Page 29 of One Last Chance

The woman tries to get some more information, but she rightfully concludes she won’t get much of use out of me or Rowland in his state. I give her our location and she assures me an ambulance should be with us in about ten minutes.

Letting out a deep, controlled exhale, I put the phone back into my pocket and look back at Rowland, who seems to be falling asleep in the seat. Too paranoid he will fall into a coma, I decide to get in with him. I nudge him to move, sit in his spot, and make him stretch across the back, resting his head in my lap.

His usually tidy hair is wet and ruffled from the sweat, and heat comes from his entire person, as well as a good dose of wild pheromones he can’t seem to control in his state.

“Mmmm,” he mumbles, corners of his mouth rising slightly. “I hate to bother you, but being fussed over feels nice.”

I smirk when he opens his eyes and looks up at me, watching for my reaction.

I guess he’s not dying if he has the energy for flirting.

Rowland takes a deep breath and lens his nose against my knee, getting comfortable like he is a cat having a nap. I don’t know if I’m doing too much, but eventually, the urge to run my fingers through his hair gently wins, and I do. He lets out another sound of approval.

“Why the hell would you near overdose on your suppressants?” I ask quietly, saying it more as a grumble to myself.

“Might be ‘cause I’m an idiot,” he slurs against my knee, making me sigh.

“I heard on TV how these pills can be dangerous if you take them too often. The wine probably didn’t help, either.” Guilt makes its way into my heart. Was it what I said about pheromones being overrated that made him self-conscious of himself? He left the table a few times. How many of these damn pills did he really take? Is he going to be okay?

When he takes another inhale through his nose, I realize what he’s doing. “You smell so good,” he whispers, making my heart stop. I stare at him, lips parted, heart pounding inside my chest like a drum.What?“Not the cologne, just…you. Behind all of it. Bitter…but in the best way,” he muses half drunkenly, voice rough and honeyed at the same time.

My fingers get all tingly and my heart gallops so fast I think it might burst out of my chest. His words barely reach me for a few moments, like my brain refuses to believe them.

“Youlike it?” I ask breathlessly.

Rowland nods slowly, nuzzling against my leg. “Mhmm. No more perfumes…”

I stay quiet, rattled by his confession. I replay his words in my mind; the words I’ve longed and waited to hear my entire life. The words I prayed would come out of the mouths of so many men I loved over the years.

“I’m sorry for fucking tonight up,” Rowland says, sounding almost like he’s half asleep. The regret in his tired voice is palpable, so I brush my hand over his head again to calm him down. He seems to like it. “I was to…show my best self in front of you. My pheromones have been— I didn’t want to come off too strong.”

“You don’t. You never do,” I say.

“They feel out of control when I’m around you,” he continues mumbling, barely coherent. My cheeks tingle with fiery hot blood again. “These past two weeks, all I could think about… All I thought about when… Didn’t want to ruin it again…”

As his words drift off, Rowland takes shallow, regular breaths. I look at him below me, seeming at peace even in his discomfort, and my heart swells and breaks at the same time, realizing I am too deep in to be able to pull away now.

Realizing I’m hopelessly lost and falling in love.

Chapter 10

Dayton

I stare at the white hospital floor while nervously chipping off the polish from my nails. The doctors said Rowland will most likely be fine, but they’re doing some more tests. I shouldprobably get going. I’m not family, so I can’t be in the room, and Rowland’s actual family is on the way.

Or maybe I should wait at least until they turn up, to make a better impression than the last time. They all just saw me run out of the house like some emotional teenager.

I glance at the clock. It’s late, yet I don’t really feel tired.

It’s as if I’m still running on pure satisfaction from what Rowland said to me. I keep replaying his words over and over in my head. No matter the serious situation, it makes it hard to stop smiling like an idiot.

And it feels good, in a pretty morbid way, that we both have our issues. That I’m not the only one painfully self-aware and self-conscious of this part of myself. Because for people like us, it means a lot.

It’s everything, really. Compatible pheromones are everything for alphas and omegas, no matter what people say. I learned that the hard way.

So…could Rowland really be it?

I snap my back straight when someone pushes through the door at the end of the hall. The stampede of heels clacking against the floor, as well as two additional, quieter pairs of shoes, is Rowland’s mother and his two children, rushing right toward me.

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