Page 101 of Dubious Match
“You’re going to prune,” he teases her, forcing himself to release whatever he’s worried about. “I see you have your last bite, Hollis.”
“I do,” she says with a grin. “I think I owe Mal one though.”
“Only if you want to,” I chuckle. I feel so much lighter and calm now.
Hollis rubs her cheek over my chest, and I watch her warily. This isn’t just her scent marking me, nothing is simple with her. Leaning forward, I give her more of my body to use as her canvas, the loofah dropped in the water and forgotten.
My omega turns her body and kisses my chest, and I let myself relax. She’s going to do what she wants anyway. Hollis wraps her arms around me before she bites down hard on my upper chest, making me groan.
“Now I’m ready to get out of the tub,” she says with a grin, blood on her lips.
Brice looks smug as he picks up a fluffy towel and opens it.
“Come on out, baby,” he says, watching as she stands.
I make sure she steps out safely before getting up and pulling the plug on the tub.
Looks like life is going to be a little more adventurous with our omega. I’m here for it.
NOVA
I’m very out of it as I drive to see a client. I shouldn’t have any sort of pull toward Hollis, yet both in the hospital and when I saw Brice, I felt the need to talk to her. I got hit in the face withher scent when he opened the door, and as a midwife, heats and biology don’t affect me the way it does others.
It doesn’t embarrass me, it’s just a fact of life. Yet, there was an overwhelming feeling of familiarity at her scent. Apricots and lavender…
I don’t know what to make of it, but I have a feeling it has something to do with why those alphas were chasing me at the hospital.
I’m driving an hour out of the city, headed to see Pack Kelly for their omega’s baby appointment. They’re my only client I’m seeing today since the drive will eat up so much time commuting, but I don’t mind.
It’ll give me time to think. Possibly too much, if I start to crash out.
I can’t change my phone number due to clients needing it even after care is discontinued. This means that I have to screen my calls closely, and dodge my parents’ calls.
Living mostly off the grid outside of that with a fake name on my bank accounts helps me to hide from them, but they somehow keep finding me. I just need a little time to be able to stay here before I have to move on.
I want to be able to care for my clients, see babies be born, and enjoy seeing their joy. Not every story begins there, but many do. That’s why it’s even more important that I be able to stay focused and safe.
My phone rings, and I almost crash as I think about the last time that I had to run. My parents sent bond hunters out to arrest me, saying that there was a warrant for charges of theft. There was no such thing because I’ve never taken anything that doesn’t expressly belong to me.
I’ve worked for everything, and I barely managed to dart by them to be able to get away. I don’t fucking deserve this.
Glancing at the phone as the snow gets heavier, I decide to get the call over with. If I need to make a run for it, I’ll need to tell Pack Kelly.
“Hello?” I ask, dropping the phone into the car mount so I can drive.
“You think you’re so smart,”my father spits out.
His voice makes me want to whine, but I swallow it down. It makes me remember the years of abuse, and I shake my head as if it’ll help me shake it all away.
“I don’t know what you mean, Dad. I’m doing my job. I’m in New York, so the call may drop,” I lie.
If I’m going to answer the call, I may as well lay a path of misdirection.
“New York,”he muses. “You’d never go so far.”
“You sent bondsmen after me. Of course I got the hell out,” I say. “I’m alive, I answered, let’s do this again, never.”
I don’t want to be on the line long, but he’d only call over and over if I didn’t answer.
