Page 58 of Game Over

Though, a half-terrified little voice in the back of my mind said, if the online forums are to be believed, that might never go away.

But my desire to be close to Charlie wasn’t entirely built off of our newfound bond either, I liked him. He was charming, and compassionate, and damn good at making a PB & J when he needed to be.

Did I like him enough to piss off my boyfriend for having him practically move in with little to no discussion?

Yet to be determined.

What I did know was that I was that I still really wanted Jesse to be closer, and all this time apart was making me pouty.

“Isn’t it kind of… weird?” I asked softly. Sure, I’d told my alpha all about what I did for a living—but knowing and seeing it were two totally different things.

“It’s not like you can scare him off,” Jesse said, and I wondered if I imagined the slight edge to his tone.

“I guess so…”

He was right, barring an extremely emotionally devastating not to mention physically agonizing process to remove the bond, he was stuck with me. The low thrum of Charlie’s perpetual undercurrent of anxiety brushed against me like a codependent cat every so often, and I met him with soft reassurance every time.

But, it could still make things awkward as fuck between us. If Charlie wanted me to stop working, it was going to be a big issue. It was one thing to take his money while I was findomming him, it was something else entirely to become his kept omega house pet and totally dependent on him foreverything.

Yeah, yeah. Be more of a stereotype. Prissy little omega with a complex about being too taken care of.

I rolled my eyes at myself.

“I don’t think so. Charlie doesn’t really care about stuff like that. Plus, he’s always been crazy generous with money, anyway. He’s probably just excited to finally have a girl to spoil instead of me.”

“I’m not taking his money!” I said quickly, and then because one secret was already one too many with Jesse. “Well, except when I dom him out of it, but that’s work. I’ve earned it then.”

“You absolutely have,” Jesse said with an appreciative hum. “So… you’ll ask him?”

I buried my face into my pillow with a groan.

“That’s a yes, isn’t it?”

My head bobbed, even though I knew Jesse couldn’t see the affirmative.

“Did you just nod?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Thought so,” he said with a light laugh. “Send me pics of whatever you buy?”

“Duh, what’s the point of shopping if there’s no fashion show?”

“Literally nothing.”

Hearing the smile in Jesse’s voice was so fucking nice. I’d almost forgotten how much I liked it. It seemed like he was starting to come around to the idea of me being bonded to his best friend, at least a teeny, tiny bit.

Or at least he was trying to, which was worth its weight in gold to me anyway.

I really, really didn’t want to fuck that up.

Charlie had gone to meet up with Cameo for a few hours at a coffee shop to co-work and talk business, so I picked my phone up off the bed—earning myself a testy swipe from Inky, who was trying to use it as a pillow—and texted him.

Tara: wanna go to the mall?

Charlie: right now?

Tara: yeah, if you aren’t busy? Or like, when you’re done?

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