Page 43 of Omega's Forbidden Heat
“Bastard! My sister, my sister!”
Finn slams him against the wall and then takes a step backwards, his shoulders lifting and falling rapidly with his hurried breaths, then he drags his hands through his hair. “You promised me that you’d look out for her, like a brother, remember,” he says. “And instead you decide you’re going to play with her like every other Omega. You’re going to destroy her.”
What does he mean? Jack stares at him. Then he growls.
“And were you doing this whole big brother act when this village started treating her like shit? Were you slamming people into walls when they wrote her those notes, when they called her names behind her back, when they made her feel like scum? Have you been up to those stables and told Sara to go to hell?” It makes him sick, all the vile rotten words she’s had to endure. His Omega. “Were you there then, Finn, sticking up for her? Because it seems like the whole fucking world was set out to destroy her long before I came home! You just can’t see it.”
But he can. Behind all those smiles, the cheerful persona, the tough girl act, he’s seen a hesitance in her eyes that never used to be there. The result of all those words.
Finn swallows, pain flashing in his eyes. Eyes almost identical to his sister’s. “What is it about you? Why do you always have to ruin everything? Hurt everyone? Stay away from her and stay away from me.”
“Finn—”
Finn holds out his arm, flexing his forefinger, no longer looking at him. “Stay away from us, Jack, stay away.” He strides out of the house and Jack watches him go, watches as he storms along the drive, disappearing behind the hedgerow.
Jack leans his head back against the wall. The plaster is cold against his skull and it seeps into his mind, filling it with chilling thoughts. He’s lost his mum, now he’s lost his best mate too. Why is he surprised? He’s a fuckup. A gigantic fuck up.
Finn’s words have cut him. He knew they were coming. It’s why he’d pushed her away, knowing the whole goddamn world would condemn them, but especially her brother, especially her parents. They’d never forgive him. Their precious girl, always so precious. They wouldn’t want someone like him getting his grubby hands all over her.
And the worst thing is, he can’t really blame them. She was almost like a sister growing up. And if an Alpha like him came sniffing about her, he’d be right there with Finn, smashing him into a wall.
He’s so fucking confused by it all. Because one moment he hates himself with every bone of his body and the next he can’t stop thinking about her. It whips his very breath away, how badly he wants her. Just to see her again, to talk to her. He doesn’t even care about the rest.
But he can’t, he can’t. It was a one off. He helped her out and that’s it. She deserves someone better than him. A million million times better. Someone who knows where they are going in life, with prospects. Someone her family can respect. Her proper fucking Alpha who will take care of her like she deserves. Not some screw up, who can’t get his shit together.
So he ignores her calls, doesn’t reply to her messages. He lets his phone buzz across the carpeted floor, taunting him. He’s already told her how things stand. There’s no use doing it again and again until they rip each other’s souls out. She’ll get the hint and he’ll get the hell out of Losworth and far away from these memories and these scents.
* * *
The sun blazes down from the centre of the sky and the air buzzes with heat. The grass on the school field has browned over the last few weeks of the summer term, and the ground has turned to dust. They lounge on their backs, blazers lying next to them, ties loosened and sleeves rolled up. The first exam is done, but there’s still more to come.
Jack closes his eyes and lets the bright rays warm his skin, the world an orange beneath his lids, and tucks his hands under his head. He thinks about the last few maths questions as Finn and George mutter about something he’s not listening to, running through the calculations he’d performed and reassuring himself he’d answered them all correctly.
“What did you get for that question on the last page?” George asks him and he lifts his head and shields his eyes.
“Shit, mate. I don’t know. Square root of 6?”
“Fuck,” George says, “I had that and then changed it.”
“Maybe you were right to.”
Finn laughs. “Yeah, sure, Jack. If that’s what you got, then it’s right. You’re gonna get an A.”
Jack’s not so sure. He’d run out of time towards the end and hadn’t been able to go over his answers like he’d planned to.
He lets his eyes travel lazily over to the school building where the young students pour out of the doors at the end of the day. Absentmindedly, almost half asleep in the heat, his gaze skims over the faces and he spots Finn’s little sister, Amy, an A4 binder clutched to her front, walking with a group of friends. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail, but strands have come loose at the front and stuck to her forehead in the stickiness. Her head bobs up and down as she nods along to whatever the small redhead next to her is saying, and then her eyes drift upward and she sees him. She smiles shyly and wiggles her fingers at him.
He lies back down and closes his eyes, exhaling a puff of air. A vision of her smile, pink lips, white teeth, brown eyes, floating on the orange of his lids before dissolving away.
“Hi.”
He cracks open an eye. She’s standing in front of her brother. From this angle, he can tell she’s rolled the waistband of her skirt so that the hemline skates the middle of her thigh. Why do all the girls at this school do that?
“How did the exam go?” she asks.
“Alright,” Finn grunts.
Jack closes his eyes. Finn can be such an arsehole to his sister. He’s always been jealous of the two of them. He’d give anything to have someone else in his family. Someone other than his mum.
