by Fel Fern
Always Denver
Maple Hart 2
Fel Fern
Always Denver © August 2020 by Fel Fern
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Book cover design by James
www.goonwrite.com
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All rights reserved: No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.
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Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
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Contents
Always Denver
1. Wayne
2. Denver
3. Wayne
4. Denver
5. Wayne
6. Denver
7. Wayne
8. Denver
9. Denver
10. Wayne
11. Denver
Epilogue
About the Author
Chasing Clark
Always Denver
Wayne
Being in love with my best friend should be a blessing in disguise, not a curse.
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For years, I’ve pined and longed for Denver from afar. I could hold my own against other Alphas. When someone pushed me, I viciously fought back. There was only one fight I could never win and it was the battle for Denver’s heart.
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Denver was my one true weakness.
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Over the years, he’d schemed and plotted. He always got his way—until now. Denver needed a pretend boyfriend at his ex’s wedding. I was a convenient solution. I never once asked him for anything in return. This time, I was going to demand a heavy toll. Denver was finally going to be my Omega.
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Denver
Wayne’s the best guy I know. I don’t exactly have an exemplary record when it comes to relationships. None of my hook-ups last more than a week. I’m terrified of commitment. Wayne’s always been content to stay in the background but begging Wayne to be my pretend boyfriend changed everything. Wayne’s become different, possessive, and I find myself unable to resist the new him.
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Is it really wrong to want my best friend?
1
Wayne
My phone buzzed under my pillow for the second time that morning. I groaned, fumbling for it. God, but I needed coffee.
It took me a few tries but I finally held it to my face. I looked at the time. 8.45 am.
Was it really that late?
I swore I set my alarm for 8 am. Then again, I mumbled ‘five more minutes’ to myself a few times. I sat up in bed, definitely more awake now.
Shit.
Denver couldn’t be ready in 15 minutes. My best friend took an awful lot of time preparing in the bathroom. Denver always said his dark brown hair needed extra prep time.
Don’t get me wrong. Denver’s hair always looked fantastic.
He could be a model in a shampoo commercial. I always wondered how it would feel like, running my fingers through those silken strands and tugging at it.
Then I’d angle my face over his for a kiss. One kiss was all I needed and Denver would fall hopelessly in love with me.
Yeah right.
I’d have to keep on dreaming.
Some Alpha I am.
I had no problem asserting my dominance. I’ve fought off meaner and bigger Alphas who wanted to prove who had the bigger balls.
Everyone knew that Denver was my weak point. I couldn’t say no to him.
It didn’t help that Denver wasn’t your average Omega. He was fearless and was never afraid to speak his mind. Maybe it was because he came from a large family with plenty of demanding Omegas.
Perhaps the real problem lay with me.
I didn’t have the guts to tell him how I felt. We had a good thing going here. We were living together. Denver was the first face I saw in the morning and the last face I saw before I went to bed. It should be enough, except lately, I began to picture us as more than friends.
I flung my sheets aside and padded out of the room. The rest of the apartment was quiet. I wasn’t surprised Denver was still in his room, sleeping. My best friend wasn’t a morning person.
Usually, after some cajoling and several attempts to drag him out of bed, he’d be all cranky and annoyed. I was used to it. Denver was cute when he glared at me over his bowl of cereal. That glare wouldn’t be able to scare off a puppy.
I stopped in front of his door and turned it.
Huh. Locked.
That was new.
I knocked.
“Denver? Time to wake up. We’re running late,” I said.
We both worked at the same place—Happy Motors, a car rental place in town. Our manager Jon was a stickler for punctuality and we’ve already arrived late to work three times this month. Jon was threatening to cut our pay.
I received no answer from Denver.
“Denver, come on. We can’t do this every morning,” I said with a tired sigh. “I’ll make us sandwiches. Peanut butter jelly, your favorite. We can eat on our way to work. You better be ready in ten minutes. Fix your hair in the car.”
I took a five-minute shower and hastily dressed in our company t-shirt. I put on a pair of jeans and headed to the kitchen to fix our sandwiches. I hummed a catchy song I heard over the radio at work the other day.
I checked my wristwatch.
Still no sign of Denver.
What the hell?
Maybe he stayed up last night, watching his favorite Korean drama shows again. I reminded him so many times to have a cut-off time. My irritation grew.
I pounded on his door again.
“Go away, Wayne,” Denver said in a funny voice.
He sounded hoarse. That wasn’t a good sign. Guilt replaced my initial irritation.
“Are you sick? Denver, open up. This isn’t funny. If you’re not feeling well, tell me. I could run to the drug store and get you some medicine before going to work.”
