Page 24 of Choosing Their Omega

Lawson grins and reaches around me to grab one of the potato chips I’ve been munching on. “Actually—”

My body floods with heat as he stands directly behind me and I get a strong inhale of his scent, but then he bumps against my hip with his, and I jump in pain before I can stop myself.

Lawson steps back immediately, hands up. “Oof, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No, no, it’s fine.” I smile and try to step away, but Lawson frowns.

“No, you made a noise, you were hurt. Did I hurt you?”

I wince. “No, you didn’t hurt me, I just have an old bruise that’s still tender.”

“How big of a bruise? Do you need first aid? We have a love of bandages and salves and stuff, you know, hockey players.” Lawson grins affectionately at me.

I sigh and slowly pull my shirt up and tug my jeans down a little to reveal the large bruise that spans pretty much all of my hip. “It’s mostly healed, I promise. See?”

The bruise is mostly yellow by now, and the purple and blue are faded. It was really dark and ugly when I first got it, but that was a bit ago now.

“Holy shit.” Lawson’s eyebrows shoot up. “What happened?”

“I, uh, hit the table.”

Lawson’s eyes narrow. “You’re lying.”

“What? No…”

“I can tell, I can smell it on you, your scent changed. What is it?”

I swallow and pull my shirt back down. “I… I don’t want anyone to make a fuss.”

Lawson frowns. “Did someone do that to you?”

I fold my arms and shrug.

“Lily.” Lawson gently takes my shoulders in his hands. “If someone hurt you, you have to tell us. We’ll protect you. Nobody’s going to touch you like that, not on our watch. Was it your landlord? Did he hurt you when he threw you out?”

I shake my head. “It wasn’t my landlord.”

“So it was someone.”

He’s not going to give up until I tell him the truth. And… I have to admit I want to tell someone. I haven’t wanted it to be a big deal, I’ve wanted to put it all behind me. But it might be good for me to get it off my chest.

“The reason I was kicked out of my apartment is that I couldn’t pay rent, and I couldn’t pay it because I had to quit my job,” I admit quietly. I look up into Lawson’s intense brown eyes. “One of my coworkers had been flirting with me for a while. I tried to ignore him but stay polite, but he persisted. Finally I told him off. He… didn’t like hearing no for an answer. He grabbed my hips and pushed me back up against the counter in the break room when I tried to leave.”

“He shoved you hard enough to bruise you like that?” Lawson’s voice is dropping down into an Alpha growl. “Did you tell HR?”

“I did. They wanted me to just let it go. He was one of their best workers, and the paperwork would be a hassle. They said that I must’ve been leading him on, that I was creating a ‘disruptive work environment.’”

Lawson’s face is thunderous with anger. “What the fuck?”

“I couldn’t work there anymore. I knew that I needed the money and it would put me in the lurch, but I thought that I could find a new job before my landlord did something drastic. I couldn’t say there a minute longer. Not when I didn’t feel safe.”

“No, you did the right thing. You need to protect yourself.”

I grimace. “Except then I ended up homeless, so it wasn’t really the smartest move.”

“Maybe, maybe not, but you were stuck between a rock and a hard place. What were you supposed to do?” Lawson gently squeezes my shoulders. “It’s on your landlord that you got kicked out. It’s his fault he had no compassion and couldn’t give you some more time. That’s not on you.”

My eyes water and I wipe at them with the back of my hand. “Thank you.”

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