Page 5 of Roommates
“I don't know.” I finally raised my greasy burger to my mouth and took a bite to buy myself some time.
I liked the burgers at this place, but the nervous energy coursing through me made it hard to taste anything. “I think I might have a problem,” I confessed.
“Yeah?” Conner leaned in, brows drawn together. “Is something going on between you and Adam?”
“Why would you think something's going on?” I had to keep myself from raising my voice in response to the absurdity of his question. “Because he's an alpha and I'm...” The word wouldn't quite pass my lips, but I made myself speak on anyway. “You're the one always telling me we're not slaves to our genes.”
“I stand by that.” Conner poked at his burger again. “I'm not thinking something’s going on because Adam's an alpha but because I see the look in your eyes when you talk about him, and because you said you had a problem,” he pointed out.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “Nothing's going on between Adam and me.”
“Okay.” Conner didn'tlooklike he believed me, but he knew it was better not to press the issue.
“What's the problem then?”
I lowered my voice. “I think my scent suppressants might not be working anymore.”
“Oh.” Conner leaned in. “Do you think Adam noticed something?”
“I don't know.” Shiftily, I glanced around the diner to check if anyone was paying attention to us, but nobody seemed to be looking our way. Good. “Can you smell anything?” I asked, offering the inside of my wrist to Conner.
Conner's eyes darted to the side, the same way mine had, and then he sniffed my wrist. It was a good thing no one was watching us, really, because we probably made quite the picture. “I'm not sure,”
Conner said. “Can't really smell anything but burger grease.”
I withdrew my wrist, not sure what to make of this. “Did you ever catch my scent while we were rooming together?”
A thoughtfully look crossed my friend's features. “I can't say that I have. Is your heat close? That might be making it stronger.”
I had to think about that. All the pills I'd been taking over the past ten years meant that I'd never reallygoneinto heat, but I did experience what I calledperiods of excessive horniness. I only got them once or twice a year now—and I was glad for it. Dealing with excessive horniness wasn't easy when you were sharing a room with someone and the only chance to jerk off you had was in the shower. It hadn't happened to me at all this term, so maybe Conner was right.
“I guess it could be close.” And wasn't that just a wonderful prospect? Being horny and stuck in a room with one of the most gorgeous alphas on campus.
“It'll pass,” Conner said.
“I know it will. I'm just not looking forward to dealing with it.”
Conner moistened his lips in a way that let me know he'd just had a thought he didn't want to express.
“What is it?” I asked. “I know that look. Did you just think something naughty?”
My friend's cheeks took on a faint pink hue. “I was only thinking that not all heats are horrible,” he admitted.
“Going down memory lane, huh?” I'd never indulged in a heat, but I knew I was unusual in that. If the circumstances were different, I might have liked to indulge, but as it was, it wasn't an option.
Conner shrugged, trying so hard to look casual I almost laughed. “I have some nice memories, yeah,”
he said in a tone of voice barely audible above the music coming from the speakers above us.
“You know I can't create any of those on my own.”
“I'm sorry,” Conner said, cutting into his burger again.
“It's okay, Ups and downs to everything, right?” A few nights of desperately needing sex without getting it were a small price to pay for not having to deal with the discrimination omegas faced. I was going to be fine. I would just up my dose of scent suppressors for the next couple of days and take a few more showers. Things would work out.
Somehow.
4
