Cameron

Janine buzzed me in my office at nine a.m. to let me know that she was coming in to go over my schedule for the day. So, when she opened the door I was expecting her, but what I wasn’t expecting was the intense wafting of omega that came in with her. The second my office door opened his scent completely filled the room. I looked up at Janine and she saw the panic on my face.

“He’s gone," she said as she shut the door. “He just left."

I put my elbows on the desk in front of me and lowered my head, then rubbed my eyes and pushed my fingers through my hair. For days now, no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to get that omega out of my head. I hadn’t been able to sleep just knowing that a young, available omega—especially one that smelled as incredible as he did—was in my condo.

“Are you okay, Cam?” Janine asked as she approached my desk.

“Yeah … Yeah," I said, finally looking up at her. “His scent is just so … distracting," I said as I raised my eyebrows. More like all-consuming, I thought to myself.

“Well, I’ve sent a housekeeper in to clean the room and change the sheets. I’ll have all the windows in the condo opened up to air everything out, as well. I didn’t realize the scent was still so strong.”

“Have them wash the sheets at least three times. And the towels he used too.”

“Okay. I let him wear a pair of your pajamas. I hope that was okay.”

I groaned at the thought of his young body wrapped up in my own clothing. I had a mad impulse to run to the guest room, tearing off my clothes in the process, so I could put those same pajamas on and smell his heat at its most intense. “Yes,” I said, shaking that ridiculous thought out of my head. “And I’d like the room deep cleaned. Carpet shampooed, drapes steamed, the works. I can barely get anything done with that scent in the air.”

“Understood," she said. Janine paused for a long moment, then sat down in the chair in front of my desk. She was silent, but I could tell she had something on her mind.

Janine had been my personal assistant for over ten years, but within the last few, she’d also become my confidant and friend. My only friend, really.

Not that I didn’t have dozens of old friends and business acquaintances. My address book was filled with the names of single people and couples that Gregory and I had been friends with when he was still alive. I sent them all holiday cards, of course, but ever since he passed away, I’d let those friendships fall by the wayside.

At first, seeing the couples that we’d spent time with when he was alive, just brought back the pain of losing him and being alone. Eventually, I found comfort in spending my days working and my nights at home. Now all I could handle was almost complete solitude.

I wasn’t entirely alone, though. I had Maggie to fill my evenings and weekends, and Janine to see to my business affairs and talk to when I was lonely. That was all I really needed.

“Did you want to talk to me about something?” I asked. I wasn’t particularly interested in discussing Daniel, but I had a feeling that’s exactly what was on her mind.

“How are you doing?” Janine asked.

“I’m fine. Don’t I look fine?” I asked, wincing at the loud tone of my voice. “Sorry. I’m all right. I’m … okay I’m having a hard time with all this. It’s bringing back feelings I didn’t want to … feelings I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with anymore.”

“Being attracted to someone isn’t a thing to deal with, Cam. It would be good for you to have someone in your life. There’s nothing wrong with letting go of the past and moving forward.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew Janine was right, but there was a wall between my thoughts and my emotions that seemed way too high for me to climb over. "So, did you find anything out about him?” I asked, finally. I felt a little awkward asking her about the young omega, but she was the one that brought it up. Besides, my hormones wouldn’t let me leave the issue alone.

"Well, like I told you the other day, his name is Daniel Jacobs. He’s been working at the Portville Speedy Delivery Company for a few months. I called them yesterday to let his boss know that he was here and that he was having heat issues. He didn’t sound very pleased, but I assured him that it was beyond Daniel’s control. Other than that, I don’t have any other information. Oh … there is one thing he told me while he was in the bath."

“You talk to him while he was taking a bath?” The mental image of that firm omega body surrounded by mountains of bubbles and warm water suddenly caused my cock to twitch.

"Yes,” Janine said with a laugh. “He’s really very sweet. We wound up talking about you and about his parents."

“About me?”

“Yes, he was curious about the condo, about the fact that it was a business address but also a residence."

"Oh, is that all he wanted to know?” Jesus, I sounded like I was in high school.

