27. Hazel

HAZEL

"I know this sounds like I'm bullshitting but I can't come over tonight because a friend has come into some trouble and is staying with me."

I winced slightly, hiding my face in my video call to Ben. He looked tired, moving through his apartment after a long shift. But his eyes remained alert, staring back at me with concern and not at all mad that I was bailing on him.

"What happened? Is everything ok?"

I pressed my lips together in a thin line. "His dad kicked him out."

"Shit."

"I don't think he has anywhere else to go. I've got him set up on my couch." I flicked the screen so he could see the pillow and duvet I had laid out.

I wasn't sure why I was so set on making sure Ben knew that I wasn't blowing him off for no good reason.

"I understand. But Hazel?"

"Yes?"

"If you wake up in the middle of the night tonight, call me and I'll come get you. Don't go to the gym. We can go together later, after you've slept."

Ben looked and sounded very serious but all I could think about was him working out. All heated and sweaty. His pussy-priming scent flooding off him. Maybe in one of those sleeveless tanks with the extra low arm holes so I could see the muscle definition on his torso if he turned his body in just the right way and—

"Hazel, did you hear what I said? Where'd you go off to in that head of yours?"

"Nowhere!" I squeaked. "That sounds fine, I'll make sure to do that. Don't go to the gym, come straight over, no problem." The buzz of my doorbell saved me. "He's here, I gotta go let him up, bye!"

I hung up on his baffled expression.

Stupid sexy alpha all worried about me.

I peered down the corridor, hearing voices approaching.

"Will this come back and bite you on the ass?"

That was Aleks.

"What's he going to do, call the police and say someone was let in by a resident of his house and threw tea around? I'd like to see him try."

They sounded exhilarated, their faces bright as they rounded the corner and came into view. My cheeks heated as both their gazes landed on me at the same time. Aleks clutched his bag a little tighter, looking unsure.

Remy looked like he wanted to eat me.

"Hey pretty girl."

Was he talking to me or a skittish horse?

"Nuh uh." I crossed my arms.

Undeterred, he walked up to me with a notable amount of extra swagger.

"You seem quite chuffed with yourself," I commented.

"Contested that dickhead in his own home and won."

I don't know why it was so fun to tease him. "Oh, like one of your cute little alpha duels!"

His eyes narrowed, his voice dropping. "Hazel…"

"I'm just playing. You are a big strong manly alpha who—"

He kissed me, hard. My head knocked against the door as his body pressed up against me. His hands pinned mine above my head before his palms slid down so fucking slowly. Along my arms, grazing the side of my breasts, pressing into the dip of my waist before squeezing my hips. All while refusing to let me catch my breath with the way he moved his lips over mine.

I was dripping wet by the time he was finally done and he knew it.

"Something else to add?" Remy asked me, his voice honeyed.

I made a strange sort of gibbering, choked noise.

He still wasn't done. Remy scent marked me, but wasn't content to just run his cheek against mine. He kissed along my neck, tongue flicking out slightly until his smoky whisky clung to every part of me. Trapped in every sharply indrawn breath.

"Have a good night, baby."

Then he fucking left, giving Aleks one of those slapping handshakes as he went.

Aleks looked at me, no doubt taking in my wobbly legs and glassy eyes. Looking like I'd just downed an entire row of shots.

"I…feel like I just watched porn."

I groaned, opening the door wide so he could come in. "Well, yes, he's very good at his job," I muttered.

Aleks raised a brow at me. "I don't know if that was work, Hazel."

I waved his comment away. I was more than happy to focus on Aleks' dilemma instead of whatever the fuck kind of state Remy just put me in. "Come on, you've had a big day."

He faltered when he noticed the bed I'd made for him on the couch. "What is this?"

I scrunched up my nose. "Oh yeah, I didn't actually…ask you did I? You're welcome to stay with me."

If I were pragmatic I would've caveated it with a "until you get back on your feet" or at least a "for the time being."

But now that he was here, it felt right having him close by.

