I told you so. It's fine.
Rolling my eyes, I reached out, snagging his wrist and pulling him under my arm before adjusting his glasses with my index finger.
"You look kinda familiar," Miguel said, looking at Newell with friendly, but not lusty eyes.
Which was good for him, really, since I was not a sharer and had actually realized lately, that I was very possessive.
"This is Newell Waters. He went to school here for a year back when we were seniors. He was a junior."
Miguel tilted his head, clearly thinking as he looked at Newell, then his head snapped up with a gasp. "Wait. The cute little omega your brothers always said you had a giant crush on."
Newell's eyes widened in surprise, and I chuckled, nodding. "That's the one."
How long was it going to take to convince him that I really had had a crush on him? And not a small one, either.
"So, you guys are together now?" Miguel asked, his face bright with happiness. "That's awesome."
"Yeah," I said, squeezing Newell to my side and making him grunt. "It is."
"Hey, Lawton," another voice said from behind me, and I tried not to cringe visibly, but I was pretty sure by the smirk on Miguel's face, he knew exactly what I was thinking.
I pasted on another of those fake smiles as the omega came around from behind me, blinking in confusion over how I had my arm around Newell.
"River," I said with a nod. "How are you?"
He beamed excitedly, Newell apparently forgotten. "Great!"
Newell chuckled, reaching out to take the bag out of my hand and headed for the door. He'd confided that he wasn't very good at being in the middle of crowds, and that if he slipped away sometimes, not to get too worried.
I had to admit, there had been a few times when he'd slipped away during something like this, I'd been worried he would be mad at me, but so far, he'd been nothing but understanding. That didn't make it any less irritating that we were always being interrupted, or any less worrisome that someday he was going to get sick of it and leave me.
"Excuse me," I said quickly, not even bothering to glance at Miguel or River. "My boyfriend is waiting for me."
"Boyfriend?" River said, sounding shocked.
I glanced over my shoulder just as Miguel winked at me, sliding a bit closer to River. "Hey, I'm Miguel."
I was going to have to buy the man a case of beer for deflecting that for me, and though River's attention strayed after me for a moment, Miguel only smirked.
"Did you just call me your boyfriend?" Newell asked, standing just on the other side of the door to the breakroom with raised eyebrows and a small smirk on his mouth.
I nodded, taking the bag from his hand and ushering him toward the staircase. "I did."
"Don't you think you should ask me first?"
"Hmm." I spun on him as the stairwell door closed, trapping him against it. "Will you be my boyfriend?"
I leaned down, kissing his mouth softly, hoping to be persuasive, and he sighed against my mouth.
"Are you sure you want to be my boyfriend? You saw that back there, right? Everyone always wants to see you and talk to you. Don't you think you need someone who is equally as magnetic?"
"You're magnetic in your own way. Hell, I've been drawn to you since the first time I saw you," I eased away, turning to allow him to proceed me up the stairs so I could spend the walk staring at his ass like I always did, and he rolled his eyes but went right along with it. "I don't care about all that. I like being nice to people and the fact that people see me as a friendly face in this world, but I like you more. I don't care about all the other stuff. You're the guy I've wanted since I was a stupid seventeen-year-old kid who wore a ridiculous number of scarves… even when it was nice out."
He laughed. "I remember that. One of your many admirers made a habit of stealing them."
"They did?"
He opened the door at the top and the smell of fall was in the air, making me smile. Fall meant football and football was always my favorite time of year, but this year, it also meant snuggling in with my new boyfriend.
"Yeah. But I always stole them back and slipped them into your locker."
I chuckled, shaking my head. I'd never once even noticed my scarves