“That’s all I remember. We got to talking about his mother, about her heats, and he told me that his parents had kicked him out when he presented as an omega."

“Oh, that’s awful,” I said.

“Yes, apparently he’s been living on his own for a while, but he didn’t tell me much about it.”

I hated the idea of anyone being treated so callously, let alone by their own parents. When I remembered the sweetness and that omegas eyes, it made me furious to think that anyone could do that to such a gentle creature. “Okay, well, thank you for that information, Janine. What’s on my schedule for today?”

“You’re wide open. There’s nothing scheduled until tomorrow when you have your meeting with the investment group."

“What about Maggie?”

“She has a gymnastics class this morning and a play date this afternoon with the twins on the sixteenth floor. She’ll be home before dinner, though.”

“Fine. I’ll work on my presentation for the meeting tomorrow if I can keep my head together. Please make sure the condo is aired out as soon as possible. I know I probably sound ridiculous, but it’s really getting to me.”

“Cam, I know I can’t understand completely, but I can see in your eyes how much he’s affected you. You don’t deserve to suffer like this. Neither of you do.”

I didn’t understand what she meant by that last comment but shrugged it off. “Well,” I said with a sideways grin. “It’s not all that bad. Just … hard. Thank you, Janine.”

She got up immediately and nodded her head, then turned and left my office.

When I mentioned that I would be doing research for my presentation with the investment board tomorrow, I had every intention of following through with those plans, but the minute I heard the door click shut, my mind immediately went to Daniel Jacobs.

I forced myself to start in on some research, but quickly found myself typing his name into a search engine. Of course, the search came up with hundreds of thousands of results, none of which were even remotely helpful. So I narrowed my results to a variety of different phrases.

I typed in his name with Portville, then with his age, and finally with the name of the company he worked for. My work paid off when an article from a local newspaper popped up. There it was, an image of that gorgeous omega with the sweetest smile spread across his face. Daniel was standing in front of a place called The Sunnyside Clinic, along with the head physician, Stephen Lewis.

The article talked about how Daniel was a local hero. He’d saved and infant that had been abandoned in and nearby alley and brought it into the clinic. The article went on to talk about the clinic’s plans for a group home and Daniel was quoted as saying ‘I think, from my own experience, that a group home is something that a lot of homeless kids in this town would love. A place that they could call home.’

I did a search for the project and the only thing I could find was a grant proposal outlining the group home plans, but nothing concrete. Something called the Medical Care Equality Board was looking for donations and grants in the hundred-thousand-dollar range. But when I thought about everything that would need to go into a project like that, it didn’t seem like near enough to me.

The article ended with a quote from the doctor in the picture, saying that Daniel was a valuable member of the community and that the group home was his idea. That made me smile. The more I found out about this omega, the more I wanted him in my life. But I didn’t know how far I could comfortably go with him without getting my heart involved.

I did another search and immediately found the MCE board who were in charge of The Sunnyside Clinic and the group home project and arranged for an anonymous donation through my accountant. I sat back for a while feeling good about what I’d done. Now that I knew the kind of person he was, I wanted to help Daniel in any way I could.

I honestly hadn’t planned on going any further. I had no intention of being a stalker or a creep, but the longer I stared at his smiling face and bright eyes, the harder it became to stop myself from continuing my search.

It wasn’t too hard after I found him to get his address and history, although there really wasn’t much on him at all. The first real records of him, other than his birth certificate, his omega status report, or his job at the delivery company, was his address in a group home.

It looked like it was a place for anyone who was in transition from one place to another. That meant young adults who were starting out from a bad place, such as Daniel, but it also meant people who were coming out of prison and were being reintroduced to society. It worried me that Daniel was living in a place like that.

I looked up the address in Google Maps and my fears were confirmed. It was one of the worst, drug-filled neighborhoods in town. I knew I couldn’t go there. I would be a confirmed stalker if I did that, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Daniel. And worrying about his safety.

It wasn’t even minutes into dinner when Maggie brought the young omega up. “Is Daniel coming back?”

I looked at her with a furrowed brow. “How do you know about Daniel?”

“I saw him sitting on the bed and I went in and said hi. Was that bad, Daddy?”

