Page 43 of One Wild Omega

Fitz followed the sounds of their voices and the delicious aroma of something meat filled. When he rounded the corner, he saw both brothers. There was piles of chopped vegetables while a skillet sizzled on the stove. “What’s going on here?”

“Our little brother is trying to turn me into a gourmet chef,” Harrison said as he turned from washing his hands in the sink.

“It’s Cassidy’s birthday next week, so I’m teaching him how to make something for a special surprise,” Luke said. He turned to Fitz. “You’d better stir that or it’s going to burn.”

“Aye-aye, el capitán,” Harrison muttered before stirring the pan. He then looked over his shoulder at Fitz. “Who died?”

Fitz let out a slow breath. “Long story.”

“Why not grab a beer, take a seat, and enjoy watching me burn the shit out of dinner,” Harrison said with a grin. “And you can tell us what you did wrong.”

“How do you knowIdid wrong?” Fitz asked as he walked over to the fridge.

“That look on your face,” Harrison said before pausing to listen to a few directions from Luke. Once done, he turned back to Fitz. “So what did you do?”

Fitz twisted off the beer cap and straddled a stool at the island where they were working. “Am I a nice guy?”

Harrison looked up at him, a question in his eyes. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s a simple question,” Fitz said. “AmI a nice guy?”

“Yeah. Sometimestoonice,” Harrison said.

“I don’t know,” Luke said, grinning. “Those headlocks he used to put me in weren’ttoonice.”

“You were twelve. He was thirteen. Get over it,” Harrison snapped at Luke before turning to Fitz. “What the hell happened?”

“So there’s this omega—”

“If I have to stand here and listen to more Bellamy stories, I might have to go jump out the window,” Luke cried. “He’s mated, Fitz. You have to get your head out of your ass.”

“Fuck off, Luke,” Fitz said. “It’sanotheromega.”

“Another omega!” Harrison cried, a broad smile on his face. “We have progress.”

“The other omega is the problem,” Fitz said.

Harrison frowned. “Why?”

“It’s this friend of Bellamy’s. Tanner.” He paused, not sure what to even say. “He gets under my skin and drives me insane.”

“Sounds good so far,” Luke murmured before tossing a handful of onions into the pan behind him.

“No… it’s not. Whenever we’re around each other… I feel this weird energy. Like I don’t want him around. I feel… almost angry and there’s no reason for my anger. And this afternoon? We went and had a drink after we both went to see Bellamy’s new kid… and something just bubbled over and I said some really,reallyshitty things to him.”

“That’s not like you,” Harrison said.

“No. It’s not and I don’t like the person I am around this guy.”

“Easy solution,” Luke said. “Just don’t be around him anymore. If he’s a friend of Bellamy’s, then I doubt you’re going to see much of either of them now.” He turned to Harrison. “We cooking, or what?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Harrison said.

Fitz remained silent a moment as the cooking lesson continued. He took a drink from the beer, his mind awhirl.

Just don’t be around him anymore.

For some reason, he didn’t enjoy that idea. The thought of never seeing Tanner again just didn’t settle well. It only made him want to go see the omega then and there. To apologize. To rewind everything and start again. But how could he both want to be near someoneandfeel repelled at the same time? It didn’t make sense.

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