Page 28 of Adoring Fletcher
“How do you know?” he asked gently.
“I just do, okay?”
But he kept pushing. He wouldn’t drop it, and the pressure broke something in me.
“For an Alpha, you sure are clueless!” I snapped, sitting up and tugging the covers around myself like a barrier. “I’m going into heat, okay?”
The silence hit hard. Adam blinked, stunned. “Oh.” That’s all he said.Oh.
I hugged myself around my middle. The illusion of happiness was shattered, just like that. I’d held it together as long as I could, but the warmth building in my gut wasn’t going away—it was only getting worse.
“I’ve…never actually been around an Omega in heat before,” Adam said quietly.
I stared at him. “What? Surely you’ve dated.”
He gave this dry, tired huff of a laugh. “Yeah. The Omegas my father sets me up with. Never a second date. And the people I’ve slept around with? It was never like this.”
Never like what,I wanted to ask. I shook my head. This was spiraling fast. I needed to get out of here before I did or said something I regretted.
“I… I should probably go back to my room,” I muttered, already swinging my legs off the edge of the bed. “It’s going to be a rocky week.”
Adam frowned. “Fletcher, you know I won’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, I know, but…” My voice cracked. I clenched my jaw and forced a slow breath through my nose. “I don’t want to mess up a good thing, you know? When sex gets involved, things get tangled. And I?—”
He kissed me.
His hand cupped the side of my face, turning mine to his, and I froze—but he didn’t. His lips caressed mine, warm and gentle and achinglyreal.
The world spun out from under me, my heart thundering in my chest. This wasn’t happening. This was part of my fever dream. I was still asleep, wrapped in the throes of my heat.This couldn’t be real.
When he pulled back, his hand was still on my face, and he looked at me like I was the only person in the world.
“My feelings are already involved,” he whispered. “It’s too late.”
I stared at him, stunned. How? When? My inner-feline purred so loudly, wanting nothing more than to rub against his mate and let ourselves fall into Adam’s strong arms. Let him take care of us in our time of need.
But…
“This… This shouldn’t happen,” I uttered, pulling back. My throat tightened around the words. Everything inside of me was screaming as I stumbled out of bed, nearly falling flat on my ass and taking the bedsheets with me.
“You don’t understand… It can’t. I’m not the kind of Omega an Alpha like you needs in your life, Adam. I’m sorry.” I choked on the words.
Adam’s expression collapsed, and in that moment, I hated myself for the hurt I saw there.
Unable to take any more, I spun on my heel and fled.
I escaped out the bedroom door and down the hall. I didn’t stop to see if he would follow. I didn’t want to. I couldn’t.
I made it to the guest room—myroom—slammed the door behind me, and collapsed onto the bed. The sheets were cold. Stale. A bitter reminder of what I’d just thrown away.
With a sob, I pressed my face into the pillow and let the tears come, hot and silent.
Damn it.
I’d ruined everything.
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