The Arrangement (Omegas of Hunter's Point Book 1)

Chapter 24

In his pocket, his phone chirped and chimed.

"Ambrose," he said.

"Hey, we have a problem, or, rather, you have a problem," Evan informed him.

No shit, Damian thought. "What is it now?"

***

Von surveyed the handful of students spread out around the classroom, testing. "Five more minutes, everybody. You should be completing your conclusion paragraphs and beginning to proofread."

She was wrestling with an odd kind of disconnection and had been since the morning with Damian in the shower. The shared apartment wasn't home, anymore. In the short time she'd been back, she'd fought a restless anxiety. Fancy was doing her best to help, but the truth was she had work and she had Stan. That left Von very much on her own.

When Dean Forester had contacted her the previous afternoon about serving as a test proctor, Von had jumped at the opportunity. It would get her out of the apartment and back into her groove. Arriving on campus that morning, all she'd felt was out-of-place. This academy had been the next best thing to home for ten years. Now, she was a stranger here. It was as if she'd been away for years instead of months.

Where did that leave her?

Missing the flats, that's where - missing the man she'd shared them with. Cooking dinner together, sharing evenings on the couch, taking comfort in his company...that was home. She wasn't sure exactly when her mind had made that connection. Only now that it was gone was she finally figuring out what she'd had. And she had no idea how to get it back, or if she could get it back, or if she should get it back.

Being around him did things to her, made her less careful, less aware of the dangers of letting her guard down. He made her want things outside of what she thought she should want. Did she still want them? Did she want that vision of her future independence more than she wanted the visions of the future of matehood and family she'd glimpsed with Damian? It wasn't a decision she could go into half-cocked. It had to be one hundred percent or nothing.

Wool-gathering, she smelled him before she saw him, indeed before she'd even heard the classroom door open. That comforting petrichor scent practically wafted up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. With it came a host of complicated feelings. He hadn't given up on her. He was here. He wanted to see her. She wanted to see him, too, but wrestled with the knowledge that she shouldn't.

The timer beeped. Relieved sighs and at least one curse followed it.

"That's time. Pencils down. Scores will be emailed. Have a good rest of your summer, young scholars!"

Damian slunk into the room as the students were leaving. "I hope you don't mind. I dropped by the apartment, but Fancy told me you were here. She also called me an asshole."

"They needed someone to serve as a test proctor." She didn't tell him how empty being back in that classroom made her feel, or how confused that realization had left her. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a call last night from Evan. The gossip rags have picked up on the fact that you're not at the flat, anymore." He pulled up search results showing several articles to that effect.

Gods, the headlines. 'Trouble in Paradise?' 'Hunters Point's Trendiest Couple on the Outs?'

"I thought we'd have a little bit of time before they caught on," Von bemoaned.

"I did, too," Damian admitted. "I'm betting my mother had something to do with this. It wouldn't surprise me she's hired private investigators, or something, and it's only a matter of time now before her attorneys admit this as evidence that you and I are no longer together. My petition will get denied."