Page 70 of Glass Omega

“It’ll be so fun, I swear!” I heard Kailey squeal to Perrie as they sat ten feet away from me in the on-campus coffee shop they frequented most days after classes.

Three weeks had passed since Edison confronted me, and strangely enough, everything settled back into the same comfortable routine that we’d built up ever since Perrie came to live at the Keane Estate.

Breakfast together every morning, then I followed Perrie around to all of her classes and half-pretend to be paying attention to camera shutter speed and settings, lunch in the Quad where Perrie would try in vain to get me to conversate for longer than a couple of words, afternoon classes, then Perrie would get coffee with her friend, after that we’d go home, have dinner together, maybe do some self-defense lessons and then everyone goes to bed.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I was absolutely miserable.

Edison made good on his word from that day and everything was like it had been four years ago before we’d started our secret rendezvous. He didn’t treat me poorly, but now there was a wall between us that I didn’t realize had been torn down over the years of our sexual relationship.

Sometimes I thought he was staring at me when we worked in his office in the evenings, but every time I turned to look he was focused on his work again.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” I could hear Perrie say, her part of the conversation being quickly muddled by the busy coffee shop as one of the baristas used the milk frother.

Even though whatever Edison and I had been now seemed to be gone completely, Perrie and Edison’s relationship seemed to have taken off like a rocket.

There was a softness and an intimacy that hadn’t been present before that day in Edison’s office. They would reach for eachother at mealtimes and I’d caught Edison staring out of his study window that overlooked the pool where Perrie spent most of her late afternoons swimming and taking pictures.

Not to mention the fact that Edison barely ever slept in his room anymore, instead choosing to head to the tower most nights to be with his omega.

Everything was as it should be and I should’ve been happy about it. Yet, with each passing day, I felt more and more discontent. Like I was being left behind completely.

“C’mon, Per, you never do anything outside of normal, live a little!” Kailey cajoled and I watched the taller beta give Perrie a nudge with her elbow.

I was on my feet before she could say anything else.

“And what is it you’re trying to convince her to do?” I asked, sliding into the seat next to Perrie and glaring at the other girl.

Kailey glared right back, her nose scrunching with irritation.

At first, Kailey had blushed every time she looked back at me while she walked with Perrie to class, and then things had taken a turn when she tried to get Perrie to go to a bar with her.

Kailey was a young college girl, so it made sense that she wanted to go out and party. But Perrie wasn’t allowed.

Just the thought of trying to keep her protected in a crowd of people made my skin itch and she refused to let a team follow her around. So bars were off limits.

“It’s okay, Mr. Knight, your princess isn’t going to go into any strange clubs or bars. I’m just trying to get her to come over to my place for a girl’s night—and by girl’s night I do mean girls only.”

“No.” My answer was automatic as my brain conjured up a million possibilities of what could go wrong.

Perrie seemed to deflate at my fast refusal, glancing over at Kailey who looked as if she was about to pop with how red her face was getting.

“I know she’s a married woman, but you can’t just cloister her away in the house all the time. She needs to be social. To meet new friends and I’ve got a group of girlfriends that are perfect for her.”

I grimaced at that. WhateverfriendsKailey had, I wasn’t sure I wanted them to hang around Perrie.

“Kailey, can you give Perrie and me a moment?” I asked, dismissing the girl before she could continue her campaign to let Perrie go to girl’s night.

Kailey looked like she wanted to argue, but Perrie just shook her head quickly.

With a sigh, the other girl stood up. “Fine, but I’ll be back in five minutes and I hope you’ll pull your head out of your ass enough to let Perrie have a fun Saturday night.”

I waited for her to leave before finally turning back to Perrie who was picking at her cuticles. “I can’t protect you at something like that, Perrie.”

“I can protect myself you know—you even said it yourself yesterday that I’ve gotten better at defending myself.”

That was true. Perrie had made huge strides in a short amount of time during the stolen hours of self-defense classes that we managed to get in. But we hadn’t even started on how to disarm an assailant with a weapon and Perrie’s stamina still left much to be desired.

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