The Wrong Pucking Omega (Knotty Puckers #12)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Kai

Thursday

“Logan? I’m home. Should I make something for us to eat before we leave?” I called, entering our student apartment and slinging my backpack onto the old couch.

This semester had been a lot and spring break couldn’t come soon enough. My boyfriend and I were going to Bali with our friends–and were leaving in just a few hours. I was excited for this trip. Not just the surfing, but a chance to relax–and spend some time with Logan.

We were both in the last semester of our last year of undergrad at the Hilo campus of Hawai’i University, with our respective doctoral programs looming after graduation. I was studying ethnobotany and he was studying kinesiology.

Opening the fridge, I appraised the contents–there wasn’t a lot in it, mostly because we were leaving. A sigh escaped my lips as I saw the sink was full of dishes.

“Maybe we should leave early and just grab something at the airport?” I called. I figured that Logan and I were going on our own, since our friends didn’t mention we were carpooling to the airport.

No answer. Huh. He should be back from class by now.

With a frown, I checked to see if he was in the shower. Nope.

He wasn’t anywhere in the tiny one-bedroom apartment.

“That’s weird.” Sitting on the bed in our messy room, worry pooled in my belly. Had something happened? Was he called into his off-campus internship and ended up in a car wreck?

I checked his location on my phone. We shared them for safety purposes–more his insistence than mine. But he was an alpha, I was an omega. It was in their nature to protect, and I had nothing to hide.

Logan was my boyfriend, my alpha. We’d met as freshman, got together sophomore year, and had moved in together this past fall. I was pretty sure he was proposing on this trip. Maybe we’d even bond. After all, we were both continuing our advanced degrees here in Hilo.

No location found. I frowned at my phone. His last location, at the airport in Honolulu.

Honolulu? We needed to fly to Honolulu first. Apprehension shot through me. What was going on?

My packed suitcase sat on a chair, but I didn’t see his. Weird. It was there this morning.

I texted him.

Me

Where are you? We should probably leave for the airport soon.

Immediately, I texted my best friend, Raven. She and her boyfriend were also going on the trip with us, along with two other friends.

Me

Have you seen Logan? Are you meeting us at the airport or are we all going together?

Her last location was also in Honolulu. What was even happening?

I went into the group chat we created for the trip and realized that I’d been removed this morning. Puzzled, I frowned at the screen. Why would they remove me? Not only had this trip been my idea, since I loved to travel, but I’d planned and financed most of it.

Getting my laptop out of my backpack, I logged into the airline portal. My heart fell. Canceled? Why was my ticket canceled?

It hadn’t been canceled recently, either. Why haven’t I gotten a notification? I went into my settings and found that my email and phone number had been changed.

To Logan’s.

Why would they have taken me off the group chat? Why would they cancel my ticket and not tell me? Confusion and hurt consumed me. I didn’t understand.

I continued to stare at the canceled reservation.

Where did the refund go? I spent a lot on this trip.

Money that I really didn’t have to spend.

I was the one with a credit card, with enough savings to cover the deposit.

Everyone convinced me that it was worth it and said they’d pay me back.

After all, graduation was coming. We’d all worked hard these past four years and deserved this trip.

My hands shook. Using my ticket refund, and my account, Logan had purchased another ticket in someone else’s name. For a different time. Logan’s ticket was also there, since I’d bought and paid for his–which he hadn’t reimbursed me for.

It had been changed to times that matched hers.

I checked my best friend's socials and saw a photo of six people with their bags, dated from hours ago. Off to Bali for some relaxation and no toxicity.

No toxicity?

Somebody commented: Where’s Kai? Didn’t they put this all together?

Kai’s too controlling and annoying so we left them behind, ha-ha.

That was my boyfriend.

My boyfriend, the one I thought was proposing, just called me, Too controlling and annoying and admitted he’d left me behind on purpose.

Hurt stabbed my heart. How could he say that? I thought he loved me. He told me he loved me.

Yeah, can you imagine Kai’s sad pitiful face? my bestie added.

Isn’t that mean? someone asked.

It’s not mean. We’re just teaching Kai a lesson. I can’t have an omega that thinks they can be a nag and control me. Don’t worry, I’ll buy Kai something nice, my boyfriend added.

