“Really? But what about the 50k? That’s a lot of money—like life changing money.”
“I don’t care about that,” they said easily, freckled nose scrunching. “We’re both successful, and though we’re not quite yet bringing in the big bucks, we’re doing fine. Plus, we do have an alpha who I’m sure wouldn’t mind giving us a little support if we needed it.”
“Right,” I said noncommittally, putting my hand over Jesse’s.
Charlie chuckled, smirking as he ran his fingers through my hair. I could sense the smugness from him in the bond, tinged with nerves. “It’s true,” he said, kissing my cheek. “I’m stupid rich, I’m afraid. Rich enough to offer you 50k to come onto stream, easy.”
I laughed. “Yeah, you and Glitch apparently. What happened to me that I just attract sugar daddy types?”
“Well, you’re stupid hot for one.” Jesse said with a grin.
“Helpful,” I sighed. “If only Charlie was Glitch,” I joked. “Then I could just nail my alpha on stream and make fifty grand. Problem solved.”
I was clearly joking, Jesse and me laughing at the ludicrous idea until my sides were starting to hurt.
But Charlie wasn’t laughing, he watched the pair of us with so much tension in his shoulders that he appeared stiff. “Um…”
“Oh, yeah! Like Charlie could ever,” Jesse said gleefully, wiping a tear from his eye. “Bend over like a good little omega slut. Does that sound like Charlie to you?”
He turned to face us, and i wasn’t sure I liked the serious expression on my alpha’s face. “Well... problem solved.” he said slowly. “Wearethe same person.”
My stomach sank. “That’s not funny, Charlie.”
He shook his head taking out his phone to show his logged in profile on the SLCK’d app. His username shining back at me so impossible I was pretty sure I’d spontaneously forgotten how to read.
Glitched_Attraction69. What the fuck? Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.
“I’m not joking, I’m Glitched_Attraction69… I stumbled across you on SLCK’d a few weeks after the Omega’s Lust and just… signed up.”
My eyes widened in disbelief, the familiar prickly warning of tears in the back of my throat warning I was a few more clipped sentences away from sobbing.
“You’reserious?” Jesse asked incredulously.
“Yeah, why would I lie?”
“I don’t know? Because you’ve been lying the entire time?”
“I didn’t mean to lie… I just wanted to see you again.”
“And you couldn’t send me a fucking text? We exchanged numbers.Youghostedme, remember?.”
Charlie fidgeted with his hands, the tips of his ears going pink.
I could feel his discomfort in our bond, but I knew he could feel my hurt and disgust just as easily, my stomach turning as the reality of what he was saying sank in.
For a year I'd been thinking about him, dreaming about him. Wishing that we could see each other again. That I don’t know, he’d dropped his phone in a sewer grate the second he’d left Omega’s Lust had no way to contact me after all.
But that wasn’t the trust at all. He’d been lurking, and sneaking, and lying to me from the moment we’d seen each other again. I’d thought our meeting was by chance, but was this entire thing part of some twisted plan?
It made me questioneverything. Rethinkeverything.
“I… couldn’t,” Charlie finally managed, looking down at his hands.
I sat there, waiting for him to continue. But as the silence stretched on between the three of us, I realized that he was going to need more prompting.
“What do you mean youcouldn’t?”
His elbows resting on his knees, head hung in shame. “I’m not Glitch.”
