Chapter 3 Daisy
Daisy
The carriage is jam-packed as I make my way down the aisle, trying to find a window seat if possible—I like to gaze out at the world as it whizzes by, lost in my music or my writing.
All around the train, small kids squeal in delight as they’re eager for a spring vacation filled with chocolate Easter eggs.
In the end, I manage to slip into a table seat. I’ll be traveling backwards, but beggars can’t be choosers. At least I have a window. I’ll also be in a noisy carriage filled with crying babies, but I booked at the last minute; it can’t be helped.
I keep telling myself that this was a mistake. That I should stay in the city for spring break and forget all about Silverpine.
But the idea of seeing all those old faces again has me smirking like a clever fox who just figured out a way to dig beneath the chicken coop. I can’t wait to tell them all how I’m a published author now. I’m also looking forward to speaking with my slightly affected accent.
Yes, I’m worldly now; I’ve lived on both sides of the Atlantic, while most of those faces back at school probably haven’t left Silverpine.
I have a long train ride ahead of me. So, I pull out my laptop, placing it down on the table before me as I search for a power outlet. The moment I attach the cable to the wall, hoping to get some words down for my newest novel, a disgruntled voice distracts me.
My heart accelerates, but I don’t dare look up. It’s a voice I have never forgotten.
“You’re unremarkable….”
“How dare you… You are a stranger…”
My fists curl as my nails cut into my palms, and then I turn, spying that Alpha in the business suit.
Well, well. If it isn’t Rowan Thorn.
He hasn’t changed one bit. Honestly, he has only grown more devastatingly handsome. I knew he would grow into that cleft chin one day. Back then, it looked too heavy on his teenage face, but Rowan is a Greek statue now.
His nose is even more pronounced, even more aquiline, and his jet-black hair is well kept. He still has the icy pale eyes as they’re fixed on the train conductor.
“I booked a first-class seat.”
The conductor shrugs. “Sorry, fella. But all first-class seats have been taken. We have a lot of elderly folks on board today.”
My scent match holds up his train ticket, waving it in the other man’s face. “This is preposterous. I demand that you ask them to move. They have robbed me of my seat.”
The conductor sighs. “Sorry. I can’t do that. One of the elderly folks has a bad leg. You’ll just have to find another seat.” The man whizzes off to collect more tickets.
Meanwhile, Rowan is incensed as he glares at the back of the Beta male’s head. Then he sighs, facing the carriage at last. His eyes roll when he spies all those children running amok. In the end, he concedes, moving down the aisle to find a seat.
The only empty seat is the one directly in front of me.
Shit.
I lied: I’m not ready to face my old school friends, after all. Perhaps he won’t recognize me. Maybe if I just bury my nose into my laptop, he’ll be none the wiser that I was the girl he once rejected.
The one he left broken in the hallway.
What feels like a lifetime later, he settles down into the seat opposite me, pulling out his own laptop.
I don’t lift my eyes from my screen as I just pretend to type. My fingers move at random. So far, I have written zjjhsjjsddgsajg…
Riveting stuff. Bestseller for sure.
A toddler screams on the table across from us, and I hear Rowan exhale, yanking out a pair of EarPods as he places them in his ears.
Now he knows what it’s like to ride amongst mere mortals. I glance at the baby, thanking her silently. Anything to distract him from looking at me.
The baby stops crying when she notices my gaze, and then she laughs, pointing at me.
Oh, crap.
Babies have always been fascinated by me. It’s an Omega thing. They just love us. But she’s drawing attention back to me.
The little girl’s mother chuckles. “You’ll have to teach me how you do that.”
I just shrug, trying not to speak lest the Alpha across from me recognizes my buttery voice. Not that we ever traded more than a few words.
The day he rejected me in the hall was the only time he ever acknowledged me. It was the only time any of them did.
I doused myself with desensitizer before I left the apartment this morning, so at least he won’t pick up on the fact that I’m the Omega he rejected.
Even if I didn’t have the desensitizer, he wouldn’t even know my scent of May-blossom.
Meanwhile, I never forgot his.
The smell of wet moss after a thunderstorm... It’s addictive. It lingers in the air now as I try to block it out as much as possible.
Hours pass by as I keep stealing glances at him. His hair is so black. Even in the sun, it shines like oil.
And it’s perfectly kept.
Gods, that jawline… and those plump, kissable lips. I remember how I used to dream about them as a teen.
Even as he chews on his pen, staring at nothing but his laptop, I think about kissing them. Too bad he probably doesn’t even remember me.
I bet that day was inconsequential for him. Just one insignificant moment buried amongst hundreds of others.
There is so much I have wanted to say to this Alpha ever since I left Silverpine. Imaginary arguments I have had in the shower while I’m lathering my hair.
I guess now would be my chance to tell him what an asshole he is. And I should demand an apology, too.
It’s a miracle I ever saw another day. Omegas can be badly affected when they’re rejected by their Alpha and scent match.
Omegas just like Rowan’s mom…
I wonder how Molly Thorn is these days.
Did she ever come out of that shell?
I push thoughts of that tragic Omega aside as I bury my own deep inside. It was the only way I could survive.
I still had a zest for life, despite everything. They never broke me for good. Writing sustained me. Creating new worlds and characters far from my own kept me grounded in reality, ironically enough.
If I can survive them, then I can survive anything.
However, when my Omega gets a whiff of that pure, musky Alpha scent again, she claws her way from beneath my skin, demanding release.
No…
I have to cross my legs next as the fluttering begins, and then my knickers dampen. Sorry, panties; I keep forgetting what side of the pond I’m on, and why do they even call it a pond? It’s a bloody ocean. One filled with icebergs.
Oh, shit. He’s looking at me. He’s noticed me…
Now I feel his ice-cold glare as I keep typing suhdbushfksjdkj on my laptop. My cheeks burn, and it only makes my sweet scent of May-blossom stronger.
So much for the desensitizer.
Damn. It’s been a while… I almost missed it.
The Alpha inhales sharply, and then he growls. My pussy throbs harder as the raw, male sound vibrates across the table, but I just keep typing at random.
In the end, he yanks on his tie, and then he opens the window rather angrily so he can get back to work.
My fists ball, creating more crescent shapes in the skin of my palms. Bastard. He really hasn’t changed at all.
“You’re unremarkable…”
Well, two can play at that game. Now I reach across, slamming the window shut. I swear the air frosts as his eyes lift from his laptop.
What’s he going to do? Reject me again?
Not if I reject him first.
He makes a disgruntled noise, something between a scoff and a snarl, as he opens the window again. I wait a few moments before I reach up, shutting it again.
In the end, he sighs, and for the first time in ten years, those thin, pinprick pupils find me. “Is there a problem, miss?”
I don’t speak at first. I’m just so stunned to be gazing into those glacier irises again after so many years. They’ve haunted me for a decade, yet there they are, as disdainful as ever.
Still, I can’t stop the smirk that crosses my lips as I lean back, abandoning my random typing. It was only a matter of time, and we still have hours left before we reach Silverpine.
“You don’t remember me, do you, Rowan?”
The Alpha’s taut facial muscles loosen, and he just deadpans me now. It looks like he has forgotten all about me, after all.
Not that I blame him. I do look different now. For one, I no longer wear grandma sweaters. Now I wear a pretty floral dress that shows off my curves as I reach out my manicured hand.
“Daisy Rose. The girl you rejected in high school.”