“No, sweetie,” I said, putting my hand on hers. “I was just curious how you knew about him.”

“Is he?” she asked again after a long silence.

I was lost in thoughts about Daniel and had completely forgotten what she’d asked. “Is he what?”

“Coming back!” she yelled in excitement.

“Shhhh, not so loud, honey.” I looked at my plate and then back at my daughter. “I don’t know, Maggie. Daniel was just visiting.”

“Catherine really liked Daniel a lot.”

“Oh, did she?” I asked, looking across the table where Maggie had set her favorite doll. In the last few months, I’d come to the realization that she had started expressing her own emotions through her favorite doll. It had me a little worried, but a doctor I spoke to said it was fairly normal for girls her age. It still didn’t alleviate my fears that Maggie might be lonely. In fact, I knew she was. We both were. But that was a problem I wasn’t quite sure how to fix.

“I like Daniel too,” I said. “But I don’t know if he’s coming back. Now eat your dinner like a good girl.”

Maggie didn’t say anything else while she ate, but I couldn’t help but wonder about her comment. “Why does Catherine like Daniel so much?”

Maggie looked over at her doll like she was listening, then looked back at me. “She says Daniel was very nice to her. He held her in his arms and she knew he would be a good Daddy someday.”

Her words surprised me, but only because of how insightful they seemed. Daniel did seem like he’d make a wonderful father. “I think Catherine is right.”

Maggie smiled and continued eating, finishing everything on her plate before she begged me to watch Monsters Inc. with her for what would probably be the fiftieth time.

“Okay,” I said, laughing. “But get your pjs on first.”

“Yes, Daddy!” she yelled as she ran off to her room.

I wanted to stop thinking about that omega. I’d had this entire condo cleaned just to erase his scent, but I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t going to be that easy to shake Daniel.

The next morning, I tried to get some research done on a new crypto investment I was presenting to the team later that day, but my mind kept going back to Daniel. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get those sweet eyes of his out of my mind. And in the picture I had in my head, my eyes wandered down his entire body, then slowly came back up again, pausing on key features that appealed to me, like the narrow waist I could see beneath his T-shirt, the small but defined muscles in his chest, and his beautiful, pink lips.

After two full hours of getting absolutely nothing done, I decided enough was enough. Maggie had asked about Daniel. I was worried about him. Those two things were reason enough for me to go and see him, and to make sure he was okay.

Besides, it had been a ridiculously long time since I’d left the condo. And now I finally had an excuse.

"Janine, can you have my driver bring the Lexus around to the parking level elevator doors in ten minutes.”

There was a long pause and I thought maybe she had taken her Bluetooth headset out. "Yes, sir,” she finally said.

I kept the tinted windows up as we drove to our destination. I had no intention of getting out of the car, and I hadn’t really considered whether I would actually speak to Daniel if I saw him. But when we pulled up to the dilapidated building I’d seen online, there he was sitting on an old metal newspaper box.

I was appalled. There were countless people propped up against his apartment building, half in and out of a drugged stupor, and the sidewalk was littered with hypodermic needles. This was absolutely unacceptable. I couldn’t leave Daniel here to go back into that filthy building.

"Nelson," I said to the driver. “Can you ask that young man who’s sitting on that metal box to come over here, please? You can let him know who’s asking for him.”

“Right away, sir." The driver got out, walked over to Daniel, and spoke to him, gesturing to the tinted window that I sat behind. Daniel looked surprised, then jumped down and walked over to the car. As he approached I opened the door and couldn’t help but smile when his scent wafted in with the breeze.

“Hello, Daniel. Will you join me for a moment?" I asked, scooting across the seats to make room for him. Daniel got in the back seat and closed the door. He looked a little nervous and I couldn’t help but take in every movement he made. His eyes were dilated, and he looked like he might be perspiring. I was incredibly relieved to find that, although he still smelled incredible, the intense heat scent that had surrounded him while he was in the condo was toned way down.

"Hey, Mr. Styles,” he said, raising his hand and giving me a quick side-to-side wave. He laughed nervously, then squirmed a bit in his seat, no doubt realizing how awkward it was to wave at someone who was sitting a foot away. It was adorable.

