Page 45 of One Wild Omega

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Across town the following day…

Motherfucking asshole alpha! Who in the hell does he think he is?Tanner took another swing of the hammer, but missed the chisel completely and hit the surface. Pieces of marble scattered this way and that, shattering one side.How dare him say that about me! What have I ever said or done to make him think I was interested inhim?

Well, I did jerk him off in Quinn’s bathroom, but that’s all.

He glared at the now ruined sculpture, even angrier that he’d allowed his rage to wreck it. Tanner struck again. And again. If it was ruined, why not go hog wild? He pictured Fitz’s face in the midst of the gray feathered white surface, watching it erode as the stone splintered and crumbled.

It felt good to vent his hostility.

Only, once he stopped to look at the mess he’d made, he didn’t feel any better.

“Everything okay up there?” a familiar voice called before he heard footsteps coming up his back stairs. Raimy’s face appeared at the top of the steps. “You okay?”

“No,” Tanner spat, staring down at the ruined marble.

Raimy walked over to stare down at the mess. “What’sgoing on?”

“Nothing,” Tanner lied before tossing his hammer to the floor. “Everything.Everythingis going wrong.”

Raimy eyed him, seeing more than Tanner wanted him to.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.”

Raimy stared another moment before walking around the studio a little. He walked over to a painting—in progress—and lifted the tarp covering it before Tanner could walk over and stop him.

“Another one ofhim, hmm?”

Tanner turned to glare at Raimy. “Don’t.”

“What? You won’t tell me who this guy is, even after you’ve painted at least half a dozen paintings of him.”

There were a hell of a lot more than half a dozen of them, but he wasn’t telling Raimy that. The one in question had been started before the fight. He’d known if he’d returned to it that day, he would’ve destroyed it. And he didn’t have the heart to do that. “Just this guy in my head,” he lied. “As I’ve told you this before.”

“Ah,” Raimy said. “Well, I’d come to see if you wanted to have dinner with me. Seems like I arrived atexactlythe right moment.”

“You should’ve called. I’m in no mood to go anywhere,” Tanner said. He wasn’t angry at Raimy, but the guy was in the blast zone of his irritation.

“I did call. Three times. And I called last night, too. I was starting to get worried, so I came to check on you.”

Tanner cringed. “You’re a good friend, and I’m being a totally shitty one.”

“I’ve known you long enough to know you’re angry atsomeoneorsomething, and it’s not me. Luckily for you, I’m no fair-weather friend. You can blow and blow as hard as you can and I’mnotgoing anywhere.”

Tanner felt tears welling up in his eyes. He wasn’t a crier, but a mix of love for Raimy… frustration over Fitz… it was all just too much. He bit them back, refusing to shed a single one. Biting the inside of his cheek, he looked down, trying to hide the emotion.

Raimy wrapped an arm around Tanner’s shoulders and laid his head down on one. “Let’s get you out of here… cleaned up… get some good food into you… maybe a cocktail or two… and Iswearyou’ll feel better.”

Tanner chuckled. “Promise?”

“Yep,” Raimy said, lifting his head and turning toward Tanner. “And if you want to tell me what’s bugging you, great. If not, that’s fine, too.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Tanner murmured after a slight pause.

“You probably don’t,” Raimy said before chuckling. He tugged on Tanner’s shoulders. “Come on.”

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