The Rejected Omega and his Alpha

Chapter Eighteen - Attempt at Comfort

The worry I felt for Derek—and for Jason if I was being totally honest—was hard to dislodge from my mind as I searched for the classroom where the novel writing lecture was to be held. I checked my phone to look at the time and saw that I had a few moments, so I decided to give Derek a call.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang. By the fifth ring, I was worried that it was gonna go to voicemail when I finally heard Derek's voice on the other end.

"Hey baby, what's going on?" He sounded completely exhausted, his normally deep voice adopting a gravelly cadence.

"How are you? I know things are a real shitshow, but are you okay?" I felt like such a complete shit, because of course he's not okay. Who would be? But it was the only thing that I could think of to ask. Any thought of not asking 'are you okay' went out the window once I heard how terrible he sounded. I wished that I could have been there with him, wrapping my arms around him, surrounded by his scent of freshly cut grass, petrichor—the smell after it rains, had to look it up—and that other subtle scent that still eluded me to this day. Perhaps it was just a scent that was unique to Derek and Derek only.

"I'm..." I stood there, barely breathing as I waited for him to tell me something, anything. At this point I have no idea if the problem has gotten better or progressed even further into the shit storm that it is. I checked to see if our call was disconnected, because yes, it's been that long since I've heard him say something.

"Derek? Can you hear me? Do you need me to come home?"

"No!" He takes a deep breath and tries again. "No, it's okay. Just been a long day, is all. Not only am I being sued, but my ex, the last person I wanted to see, just so happened to see me at work today. I'm glad you gave me a call though, I was thinking about you." I was dimly aware that him merely thinking about me was absolutely one of the sweetest things he's said to me to date, but my brain decided to latch onto something he said, something I'm gonna need a little bit more clarification on.

"I'm sorry, but your ex came to see you? Why did they want to see you? Did you—"

"Nope! I do not have the mental energy to get into this with you right now, I'm sorry. Can we talk about it some other time?"

"Sure." So many thoughts were going through my head. What did they look like? What's their name? Are they male or female?

What's their social, date of birth, and last known address?

"Sorry baby, it's just not something I want to talk about right now. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Derek, stop. I'm not upset... well, not upset at you. You're going through a lot right now, and the last thing I wanna do is make it about me."

"Besides, your ex had their chance. You're all mine now, and I don't plan on letting you go." I know it sounds possessive as hell and may be taken as a potential red flag, but I wanted Derek to know that despite my wandering eyes and grudging attraction to Jason, he was the one I wanted to commit to. I just had to get my hormones and my heart on the same page.

"Is it wrong of me that I want you to come home now?" His voice took on that familiar deep timbre that never failed to make my heart race.

"I can be there in twenty."

"No, no. I was kidding... for the most part. The first day of class on campus is a big day! I don't want you to miss it because both of us are down to clown. Your education takes priority right now." I would argue that having my hole filled was the more important priority, but it felt like that would be a battle I wouldn't win.

Even though I had financial aid, Derek was paying for the rest of my tuition. It felt wrong to skip class just to fulfill a carnal desire, no matter how much I craved it.