“You’re welcome,” I say back. “What time is it?”
“Eleven.”
“I have a 9:00 a.m. Omega meet up. Whoever made it that early must hate Omegas, but I don’t want to stay up too late,” I tell him.
“Of course. Let’s get you to bed. I’d love to do this again tomorrow night, if you’re not busy,” he says.
“I’d love that,” I tell him, pulling my phone out of my purse and opening the app. “I haven’t added anyone yet.”
I swallow thickly as I hand him the phone, wanting him to handle it. The app doesn’t allow me to adjust the font to my usual settings and I’ve had a difficult time reading some of the content on there. Not that it’s unusable, it just takes me longer, it’s a big reason why I researched so much of the ship before I got on, so I wouldn’t be blindsided.
Wells fingers glide against mine as he takes the phone and searches for his and Forrest’s details. He sends a message to both of their accounts, so that the two-way communication is open. Alphas can’t start a conversation with Omegas, it has to be prompted by them.
When we walk back over to Forrest, he looks pleased.
“Claire has an early morning,” Wells says.
The Alpha nods in a matter-of-fact way. “Do you need a snack or a drink before bed?” Forrest says.
I don’t know why I blush. It just seems like every time he talks, it’s in a protective, caring way, and I’m eating it up.
“That would actually be very nice,” I say as we return our headphones and make our way to the open buffet.
Forrest grabs a plate for me, and as I point at different foods, he silently fills the plate. He also grabs me another ginger ale as we make our way to the elevators.
“This is me. I had an amazing time tonight,” I tell them.
I give Wells a hug first, and hold on tight to his strong back. His body is firm and confident and I kinda wish I was dragging him back to my room to snuggle with all night. But that would be ridiculous, right?
“See you tomorrow,” he says, kissing my cheek, which sends a rabid batch of butterflies fluttering around my stomach.
Forrest holds the plate of food and drink, so I just wrap my arms around him. It takes a long moment, but I guess he hands Wells the food before his arms wrap around me. God, he’s so deliciously Alpha sized.
I take a deep inhale of his scent, knowing I’ll miss it as soon as I get back to the room. Luckily, my sheets are still dripping in his scent from last night.
“Let us know when you get back to your room safely,” he says.
He doesn’t kiss my cheek or make another move as I take a step back, taking the plate and drink with me as I awkwardly use my wristband to gain access to the elevator.
I give them a quick smile when I step in and the doors shut. The smile on my face has my jaw aching as the elevator goes down to the twelfth floor.
Maybe it’s because I’ve only had one other crush in my life, but the excitement of what could happen between them makes me feel optimistic.
Coming on this ship was the right thing. Everything is going to work out for me. This isn’t how I saw things going, but maybe this could be even better.
Security scans my wristband, and I head to my room. As soon as I enter, I put the plate of food and drink down on the table as I use speech to text on the app to tell them I made it back to my room.
I’m high off the night as it hits me. The room only carries my scent. I look at my freshly made bed and head toward it, grabbing a pillow and sniffing. It’s completely devoid of any trace of Forrest’s scent, like my stomach knows he’s what I need to feel good. It rolls, and tears stream down my face.
Chapter 10
Claire
Holding back a sob,I angrily take off my dress, leaving it on the floor as I put on an oversized shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms.
I feel ridiculous crying over something as trivial as this. I thought I’d clicked the do not disturb button on my door, but it seems I forgot. They’re just doing their job, keeping the room clean, but it feels destroyed now.
I’m not sure if it’s a mental hang up or truly some fucked-up physiological thing that he mitigates my nausea, either way, it has me feeling queasy and well, now that I’m in my room, I feel lonely.