Omega’s Pretend Mate by Lacey Daize
Chapter 3 - Gabe
Ifelt like crap, and I had to piss.
I opened my eyes, and immediately squeezed them shut again. It had been a bad idea, a headache exploding behind my eyes as soon as the light hit them.
After a few seconds I remembered that I’d gone to my favorite bar for drinks the night before.
I’d spent several nights alternating between reviewing my finances and looking for any loophole in my trust that would let me be named trustee without getting married or mated. However, the trust terms were ironclad, and no matter how I’d juggled my finances, I still came up short. No matter what I did, it looked like I was going to lose my house once grandfather passed.
Finally I’d given up, decided to drown my woes, and gone to Mitchell’s.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember anything after that. I was laying in bed, but had no idea how I’d got there.
I scrunched my nose, wondering if my housekeeper had switched detergents. The sheets smelled different, more chemically than what she normally used. Though there was something pleasant that was just barely detectable.
My bladder reminded me that I couldn’t avoid the world all day, and I forced my eyes open again.
My stomach sank as soon as I was able to focus. This wasn’t my bedroom, and I had no idea where I was.
It was then that I realized I wasn’t wearing a shirt or pants, and I began to panic until I felt my underwear digging into my hips. But underwear was only a slight reassurance since I still had no idea where I was.
I shifted to a sitting position, and after looking around a moment I spotted a bottle of water and a couple of aspirin on a nightstand. Underneath the water was a note.
Gabe,
The bathroom is the second door on the right from the guest bed. I hope you’re feeling better. I left a shirt and some pajama pants on the chair for you. They’ll probably be too big, but I figured you wouldn’t want to smell like a bar when you woke up. My bedroom is the first door on the right if you need anything.
Better was definitely up for debate. I felt like death warmed over. But I wasn’t drunk anymore, I only had the biggest hangover of my life. I was also more confident that I hadn’t been taken advantage of, since whoever had brought me here was obviously sleeping in another room.
I took a moment to let my headache settle from a sharp pain to a dull throb, then attempted to stand.
That was a mistake as my entire body protested doing anything at all after drinking heavily. But I still had to piss and I might as well get it over with.
I spotted the chair and grabbed the shirt, which was so large it rested lopsided on one shoulder. But I didn’t care as I stumbled from the strange bedroom and into the bathroom.
I breathed a sigh of relief as at least one part of my body stopped complaining. Then I caught sight of myself in the mirror, and I couldn’t decide if I looked or felt worse.
I hadn’t looked so rough since my last semester of law school when I’d pull all-nighters studying for exams.
I splashed some cold water on my face, which felt good if nothing else. Then I stepped back into the hall with the intent of getting my things so I could leave. But noise from the other end of the… apartment by the layout… caught my attention.
I tip-toed down the hall, listening to a man humming and moving about. Then I turned a corner to look into a small kitchen.
Right there, standing at the stove and looking absolutely delicious in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a white tee, was my work crush: Christian Jeffries.
I groaned before I could help it. Of all the people to see me at my lowest, of course it had to be him.
Christian heard me, looked over, then turned off the stove and walked to where I was standing. He immediately rested his warm hands on my upper arms.
“Hey,” he said softly, “how are you feeling?”
Like shit? Embarrassed that you’re the one who brought me home?
“Hungover?” I finally decided, still unsure if that was the right answer.
He let out a chuckle. “I’m not surprised. Did you take the aspirin I left?”
The heat of a blush spread across my cheeks. “Not… not yet.”
He frowned, then motioned behind me. “Have a seat at the table and I’ll go get them for you. Breakfast will be ready soon.”
I nodded, shuffled over to the table, and sank onto a chair.
At least Christian was somebody I could trust. I was embarrassed, but I was confident that he’d been nothing but a perfect gentleman.
He walked back up and set the pills on the table. “Let me get you some cold water since you didn’t open this one,” he said.
“Ok.”
He reached into the fridge, and I couldn’t help but admire his firm and shapely ass as the pajama bottoms clung to it.
Christian handed me the cold water, and I pressed it to my face, enjoying the coolness against my skin.
“Scrambled ok?” he asked from where he’d returned to the stove.
“Huh?”
“Scrambled eggs?”
I blinked, then the words sunk in. “Oh, yeah. That’s fine.”
“Great.”
Christian seemed oddly comfortable at having me in his home, especially since he had to know how drunk I’d been the night before. He hummed as he cooked, and acted like me being there wasn’t odd at all.
