“Here,” she says, handing him a five-dollar bill. “Treat yourself to some ice cream.”
He takes it cautiously, his eyes prickling. “Why?”
“Because you need some comfort food.” Susan slides her bag back into the locker, turning the key. Then she grins, her gaze sympathetic. “And I never see you outside your shifts. It would be awesome if we could hang out somewhere that isn’t this place.”
Felix gulps, folding the note into his palm. It feels like kindness. “That’s too nice of you.”
“You offend me.” She holds his shoulders and steers him back out of the room. “Now, get back to work.”
He laughs weakly, pushing the money into his back pocket. It’ll help pay for his trip out of Meadowfall. To a new life someplace else, where no one has ever heard of him, and no one will know he left his bondmate behind.
The thought feels like escape, like freedom. Felix hangs on to it, trudging back to the counter.
A tall man steps through the doors, carrying a whiff of lemongrass with him as he heads for the fridges. The next customer—a lady with long black hair—steps in a second later, adjusting her purse. Susan nudges Felix to the register, grabbing the inventory list again.
“Do you have a basket?” the beta guy asks.
“Just behind the candy racks,” Felix says, glancing past the lady to point at them. Who needs a basket at a convenience store? The things here are expensive, almost twice the grocery store prices. Felix would never buy any of them himself. He isn’t paid enough for that.
The man waves his thanks. Felix turns to the omega lady when she sets two boxes of mints on the counter. “You smell wonderful,” he says, grinning at her orange blossom scent. She smiles, and they wait as the card transaction takes forever to go through. “I’m sorry about the delay.”
“Don’t worry,” she says, her gaze drifting down to his abdomen. Her lips twitch. “All the best with yours.”
A wave of heat swamps his cheeks. Felix ducks his head, hating how even his ears prickle. Has she noticed the bulge of his shirt? Is he that obvious now? “Thank you.”
He needs all her well wishes, when he hasn’t realized just how visible the baby bump is. No one had pointed it out, and maybe she’ll be the only one. But it tautens his nerves to know that his secret is so thinly veiled. Of course he hadn’t a chance of hiding it from Kade yesterday.
Another customer steps in—an alpha who smells like fir—and Felix frowns at the card reader, wishing it wouldn’t take an entire minute to process the transaction. By the time it flashes the approval notice, the man with the basket is in line, and the new alpha steps behind him.
“I’m sorry about the wait,” Felix says, handing the credit card back to the lady. “Have a great day!”
“Take care,” she says, and it feels like he’s losing a friend when she steps out the door.
The beta with the basket empties it carefully next to the register. Felix scans a variety of food—soda, beer, chips—and in the middle of checking his ID, someone else walks into the store.
He doesn’t realize it at first, when he smiles up at the beta, wondering at the rarity of lemongrass scents. “Here’s your ID back. I just have to get the rest of these scanned, so hang on...”
Until his skin prickles, and he looks up, meeting familiar mahogany eyes. His stomach swoops.
Who else could it be, but his bondmate standing just inside the door? Felix tenses. Kade is here. Kade is here, and fuck someone help me I don’t know what to do. I need to leave.
Behind him, Susan heaves a sigh.
Felix looks back down at the things on the counter, ignoring the alpha standing six feet off, watching him with his hands in his pockets. His belly tingles. Kade’s probably looking at his baby bump, thinking about how Felix betrayed him. Felix wants to die right here, melt into the floor, anything.
He fumbles with the soda bottles, realizing he doesn’t remember which he’s scanned. Fuck. He smiles up at the beta and taps on the register, doing his best to look apologetic. “I’m sorry. I’ll have to re-scan the things. The register messed up for a bit.”
Breathe. Keep breathing. Kade can’t do anything if you’re behind the counter.
But Felix also wants his alpha’s touch, and he can’t think right now, when Kade is still here. Kade watches as he scans the soda bottles again, then the beer, and approves the ID check. Why is he here? Does he want Felix to prove the baby’s parentage? Or does he want to tell Felix what a slut he is, or tell him to pack his things and leave Meadowfall, or—Felix’s ribs squeeze.
He sucks in lungfuls of air, his hands trembling as he accepts cash. He counts the notes under his breath, then the coins, and tucks them into the register drawer, waiting as the register spits out the receipt. Kade’s eyes are still on him.
“Thank you,” Felix chirps, handing the change and bag of things over, and everything about this is wrong, all over again.
Kade walks over, stepping behind the alpha in line, and he’s three feet away now. Felix’s stomach knots into a lump. He turns to Susan, but Susan’s checking the cigarette inventory, facing away from them both. Felix hates his life so much.
The alpha pays for a pack of beef jerky with his credit card, and the transaction takes another eon to process. Felix stares at the register, trying not to blink, trying to think about watercolor shades because he’s going to break if he looks at his bondmate. The seconds crawl by, like a tortoise stepping toward a busy road.
“Thank you,” Felix says again, handing the man his receipt. When the man leaves the counter, Kade steps forward.
Felix’s entire body creaks with how still he’s holding himself. He looks down at the counter, straightening the pens in their holder, checking the
