Page 28 of Use Me Up

“No, obviously not.”

“She told you that he’s hurt her like that before?”

“Look, if I had evidence or something I could use against him, I’d get him locked up. I’d at the fucking least get a restraining order. He’s not stable, Hannah.”

Funny, because he said the same thing to me.

“I can see that you know this,” says Andrew. “I can tell because of how you’re not looking at me, and how you’re not arguing with me. You know I’m right. It’s not safe for you here. He treats her like hell, and he’s in love with her. You? He does not give a shit about you. He’s just doing this to you to make Calliope lose her mind.”

I look up at him. “Well, I can’t go with you now. I’m not dressed.”

He looks at my bare legs. “Fuck,” he breathes.

“And I… Andrew…” I sigh. “I know this isn’t real, but this is all I’m going to get.”

“What?” he says.

“You don’t get it. You’re Andrew the alpha. You’ve always had Calliope. I’m the twenty-four-year-old virgin whose only boyfriend turned out to be gay. I know he’ll get tired of me after he’s had his little revenge game, but can you just let me have this while it lasts?”

Andrew furrows his brow. “You’re enjoying this.”

I don’t say anything.

Andrew shrugs. “He is… you know… he’s an omega. He’s got a certain magnetism, I’ll give you that.” He shakes his head. His voice comes out defeated. “You’re going to stay.”

“I said that I was going to stay.”

Andrews sighs. “You’re still going to text Mom.”

“Yes,” I say. “I will text her.”

“And you call me the minute he puts his hands on you in a way that you don’t like, you got that?”

I nod.

“And I’m going on the record that I don’t like this, and I want you to leave, and that he’s a jackass.”

“Yeah, message received,” I mutter.

“I don’t really think the message is received,” says Andrew. “But you’re an adult. I can’t drag you out of here by force or anything.”

Eventually, he leaves, and I shut the door behind him. I don’t have my phone down here, so I have to go upstairs to Ellis’s bedroom to compose a text to my mother, telling her not to worry, that I’m fine, that I can leave anytime, that I’m here by choice.

Ellis is sitting on the bed, still wrapped up in a blanket, not wearing anything else. Before I start texting my mom, he says, “You stayed.”

“I said I would,” I tell him.

After I send the text, I turn to look at him, and he’s lounging there with the blanket wrapped around himself, showing off one bare leg and a hint of his chest and stomach. He looks like a fucking model, like he could be the middle of some magazine spread. And I know he’s not mine, but he’s right there, and I guess I can touch him if I want.

So, I go over to test my theory. I stand next to him. First, I touch his shoulder, through the blanket.

He looks up at me, giving me a little grin, his dark curls in his dark eyes.

Then I move my fingers, trailing them up his shoulder until I meet the skin of his neck. I trace my fingers down the column of his throat, over his clavicle, down until I find his dark chest hair.

He just smiles at me, letting me.

We hold each other’s gaze.