Page 26 of One Flew Over the Omega's Nest: Part One
The empty lighter was the one thing West was able to get Brooks to agree to let me have to manage my "impulse control."
I mean, I still want to set shit on fire, but…slightly less.
When dear old Dad found out though…well, he told me the lighter he was sending me would be the only one I'd be allowed to touch. My thumb runs over the two words engraved on the side.
"Your Choice".
As if I needed a fucking engraving to remind me of that.
He never calls, he never checks in, but the second something he wants is on the line…that's when he makes himself known.
Not that I'm surprised, but still.
I can't even blame him. Don't get me wrong, I nevertriedto hurt anyone. But sometimes…sometimes the darkness takes over. The itch in my fingers that won’t go away until I see the flames rise.
Sometimes it's boredom, sometimes it's stress, but all I know is that every time the flames rise higher, and I watch the destruction of whatever it is—a junkyard car, a shirt I hate, or hell, a balled up piece of newspaper, a wave of euphoria like I've never known takes over, and I feel lighter than air.
The noise in my head finally stops.
Open.
Close.
Open.
Close.
They have me on some kind of medication that's supposed to help with…something. Fuck, I don't know, I'm not a damn doctor.
My eyes scan the courtyard, looking for the little omega that's been haunting my dreams the last two days. I could almost kick myself for missing the little show I heard about this morning. I don't know why, but apparently Ms. Josephine Harding was walking naked down the hall in the early morning hours. Then I didn't see her at lunch today…not that I was looking.
Nope. That would make me desperate. Desperate to see the way her crimson hair surrounds her gorgeous face like a damn halo of fire.
Fuck. Maybe Iamdesperate.
It was enough to have her run literally straight into me last night after dinner, but that haunted look in her eyes killed any boner that had started when her soft curves pressed briefly against my body. I had counted it as a win though, getting her to laugh.
But I still want to know what put that look there in the first place.
I had heard her before, in the game room with some other girls. I was holed up in the corner, hiding from fucking Tilly, when she started asking about omegas. Then she disappeared, only to run into me with that terrified look on her face. I don’t think it’s unrelated.
Open.
Close.
Open.
Close.
My eyes flutter closed, and I breathe out through my nose.
"Useless!" Dad screams at me, taking the glass decanter off his desk and hurling it at the wall. Shards of glass rain down, one slicing my cheek. "Fucking piece of shit! You've ruined everything!" My heart pounds so hard my vision starts to go fuzzy. The itching in my fingers only gets worse the longer he yells.
"Father—" I try my best to keep my voice level.
"Do you realize what you've done? You need to fix this, Hayden!"
"I'm not going to marry someone I don't know. You can't just tell me to come downstairs and spring an engagement party on me when I've never even met the girl."
