Page 45 of Rocked By the Alpha
“If truth be told, me too.” She laughs. “Like I can’t quite believe some stranger wants my picture.”
“At least she asked. The worst is when people try to photograph you on the sly. Well, not even on the sly. Sometimes it’s bloody blatant — they’re there waving a phone in your face like you’re an animal at the zoo.”
Ruby nods. “Although, sometimes I want to say no. Like, I don’t want to have to be photo ready all the time on the off chance someone wants to take a selfie with me. But if you say no, they can be real jerks.”
“Well, I guess that’s the advantage of being an Alpha. Ash doesn’t get shit like that.” Layla twirls a strand of hair around her finger and tucks it behind her ear. “I think I’m getting used to people staring at me all the time now. But we don’t go out that many places.”
“What do you do?”
“What do we do?” Layla asks, a smile curling her lips.
Ruby raises her eyebrows and laughs. “I mean in your spare time … do you work?” She supposes she doesn’t being bonded to a multi-millionaire.
“I’m at art school.”
“Oh yeah, right. You did their art work for the cover, didn’t you?”
“Yep, but now I’ve really gotten into painting. Wanna see?”
“Sure.”
Layla picks up the phone laid out on the table in front of her and scrolls over the screen before twisting it around to Ruby. The style is familiar and Ruby recognises it from the huge painting hanging in West’s hallway.
“Wow, beautiful.”
“I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. I really love the artwork on your shoulder, by the way. I’m trying to persuade Ash to let me design him a tattoo. But so far he’s refusing.”
Ruby peers down at her shoulder. “I designed this one myself.”
“So you draw too?”
“Doodle really, nothing like you.”
“Well, if you ever want me to design something for you …” Layla flips her phone back onto the table as the waitress comes over to the table with a bottle of water. She unscrews the cap with a hiss and pours out a glass for Ruby, bubbles racing up the glass to the surface. When she’s gone, Layla leans a little against the table. “Do you mind if I ask you about your experiences of being an Omega? I had quite a,” her eyes swivel in their sockets as if she’s searching for the right word, “restricted childhood and I don’t know that many Omegas. Definitely not any in our kind of position.”
Ruby twirls the ring she wears around her thumb. “What do you want to know? I don’t know if I was unusual at all but I presented pretty late — when I was 17 — and I kind’ve rebelled against it at first. Like, Omegas seemed meek and pathetic to me and I didn’t want to be anything like that. I’d just started getting into different types of music with my best friend Nat and crushing on all these amazing kick-ass women who were rock stars. I wanted to be like them. So I dyed my hair and got my first tattoo, started writing music with Nat. I tried my best not to be your typical Omega.”
“I totally get that. It was the only image I ever had of Omegas too. The only one my parents ever presented to me. My mum is an Omega and my dad an Alpha. He pretty much controls her life.”
Ruby nods. “I’m the only Omega in the family. It’s why I did that article in the magazine. I wanted other young Omegas to see they can be whatever they want to be.”
“Including a kick ass rock star.” Layla beams.
“Or an amazing artist.” Ruby winks at Layla. “But anyway, then I discovered Alphas and the sex side of things and, I have to say, I don’t think being an Omega is all that bad.” She examines Layla’s face for a reaction.
The other woman simply nods. “I had to endure a lot of heats on my own and that was miserable. But since, being with Ash, well …” She wets her bottom lip with her tongue.
“I only ever did one heat alone — my first — and after that I swore I’d never ever do that again. It’s kinda weird isn’t it — how something so fucking terrible, can be transformed into something pretty incredible?”
“I don’t think other people will ever understand it.”
“No, they can’t.” Ruby hears the waitress approaching behind her and pauses while the woman places two steaming plates of fish curry before them.
“Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asks.
Layla shakes her head.
“No, thanks, we’re good,” Ruby says. She dips her fork into the noodles and twists it around. “But finding decent Alphas has always been a bit of a drag.”
