Page 43 of Scheme
“I’ve been in a courtship once before.” My voice was barely above a murmur, noticing Kit and Seniya making their way back to the table. “We’d talked about my heat, he bought me blankets and pillows for my nest, we were serious. I was only eighteen, but I fully expected that we were going to go into my nest together when the time came, and that would be that.”
Thea stared at me wide-eyed, and though my face was already starting to burn with decade-old embarrassment, I took a steadying breath and kept going. “He changed his mind the day before my heat set in proper, and I went into my nest alone. He found someone else. Anyway, sorry to be a downer. The point was just that I don’t count my chickens before they’ve hatched.”
Thea nodded, a grim look of determination on her face. “That’s a good thing to bear in mind. I’d really like to talk to you more if you’re open to it. My mum is an omega, but she’s not very… helpful.”
“That, I can relate to. Maybe we can swap numbers—” I pulled out my phone, intending to pull up a new contact for Thea, but a message appeared, stealing my attention. Judging by the way Kit froze behind me, he’d just received the same one.
Bryce: Party at our place, 10 pm tonight. You know the drill—get yourself drilled!
On aTuesday? While they did randomise the dates since these gatherings weren’t a hundred per cent legal, I’d never been to one on a Tuesday before.
I turned back slowly to look at Kit, finding his expression unreadable but his eyes blazing.
“We’ll go as friends, of course. Go our separate ways when we get inside.”
That’s what I’d said. And he’d agreed, hadn’t he? The conversation was a little fuzzy now.
Except Kit wasn’t looking at me like we were friends, and we hadn’t beenkissinglike we were friends.
So where did that leave us?
Chapter 11
KitandIhadreturned to our respective lodgings after we said goodbye to Seniya and Thea, the air between us taut with tension.
It’s going to be fine. Either you’re friends, and you’ll go your separate ways, or…
Or what?
There was no denying that I was incredibly attracted to Kit, but if something happened between us and he accused me again of trying to entrap him…
I shook off the thought. We’d moved past that, hadn’t we? He’d been different since then.
There was nothing to worry about.
After verifying that Nico and Violet’s car was idling outside my flat, I belted the shin-length black coat I was wearing over my outfit and grabbed my clutch and change of clothes, my gold heels clicking down the stairs with each step.
I was way more nervous than I usually was for one of Bryce and Kane’s parties, which were usually the highlight of my month.
Kit unfolded his enormous frame from the cramped backseat, running an appraising eye over my curled hair and red lips, down the coat that covered everything, to my exposed ankles and sexiest heels.
His eyebrows pulled down in a faint frown, and I did my best to squash my reaction. We weren’t a real couple, and we were evenlessreal tonight on our hiatus from the arrangement I’d already called off.
Tonight, I was just Margot, the single omega who was here for no-strings-attached orgasms among trusted friends.
I probably shouldn’t have muddied the waters by going to meet his mum.
“Hello.” I paused, leaning in for a quick cheek kiss before sliding past Kit into the backseat. I was absolutely not going to overthink any part of tonight.
“You look lovely,” Violet said, twisting in her seat to look back at me. “Love the red lippy.”
“Thank you. You look stunning, as always.” I didn’t need Violet to take her coat off to know what she was wearing underneath—she basically had a uniform for these things.
Kit climbed into the seat behind Violet, his knees practically touching his chin in the small space, pulling the door shut a little harder than necessary. He didn’t look nearly as enthusiastic about tonight as I’d expected him to look.
If anything, he looked a little surly.
“Are you looking forward to tonight?” Violet asked me, though I didn’t think I imagined the flash of a glance at Kit.
