Page 54 of The Gift
“You’re right. I guess I want you to know that you being here is what we want. For however long that is, none of us know, but here you can do whatever you want, however too.”
“Hmm, I like the last part of that. It works. Because…”
“No because, Bailey. Let things happen.” I growl, losing control, but it’s not aggressive, it’s possessive.
“Without judgement?”
I nod my head quickly. “What about if we simply pretend that the world is ours for the next twenty-four hours or so. I mean technically we’re all in lock down and aren’t allowed to work for a few days, so we could push the twenty-four hours out. We talk, we eat, we sleep but we throw away whatever is holding us back and simply be what we always were meant to be.”
“And what’s that?”
“Together.”
She doesn’t answer for a while, but she doesn’t look away either, which is a win. A thousand emotions race over her face, and I let them, without arguing or trying to brush them away. It’s hard because I can see when she gets a little stuck on a few of them, but the longer we stay staring at each other, the more resolute she becomes.
“I’ll stop drinking.”
Bailey always surprises me. The way she sees things is so different to what I’m used to. Which only reconfirms to me how right she is and how well she fits.
“Why?” I grin at her, my hand on her hip.
“Because I don’t want you to ever question my decisions or actions. I like your suggestion though, and thank you for being honest.”
“I won’t lie. There’s no need to. What are your thoughts about my offer?”
“No biting.” She holds her eyebrow poised high in challenge; her lips drawn together too like they sometimes do when she gets a little sassy. And while I should answer her quicker than I do, I’m a little caught up in the visualisation of wrapping my hands around her face while I absolutely devour her plump lips. Again.
“Hmmm… no bond bites is a better stipulation. Ashton likes to bite.”
She laughs before her smile drops.
“What’s that about?” I ask quietly and let her fingers trail over my hand.
“You talk about everyone but yourself, Henley. What do you want?”
“Thought you said we were keeping it light. Besides, I already told you before. I want everything. And I most definitely want to explore the perfect omega we have standing in our house.”
A flash of question darkens her face while she gathers her thoughts.
“I wish I could explain what it feels like properly. This is probably one of those times I need to come back to you with ‘a better formed sentence would work here’.”
She presses her whole hand against my mouth, stopping my talking.
“I figured out what I want. I don’t want to talk about that in any shape or context. I don’t want to analyse my feelings and I don’t want to be psychoanalysed by you or your pack. I definitely don’t want to work through the memories of what, how and when, and if that changes I’ll let you know. For the first time, I simply want to be what I have never been.”
“And what have you never been?”
“An omega.”
Push me off a fucking cliff.
“Do you mean to tell me you have never gone into heat? You’ve never succumbed to the intoxicating pleasures of scent? Fuck, Bailey, please tell me you’ve been knotted by an alpha?” My question is hidden under a blast of irritation, but it’s not at her, nor what she’s said. It’s the way her being knotted by another alpha makes my skin itch in wrongness, and a fuck-tonne of jealousy.
She takes a deep breath before she answers. “If you need me to say the words to confirm each of those questions, or statements, then the answer is no I have never done any of those properly. Although the last one is a bit of a shit memory, that I honestly don’t know if I can trust.”
“What? Really? How on earth did you survive, Bailey? All of it? Like what happened to you, how did you escape, make a new life for yourself. God, your heats? You would have been in so much discomfort, and pain. Fuck... Wow… I’m…”
“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to talk about any of that. And you’re already talking about it!” She growls at me.
