Page 6 of Feeling the Heat: Part Two
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. This isn’t a pity hire. I need the best of the best on my team, and we already talked about this. You promised me a big favor for my help learning about being an omega, and I’m cashing in now.”
“Lauren, I appreciate it but?—”
Lauren shakes her head, doing her best to give me a stern look even as the corner of her mouth quirks. “Nope. We’re friends, remember? Friends follow through on their promises, and that means you’re working for me.”
“I—”
The omega reaches out and grabs my arm, yanking me out of the elevator. “Come on, we can argue inside while we eat delicious pasta. I’m starving.”
3
After eatingan obscene amount of carbonara and feebly arguing against taking the pity job Lauren is offering, I’m a pliant lump of an omega on her couch. She drapes a weighted blanket over me and sets a mug of tension-taming tea down on the coffee table in front of me.
“Babe, there’s also—” Rekha, Lauren’s adorable omega partner, starts, and Lauren’s eyes light up, snapping her fingers.
“Of course! Have I ever told you how brilliant you are?” Lauren asks, giving Rekha a kiss on the cheek as she slides past her toward a hallway that leads further into their condo.
“Only twice today,” Rekha chuckles, watching Lauren adoringly.
My chest tightens and I have to look away. “I’m really okay. You both have already done more than enough for me. Too much, really,” I say with a weak laugh, trying not to tear up at how they’ve given me hope for the first time in ages.
Rekha shakes her head, still smiling from the plush chair across from me. “Lauren missed you. She feels terrible for notbeing a better friend, and this is her way of making amends. I’ve learned that it’s best to let her coddle as much as she wants, because she’s very stubborn.”
“I’m not stubborn!” Lauren scoffs as she re-enters the living room, clutching a large squishy stuffed animal in her arms.
I laugh at the eye roll Rekha gives her partner in response to her protest.
Lauren sighs. “Okay, yes, I’m stubborn, but it’s because I’m almost always right.” She lifts her chin with mock haughtiness, and Rekha scoffs, but it’s clear that she loves how confident Lauren is.
My brow furrows as Lauren plops an enormous pink and white cow plushie into my lap.
“Uhh, thanks?” I look down into the big cartoon eyes with hearts as pupils, bemused.
“Hug it,” Lauren instructs, slipping into the chair next to Rekha and reaching out to squeeze her hand.
“Wow, I must look really bad off if you’re telling me I need stuffed animal hugs.” It’s embarrassing how my omega perks up at the thought of holding this very squishy-looking plush cow.
Rekha shakes her head, eyes going soft with concern. “You don’t look that bad.”
At the same time, Lauren shrugs. “You’re touch-starved. Your omega went from lots of physical comfort to nothing, and you’ve been isolating yourself while your stress levels are through the roof. Omegas need touch, and even more so when we’re in distress.”
A lump forms in my throat as Lauren’s words remind me of the conversation I had with Ambrose about needing touch. He gave me a prescription for hugs, and I still have it tucked in adrawer in my bedroom, despite knowing I can’t ask him to fill it again.
Tears well in my eyes, and I nod. “Okay. Yeah. That makes sense.”
“Go on. Hug it,” Lauren prompts again.
I tentatively bring the cow up against my chest, giving it a hesitant sniff. It has a light strawberries and cream scent, but nothing else, which is good because I don’t want to get my scent all over a plushie they keep in their nest. Feeling silly, I squeeze the cow, and the moment I do, it rumbles with a low, realistic-sounding purr. My omega melts, letting out a soft purr of my own before I can push it down.
“Whoa,” I murmur, cheeks heating at my intense reaction to this purring cow.
“Kinda magical, right?” Rekha asks. “They came up with the idea for small kids who were having trouble sleeping, but it’s a pretty common life hack for omegas to ward off touch starvation. I got that one for my cousin’s omega son, who is going off to college, but he already had one, so it’s been sitting in our random gift pile for ages.”
“It’s yours now. Think of it as a new hire bonus,” Lauren teases.
“Thanks,” I chuckle, fighting back the urge to argue again about the job Lauren badgered me into taking from her. Not that I put up much of a fight. My ego is already too pummeled from months of rejection to refuse her generous offer, even knowing she’s only doing it because she feels bad for me.
We chat for a bit, Rekha telling us about the aforementioned kid going to college, and the pair of omegas sharing horror stories from their college experiences. Once again, I’m struck by how different almost every facet of life is when you’re an omega. And amazed at their resilience.
