Page 39 of Omega's Refuge

“Oh, yeah. We weren’t fooled for a minute.” He gave a toothy grin. “But that’s okay. We don’t care why Steve left. We were just glad you decided to stay.”

My face warmed. “I’m embarrassed by Steve’s behavior.”

“That’s no reflection on you, kid.” He nudged me with his elbow. “Rex told me you’re staying the last two days now. I’m glad.”

“Going home early doesn’t appeal. I’m not ready to face all the drama that might be waiting for me back there.”

“Can’t blame you one bit.” He twisted his lips as he studied me. “Has he called groveling yet?”

“You mean Steve?”

“Yeah.”

I scowled. “No. I don’t think he will.”

“Oh, he won’t be able to help himself.” Joe sighed. “Alphas like him have a lot of pride. He won’t appreciate you staying here without him. He probably expected you to run home after him the minute he left. It’ll annoy him when you don’t show up.”

“Oh, well,” I grumbled.

“I suspect he’ll try and hang on to you, if only for his pride.”

Resentment bubbled up inside of me. “He’d better not. I’m through with him.”

“That may be true, but he won’t care,” he said gruffly. “In my case, June didn’t want to let go either. She didn’t want me, but she didn’t like it when I moved on from her. She tried all kinds of things to mess up what Martha and I had. See, some people don’t want you, but they can’t let you be happy with anyone else either.”

I gritted my teeth. “I understand what you’re saying. I know alphas can be possessive—territorial, even when they don’t want you. But I won’t be receptive if he tries to keep his hooks in me. I’m done with him. He’s hurt me for the last time.”

“I hope that’s true.” Joe’s gaze wandered to where Rex was loading up one of the pack horses. “There are way better alphas out there.”

Remembering the way Martha had winked at me last night, my cheeks warmed. No doubt Joe and Martha had been gossiping about me and Rex being an item. “I’m in no hurry to replace Steve.”

Joe glanced over and he grinned sheepishly. “Am I being too obvious? Martha and I think the world of Rex.”

“He’s great,” I said softly. “But I barely know him, and he lives here while my life is back in Billings.”

“Sure. Sure.” He nodded. “But we never know the future.”

Rex had said something similar to me the day Steve and I fought about leaving the ranch.We don’t know the future, Tanner. Of course, he’d been right. We didn’t know the future. I certainly had never imagined Steve would run off with another omega and leave me behind on this trip.

I met Joe’s gaze. “Thanks for telling me your story.”

He shrugged. “I figured why not share it? It couldn’t hurt, and your situation seems similar to mine. How a person treats you is who they are. It’s not their words that matter; it’s their actions.”

“I agree.”

“Okay, the lecture is over.” Joe grunted as he scrambled to his feet. He dusted off his rear, smiling. “I know this is none of my business, but I’m old, so I just say what I want these days. It embarrasses the heck out of Martha.”

“I appreciate that you care, Joe.”

“But I should mind my own business?” He chuckled.

“No, I didn’t mean that.”

He waved me off. “It’s okay. I get it. We all have to make our own mistakes, right?”

I watched him go, touched that he cared enough to talk to me about that stuff, but still confused about what I should do. I was tempted to stay longer. Putting off finding a job another week wasn’t going to put me in the poorhouse. I had some savings to float me for a while. Plus, if I went home in two days, the odds of running into Steve at my place were higher. But if I stayed a bit longer, I might be able to put that unpleasantness off for a while.

Plus, I’ll get to spend more time with Rex.

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