I knew he had to be tired because instead of fighting, he set his duffle on armrest. "Hazel…are you sure about this?"

"Yes, of course." I resisted the very strong urge to tuck him in, all the way up to his neck so only his head was visible. "You know how omegas are about our spaces right? I wouldn't have offered to be polite."

Aleks sank into the cushions, the emotional drain of the day weighing him down. "I'm going to fight you harder on this tomorrow. But for now…" He eyed the pillow longingly.

Maybe my need to tuck him in wasn't so much about comfort as it was about mummifying him so he couldn't leave. "I'm really ok with you being here," I assured him. "But speaking of er, omega things." I scratched the back of my neck nervously. "Please stay out of my nests. One's for filming. And the other is…well, mine."

I trusted that he would respect that.

No one needed to see my real nest.

"Of course, I would never intrude." Aleks looked aghast I would even suggest it.

I couldn't help reaching over, letting his chin rest on my palm. He was due for a shave, light stubble dotting his jawline. Probably due for a lot of self care, as I regarded the slump of his shoulders. My fingers crept upward, sweeping through his golden hair.

"So pretty," I said quietly before realising what I'd done.

He didn't push my hand off, his breathing growing shallow at my gentle touch.

"My grandma said it looks exactly like my mother's," he said quietly. "I have to take her word for it. Dad didn't want any photos of mum in the house after she passed."

I wondered briefly if the raw, uneven edges of us would fit together to make a singular whole person.

"Good night, Aleks." I turned to leave but remembered one last thing. "Oh and…if you wake up in the morning and I'm not here, don't freak out. Sometimes I might not end up sleeping here at all."

Aleks shot me a disbelieving stare. "What?"

"I have insomnia." It was the simplest way to describe it. "I'm trying something new to see if it goes away."

Sleeping with my scent matched alpha. Not complicated at all.

Aleks looked at me like he was really seeing me for the first time. Beyond Hazel the 101 Riverside resident, Hazel the omega that irritated him.

"Hazel, you're kind of not ok. Are you?"

I gave him a sad smile. "Is anyone?"

The soft dirt kept giving way beneath my steps. Bogging me down like quicksand, my tears making me sink faster.

I had to get to him.

He was so fucking still.

Adrian was never still. He was a bold exclamation mark on my life. Too much for some but would never be enough for me.

He was not allowed to be still.

It didn't matter how many mounds of dirt I crawled over. How filthy my clothes got, how blackened my knees became.

He never got any closer.

I tripped and fell over the last hill, rolling uncontrollably. Limbs knocking, scraping, burning. A burst of white pain as I landed, crumpled in a heap.

Adrian remained the same distance from me as he always did.

I was losing him.

No matter what I did, our story always ended this way.

I surfaced with a gasp, hands automatically brushing off the invisible dirt on my arms and legs.

I hated that one. I mean, I hated all of them, but with that one I would feel phantom dirt beneath my nails for hours after. I would pick, pick, pick compulsively until my skin bled.

Ben would definitely notice.

Speaking of…

I got up and pulled on a hoodie. Crept past a sleeping Aleks on my couch and quietly closed the door behind me. I crossed the road and pressed the doorbell to Ben's apartment.

It took a while but Ben's reply eventually crackled through, his voice thick with sleep. "You were meant to call me."

"Only one of us needs to brave the outside at this time of night, Ben," I shot back. "Let me up?"

Ben answered the door with one pant leg rolled up and his black hair sticking up at weird angles. Even his tired face was beautiful. He was also shirtless, waking up things inside me that did not need to be woken up right now. "I'm getting you a key," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he padded back towards his bedroom.

I took off my hoodie and slid into bed beside him. He automatically encircled my body, his bare chest against my back. My hair must have been in his face but he seemed too sleepy to notice.

"You smell like a campfire."

Freaking Remy and his scent marking.

But Ben didn't seem to care, his arms tightening around me. My body relaxed as I inhaled his calming peppermint. The quietest, gentlest purr began to hum in the dark room.

And god help me, I fell back asleep almost instantly.