Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Sixteen
Dex
For weeks I was sure that nothing could be more embarrassing than throwing myself at Otto every time he was in my general vicinity, knowing full well that he was going to fuck me and walk away without even a backward glance.
Of course, during those weeks I had no way of knowing the night would come when I desperately wished that that was as embarrassing as the situation was.
Instead of the sheer mortification of being two knuckles deep in my own ass while I argued with myself when Otto burst through the bathroom door to save me from a supposed intruder after hearing part of said self-argument.
Otto froze as soon as he realized I was alone and, erm, occupied and stuttered out a response to my question.
“You..you were saying no. I..I thought something was wrong. Sorry.” He stumbled backward, dragging the door closed.
A thud from the other side of the door made me think he collapsed back against the wall as soon as the door closed.
You would think that the humiliation of being caught in such a compromising position would have killed the mood, but you’d be wrong.
Instead, the pulse of arousal in the pit of my stomach turned into a deep drumbeat that pounded through my entire body.
The blood in my veins turned from a hum to bone-shaking thumping and when I dragged my fingers from my throbbing hole, slick ran freely down the inside of my legs to dampen the pants around my ankles.
Then that damn heat haze settled over me again. My brain went fuzzy, and every inch of my body screamed for Otto to make good on the promises his scent was making before he went outside.
Instead of pulling my pants up, I kicked them off entirely, losing my shoes in the tangled mass of fabric.
I jerked my shirt over my head and, completely bare, yanked the door open to find that I was right.
Otto was leaning against the wall to the right of the bathroom door, one hand covering his eyes and the other gripping his cock through his jeans.
“Dex, I am so sorry,” he began without uncovering his eyes. “I swear I thought you needed help.”
“Oh, I do,” I agreed, drawing in a deep breath and humming in pleasure at the taste of his scent.
“What..” Otto dropped the hand from his face and slammed his eyes closed when he saw me. “Oh, fuck, Dex. You’re naked and I am trying so hard not to take advantage of the situation.”
“Not taking advantage,” I assured him, taking another step closer and laying my hand over his on his bulge. “I know what I’m doing.”
Otto groaned, his eyes still closed. “We need to talk but every time we’re in the same space we fall into bed.”
“Don’t wanna talk. Wanna fuck. Specifically, want you to fuck me.” I squeezed lightly and my blood ran even hotter when Otto moaned my name. “Please?”
“Are you sure?” Otto opened his eyes slowly and I could see genuine concern there. “You left last time without telling me.”
Of all the things that Otto could have said, I doubt anything could have snapped me back to reality the way that did.
“Stole your move, huh?” I huffed a laugh. “Come on. We both want this. Let’s get it over with and then we can flip a coin to see who leaves who.”
Otto recoiled like I’d struck him, stepping back far enough that my hand fell off his body and swung back to my side. “What? Get what over with?”
I rolled my eyes. “The fucking, what else? That’s what we do, isn’t it? I throw myself at you until you fuck me, you regret it, you book as soon as the coast is clear.” I snorted. “At least we have better snacks for you to pay me with than a stale granola bar this time.”
“I.. that..” Otto stumbled back another step. The blood drained out of his face, leaving him pale. “Oh my god.”
“Are you okay?”
Otto was staring at me, jaw open and eyes wide. “No. I’m not.” He drew in a deep breath and pressed himself off the wall, slipping past me without making contact. “In fact, I think I’m going to be sick.”
~*~
Otto
I made it to the bathroom right as the snacks from earlier solidified their decision to reappear. I hunched over the toilet, trying to fight back the dry heaves when my stomach was empty. When I thought I was done, I braced my hands on my thighs and brought myself upright.
“Otto? What’s wrong?” The concern in Dex’s voice made my stomach curdle again but I drew in a deep breath and fought the urge to lean back over.
Instead, I dashed away the tears from my face and said a little prayer of thanks that it was common enough for one’s eyes to tear when they vomited that it should go unnoticed.
I was still slightly hunched over but when Dex’s hand rested on the small of my back, I jerked away, wincing as the movement tensed my already sore muscles.
“I’m fine,” I said gruffly. “Could I get some privacy, please?”
“Um, yeah. Of course.” Confusion replaced my concern but from the corner of my eye, I saw Dex back out of the small bathroom and close the door.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, guilt and self-loathing battling inside me.
