Page 91 of Wild Omega

Reoffending often occurs in domestic violence cases, usually with increased aggression, and I couldn’t bear for this to happen to Ricky again. “Please don’t refuse.”

I glance up and catch a strange look on his face that makes my insides heat.

“Red’s welcome too, once we get her out. I won’t interfere in what you have, I just want to make sure you’re both safe.” I drop his hand, realizing that I’m caressing it, and he probably won’t like that after experiencing relationship trauma. Plus, most alphas are touch-sensitive and I’m not his pack.

He points a finger at me. “Red?” he rasps.

I shake my head. “I’ll be representing her as her lawyer, nothing else.” My voice cracks as I say it, threatening to expose my turbulent emotions. Best to change the subject. “Stay at least until we find you a new house, one with a nest and a sewing room for you. Some place where Hudson can’t reach you.” Persuasion comes naturally to me as part of my line of work, but a little guilt rides me as I tap into my best friend’s fears to motivate his choice. Well, so long as he’s safe from now on, it doesn’t matter.

Ricky’s chest heaves with a wheezy sigh, and he nods slowly. “For . . . now.”

A pulse of victory washes through me and I curl my fists up on my knees to contain the excitement. It’s a start—although of what, I’m not sure. The strange thing is, my hand starts to shake. I grind it down into my thigh to hide the tremor. Weird. Is it because my omega refused me, or because Rickon was injured? Or maybe something else is trying to claw its way free through my skin.

A rustle of paper catches my attention. Ricky opens the puzzle book and folds the spine all the way back to hold it with one hand. A different kind of itchiness overtakes me at such heathenish mutilation of a book. I jump up and roll over the bed table, carefully positioning it so he can set the book down flat.

He gives me a thumbs up while absently holding a pen between his lips. I can’t look away, and I can’t avoid the bruising around his neck.

I drop into my chair, gaze locked on him. A million things need my attention, but I don’t want to leave his side. What if I’d lost him today?

“You’re staring,” he whispers, not looking up.

“Is that a crime, or are you going to start charging me?” I mutter.

The corners of his mouth draw back in a smirk.

Rickon’s always been interesting to look at. He’s shaped differently from the alphas and betas I grew up around. More delicate, but without being fragile. He possesses a quiet intensity. And I know others can’t help looking either. Even the guy in the bed next to us was sneaking glances when I first walked in.

Rickon’s eyes flick up to me, and then he writes something down on the edge of his crossword.I don’t come cheap.

“Ha!” I dig into my pocket and drag out my wallet, secretly glad he’s feeling well enough to be playful. The bills crinkle softly as I draw out $250 in notes and set them down on the table. “That should get me half an hour, right?”

Ever so slowly, Ricky moves his pen across the table and uses the end to slide a fifty back toward me. Then he writes,I’m not as qualified as you.

I smile and tuck the note back in my wallet, pleased he’s taking the two hundred. I suspect he’ll spend it on his omega, but that suits me fine too. He proceeds to use the notes as a bookmark, making me chuckle. Yeah, I always knew he leaned toward being chaotic neutral. It also means I can stare at him as much as I want now.

It could be the evening light slanting through the window at the far end of the room, or maybe the unforgiving LEDs overhead, or maybe the bruises are darkening, but they stand out even more on his pale skin than before.

“I’m sorry, Ricky,” I say.

He glances up in surprise.

“I let you down, not knowing about your boyfriend, or what you were going through. I should’ve been with you when you brought your omega home, and when you went through your rut.” I flinch as I realize how that might sound. “Not, you know, with you likewithyou, but nearby, to see if you needed anything or whatever.” Fuck, this is like walking through those shop aisles to pick out a gift all over again. Land mines everywhere.

I scrub my hand over my face. “I’m sorry. That’s all.” He tilts his head to the side, studying me, and I heat with shame under that searching look. “I really am.”

Ricky nods. I’d like to hear the words of forgiveness, but he’s been wincing with every swallow, so I think he’s in too much pain to speak.

I lick my dry lips and glance at his crossword puzzle. “Also, two down is ‘susceptible’. Eleven-letter word meaning easily influenced.”

He rolls his eyes and flashes his middle finger.

The jumpy wariness in my heart settles as I cross my ankle onto my knee and lean back with a grin. “What’s another one you’re stuck on?”

While I tease him, another phrase settles into my vocabulary.Slow down. I never knew what Mom was asking when she told me to slow down, but for the next half hour I spend with my best friend at his hospital bedside, time really does seem to flow differently. Maybe it was never aboutwhatI do with my time, but aboutwhomI spend it with.

And I’m discovering that much too late.

Chapter thirty-eight

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