“Why do you always have to be so nice to me?” Denver demanded.
Wait. What the hell did that mean?
Sometimes, I didn’t understand Denver at all. I debated calling Gideon, Denver’s favorite cousin. Of all the people in the world, Gideon was one of the few rare individuals who could get under Denver’s skin. Then I remembered Gideon was out of town, honeymooning with his boyfriend Garth.
Damn it.
“Don’t make me break down the door.” I threatened.
I wasn’t sure I was capable of doing that. Plus, we were also kind of broke. Eventually, I heard Denver unlock the door. I opened it only to find Denver back on his bed. He was lying on his side.
I approached him cautiously. Denver wasn’t easy to deal with when he was sick either.
One time Denver got sick during our senior year in high school. Gideon warned me Denver was a horrible patient. I was stumped when Gideon and Denver’s other cousins told me to take care of him.
I soon understood why they kept their distance. Denver became impossible to deal with when he had a minor cold or fever. He also got super dramatic and kept asking me if he was going to die.
“Hey,” I said in the most gentle voice I could muster.
I touched his shoulder. Denver didn’t stir but he let out a sniffle.
A sniffle?
Alarmed now, I turned him so he looked right at me. His blue eyes, which were sometimes irritated but usually mischievous and playful—were all puffy. He looked like he’d been crying and that pissed me a lot.
“Did someone hurt you?” My voice came out hoarse, all growly and unlike me.
I tightened my grip on his shoulder. He touched my arm. Just one touch was enough to wake my cock.
God. I was an awful person. Here was Denver, silently suffering while I was getting all hot and bothered for him.
“What happened?” I asked, trying to think of unsexy things.
Puppies. Kittens. A river. Wild mushrooms.
Mushrooms?
I imagined myself unzipping my pants and pulling my cock out and Denver licking his lips as he eyed my erection.
I flung those filthy thoughts aside because my best friend needed me right now.
Screw work.
Denver looked like he could use a day off. We both could.
“It’s Ken,” he said softly.
I never thought I’d ever hear that name again.
I saw red. For a second, I had trouble breathing. I wanted to punch my fist into the closest wall. To wreck something.
Ken was Denver’s ex. They’d only gone out for a couple of months but that bastard left a number on him. Denver was devastated when he found out Ken was cheating on him.
All I wanted to do right now was hunt Ken down. That Alpha was no match for me.
Ken was a smooth talker. He could charm the pants out of everyone and he regularly worked out at the local gym to keep in shape. Ken was all talk but no bite. If we got into a fight, I’d clobber him until he cried uncle.
“What about him?” I asked in a careful voice.
I should be winning some kind of award for keeping my cool and remaining calm. Right now, I needed to get a grip on my anger, because Denver needed me.
“He sent me an invitation.” Denver showed me his phone and the e-invite he received. “He’s getting married. To Carl.”
If I remembered correctly, Carl was the guy Ken had been sleeping with while he was still with Denver.
“Don’t people send normal invitations anymore?” I muttered. “How tacky.”
That got a laugh out of Denver.
Damn. That laugh. It never failed to brighten my day.
“So, what do you want to do next?” I asked him.
Denver closed his eyes. Those few seconds he was still, he looked like an angel. I wanted to roll on top of him, pin his arms over his head, and finally kiss those tempting lips.
Maybe Denver would fight me at first, but it’ll only be an act. He’d be so into the kiss the next moment.
I wondered if Denver remembered our first kiss, all those years ago. It was at Christmas. I had no family of my own, but I was never lonely.
Denver’s huge family always treated me like I was one of their own. We were standing under a mistletoe under the tree. It was midnight. I was drunk.
We both were.
That kiss we shared might’ve been accidental but it had been mind-blowing. It was a game-changer.
Years later, I didn’t know if it was a curse or a gift. A gift, because it was one I’d always cherish. A kiss I’d never forget. A curse, because in those few precious seconds, I caught a glimpse of a potential future between me and my best friend.
A future where the two of us were together.
Denver opened his eyes again and I froze because I recognized that devilish look in his eyes. Denver had something evil planned.
I probably wouldn’t like it one bit but I’d go along with it all the same because he was Denver. He was the only guy I ever loved.
2
Denver
“I know that look,” Wayne said before I could get another word out.
I sat up in my bed. It felt good. I’d cried myself to sleep last night after I saw Ken’s invitation. This morning, I didn’t want to get up.
My body and my limbs felt like they were made of lead. In the back of my mind, I remembered we had to go to work but I wasn’t in the mood to wash other peoples’ cars.