When I set out to find my Omega and tell him I thought we might be fated mates, my worst-case scenario was that he just wanted to stay friends with benefits.
Now, finding out that he saw it more as me treating him like a whore?
And a cheap one at that? I was struggling to even wrap my head around what to do.
Then I remembered Corbin’s words when he and Taylor were at my house, the words I never really processed because I was fixated on Dex being missing.
“He spent the night on my couch because he was trying to avoid you and was afraid you might show up at his place.”
Was that the reason that Dex left my bed while I slept? Because he thought I was going to throw a twinkie his direction and tell him to hit the road?
“Otto? I know you wanted privacy, but I need to pee again.”
Right. Locked in with a pregnant Omega and I was having my existential crisis in the cabin’s only bathroom. I guess that’s not a surprise from a selfish bastard.
Tearing off a length of toilet paper I dried the tears leaking from my eyes again and tossed the paper in the toilet. Flushing it, I rinsed my mouth out with a handful of water from the faucet and forced a neutral expression before I opened the door.
“Sorry.” I stepped out the door and to the left, keeping out of the path for Dex to go in. “I’m going to go out and scout around, see if I can find a trail for that phony park ranger and find out what the hell happened earlier to get Taylor shot. You should be safe enough with the door locked.”
“I thought you said we needed to talk?” Dex questioned through the door.
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “I was wrong. Really, really wrong.”
Slipping out the door and checking to be sure it locked behind me, I stripped out of my clothes and folded them, leaving them in a neat pile on the porch, shoved under a chair where I hoped they wouldn’t be in the way. After all, I wasn’t planning to return for them for a few days.
I spent around an hour or so doing exactly what I had told Dex I would, sniffing around in the brush but the supposed ranger’s scent ended completely in a small clearing off a service road, so I was fairly certain that he left in a vehicle that had been stashed there.
With that, I cut back to the north to see if I could scrounge up a babysitter that Dex would be more comfortable -and safer- with than me.
After a terse conversation, I extracted the assurance that Dex wouldn’t be left alone on the mountain, and I turned my nose back to the east and began the long trek home.
Chapter Seventeen
Dex
The knock on the cabin door came a couple hours after Otto bolted like his tail was on fire. I walked over and let my bear ease to the surface, drawing in a breath of the air around the drafty door to test for danger.
“Stan? What are you doing here?” I asked, pulling the door open.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course.” I stepped aside to let him pass, glancing around the dark to see if Otto was lurking. “You’re on babysitting duty?” I guessed when I didn’t see him.
Stan shrugged with a small smile. “Not babysitting so much as protection detail, I think.”
I sighed and settled back into the nest of blankets on the couch. “He’s not coming back.”
“No. Otto came to the house and said he had something urgent to address at home. He asked me to take you back to my place until he could send someone up to watch over you.” Stan hesitated for a second and then pushed on. “He seemed pretty upset.”
I huffed out a frustrated breath. “Yeah. He was but I’m not sure what I said that set him off, to be honest.”
Stan cocked his head which apparently was all the invitation I needed to unload the entire story from start to finish in a massive word salad. To his credit, Stan seemed to be following without a problem and when I finished, he reached over to pat my knee.
“That’s got to be a lot for you to handle,” he said kindly. “Now I understand why you were surprised that Otto came looking for you.”
I nodded and dabbed at my stupid eyes. “Sorry, hormones.”
“No need to be sorry,” Stan assured me, standing up. “Have you had dinner yet?”
I shook my head. “I, um, was waiting for Otto.”
“Okay. We need to get some food into you,” Stan said gently. “I can fix you something here or, if you agree with Otto’s suggestion, we can go back to my place and I’ll feed you there?”
I shook my head. Knowing that Otto was out in the dark, alone and upset because of me had my skin feeling too tight. “I think I should go look for Otto.”
“Nope,” Stan. “He specifically told me not to let you do that, as if I would have.” He snorted in amusement. “He’ll be fine and you need to protect the little one, yeah?”
I huffed again. “I know but I need to tell him I’m sorry. I need to know he’s okay.”
“What are you sorry for?” Stan asked from the kitchen where he was sifting through the food he gave us earlier in the day.