"I was just checking up on you … making sure you got home safely.”

“Oh, thanks. That was really nice of you. But how did you find me?” he asked. He didn’t seem even remotely upset or cautious. Just curious. I was relieved, but unfortunately, still felt like a total stalker.

"Google. It wasn’t too difficult. I hope you don’t mind."

"No," he said, his voice cracking a bit. “I don’t mind.” The thought of him being nervous to see me suddenly made me hard again and I quickly had to go over stock quotes in my head to keep myself down.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing well.” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know what I wanted or why I was there, luring this young omega into the backseat of a car with tinted windows like some degenerate.

“Well, sort of. My boss wasn’t too happy about me missing a few days of work. He said he was going to have to find someone who was a little more reliable. So it looks like I’ll have to find another job.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Daniel.”

“Yeah, it’s a bummer. I liked working there. Well, I liked being able to ride around all day.”

“Was that your first job?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah,” he said, wiggling his fingers in his lap. His nervousness was enchanting. I swear I could have watched him squirm all day.

"How old are you?" I blurted out. I had no idea why I’d even asked that, other than the fact that the question had been burning into my mind for days. I’d actually read his date of birth on the records I’d found, but I had a hard time believing he was as old as they said he was.

“Twenty,” he said, his big eyes on mine.

"Oh,” I said, after a long pause. “You look … younger.”

“Yeah?” he replied. This conversation was getting ridiculous. I felt like I was being a total creep, but Daniel didn’t seem to want it to end any more than I did. Even during the awkward silences, he sat there patiently, like there was no other place he’d rather be. Or that’s how I wanted to interpret it, anyway.

“Why were you sitting out here? This neighborhood doesn’t seem very safe."

"It’s not so bad. Someone … well, someone broke into my room and kinda trashed it. My friend Jason let me crash at his place last night, but he went to work about an hour ago, so I was just sitting there trying to figure out what to do.” He laughed when he realized what he’d just said. “I guess that doesn’t make this neighborhood sound too safe, now that I think about it.”

“No, it doesn’t. Daniel … it just so happens that I’m looking for someone.” The words came out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about what I was saying, or what I was doing.

"What do you mean, looking for someone?”

"Someone to take care of my daughter, Maggie. I heard the two of you met yesterday.”

"Oh yeah, Maggie is real sweet. So, you need someone to be her nanny?" he asked

"In effect. It would be a live-in position. So, you wouldn’t have to worry about your current … accommodations,” I said, gesturing to the rundown building I could not fathom Daniel setting foot in ever again.

“You mean you want to hire me and have me live there? In that penthouse?”

“Yes, if that works for you. We can go back, and I’ll show you around. You can get to know Maggie a little better too.”

Daniel stared at me for a long moment with his mouth hanging open and all I wanted to do was kiss those lips of his. I kept telling myself that this was okay, that I wasn’t moving this young man into my house, so I could creep on him.

I was doing this for Maggie. I was doing this for Daniel. But there was no denying the fact that I was doing this for myself too.

“That would be amazing!” he finally said. “I don’t have much to bring over. My phone got stolen and everything else got trashed.”

“Don’t worry about any of that,” I said. “If you decide to stay I’ll have my assistant Janine get you anything you need. Consider it an advance.”

“No kidding? Okay, well, let me grab my bike.”

“Sounds good,” I said absentmindedly as I watched Daniel run to the newspaper box where he was sitting. Nelson opened the trunk and placed Daniel’s bike inside.

I had to keep reminding myself that what I was doing wasn’t wrong. This boy needed help. He had no family and was living in squalor without a job. And that was partly my fault. The problem was, I wasn’t being completely honest with him … or with myself.

But I didn’t want to think about any of that just yet.

As I waited for them to return, I hoped I wasn’t making a big mistake. But when I saw the smile in Daniel’s eyes as he got back in the car, I knew I had to be doing the right thing.

All I was doing was helping this poor omega, getting him out of a bad situation. But as we drove off, I stared out the window in silence, knowing full well that wasn’t the only reason I was bringing Daniel back to my condo.