Chapter 22

Allie was only minimally surprised when there was a loud, incessant knocking sound on her door again. Even before the omega shuffled out of bed, she had a pretty good idea of who would be standing on the other side, waiting to be invited in. Her blood ran cold just at the thought of facing the Alpha.

She couldn't look in his eyes and pretend that everything was alright when she had been lying to him all this time. The Alpha asked her several times before, but she dodged him every single time.

Ashtons mop of hair was the first thing to have been caught by her eyes when she opened the door. He had a frown on his face.

"Would you look at that...my best friend is alive after all," The beta said as he pushed past her into the room and settled down on the desk chair, swirling it around so he could keep his gaze focused on Allie.

Even though her friend seemed happy enough that she opened the door for him, there was an edge to the curl of his lips. "I'll try not to feel all too offended about the fact that you haven't called me back in three days. Do you know how fucking worried I was? Good thing Rachel has a phone."

The omega sighed and closed the dorm door behind her, confident that Ashton wouldn't want to leave anytime soon. Not that she wanted him to, anyway. Staying alone in the dorm room while Rachel attended all the classes and did her shift at the cafe pretty much was tiring. It also didn't help that their Netflix was expired, and Allie had to rely on her phone for entertainment.

Ashton's presence had, foreseeably, a fantastic effect on the omegas mood — she didn't feel quite as much as if the immediate doom was about to swallow her whole. Maybe that's what happens when there's a decent company with you.

"Hey," She eventually croaked out. Her voice was raspy, breathy, and Allie realised that she hasn't talked to anyone for one whole day. That was, in hindsight, a little unhealthy, probably. In her defence, she didn't want to confront Nate just yet.

Ashton twisted his lips, genuine concern now marring his features. "Allie, what the hell happened to you? Why haven't you messaged me? Why haven't you been to your classes? Or on the field for your practice?"

She wasn't at all caught off guard by those questions, but that didn't mean they were any easier to answer.

The omega hadn't done anything but alternate between sleeping and crying for the past three days, barely even getting up to use the bathroom or have a drink of water. As a result, she felt gritty and over-tired, which was ridiculous in itself, considering how much sleep she got in the last days. Apart from that, Allie resembled a fucking mess and had the guiltiest conscience in humanity's history for skiving her lectures and practice. To top it all off, none of it had in any way solved the problem she found herself confronted with. Nate.

The father of her baby knew her secret. He held her future in his hands and could destroy everything in the blink of an eye.

Allie had never felt so powerless before, not even the morning she went into heat for the first time, and subsequently found out she was an Omega. A pure omega at that. Her whole life flashed in front of her, knowing that it's only going to get complicated.

Now, there also was an additional fear. It was not only the fact that she would be kicked out of university, too, for lying about her true gender, if Nate decided to tell anyone about this ever. Allie also faked her doctor's certificate, and that was a crime. An actual crime she could get in real, proper trouble for. And those damn off-market suppressants she used to mask her scent. The omega didn't even know if they were legal to make and experiment with.

In the end, Allie figured she might as well just stay in her dorm room until the authorities would come to take the omega away. She hadn't even dared to call her brother, feeling guilt consume her about making him worry about once again.

"Allie?" Ashton nudged her.

"Sorry", She coughed, shaking her head. "I didn't feel well," The omega stammered out, clearing her throat in the hope of getting her voice to sound stronger again.

Ashton nodded, a crease forming between his eyebrows. "That would explain why you are looking so terrible," he bantered but overall remained severe in a way she hadn't witnessed before. "You think you can make it to practice tomorrow, though? I'm pretty sure the coach is about to bust a nut. Dean was doing his usual rounds and didn't find you in the field, so he's worried too."

"Oh," Allie breathed. She was worried about that as well as if she didn't have too much on her plate already. What was the omega going to do about this?

Just then, the bell rang again. She froze in her seat, cocking her head to blink at Ashton. He stood up and opened the door. Its Rachel.

"Hey", Her friend waved before plopping down on the empty seat. "Nice to see you out of your room for a change. Is everything alright?"

Her cheeks warmed at that, travelling to her neck. The omega dumbly nodded her head, feeling guilty for troubling others. Her friends were obviously worried about her strange behaviour, but there's no way she could explain without revealing the truth.

"Good. You should give Nate a call too. The poor guy hasn't stopped asking about you."

Ashton made a face at that, trying to focus on the can of beer on the table. He still didn't like Nate very much.

Allie spluttered. "W-What?!"

Her roommate nodded her head, leaning back on the couch with her legs pulled together. "He came by the cafe today and asked about you. I told him that you were sleeping."

"Thanks"

A relieved sigh tore from her lips. Allie was dreading for the worst. It only made her realise that she shouldn't be prolonging this. There has to be an end to this. Even if that meant talking to Nate.

***

Taking a deep breath, Allie entered the locker room; her head bent down. She knew that the Alpha was inside after enquiring to several different people on his team. Her palms were clammy, itching to hold onto something as she strode inside.

"Allie?" Nate raised a questioning brow at her, and the omega was growing bored of that move.

"Hey," She stuttered out, then coughed. Allie had to pull herself together for this talk, or Nate would overrun her right away.

The only silver lining on the horizon was that the Alpha seemed a little caught off the guard to see her here. Maybe it's because she was talking to him. Allie decided to find courage. There are only these tiny details she could cling to.

"So you do know that we are not on vacation," He greeted back after a few seconds of silence had passed. The Alpha had walked towards one of the sturdy wooden benches near his own locker and set his bag down, ready to get changed himself. Allie was watching him with hawk eyes, just ready to open her mouth when Nate spoke up again. "Feeling better?" There was a mocking lilt to his voice, of course. He had every right to be furious at her as she refused to meet him for a week, going as far as asking Ashton to cover for her.

She swallowed. "Yes, thanks."

Silence fell again, uncomfortable as ever between the two of them. "Can we — can we talk about what happened a weeks ago?"

"I guess, runner" The Alpha licked his lips, turning around to face her, arms crossed against his chest.

"Don't call me that," She exhaled, redness flashing in her cheeks. Nate was close enough for her to touch, and it was disconcerting, to be honest. And distracting.

"How do you find out anyway?" She asked the question mostly in an attempt to deflect Nate from advancing further.

It was vital for her to know, though, because if Nate could figure it out what told Allie, others couldn't, too? She hadn't even thought about it before, but now it was such a glaringly obvious issue to her that the omega couldn't believe it didn't come to the mind before.

The Alpha stopped moving, finally, but he still stood too close to her for it to be comfortable in any way. And once again, to his dismay, Allie found herself looked upon from above. Why did Nate have to be so ridiculously tall, really? As he attempted to answer her, the locker room door flew open, making both of them cringe at the suddenness.

Sadly they couldn't talk about it.

***