Page 38 of One Wild Omega

Fitz stood in the doorway, clutching the flowers and the balloon’s string as if they were lifelines. He didn’t belong, yet he couldn’t walk away, either. He wanted to talk to Tanner… to explain why he hadn’t shown up the night of the shower. How many times had he stared at his cell phone, wanting to call Tanner?

Ultimately, he’d kept his distance. He wasn’t sure if he was aiming for some catastrophic meltdown and fucking Tanner would be the best way to set his world on fire…

Or if it was something else entirely.

How did someone go from hate to desire so suddenly?

Besides the initial glare, Tanner had turned his gaze away before actively ignoring him and looking off into the distance. For some reason, Fitz really,reallywanted the omega to look his way.

Why, he didn’t understand.

“Fitz?” Bellamy asked.

Fitz turned to see both Quinn and Bellamy staring at him oddly—as were the other occupants of the room. Obviously, it wasn’t normal for ex-bedfellows to come congratulating a happy couple for their new bundle of joy, but Fitz and Bellamy had been more than just lovers. Bellamy was his best friend outside his brothers.

Orhadbeen. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now. Over the months of Bellamy’s pregnancy, he’d felt the man drifting away. Now that there was a baby in the picture, he was pushed even further back in Bellamy’s life.

His stare swayed to Tanner one more time before he turned to Quinn’s and then Bellamy’s. “I just wanted to stop by and offer my congratulations on the rugrat.”

“He’sgorgeous,” Bellamy’s papa murmured from the other side of the room. “Looks just like Bellamy did as a baby.”

“Whoisthis man?” a much older alpha asked.

“He’s a friend of Bellamy’s,” Quinn’s brother, Beau, murmured to the old man. Fitz assumed this wastheTolliver McCreary. The old man hadn’t been at the baby shower, but he could see a hint of Quinn and Tanner in the guy. Tolliver McCreary owned half the city and had his fingers in the other half. Renowned for his savvy and lethal business dealings, the man was more legend than flesh and blood. Somehow, he didn’t look so shrewd and dangerous—but then, the man wasn’t young anymore. Time wore down even the most powerful, eventually.

“Analphafriend?” Tolliver eyed his grandson. “Of your omega’s? You approve of this, Quinn?”

Oh, he’s still got a little danger in him. Fitz’s face flushed slightly. The old man might as well have pointed a blinking neon sign over Fitz’s head that read‘Warning: Ex-lover’on it.

“Fitz has given me no reason to doubt him,” Quinn replied to his grandfather.

Fitz didn’t miss the impliedyetat the end. When he lifted his stare to Quinn, he saw the alpha’s guarded stare appraising him. It couldn’t be easy for the alpha to know he’d been in bed with Bellamy, easing the omega through those heats leading up to the one where they’d made this child—which was the exact reason why he’d been keeping his distance for the most part.

But he missed the friendship he’d had with Bellamy. He’d come to the baby shower at Quinn’s behest. And how could he ignore an occasion as momentous as the birth of a child?

But now?

He’d felt the gap widening. Felt it as keenly as he felt the thorns from the flowers biting into his palm. Their lives had changed dramatically. Well, Bellamy’s had changed, and Fitz had been left behind. It was time for him to move on… and maybe his life from here on out didn’t include Bellamy in it.

“I don’t think you’ve met my family,” Quinn said from his spot on the bed. “My grandfather, Tolliver… and my brothers, Beau and Tanner.”

Fitz shook both the older and younger McCrearys’ hands before looking toward Tanner. “Tanner and I have met.”

“Oh?” Quinn asked, one brow rising. “I wasn’t aware.”

“Tanner, Fitz, and I are all friends,” Bellamy said to Quinn. “Youknowthat.”

“I guess I did,” Quinn mumbled. “I really hadn’t thought about it, I suppose.”

Friends? Is that what Tanner and I are?He peeked toward Tanner, who still refused to give him more than a barely-there glance. Fitz turned his attention back to the new papa and newborn, as the babe let out a small cry. The smile that crossed Bellamy’s face when he looked down at his new son nearly broke Fitz. He shoved the pain down deep and forced a smile of his own.

“You’ve had enough time,” Old Man McCreary barked. “Give his great-grandfather a chance.”

As Quinn lifted the child from Bellamy’s arms, Fitz backed toward the door, trying to angle himself towards an imminent departure. He gazed at Bellamy, who seemed to be drifting off to sleep—with a soft smile on his face.

He’s happy. Let him be happy. Let go.

Fitz drew in a strangled breath. Yes, he loved Bellamy, but he’d dealt with the loss of that connection over the past month. Love wasn’t a switch, to be arbitrarily switched on and off, but he was learning to dim it, more and more each day.

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