Page 26 of Omega's Secret Baby
What had I done to make Theo run?
∞∞∞
I held a champagne flute in one hand and tried to focus on what one of Wes’s new friends from Billionaire Row was talking about. But no matter how hard I tried, all my focus was on Theo, who was standing in a small cluster with Cody, Corey and a few other omegas.
About half the group seemed to be holding glasses of sparkling juice rather than champagne. While Cody and a long-haired omega were both heavily pregnant, Theo and Corey appeared to be drinking juice out of solidarity.
I wanted to be beside him, to kiss him as the clock struck midnight. I wanted to taste champagne on his lips as we looked forward to a new year together.
I forced myself to pay attention to the conversation around me. An alpha named Alan, who apparently ran the business incubator, was discussing the need for more pro-bono contract work with another alpha, an attorney named Christian.
It was an interesting topic, and one that would normally catch my attention. But Theo was right there, so close, and yet it was like he was on the other side of the planet. Every time we’d been close he’d turned and walked the other way without a word.
Even Wes had caught on to the awkwardness between us, but all I had been able to do was shrug with confusion whenever he looked to me for an explanation.
I was trying to decide if I wanted to edge closer to Theo anyway, when Wes walked to the middle of the room and held up his champagne flute.
“Thank you all for coming tonight,” he said. “A new year is a time for fresh beginnings, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with friends, both new and old. While I’m a recent transplant to this community, I’m proud to be a part of it and am glad to have found such wonderful and inviting people here. It is my sincere hope that the bonds between us only strengthen this year.”
“Hear hear,” I said with everybody else.
“Now if you’ll all join me at the windows, it’s almost midnight.”
I stood and walked over to Wes, purposefully giving Theo the space he seemed to want.
What I wouldn’t give to have him in my arms, claiming his lips for myself to ring in the new year. But he’d made his intention clear. I wasn’t welcome in his life, and I had to respect that.
“Ten… nine…” we all chanted as midnight approached. “Eight… seven…”
Theo looked over, and our eyes locked.
“Six… five…”
He looked away, and my heart sank.
“Four… three… two… one…”
Everything in me hoped that he’d walk over.
“Happy New Year.”
Auld lang syne started playing and fireworks exploded from the cliff. The colorful display reflected off the ocean as couples kissed all around.
Theo looked at me again, then downed his sparkling juice and walked away.
∞∞∞
~Mid-January~
I stared at the ceiling of my condo and sighed. It didn’t feel like home anymore, not since Wes had moved to Harris Cove.
It was strange how much a man’s life could change in under a year.
No longer did I go to Wes’s office at the end of a long day to find him staring at code. Instead he worked from an office in his beach house, and typically logged off the project software right at the end of the day so he could spend time with his mate.
There were no more impromptu nights spent at bars and clubs, admiring the handsome omegas. He was awaiting the birth of his first baby.
And me?