Too controlling and annoying? Were they referring to me asking everyone regularly to pay me back for their portions of the trip because I knew that otherwise I’d never see it?

Or that I reminded people that we needed passports?

That I tried to organize the trip so everyone got to do what they wanted, because otherwise everyone would argue and no one would get to do anything?

I stared at the photo of my boyfriend, my best friend and her boyfriend, Logan’s best friend, and one of our other friends. All people I trusted and knew well.

The sixth person was Drea. The one Logan used my money to buy a ticket for.

She was the freshman omega Logan had been mentoring for his program. At first, I liked her and tried to include her, even when the others thought she was annoying.

It had turned into, Why can’t you be more like her? She’s so easy-going, because she’s not worried about money. Why do you keep asking us questions for this trip? Let’s just go with the flow. We’re not children, of course everyone has a passport that won’t expire while we’re there.

I went to Drea’s profile and saw dozens of pictures of her and Logan. Well, parts of him. But I knew what every inch of him looked like. There were lots of comments like, This is what true love looks like, and I have the best guy, he made me lunch.

Only it was the lunch I had made for him.

The audacity!

And I had no idea.

I saw the likes and the comments. It hit me like a brick. My friends knew.

They all knew he was cheating on me, and no one, not even my so-called best friend, had told me.

The worst was a comment that had been hidden under one of the pictures. Is that who I think it is? You should be careful, because he’s in a serious relationship.

Oh, she’s just a placeholder. Also, she’s too busy to notice. Ha-ha. Her loss is my gain, Drea had commented.

Right, she’s annoying, like why even make a big deal about being non-binary if you’re going to mostly use ‘she’ pronouns, Logan’s best friend, Seth, had added. So dramatic. Not to mention you’re not actually ‘bi’ if you’re in a hetero relationship.

My belly churned. She/they pronouns were a thing. Not to mention the non-binary and bi-sexual erasure in his statements. Asshole.

One of the things Logan had said he liked about me was that I was independent and had career goals.

Maybe I was too focused, too driven, too busy.

But that’s how you succeeded and success was how you paid bills and made everyone proud. I thought all these things are assets, not liabilities.

In fact, one of the original things my friend group had been resistant to regarding Drea was because she came across as helpless.

And she had helplessed herself right to my trip to Bali–and my boyfriend.

Tears pricked my eyes as I screenshotted everything.

What did I do? Obviously, I couldn’t go on the trip anymore, since she’d taken my plane ticket and seemed to be on their way. Did I buy myself another and show up at the hotel? The reservations were still all in my name, held by my credit card.

I’d really been looking forward to this trip, too.

Opening up my banking app, my heart fell. A large amount had been sent to Logan’s account this morning.

What? How was that even possible, because I’d done no such thing.

Then again, I had a vague recollection of him handing me my phone this morning on my way out to lecture, him going, “Hey, don’t forget your phone.”

That asshole. He used my account to send himself money for the trip he’d uninvited me on. Immediately, I changed my password and did the same thing for the airline app.

Now what?

Normally I’d call my best friend, but obviously she wasn’t that anymore. Most of my other friends had already left for spring break or were in class.

My phone rang. For a moment I thought maybe it was him.

It was my Auntie Kiki.

I wasn’t actually sure how Auntie Kiki was related. She’d always been Auntie Kiki, but I’d grown up in a home where anyone old enough to be your parents was auntie or uncle. She lived here on the Big Island with her pack, ever the eccentric, wealthy, overbearing-but-loving, beta auntie.

When I moved to Hilo for college from Los Angeles, she and her pack gave me a place to do laundry on the weekends, fed me, bought me groceries, and reminded me to have fun, but work hard.

And constantly lectured me on how Logan was not a good life choice and I should be focused on getting someone better. Thinking Logan was my forever alpha, I always waved her off.

Maybe she had a point.

“Auntie?” My voice broke as I answered.

“Checking in before you leave. Is there anything you need? I’ll be in Nashville but call me if you need me. Do you have enough money? What about the oversized bag charge for your surfboard?” she asked me.

“I don’t think I’m going to Bali.” Tears fell down my face.

“What happened?” she demanded.

I told Auntie everything, sobbing. How could he betray me like that? I thought he was my boyfriend. These people were supposed to be my friends.