, seeping into my bones.
A violent shiver racks through me, teeth chattering as goosebumps break out across my skin. I blink up at him, dismayed and confused.
Did I do something wrong? Did I offend him?
The feeling I hate the most slinks into me. Fear. That awful, creeping doubt that comes with not knowing. Of doing something wrong. Of making a mistake. Of not being good enough. Of not knowing how to be normal.
Before I can process JP’s abrupt rejection, Cass’s hand is suddenly there—strong, steady, extended toward me. His grip is firm, unwavering, pulling me up with ease.
I cling to his hand longer than necessary, my fingers clenching around his like he’s the only solid thing in a world that’s suddenly gone tilted and strange.
I force myself to look away from JP, my chest tight and unsettled, and focus on Cass instead. But whatever easygoing expression he had earlier is gone. Now, his face is carefully blank, his eyes distant, his jaw set like stone. Professional. Detached.
“Thanks,” I mutter under my breath, my voice small and strained. Cass’s indifference feels less intense than JP’s outright rejection, but it still stings. The sharp, bitter edge of rejection settles heavily in my chest, its weight pressing down until I can barely breathe.
He saved my life. If JP hadn’t jumped in after me, I would’ve drowned. The realization hits hard and fast, sobering and uncomfortable.
JP saved my life, and now he can’t even stand to look at me.
Before I can make any sense of what’s happening, Daisy is there at my side, shoving her massive, brooding, confusing brother and Cass out of the way with a force only a determined Omega could muster.
“Jesus, you assholes, what’s your damned problem?” she snaps, her voice sharp. Then her arms are around me, warm and solid and unflinching, wrapping me up like a mother hen shielding her chick from circling hawks.
“Are you okay? God, Sterling, you scared the hell out of me.” She’s fussing over me, her hands moving restlessly—brushing the damp hair from my face, rubbing warmth into my arms, tugging the collar of JP’s jacket close and the hood of Cass’s sweatshirt over my head. “Idiots…all of them!”
I want to smile at her attempt to comfort me by berating her brother. But the weight of everything that just happened sits heavy in my chest, impossible to ignore. The tangled emotions, the confusion, the hurt—it’s all too much.
“I’m fine,” I manage to say, but the words feel thin and fragile. And I’m definitely not fine. Not even close.
JP doesn’t say a word. Neither does Cass.
They just stand there, stiff and quiet. Scowling. Looking anywhere but at me. Busying themselves with something on the console.
“Let’s get you home,” Daisy says softly, her voice all gentle concern and barely restrained fury aimed at her brother and Cass. “You’ve had enough excitement for one day.” She doesn’t spare them a glance, her focus locked entirely on me.
I nod, my head feeling heavy, still wrapped in the oversized sweatshirt and jacket JP helped me into. Their scents cling to me,comforting and confusing all at once.
“Did you drive here this morning?” Daisy asks, her arm looped protectively around my shoulders as she helps me over the edge of the boat and onto the dock.
I shake my head, wishing I had driven. That I could just get in a car and escape this entire mess.
“You walked here at four-thirty in the morning?” she practically shrieks. “Damn, girl! That’s hardcore. Well, I’ll give you a ride.”
“I needed the walk,” I say with a weak laugh and shrug, the sound coming out brittle, hollow. “So I couldn’t back out.” The truth sits thick and ugly in my chest. “Now I’m thinking that was probably a bad idea.”
And to my horror, tears well up in my eyes. The dam breaks and everything just crashes over me at once. The near-drowning, the shock, the embarrassment, the rejection.
All of it hitting me all at once until my chest aches with the pressure of it. The tears turn into full-blown, wracking sobs before I can even try to stop them.
“Oh, sweets, I got you.” Daisy pulls me into her arms, her grip strong and unwavering as she guides me toward her car. Her embrace feels safe and solid: she’s shielding me from the sharp edges of the world.
Behind us, Cass’s voice booms from the edge of the boat. His voice, deep and strained, thick with an Alpha command he can’t seem to suppress. “Take care of her, Daisy.” His words are rough, a plea wrapped in frustration.
Daisy snorts, rolling her eyes as she helps me into the passenger seat.
“No shit, Alpha. Now go home and don’t come out until you guys figure out how to be decent human beings again. Maybe get Quinn to give you a few pointers.”
She slams the door with more force than necessary, her eyes blazing with righteous indignation as she storms around the hood to the driver’s side.
I hear her say, “God, they can just be such dicks, sometimes.”
And as she climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the engine, I catch one last glimpse of Cass and JP standing on the line between land and sea.
Both of them watching me go, both of them looking like they’re the ones drowning, now.
And I can’t make the two versions of them make sense. Kind one moment and cold the next.
She waves him off with a flippant gesture but it doesn’t change the way they’re looking at me.
Honestly, I’ve never seen a more conflicted, confusing look in my life. Anger. Restraint. Hunger. It’s all there. And my body reacts before my mind can catch up.
My breath catches. And more tears spill down my cheeks. Good God, pull your shit together, I chastise myself as I look away, though my traitorous mind wonders what it would feel like to be pressed up against them, between them.
To be lost in the haze of heat and instinct, swallowed by the sheer weight of them—of all that raw masculinity.
I’m so lost to the sudden ache in my core that not even Daisy’s mothering can distract me from the truth.
Had JP tried to kiss me, I would have let him. That and a whole lot more.