Page 40 of One Wild Omega

Tanner tilted his head, his long, brightly colored locks sliding off his shoulder. The omega had always had a wild streak a mile wide, and he showed it off now with blue and purple dyed locks. “I guess not, Fitzy.”

Fitz took a deep breath. “Look… I know we’ll likely not see much of one another from here on out… but I don’t want it to be…weird…between us when we do.”

Tanner took a few steps closer, and Fitz stiffened more with every step. The omega stuck a pointed finger in the middle of his chest. “Fitzgerald Walker, it hasalwaysbeen weird between us. Why bother changing that now?”

He looked down at where the finger touched him. It felt like was on fire in that spot. “Whyisthat?”

Tanner got an odd look on his face. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Fitz took one more step, closing the gap between them. “It doesn’t have to be weird.”What the fuck am I saying?

A look akin to fear crossed Tanner’s face. Or maybe it wasn’t fear…

Fitz couldn’t be sure.

“Well, I beg to differ. My best friend’s ex-‘friends with benefits’ comes to congratulate his and my brother’s new baby… that’s weird in and of itself. Especially when I can clearly see how much it hurts you to see Bellamy with my brother.”

“It doesn’t hurt. Trust me. I’m very happy formybest friend and his alpha.”

Tanner stared at him, and it felt like the omega could see every lie, every flaw, every raw emotion inside him. “Is that what he is to you now? Your best friend? When’s the last time you talked to him? Or spent any time with him?”

Fitz sighed. “It’s been a while… I’ve been giving him and Quinn space.”

“Ah,” Tanner murmured.

Tanner tilted his head again, those all-seeing eyes narrowing. “What are you doing here, Fitz? Why did you come to see this? Sorry to be losing a fuck-buddy? A glutton for punishment? Or do you have itso badfor Bellamy you just can’t let go?”

“Bellamy and I were more than just…”Fuck buddies.“We’re friends. Am I suddenly supposed to walk away and never speak to him again because he’s mated to your brother?”

Tanner was silent a moment. “I can’t say I’d respect you much if you were able to simply walk away from someone you cared about without a backwards glance,” Tanner admitted. “But it just might be the best thing for you.”

“There’s no manual on how I’m supposed to do this.”

“Why’d you bother falling for an omega who wasn’t yours in the first place?”

“It just…happened.” Fitz eyed Tanner. The totality of his loss hit him in that moment. He’d likely never cross paths with Tanner McCreary again if he stopped spending any time with Bellamy. “You wanna go have a drink?”

Tanner eyed him. “You ever go get that piece of ass I recommended months ago?”

Fitz chuckled. “A few of them, in fact.” Yet there had been no fucking away his feelings for Bellamy, though.

Tanner seemed to size him up. “Maybe just one. You’re buying.”

* * * *

In a bar not far from the hospital…

It was nearly empty that afternoon when Tanner sat across from Fitz in the darkened tavern, not sure how he’d gotten there. He’d rushed from Bellamy’s hospital room, crushed to see his alpha still pining away for his friend even after a mating and a baby. Hadn’t the past years watching them together been enough pain to endure? Now he’d likely sit and listen to the man whine about how much he aches for an omega he couldn’t have.

It also didn’t help that he was in the midst of a heat.I shouldn’t be here. It’s only going to make it that much worse.

Thankfully, theHeatexandScentexhe was on would ensure he didn’t strip down nakey and beg the alpha across the table to breed him—although there might be a tiny piece of him that would love to do just that. The inner omega need was strong… too strong…

So, in other words, he’d been unable to say no to the alpha’s invitation.

He lifted his glass to his lips and watched Fitz over the rim. The alpha had only gotten more handsome as the years passed. The rangy twenty-something he’d first met on his twenty-first birthday was now a man of thirty-one. Fitz had filled out in all the right places and grown even more stunning. Or maybe that was just the glimmer of his heat whispering sweet nothings in his ear. They were hard-core whispering somenaughty nothings, too.

A tiny bit of his slick eased out as an image of Fitz tying him to a bed came to mind. He readjusted himself in the booth, trying to prevent more from trickling from him. It wasn’t easy sitting across the table from his alpha… and have his bodynotreact. His stare went back, tracing over the plains and angles of Fitz’s face. The light beard that would tickle his cheeks if they ever kissed. The plump lips that could war with his own…

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