Page 9 of Jacked-up Mate
“Should we go over to the Voo-Brew and get a coffee?”
When we came out of Whisper Grove’s coffee shop, Foster had a smile on his face. I’d heard their pumpkin spice latte was to die for but couldn’t bring myself to have one for obvious reasons.
I sipped on my hot chocolate while we walked. Foster was wide-eyed and gasped at places and things that I had grown accustomed to. It was a breath of fresh air to see our little town from his perspective. Plus, the omega was fucking gorgeous. His smile. The way he spoke.
The way he looked at me.
We walked and visited places all afternoon, exchanging phone numbers about an hour in. I’d never felt this way with an omega before.
I watched the time like a hawk. I would rather die than to have this perfect omega see the part of me I hated most.
The cursed part.
“How about dinner?” he asked as we stood in the middle of Autumn Square.
“Oh. I…” The clock tower let out five bongs. Shoot. I hadn’t checked the time. If I wasn’t careful I… “Thank you. Let’s do this again. I have to go. I’m sorry. At night…I can’t.”
Foster opened his mouth, but I was already walking away. I hated it. Leaving him when we were having such a wonderful time was one of the hardest things I’d done, but staying and risking him seeing my damned head shaped like an orange fruit was even worse.
I couldn’t let it happen.
The omega would run through the town screaming. He might even move away.
Nope. Not happening.
Chapter Eight
Foster
We’d made some real progress since the first night when Jack ran away from me. After that happened, I’d been amazed at his behavior when I approached him in the diner. Luckily, my boss was easygoing enough not to come down on me when I sat down to chat with a customer—at the very first time I worked the front of the house.
I wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d fired me for such inappropriate behavior, but Chris had never been that way. He appreciated his employees as people, not merely cogs in his machine. And I couldn’t have ignored Jack or pretended he was just an ordinary customer. It was all I could do not to race into the kitchen and cook his food myself, but I did have other tables to take care of. If all went well, I’d have other chances to prepare meals for this sexy alpha.
I was still beyond confused by the way he’d run off the night before, but I didn’t want to say anything to ruin our good time by being too inquisitive. Instead, at the end of our coffee date, I suggested we go out to dinner later, and his reply was nothing less than confusing. “Thank you. Let’s do this again. I have to go. I’m sorry. At night…I can’t.”
He couldn’t go out at night? “How about lunch tomorrow, then?” I asked, not wanting to leave things hanging. “If you’re okay at that time of day.” Since he’d come into the diner for a late lunch, I was fairly sure he was. Maybe he just didn’t like driving at night, or didn’t have great night vision?
Some alphas preferred to do the driving.
“Hey!” I called as he was headed away at a trot. “Lunch?”
“All right.” He moved even faster. “I’ll text you in the morning.”
“Okay.”
I had no idea what this running away thing was about, but it would likely resolve itself as we got to know one another better. Or at least I hoped it would. All I knew for sure was that spending time with Jack was incredible. And I craved as much of it as the alpha was willing to give.
What about a picnic?
The text came less than half an hour after he ran away, which was oddly comforting. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I felt like he was not only not with me after dark but maybe not available at all.
A picnic would be great. What time?
We ironed out the details, planning to meet at Autumn Square at one in the afternoon the next day, but then I got bold.
Can I call you?
Omegas were generally supposed to be demure and not pushy, but our situation was unique. At least based on the mating stories I’d heard from others.
