Chapter 15 After
Chapter fifteen
After
Cole
She seemed smaller somehow, naked and looking to me for direction.
I guided her upstairs to the bathroom.
When I released her hand to open the shower door and start the water, she made such a cute gasp as she reached back out for me, holding my arm in both of hers.
Was this how all omegas reacted to being fucked and claimed by their alpha, or was it just Harriet, or was it something to do with our bond?
I didn’t know. I’d never been with an omega, and I didn’t know anyone personally who had a true mate. The term mate was thrown around so casually; what did it truly mean?
Either way, I didn’t mind the clinginess and let her hold on to me as I adjusted the water temperature, then pulled her by her hips under the water with me.
The pressure was excellent; I’d updated the boiler and bathroom the previous winter and was amused with myself, how proud I was to offer such a simple comfort to Harriet, like I had anticipated needing better water pressure for her.
She wrapped her arms around me, her head under my chin, the warmth of the water and her body blending together, steam rising and obscuring the glass like we were in our own bubble and nothing outside of us existed.
I reached behind her for the shampoo, not at all encumbered by the woman who had wrapped herself around me like she feared letting go, and set about washing her hair, pulling her head back from my chest long enough to lather and rinse, and then repeating for myself.
The process was the same with the conditioner.
She hummed, pleased, as I scratched her scalp and detangled her hair.
Body wash was next.
“You’re going to have to let me go,” I told her.
She did without issue, her arms dropping from my back to her side. I began lightly washing her shoulders with the exfoliating sponge and body wash. Her skin was smooth. Soapy bubbles ran down her chest.
Her perky nipples hardened as I washed her. She held her arms out for me to scrub one by one. She shivered slightly as I passed over her stomach and sides, and I noted she was ticklish. I turned her around by her hips wordlessly to wash her back.
The process of washing her was simultaneously relaxing; it quieted a part of my mind while also being erotic in a quiet sort of way.
I didn’t feel the need to take her and fuck her like I was running some sort of race.
I wanted to take my time to enjoy her; I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go further than washing her.
I shoved her forward a little, and she wobbled before she caught herself, both hands against the glass of the shower, and I pushed her legs apart.
I kissed behind her ear.
“Good girl,” I praised and then peppered kisses from her shoulder down her spine as I crouched.
I washed her round butt and down her thighs, lifting each of her feet to wash.
She stifled a laugh when I got between her toes. I worked my way back up until I was standing fully behind her again. The sponge was set aside.
“You missed a spot,” she said. It was the first words she had spoken since I had pulled her up from the living room floor. I was surprised when she spoke. I had begun to think perhaps she had lost her voice.
“Did I?” I asked and pressed myself more against her back, my hands hugging her ribs, fingers teasing the edges of her tits.
“Yeah,” she breathed heavily.
“Hmmm,” I hummed as I danced my fingers down her sides, enjoying the way she shivered under my light touch until I reached her hips.
I pulled her hips back against me to create more space between her and the glass before I dipped around her navel and down to her mons.
“I was saving the messiest for last,” I told her and pushed further down between her labia, over her clit that I could feel was swollen and neglected, and down to tease her entrance, which was still ready and waiting for me.
Water ran down my arm and hand and over her.
She pressed her ass against me, trying to change the angle to push me inside.
I moved away from her entrance and cleaned her mons with the residual soap on her body and with fresh water between her labia and entrance. When I removed my hands and body from her to wash myself, she made the most delicious, disappointed whimper.
I laughed.
“You’re a tease,” she complained.
I only smiled while I washed myself.
After the shower without complaint, she allowed me to dry her, hugging the towel to herself for warmth as I took care of myself.
She followed me dutifully and naked out of the bathroom and to my room. I noticed how she looked around with interest.
“You’ve never been in here?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“Not even had a look around when I’ve been out?” I asked, a little surprised.
“That would be an invasion of privacy,” she replied. “Have you been in my room when I’m not in?” she asked quickly like it had only just occurred to her that I might have.
I laughed but didn’t answer, instead choosing a pair of loose-fitting workout shorts and a tank for myself and an oversized top, which would be more like a dress on Harriet.
She lifted her arms without needing instruction, and I pulled it over her head.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“I’m going to order pizza for us,” I said, finding my phone on charge beside the bed and opening the local pizzeria app.
Harriet sat on the edge of the bed as I placed the order.
I liked the sight of her: hair damp, wearing one of my tops, bare legs.
I placed the order and put the phone down, my attention on her, a sort of playfulness bubbling within me. I didn’t consciously make the decision before I had pounced on her.
She screamed and struggled beneath me, working her way up the bed until she was lying beneath me, and I straddled her hips, pinning her to the bed.
“You gave me a fright,” she said with amusement as she calmed down.
“You’re easily frightened,” I replied.
She smiled, but it faltered, and I felt her mood shift subtly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“I don’t want to ruin this,” she said and turned her face from me. I turned her back to me.
“What’s going on inside that head of yours?” I asked.
“Everything is so wrong,” she said, and she wiped angrily at a tear that ran down her cheek. “You’re engaged; I’m going back to Ashford soon. This is all wrong,” she said angrily, and I couldn’t suppress the growl that left me when she mentioned that Blizzard boy.
She was right. I moved off her.
“I don’t want to think about any of that right now,” I told her.
“Well, I do,” she challenged. “It’s my life. I’m just some omega to fuck and throw away?” she asked.
“I’m not throwing you away,” I argued.
“But you’re still going to give me back like a used toy,” she challenged further.
“Never!” I growled out. She was mine. No one else could have her.
“Are you going to call off your engagement then?” she asked.
“It’s not that simple—” I began.
“You can’t have us both,” she said.
Suddenly, I was pinning her beneath me again, the challenge to my claim on her causing me to act without any conscious thought.
She yelped in surprise.
“You’re mine,” I warned her. Her throat was bare and there, and I wanted to mark her.
Mark her properly. Tear into her flesh and leave behind the imprint of my teeth that could never be replaced.
I brushed my hand up her right thigh, feeling where someone else had scarred her already, and it almost sent me mad with rage.
“Did you ask Hannah to be your third too?” she said, and the mention of Hannah was like a bucket of cold water being dumped over me. It brought me back to myself.
I released Harriet and got up from the bed.
“Well, did you?” she asked.
Hannah. The pain was still raw. It had been over a year, but the mention of her still poked at a wound in my chest. I had tried so hard to keep her. I had asked her, begged her to stay with me, even though it meant watching me marry someone else.
She wasn’t as angry as Harriet. She simply and quietly left. Packed her belongings while I was away and left a letter telling me not to try to contact her. She wanted a clean break.
Sara had to physically restrain me when I found out she was seeing someone else, not even six months after we ended.
“That’s enough,” I told Harriet.
“No, answer me,” she demanded.
“That’s enough, omega,” I warned, raising my voice and baring my teeth.
Harriet was visibly taken aback.
She shuffled off the bed and walked around me—leaving as much space as possible between us—towards the door.
“I’m going to my room,” she said as she moved towards the door, turning her back on me. “Don’t bother me again,” she added, echoing Hannah’s last request.