Page 13 of The Omega's Secret Baby
And I didn't know what to say now.
“Don't worry, dear,” she said, a smile on her lips as she took another sip of her tea. “I never said a word to anyone. After all, you were always my favorite child. I can say that because I'm not your mother.”
“Thank you.” It was all that I could think to say in response.
She simply gave me another smile. “It's good to know that I was right and you had some fun before you got married. And with an omega too!”
I felt the tiniest bit of heat creep into my cheeks, because I'd definitely hadfun, and Frederica was not someone I wanted to discuss my sex life with. She said she wasn't my mother, but honestly, some days it felt like she was.
“So you want to know how your past lover is doing, yes? That's understandable. I still look in on my exes from time to time. Always interesting. Well, except for the one guy who gave me lice. I won't go anywhere nearthat oneagain.” She said it with so much disdain in her voice that I had to grin, forgetting the awkwardness I'd felt a moment ago.
“If you know anything about Eli, I'd be glad to hear it.”
“Eli, huh?” She set her tea down and thought for a moment. “I've heard about an omega with that name. He stands out, really, because he's old for being unmated.”
“Unmated?” I repeated because I couldn't believe it. So my senses hadn't tried to trick me the night before. Eli reallywasstill on the market. After all this time… I’d never have thought it possible. How lucky was I? All this time I’d dreaded finding out what lucky bastard had mated Eli, only to hear he was still single.Available.
But not necessarily available to you.
“Well, yes. He turns everyone down. Upsets some of the alphas in town. He's good-looking after all, but you know that.” She winked at me. This topic obviously amused her. “To think that you of all people slept with him...”
“What's that supposed to mean?” I demanded.
“Nothing. Just that you're not exactly the type to go downtown and seduce the local omegas.”
I shrugged. “It was a chance encounter.”
She nodded. “Must have been. And the chemistry was right?”
“I'm not going into detail on that,” I said, clearing my throat. Frederica didn't need to know about the way my heart had started racing the moment I'd seen Eli smile at me in the park all those years ago.
“Fine.” Frederica waved her hand. “Be coy, then.” She took her tea cup up again, her face turning pensive. “There's also the matter of the child, of course,” she said after a minute.
“The child?” Holy shit, I'd nearly forgotten about Jake upon hearing that Eli was unmated.
“Eli's child. He has a young boy. No one knows who fathered him, though. It's a mystery. If you believe the rumors, he doesn't know himself.”
I didnotbelieve the rumors. “He's not that kind of person,” I said quietly, processing all that Frederica had told me and coming to a realization. “He knows. I'm sure of it.” Eli wasn’t the type to sleep with random strangers, let alone multiple strangers. The chemistry between us had been out of control from the moment we’d met, but it had still taken me weeks to get him to drop his clothes for me. I’d had to work my way up from stolen kisses to tongue-on-tongue action to mindless make-out sessions in the dark. All of it had been worth it, though.Soworth it.
“Well, if he knows, he’s not telling anyone. People assume he was knocked up by some college kid, since he came home from school pregnant, and then he quit school soon after.”
It saddened me to hear that. He’d only just started school when I’d met him, and he’d been so proud of that too. Getting that scholarship. He’d worked his ass off. That’s why he told me he deserved to have a little fun. I couldn’t believe that he let some college guy take that away from him. That simply couldn’t be what had happened. Not to Eli. “His son is seven,” I said, more to myself than to Frederica, who gave me a blank look in response.
“Is he?” she asked, but I wasn’t really listening to her, stuck in my own head.
“I slept with him eight years ago.”
Now Frederica was starting to catch on. “Oh.” She held a hand in front of her mouth. “But then… do you think…?”
Did I? “I don’t know.” If Jake was really mine, Eli would have told me, wouldn’t he?
Or, he wouldn’t have toldanyone.
My head was spinning.
Could it really be….?
No, I was jumping to conclusions.
