Page 46 of Game Over

Ugh.

Charlie leaned against his door while he drove like he was trying to create as much space as possible between us, the city flying by in a blur of colors as we drove deeper into the trendy, overly-gentrified section of downtown boasting boardgame cafes and boutiques selling handmade items I was like 90% sure were mostly from online manufacturers in China at a remarkable 400% profit ratio.

The radio was set to low, the guitar solo of an old rock song providing the soundtrack to what was inarguably one of the most awkward drives in the history of cars existing.

“So…” I started slowly, making Charlie jump as I smoothed my skirt. “Where are we going?”

It wasn’t the question I wanted to ask, of which there were plenty.

Why didn’t you call?

Where have you been?

Did you miss me?

Have you thought about me at all?

Are you mad I bonded you?

And, the worst one: How long have you been in love with Jesse?

Because as much as I tried not to look, tried not to feel it, there was no arguing that when Charlie looked at them… he felt the same thing I did.

It should’ve made me angry, or maybe jealous, my alpha and my boyfriend, but, honestly it kind of bummed me out for my alpha. I don’t think Jesse even noticed. And if he did, I trusted him enough to know that nothing was going on between them.

Trust.

Fuck. Something I was totally screwing up by keeping me and Charlie’s history from them, but after the way Jesse spun out when the bond was formed… Did we really have a choice?

“It’s a surprise,” Charlie said softly, his voice not as deep as I remembered—though, I sort of was starting to realize that maybe the guy I’d met in that heat hotel wasn’t so much the Charlie that was sitting here as it was a character, like the Tara who showed up to stream on SLCK’d.

A version of himself that he thought I wanted in the moment.

He wasn’t wrong, I’d needed a big, demanding alpha to take control for my first time. Well, partially.

Charlie and I both knew that if anything, it’d been a team effort.

Butnow?

I actually sort of preferred the bottoming from the top type that he seemed to be.

“A surprise?” I asked curiously, turning away from the windshield to study his strong jaw, raising a dark eyebrow. “Pulling out all the stops, alpha?”

Charlie shrugged, his massive shoulders pulling at the cottony fabric of his fitted OVWatch t-shirt, the purple and green logo resting comfortably across his chest.

“You’re my omega, I figured you deserve something nice. Besides.. Dinner is a bit dull, right? We could eat anywhere.”

“Totally,” I agreed, a little surprised. “Honestly, I kind of hate a date where all you do is eat. I’d rather be active and do something. Get to talk without worrying if I have an overpriced kale salad in my teeth.”

He smiled, and if I didn’t know better I would’ve thought that I felt a little smugness threading through our bond back to me.

I couldn’t help but smile back.

“This is like… at least a little weird right?”

“Sort of, yeah.” I admitted. “I think we’re supposed to do courting before the bond is placed, usually.”

“Well, someone, not naming any names of course—” this time, Charlie’s cheeky smile, the sly way he looked at me sidelong with those big, beautiful dark eyes that I’d been imagining while fucking myself on stream for the last year, was unmissable.

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