“Breakfast is served,” he declared, setting a plate with eggs, bacon and fresh fruit in front of me.
“Thank you,” I replied, mouth watering and suddenly ravenous.
Christian was mostly quiet as we ate. I was partially relieved, because my head was still killing me. But I was also worried, because I knew he’d have questions.
“When did you get back into town?” I asked, recalling that he’d been out of the office all week and searching for a way to break the silence.
He chuckled. “I never left. My brothers and their families came to visit, so I took a week off to be with them. We spent most of the time at the beach, though we did go to the city one day to hit up the amusement park.”
“Oh…” I didn’t even know he had brothers. “Did you have fun?”
He smiled. “Yeah, though I’m glad it’s quiet again. I have two brothers, plus their husbands, and there are seven kids between them, so it was a bit of a madhouse.”
“They didn’t stay in a hotel?”
He shrugged. “They could have, but it’s ok. I have the guest room, and I put a Murphy bed in my office just for this. The kids all had a blast camping out in the living room.”
I couldn’t imagine any of my family allowing kids to ‘camp out’ in a living room if there weren’t enough bedrooms.
“Are your brothers alphas too?”
He shook his head. “One alpha, one omega.”
I wondered what it was like to be close enough to a brother to want to spend so much time together. Whenever I saw Josh and his family it was always perfunctory. He was a CEO-in-training, and his kids were expected to grow to be pillars of society. A day at a public beach or at an amusement park sounded like something he’d decry as gauche. He was more the private resort type with scheduled activities for the kids.
Part of me envied Christian that he could just have fun with his family.
“I’m glad you got to see them,” I said weakly.
“Do you have siblings?” he asked.
I nodded. “One brother, alpha. He’s older than me and already has a wife and kids.”
“See them often?”
I shook my head. “No. We… Josh and I don’t have a lot of shared interests,” I finally managed.
No shared interests was actually more like it. But right then I felt like I came from such a different world.
“Sorry,” Christian said before taking a bite of food.
We fell into a strange silence again, which I didn’t try to break a second time.
He took my plate after I’d finished and carried it to the kitchen to wash, leaving me to wonder just how big of an ass I’d made of myself the night before.
“I’ll take you back to pick up your car in a bit,” he said from where he stood over the sink. “In the meantime, feel free to take a shower if you need.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “But I can call for a ride since I didn’t drive myself last night.”
He wiped his hands on a dish towel and walked back over. “Well at least there’s that,” he said, sitting again. “I’m glad you had the foresight to know that driving was going to be a bad idea. I can drive you home though, no need to call somebody.”
“It’s ok…” I said. “I shouldn't take up more of your time.”
He studied me for a minute, then sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. “Gabe… I know it’s none of my business, we’re just coworkers. But… are you ok? Are you in trouble?”
“Huh?”
He grimaced. “You… you weren’t making a lot of sense last night. But you seemed extremely concerned about your house. You kept saying that somebody was going to take it away. Is your landlord trying to illegally evict you? Are they jacking up your rent? Do you need a place to crash? I know the rental market is tight right now, and I can’t do much. But I want to help if I can.”
The blood drained from my face. Nobody at work knew I was from such a wealthy family. I didn’t invite coworkers home because I didn’t need them realizing that I was loaded. I felt it would make things awkward at the office.
But here was Christian, offering to help, even though he barely knew me.
The tears spilled over before I could stop them, the stress of it all finally too much now that there was the barest hint of relief in the form of somebody listening.
Christian rested a hand on my shoulder, then stood and walked away. My heart sank. Then he returned with a box of tissue and set it in front of me.
“Better out than in. That’s what my papa always said,” he murmured.
I grabbed a tissue as fresh tears burst free. So many people would just see me as an overly emotional omega. But Christian was patient, and made it clear he’d wait to learn what I was emotional about.
I realized that secrets had consequences too, and he probably wouldn’t understand without seeing where I was coming from.
“I…” I started. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. “I’m not trying to avoid the question. But I think this discussion will make a lot more sense at my house. Is that offer to take me home still on the table?”
Christian nodded.
“Thank you,” I murmured. “I’ll… I’ll get changed, then we can go.”
“You can shower first if you’d like.”
I shook my head. “Thanks. But… This is already going to be hard enough, and the longer I stall the harder it’ll be.”
“Ok. I’ll get dressed too, then I’ll take you home.”
“Thank you.”