Page 80 of His Gentle Omega
“Sounds like this party will be fun,” I told him, glad he was so excited and had made some friends.
“Promise you’ll come, Bennett?” His little voice was so earnest, his eyes wide with hope.
Imploring Shay with my eyes for how he wanted me to play this, he offered me no help with his tiny shrug.What did that even mean? Was I supposed to say yes or no?
“I’ll try my best to be there,” I told him, not committing but unwilling to break his tiny heart by outright refusing.
“Come on, Lucas,” Shay urged him, “we need to finish up, and Bennett needs to get home. You really don’t look well, Bennett.”
My energy–what little I had entered the store with–was flagging, and I leaned against the cart for support.
“I’m just really tired. I’ll be fine after a good night’s rest, and I get caught up at work. I nearly managed to get through all my emails today,” I joked lightly, though it wasn’t a lie.
Shay’s hand came up like he was going to touch me, and I waited anxiously, my body thrumming with anticipation, but then he pulled it back and rested it at his side. Desperately, I tried to keep the disappointment off my face. “It was good to see you. Get some rest.”
Numbly, I watched them walk back to their cart of groceries, Lucas’s small hand tucked tightly into Shay’s. Lucas looked over his shoulder, waving in the way only an exuberant six-year-old could.
Limply I waved back, watching them as they moved on, talking quietly to each other. Whatever Shay said made Lucas laugh, the sound bright in the store.
I wanted to be a part of whatever secret they were sharing, whatever had made Lucas laugh. I wanted to be with them shopping like a family, picking out things for dinners to come. My heart physically ached with the need, and when they were out of sight, I was left with an emptiness inside me that I knew only they could fill.
Closing my eyes, my hand wrapped tightly around the cool metal bars of the cart, and I silently told myself that I would not cry in the middle of Walmart.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Bennett
August rolled into Sweet Alps with a heatwave that made everyone irritable. Maybe I was just the irritable one, but the heat made me grouchy AF. Wiping my brow as I walked from the parking lot back into the coolness of the hospital, I sighed in relief.
My clothes were sticking to me just from the brief amount I had been in my car and the walk back inside. Even with the car’s AC blasting, when the temps were almost one hundred, with the humidity level matching, it couldn’t keep up.
Why had I thought going out to pick up tacos was a good idea? Just because I was craving them, I wasn’t sure they were worth putting myself through it. Stepping out into the sunshine had felt like walking straight into a sauna. Something I did not enjoy.
My shirt clung to me, my body overheated, as I clutched my bag tightly. The aroma of the tacos had my stomach growling in anticipation. Which was a nice change after the last few weeks. My stomach had been playing hell with me, no doubt a combination of exhaustion and stress.
But I had woken upneedingtacos and I hadn’t been able to concentrate all morning thinking about them. My concentration had been filled with nothing but visions of tacos. My breakfast hadn’t even tasted good, because all I wanted was chicken tacos, smothered in onions, cilantro, and sprinkled with lime juice.
I had wanted them so much I had risked going out into the heat and humidity to get them. Even if I was regretting my life choice now, I knew the first bite would make it all worth it.
Almost to my office, Carrie called my name, and I turned with a scowl on my face. She stopped, her face a mask of indecision. “Um, sorry? Are you okay? You look really…upset.”
My stomach rumbled, painfully demanding. I hadn’t been all that hungry the last few weeks, barely able to eat much of anything. But these tacos sounded so good! I still had half an hour left of my lunchtime to enjoy them, and I really, really didn’t want to be interrupted.
Blowing out a breath, I tried to not look so annoyed with her. “I was about to eat lunch. What’s up?”
“Oh, um,” she looked confused, as I rarely ever was bothered by having my lunch time interrupted. Our job could be very boring one minute, and then unpredictable the next. You never knew what the E.R. could bring, or what the patients already admitted might need in way of services.
“Mrs. Johnson’s daughter has some questions about the rehab facility she’s being transported to. Since you’re more familiarwith the facility I thought you would be able to answer her questions better. But I’ll tell her you are on lunch and do my best. Sorry to have bothered you, Bennett.” Her voice was timid, and I internally kicked myself for coming across like a grumpy asshole.
Well, fuck!
I was aware I had been extra snappy since I had returned from my forced vacation, and I instantly regretted being short with Carrie. I strived to be the kind of supervisor that my employees could come to with questions, and used these instances as teachable moments. Hadn’t I even been the one to preach to my direct supervisor, Bill, that I didn’t want him reprimanding Carrie for calling me in the night Shay landed in the E.R.? That technically, in my eyes, I wasn’t on vacation yet, and that once upon a time, we had both been as green as Carrie.
The heat wasn’t the only thing affecting my mood and making me short tempered, as I had been this way for a couple of weeks now.
Living next door to Shay and Lucas, seeing them in the yard many evenings when I pulled into my driveway, was killing me. They spent a lot of their free time outside, enjoying the sunshine, kicking a ball back and forth between them. Or doing some kind of yard work. Shay seemed obsessed with his yard. He was always mowing, trimming, watering, and tinkering.
Not that I was peeking out my windows or anything. Because I absolutely wasn’t doing that. Just because the man tended to do yard work in nothing but a pair of cut off denim shorts that showed off his long, long legs and perfect ass, did not mean I was watching him. It wasn’t my fault if I happened to look outside and he happened to be in his front yard, muscles rippling and sweat dripping.
