Page 83 of Stolen Omega

“I knew you liked me,” he says, moving a bit closer.

“This isn’t right,” I tell him. “Marianne—”

“Marianne is a stone-cold bitch,” he mutters, his smirk disappearing. “She barely tolerates me.”

“Then, why do you date her?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“She’s hot, and everyone thinks she’s not as frigid as she acts.” He rolls his eyes.

“So, you date her because of what everyone else thinks?”

“No. I date her because she’s a monster who sunk her claws in early,” he admits. “She knows shit about my family that she’s been threatening to use against me if I dared to ever break up with her. Shady financial shit. Serious shady financial shit. Oh well. I guess that’s going to come out now. My dad might actually go to prison. Fuck.”

“Wait. Are you serious?”

He nods, one hand going through his thick blond hair. “Yeah. You know how she is with all that shit. She wants to be an accountant. Well, it turns out she snooped through my dad’s PC when she came over after our third date … which, by the way, was a disaster, and nowhere close to a typical third date. She found something and she’s been holding it over me ever since.”

“Holy fuck,” I blurt. “What a fucking bitch.”

He feels like he’s telling the truth, which only gives me more questions.

I guess now I know why they were together when he didn’t seem to be into her.

He moves in close. “I can’t go back to a fake relationship. I want something real, and I feel like there’s something here, with us.”

Again, he’s being honest. It makes me even more nervous to feel that. His heartbeat is steady, and he feels completely earnest and, okay, a little bit horny, too. This guy might actually like me. He might want something real. That so isn’t what I expected when I walked in here.

“Do you feel like there might be something between us, Dale?” Cameron asks, a hint of nervousness in him now, though it doesn’t show in his expression.

“Maybe we should find out,” I suggest, not sure about being as open with him as he’s being with me.

This is super shady. He might genuinely like me, but this thing with Marianne isn’t going to just go away. She bribed him to be her fake boyfriend for a reason. There’s no way this can be anything other than trouble.

I’m only still thinking about fooling around with him because it might also be fun.

Stop lying to yourself, Dale.

You want to kiss him because you’re desperate to grab hold of something real.

Something Zane can never give you.

A physical relationship with someone who’s invested in you.

A boyfriend, even if it’s as simple as that.

You’re sixteen. You don’t need a mate.

It doesn’t have to be that serious.

It could be fun, and casual.

You can handle that.

He smiles, and I wait for the nervous butterflies to start making my stomach fluttery.

They don’t come. I don’t feel them. I don’t feel anything, really, when he first leans in and presses his lips to mine. I kiss back like it’s a pre-programmed response. It might be my first real kiss, but it doesn’t feel anything like I’d imagined it would.

But it’s nice, and it’s starting to feel nicer. He’s definitely a good kisser.

---