It's been a while since the last update but I'm back to writing 'Johnson'! This book is probably going to be quite short.
That night he dreamt about her.
She was standing in his house, barefoot, cupping a mug of tea in her hands as she gazed up at him. Her blonde hair was like a sort of halo around her head, eyes molten as her tongue dipped out of her mouth to wet the corner of her lips.
"Alpha."
And her voice. The breathless sound was like a match, striking against his heart and setting him alight.
He reached out to touch her, arms feeling like jelly in the wind, fingertips just short of reaching her skin.
Her body was bathed in gold, expression open and willing.
His.
He tried to say her name but words wouldn't come out.
Her lips parted and she smiled up at him, teeth shining a blinding white which scorched his corneas and forced him to look away.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
He blinked, and when he dared take another glance, she was gone.
Real sunlight filtered through his room and into his eyes, eliciting an unhappy groan as his senses returned to him.
Rolling over, he forced himself out of bed and swiped his hand to knock his blaring alarm clock off the bedside table. The abrupt manner in which the sound died did little to sate the simmering tension in his shoulders.
His muscles were tightly strung, pulse throbbing in his neck as he stormed out of his bedroom and towards the toilet.
Rushing through his morning routine was his attempt of returning to normalcy, a way to ignore the burning in the pit of his stomach and the howling that demanded he find his omega and drag her back to where she belonged.
He could still smell her in his house, feel the lingering effect of her presence, and the animal inside him was mad.
He was mad that he'd woken up to emptiness, fingers grasping for a warm body that wasn't there. He was mad that she was under his skin.
He was growling before he knew it, toothbrush snapping in his hand as he yielded to rage. The bathroom counter was the next thing to splinter.
He could already tell it wasn't going to be a good day.
---
The office was shrouded in a red fog. The constant clicking of buttons on computer keyboards, the steady ticking of the clock, and the sound of heavy breathing only served to fuel Jack's frustration.
He could smell Summer outside and it was driving him crazy. There was no way he could concentrate on something as inconsequential as numbers and finances when the majority of his focus was on her.
Having her in his home yesterday had been a mistake.
Despite his every effort to stay distant, his body had claimed her for his own and it seemed like there was nothing he could do about it. He could only hold on to hope that more distance from her would fix the problem.
He needed her to leave the office, to go to the cinema or the beach like a normal teenager instead of hanging around places where she had no business.
He needed her away from him.
Guilt hit him as his mind flashed to Ally, the dark haired omega that he'd taken out on a date. Although the date had only happened the previous day, it felt like it had occurred a lifetime ago.
Even though there wasn't much of a relationship between him and Ally currently, Jack wanted there to be. Ally had been the first omega that he'd had an interest in apart from Summer.
He liked her.
Summer's smell intensified and Jack moved his hand to block his nose, moving as discreetly as possible so that Eliot didn't catch on to his shuffling and make a snarky remark.
Even breathing through his mouth, he could taste her scent on his tongue, mixed with the deep richness of chocolate and cinnamon.
Brownies.
He was smelling brownies.
His fangs ached and he removed the hand from his nose to place over his stomach.
He could have groaned as he heard her footsteps approach the door, fruitlessly hoping that she wouldn't come in. The red, angry haze was disappearing, being replaced by something sharp and sweet. There was a gentle tugging in his chest, a note of happiness, an involuntary sense of feeling pleased.
She was back. With food.
It almost felt like an apology- an apology that wasn't required on behalf of either of them.
Much to his distress, there was a squeak as the door was pushed open, another physical barrier between them being torn down.
His plan to keep his eyes glued to his computer screen and pretend that he was too distracted with his work to acknowledge her entrance was immediately ruined, his gaze locking with her's as soon as her head popped into view.
She looked at him and smiled, a distracting sight that was almost parallel to what Jack had seen in his dream, and then took a step further into the room. Her eyes dropped down to the plastic container in her hands and she cleared her throat delicately.
The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood to attention.
"I baked brownies," she started. Her eyes flicked between Jack and Eliot before landing back on the container. "I don't know if you two wanted any?"
Eliot jumped out of his seat, "I don't see why not."
He was stood in front of Summer the next moment, barely waiting for her to open the container before digging his hand inside. His mouth was full of brownie before Jack could blink.
Summer beamed at the other alpha before her eyes settled back on Jack. "What about you?"
Jack cleared his own throat and tried to smile at the girl. "Sure."
Before he could stand up, she was shimmying past Eliot and coming to stand in front of him. He gulped as she leaned forward, bending to hold the container near his lap.
Her head titled to the side, curtain of blonde hair sweeping over the shoulder and leaving the expanse of her neck exposed. The smile never left her lips.
Jack's instincts went into overdrive.
His omega was providing for him.
He swallowed down a pleased growl.
As quickly as he could, he reached out and took a brownie before he talked himself into doing something ridiculous. Like purring. Or hauling the petite omega into his lap.
Taking a deep breath, he bit into the brownie and was promptly letting out a moan of assent before he could stop himself, taste buds rejoicing at the explosion of chocolaty flavour.
