Page 13 of Small-Town Secrets
"Actually... I'm not sure that I did." I sighed. If only things were as simple as Jake thought they were. "I mean, I could tell that he had a crush on me—that I was never going to act on, by the way. He was a sweet kid, handsome too, but he was too young, you know?"
Jake nodded. "Yeah, I get it. Your brother's three years younger than you, isn't he? So his friend..."
"Same age," I confirmed. "He always seemed a little more grown up than my brother, though. Probably because he had a rough time at home. He moved out the minute he turned sixteen."
"Moved out how?" Jake asked. "Did he live on the streets?"
"No. He had a boyfriend he could stay with."
"Was this boyfriend older too?"
"Yup." I took a sip of my beer. "Older than me and an asshole to boot. I don't think he ever gave two fucks about Laurence's age."
"Hold on," Jake stopped me. "We're talking about Laurence Fessen? That's the kid who had a crush on you?"
"Yeah, that's him." I shouldn't have said his name, but I couldn't stop myself—and anyway, I knew Jake wasn't a gossip. Besides, it was all so long ago it wouldn't even make good gossip anymore. Why would anyone care who I slept with eight years ago?
"Well, now I get why you're so interested in him."
"I'm notinterested."
"Sure, whatever you say." Jake grinned at me, and I knew he wasn't buying athingI said. "So, you and Laurence, huh?" He wriggled his eyebrows at me. "How did he manage to seduce you eight years ago?"
"He didn'tseduceme." That wasn't the right term for what had happened.
"Then why did you sleep with him? Did he wear you down?"
"He was staying at our place for a few days because he and his boyfriend had gotten into a fight or something. It was nothing unusual. He stayed over a lot, even before he moved out from home. But that time..." I paused, recalling the events that had transpired that night in my head. "My brother was on some sort of overnight school trip and my parents were having dinner with people from my dad's work. In short, we had the house to ourselves."
"So he made a move on you?"
"He didn'tmake a moveon me, he went into heat, and he didn't run and lock himself in my brother's bedroom when it started." I remembered that evening clear as day—Laurence and I sitting in the living room, only a few inches apart because Laurence was terrible at hiding his crush and I could never create more distance between us without him immediately closing it again in the most subtle way he could—which wasn't very subtle at all. The couch was old and it creaked when he moved. Still, I tried to focus on the movie playing on the TV instead of the omega next to me.
Laurence was handsome, but he was also too young. He was my little brother's best friend, for fuck's sake. I wasnotgoing to give in to temptation.
Until his scent hit me.
"Oh wow," Jake said, snapping me back to reality. "Talk about bad timing."
"Seriously." I wiped my face with my hand as if I could wipe the memory away. "He never bothered me again after that, though. He returned to his boyfriend after a few days and they moved out of town shortly after and that was the last we heard from him. When I look at him now, though... I kind of wish I'd kept in touch, you know?"
"Because his boyfriend was such an asshole? That's not on you."
"No, maybe not, but I should have checked up on him once in a while instead of trying to forget about him because I felt bad about that night." And about the morning after. I'd been cold to Laurence, even though none of what happened was his fault. Not really.
Maybe if I'd been a little nicer to him back then he wouldn't have run straight back to the alphahole he was dating. The alphahole who had put that scar on his face.
"You can't blame yourself," Jake said as if he knew what I was thinking.
I nodded. It was good advice, really, and as I finished my beer, I only wished I could get myself to take it.
5
Laurence
Holy hell. My kids' karate instructor was Aaron Davis.
I was tempted to pull every single one of my hairs out by the root.
