I’d seen him already and gotten the shock over with but it didn’t make this meeting any easier.
“Table for one?” the waitress asked with a smile.
I shook my head. “No. I’m meeting someone here, but I’m a bit early.”
“Alright, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Do you want a quiet booth in the back?”
“Actually, yes.”
If this conversation went like I thought it was going to, it wouldn’t be pretty.
“Can I get you anything while you wait? We have plenty of appetizers. We also have great coffee.”
“Coffee would be great, thanks.”
She beamed. “Cream and sugar?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “The sweeter the better.”
It took her only a minute to bring me the coffee, creamer, and sugar. I took my time doctoring it up until it was perfect.
At least they had strong coffee here.
My eyes drifted to the door every time it pushed open, a pit forming in my stomach each time.
Thirty minutes somehow flew by in my fog of anxiety.
Then sixty.
My waitress stopped by, refilling my coffee and shooting me pitying looks that only made this worse.
Now I wasn’t just angry, I was embarrassed. Which made everything so much worse.
At some point everything else faded. My emotions calmed until I felt strangely empty. I managed to smile and reassure my waitress every so often but that was the extent of it.
I’d give him a bit more time but I knew the truth an hour ago.
He isn’t coming.
Kota
My stomach was tied in knots. Not only had she gone early, but she’d gone alone.
She hadn’t even told us until she was already gone.
Hayes tried to reassure us and she’d finally answered our texts, but as time ticked on I quickly realized that something was off.
“I’m telling you, if she was having a bad time we would feel it,” Rylan tried again to reassure me.
“Would you?” I shot back. I was no longer the cheerful delta they were used to. “Or did she shut down the bond? Do you feelanythingfrom her?”
Rylan seemed to think about it for a minute before his face went pale.
“That’s what I fucking thought,” I growled. “I’m going after her. Something’s wrong, and she needs me. Y’all can stay here and think it’s fine and worry about upsetting her, but I’m not.”
I dug the keys out of my pocket and practically ran out of the arena. It was no surprise when footsteps thundered behind me.
Sometimes, people assumed I didn’t take anything seriously. With Roxie it was different. I wouldalwaystake my omega seriously.
