Page 17 of Scheme
“There are drinks at a pub in the city planned for tonight with my school friends,” Kit was saying, and I forced myself to stop ogling and pay attention. “It’s short notice, and I know that with everything you’ve had going on—”
“Distractions are always welcome,” I cut in quickly. I didn’t want to spend my Saturday night stewing at home in the swamp of sadness and anger I’d been in for the past few days. Until last night, really. “Will Nico be there? You know each other from school, right?”
Kit’s expression turned thoughtful, which may have been my favourite look on him. “We do, and he does know them, but I doubt he’ll be there. Nico doesn’t spend as much time around them these days for some reason.”
On reflection, I hadn’t even heard Nicomentionany school friends other than Kit, but he also wasn’t the most verbose guy.
“Speaking of Nico and Violet,” Kit continued, giving me a long look. “Obviously, we won’t be pretending in front of them, they know us too well. And you haven’t told them about your brother.”
“Did you?” It wasn’t as though I wasnevergoing to tell them. I just hadn’t got around to it. It wasn’t exactly a fun topic of conversation.
“Of course not. It’s not my place. They speak really highly of you, though. Violet kept telling me what a great friend you are and singing your praises while she made your coffee this morning—”
“Are you trying to make me feel guilty?”
“No.” Kit looked so startled by the notion that I couldn’tnotbelieve him. “I just… If you needed someone to talk to, or to help you, Violet and Nico would drop everything to be there for you.”
That wasn’t their job, though. It was mine.
I didn’t want to be a burden to the only friends I had who seemed to want to spend time with me purely for the pleasure of my company.
Chapter 5
We’dendedourimprompturelationship brainstorming session on a pretty positive note I’d thought, but by the time Kit swung by my place in the evening to pick me up, he was in such a foul mood that I wondered if I’d imagined our camaraderie over the kitchen table this morning.
It was a ten-minute walk from my place to the station, and we made the entire journey in silence.It didn’t bode well for a good night out,I thought to myself. Maybe I should have bitten the bullet and asked Violet for a heads-up on this group of friends we were going to meet.
My low-heeled sandals clicked with each step, and I crossed my arms to wrap myself more tightly in my cardigan as the breeze picked up. With zero guidance from Kit, I’d picked a casual navy dress that showed off a decent stretch of legs and shoulders—my two favourite features. It was sexy-ish. Sexy-lite, at most.
Unfortunately, the breeze also meant I’d had to pull my hair back into a low bun to stop it from whipping around my face. Even with a full face of makeup on, I felt incredibly exposed without my hair to hide behind.
Kit stepped aside so I could pass through the turnstile at the station first, following at a rather disconcertingly close clip behind me. It was an odd sensation to have an alpha so close to my back and not be actively trying to get away. There were always weirdos who stood too close on the train, but like any omega, I was proficient at slipping away from them.
The train was pretty quiet, and I led Kit to two empty seats, sliding in next to the window.
Were we just not going to speak for the entire journey? I wanted to know what I was walking into, but there was a part of me—maybe borne of instinct, maybe of experience—that baulked at the idea of provoking a clearly unhappy alpha.
A beautiful omega slipped between the doors right as they were closing, immediately patting her handbag and long black curly hair to check that nothing had got caught before finding her seat. She was tall and elegant, with deep bronze skin and enormous dark eyes, and I wondered if Kit’s friends would bring along a beautiful omega like her tonight to try and catch his attention.
“We should probably establish some kind of code word or signal or something,” I murmured, half to myself, mulling over options that would be clear between the two of us but notsuperobvious for everyone else. It would have to be something that gave me an excuse to leave. Maybe I could fake a phone call from one of my siblings? I supposed if I was never going to see any of them again, it didn’t matter how believable it was.
Kit twisted in his seat to face me, all traces of irritation gone and a serious look on his face. “If you feel uncomfortable at any point, just tell me, Margot. We’ll leave right away.”
Oh, that was reassuring. Nice, even. Maybe he wasn’t in a grumpy mood after all.
Nice Kit made my omega senses go allaware, instead of lying politely dormant somewhere in the depths of my being like they were meant to.
“That isn’t what I was referring to, but thank you, that’s good to know.”
“What were you talking about then?”
“I meant we need some kind of signal to get me out of there if they bring someone along you really hit it off with and want to get to know. I could fake a call from my sister and then I’ll slip out and call a cab—”
“That’s not going to be a problem,” Kit interjected, jaw tight.
“You don’tknowthat. I mean, you might not want to dive into their nest and make babies with them, but there are levels of intimacy before that. To be super blunt, I don’t want to knot-block you,” I said wryly.
Kit gave me a withering look. “Aside from the fact that I’d be a total piece of shit to go home with someone when I’d come out with you, the omegas my friends and family set me up with usually have expectations about something permanent. I’d never lead them on like that, even if I did find them attractive.”
