Page 9 of Run Wild Omega

“Come home with me.” It’s not an order; it’s a plea. “Just for tonight. Let me take care of you. Let me… let me hold you. Let me show you just how sorry I am for the past. Then tomorrow, you can go back to hating me.”

It’s the most tempting offer I’ve ever heard. To be held, to be warm, to be his for just one night. To forget the city, the professor, the failure.

But I can’t.

If I let him in now, after everything, I’ll never recover when he leaves again. Or worse, when I realize he doesn’t actually want me—he just wants to fix me.

“I can’t,” I whisper.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not the girl you remember, Wyatt. She’s gone.”

“She’s not. I’m looking at her right now.”

“I’m a broken mess.”

“Then let me help you pick up the pieces.”

“No!” I shove against his chest. He doesn’t budge—an immovable object. “I have to do it myself. I have to figure out who I am without… without everyone telling me who I should be.”

He stares at me, the conflict warring in his eyes. Finally, he lowers his hands and steps back. The loss of his body heat is immediate and agonizing.

“Okay.” His tone is rough. “Okay, Tess.”

He straightens, squaring his shoulders. He looks like a soldier again. Distant. Untouchable.

“Go inside,” he says. “You’ll freeze.”

“I’m going.”

I turn the handle and push the door open. The roar of the reception washes over me—music, laughter, clinking glasses. It feels like a different planet compared to the quiet, charged intensity of the porch.

I pause on the threshold, looking back.

Wyatt is still out on the porch, watching me. The snowflakes are catching in his eyelashes, dusting his shoulders. He looks lonely. He looks like the only other person in the world who understands the silence.

“Goodnight, Wyatt,” I say softly.

“Goodnight, Tess.”

I step inside and let the door swing shut, sealing him out in the cold. I lean against the wood for a second, closing my eyes, forcing my heart rate to slow down.

I can’t fall apart. Not tonight.

I open my eyes and force a smile onto my face. I scan the room. Mara is on the dance floor, sandwiched between Daniel and Gray, laughing as Leo spins her around.

I straighten my spine. I smooth down the silk of my dress and walk toward the cake, toward the noise, toward the light. I leave the ghosts on the porch and walk back into the warmth, even if I have to pretend every step of the way.

Tess

He’s pressing me into the mattress. His hand is tangled in my hair, tugging just hard enough to make my scalp tingle, his other hand gripping my hip with bruising force. I arch my back, a whimper catching in my throat.

“Please,” I hear myself beg, the sound tiny and far away. “Please, Marcus.”

He chuckles, the sound vibrating against my skin. “So eager. Such a good girl for me.”

I wake up with a gasp, air rushing into my lungs like I’ve been drowning.