He'd had many a brownie in his life but none of them had ever compared to this.
Finishing off the treat, he placed his hands back in his lap and pretended that the embarrassing sound hadn't happened by rushing to speak.
"Very nice, Summer." He complimented her, politely. "You're a good baker."
Summer straightened up, her smile becoming impossibly wider and a faint pink flush touched her face. "Thank you." She reached out and appreciatively squeezed his shoulder, sending a trail of fire down to his stomach.
Eliot came over and interrupted their moment, reaching between them for more of the food and forcing her to retract her touch. "So, what's the occasion?"
"What do you mean?" She responded, brows furrowing.
"Why did you bake?"
Catching on to his train of thought, she hummed shortly.
"Well..." She paused, obviously contemplating her next words before letting them out. When she resumed speaking, she chose to stare at her feet instead of either of the two men. "Jack told me that he had a sweet tooth so I thought it would be nice to... um. Yeah, I thought it would be nice."
She cut herself off with a shrug.
Jack could only stare at her in shock.
She had admitted that she had baked because of him.
For him.
"Aww." Eliot's tone was teasing and not in a nice way. Jack had been on the receiving end of Eliot's biting humour too many times to not understand when the man was making fun of him and trying to make him feel self-conscious. "Isn't that nice? Right, Jack?"
Jack managed to level a glare at the other alpha before brushing his words off. Rather than encourage Eliot, he addressed Summer instead, hoping that she hadn't caught on to the other man's tone or blatant insinuation.
"That was really considerate of you, Summer. I appreciate it."
Summer still looked embarrassed, scent flooding with a sour note. "Do you want another one?" She asked, tentatively.
Yes.
"I shouldn't-" Jack said instead, berating himself when her face fell. He rushed to explain himself, feeling oddly guilty. "But only because I've been trying to get fit. I've even started going to the gym, believe it or not."
Her expression smoothed out and she straightened her spine. "Oh, that's great! Which gym are you going to?" He told her the name of the gym and she nodded, mouth forming an 'o' shape. "I actually want to start going to the gym too. Will you be there today?"
He reluctantly nodded the affirmative. "Probably."
At that, she shifted a bit closer to his desk and placed her hand on the metal surface.
Jack's chest felt heavy as he looked up at her.
This close, he could see the freckles dotted across her nose, the mascara coating her lashes, the dusting of bronze below her cheekbones. Being so near, her scent was clearer than before- giving off signals such as amused-bashful-playful. He could smell pineapple on her breath, the laundry detergent on her clothes, even the fragrance that was mixed in with the makeup on her face.
She intrigued him.
"Maybe I'll come along sometime." She said, aimlessly drawing lines on the desk with her finger. The side of her mouth twitched, scent so warm that Jack's head felt fuzzy. "I've never been to a gym before though. You think you could help me?"
No.
Please no.
"Sure." He wanted to curse himself immediately after the word came out of his mouth.
When it came to Summer, he seemed to be making all sorts of questionable decisions.
Helping her at the gym would be nothing short of torture. The physical exertion would have her all hot and flustered, scent pouring out like a waterfall, and he'd have to furiously rein every one of his baser instincts and wayward thoughts under control. Plus, she was already a touchy-feely person at the worst of times. She'd probably be inclined to touch him more than usual and he knew that he couldn't handle that.
He wondered how her father, his boss, would feel about them working out at the gym together.
Callum probably wouldn't like it.
After the restaurant fiasco, Jack wouldn't blame him for thinking that way either. It wasn't as if Jack didn't trust himself around her. He would never do anything. It was just painful to be near her and fight the continuous instinctual nagging that said he ought to sink his teeth into her and have her knotted before she could blink.
His raging biological clock didn't want any old omega, it wanted her and he couldn't figure out why.
"Awesome." Summer gave another smile that would have made his knees wobble if he were standing up. "Well, I'll let you two get back to work."
With that she left the room, only turning around to give a short wave before disappearing though the door.
All Jack wanted was at least five minutes to brood over his existential crisis but that hope was crushed as soon as the door shut behind her.
Insensitive as ever, Eliot was belting out a laugh and rushing to make another unappreciated comment straight away. "That omega definitely has a thing for you."
Eliot's words sparked a hope that Jack immediately doused in the waters of rational thinking. It was too reckless to have thoughts of reciprocated attraction floating around in his head.
Not when they were completely false. Dangerous even.
Summer didn't have a thing for him.
She was just being nice.
She was his boss' daughter.
She was so young. Vibrant. She had a life ahead of her that Jack had no place in.
She wasn't his.
Jack snarled at Eliot, repeating those same words over and over in his head.
She wasn't his.
She wasn't his.
She wasn't his.
"I didn't ask for your stupid opinion." He bit out.
"I didn't ask for your permission to give my opinion." Eliot snarled back, eyes shooting daggers. "An idiot could tell that she likes you. Just because you're too much of a pussy to see it, doesn't mean I have to be."
Eliot was delusional.
Without another word, Jack stood and silently excused himself from the room.
He needed air.