“Hear me out,” I pleaded.
Wayne carefully sat at the edge of my bed as I moved to sit next to him. Like this, our shoulders were touching. I forgot how warm Wayne could be.
When nights turned cold or when I got lonely, I always wondered how Wayne would react if I slipped inside his room, his bed.
He was always so big and solid and so very warm. We wouldn’t need a comforter.
Oh crap. I was doing it again.
I knew better than to follow that line of thinking.
Wayne and I?
We had a good thing going here. He was my best friend in the entire world. We kept no secrets from each other. We knew each other inside and out.
Why would I want to ruin something so good, so wonderful just to get a chance at—what? Romance? At being lovers?
“I’m listening,” Wayne finally said.
“I’m thinking about going. Wedding’s this weekend. At the Maple View hotel.”
Wayne clenched his jaw hard. He was always easy to read. Wayne never could hide his emotions well.
“Why would you torture yourself like that?” He demanded.
“I’m not going alone. I’ll be with my plus one.” I made a dramatic pause.
Wayne still looked confused, a little mad maybe. That anger wasn’t directed at me though but at Ken. We had an awful fight about Ken months ago.
Wayne told me Ken was bad news. I defended Ken, a guy I hardly knew, a man I thought I was in love with for no good reason.
I knew I hurt Wayne badly in the process. We didn’t speak to each other for two weeks. I never liked to lose. That was one of the good or bad things about me.
“And your date is?” He asked.
“You, silly.” I punched Wayne in the shoulder and groaned. It felt like punching a brick wall.
Wayne abruptly rose to his feet and started pacing back and forth. He furrowed his brows, telling me he was thinking hard.
I sat back and admired him. Wayne was a bonafide hottie. He was a sexy as hell Alpha any Omega would kill to have.
That was old news. I knew Wayne was a catch since the first day we met. I’m not stupid. I knew I took my best friend for granted sometimes, but I wanted to try out this plan.
To get back at Ken for thinking he could make a fool out of me.
Revenge wasn’t my only primary motive. I thought it would be fun to have a little R&R. We deserved it. Wayne and I have been taking plenty of double shifts lately.
I’m not usually a hard worker. I’m more of a 9 to 5 kind of guy. I balked at doing overtime and whine about going to company events but working was a great solution when trying to forget about my broken heart.
Wayne always had my back. I knew he wouldn’t let me work long hours alone. Gideon always reminded me how lucky I was to have Wayne. He was right.
I didn’t know how I survived the past few weeks if Wayne wasn’t by my side. He was always able to make me laugh, even in my darkest days.
“Will it work?” Wayne finally asked.
“Of course it will,” I said with a scoff. “You doubting me?”
“Well, your plans always go haywire.”
“Name one time.”
“Okay. Just last week when we went to your aunt’s place for your usual weekend family barbecue. You wanted to bring home some of those rib-eye steaks so we didn’t have to cook the next day.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me. It’s because you couldn’t keep a straight face that Aunt Marissa spotted the container I was hiding behind my back.”
“Your Aunt is scary.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Gideon’s mom was kind of like my second mom and Wayne’s. Even Ken got daunted by my overbearing and large famil
y.
Well, most people did. Wayne was an exception because he’d been going to my family gatherings for years. Everyone assumed he was my plus one.
Hell, I remembered my Pop, my Omega dad, and Aunt Marissa looking disappointed that one time I brought Ken with me instead of Gideon.
My family might be busy-bodies but I had to admit they were a good judge of character. The fact they didn’t like Ken shouldn’t have escaped my notice.
“Then there’s that other time—” Wayne began.
“I get the picture,” I said with a growl. “We’ve gotten way off track here.”
Wayne crossed his arms over his chest and I couldn’t help but notice the way his biceps and triceps bulged under his tanned skin.
Dang, but he was good enough to lick. To kiss. To touch.
Crap. My dick started to get hard. I dragged my mind away from the gutter.
I started to wonder if this evil genius plan of mine might not be such a hot idea after all.
What if I ended up crossing the line and started coming onto my best friend?
I was bad at relationships. I screwed up each and every one of them.
What if I ended up doing the same with Wayne?
One wrong mistake, one drunken fling could end up jeopardizing our many years of friendship.
I wouldn’t be able to find another best friend like Wayne.
I remembered running into Carl last week in the supermarket and wanting to wipe that smug look off his face. It was only a few seconds. We didn’t even exchange words but seeing the Omega Ken chose over me, made me remember how awful I felt when Ken broke up with me.
