Page 71 of For All My Effort

Han reached for a small washcloth he had piles of in the nightstand, helping to separate us without leaking cum everywhere. I sat up, wincing at the tender feeling on my ass.

“Sore?” Han asked.

“Yeah, but I like it.”

“Let me know if you want any pain relief.”

I shook my head. My body would probably be fine by the time I woke up tomorrow, omegas were made for sex after all, so I wanted to keep the soreness for as long as possible.

Han stripped down to his boxers and I just watched him, enjoying the show. He tossed me my clothes to put back on, which I did without standing up because I was lazy. Then he awkwardly pulled the sheets off the bed so he could wash them. They weren’t covered in cum, just drenched in the smells of sweat and sex. I almost asked for them to be put in my nest, but I was distracted by Han bounding onto the bed.

“Ready to finish this project?” he asked.

“Definitely. Cutting had to be the hard part, right?”

We matched up the two square blankets and then got to work tying them together. The movie finished as we did as if we’d timed it perfectly. Han stood holding the two corners so I could see it—and all its crooked glory.

My head dropped backward so I was looking at the ceiling as I said, “I think when we turned the blankets to do the second sides, we forgot to check that it was still lined up properly.” We had both just assumed we rotated the fabric enough.

Making a ‘gimme gesture’ I grabbed the blanket, starting to undo the knots on the first side we messed up. Considering we’d tightened the knots so they wouldn’t easily come undone, it was harder than it should’ve been to undo them.

By the end, my fingertips were slightly raw, nevertheless the blanket was officially put together. My side had extra fringes along all the edges from my first time cutting all the way around, but I liked to think that it just added to the personality.

I was beaming, my smile burning my cheeks as Han held up the blanket. It was weird to feel proud of myself for a date art project, but I did. I wanted to take all this positive energy and try my art project down in the living room, except I wasn’t that delusional. Han had helped me with this project, and I’d almost fucked it up still. Better to get more practice before I restarted the ‘beginner’ project downstairs. Maybe I would even ask Zeke for help.

“I love it,” I admitted.

“I’d offer to let you keep it in your nest, but I know how you feel about the texture. I was thinking we’d keep it in here.”

I sighed, a soft dreamy sound. “That sounds perfect.”

The skulls and hummingbirds were so different, the colors not matching at all, yet they somehow complimented each other. Reaching toward my mate, he tried to offer me the blanket and I just took it, setting it on the bed so I could grab Han. I was on my knees, the bed sinking under my weight meaning Han was still taller than me.

Understanding what I wanted, he leaned his head down, kissing me. We hadn’t kissed during our entire fuck session, and I melted even further against him. I was riding the high from my accomplishment, my ass was sore, and my mate was radiating love.

It was a perfect date.

Chapter Nineteen

One week later

I gripped the sides of my laptop. My fingers were digging in too hard to the screen, yet I couldn’t let it go.

It was good news, and I didn’t want to believe it. No—I wanted to believe it, but I was scared.

One of the representatives that voted in agreement to the temporary ban had been pulled from office. Their constituents had voted for an emergency election, and they lost their seat. I wasn’t even aware that was something that could be done, and despite the representative’s claims that it wasn’t fair, it was legal. The other representatives were getting nervous.

Alphas might have liked pretending they were better than betas, but they still needed beta votes, especially since betas make up most of the population. Despite alphas being in most of the leadership positions, they only succeed by pandering to betas.

Apparently, the alphas forgot about that.

“Hannah?”

I looked up from my screen to see Han had turned around in his chair, giving me a curious look. “Did you see this?”

He came over to look since I’d forgotten to turn the laptop around and I watched his eyes widen.

“This is good news, right?” I asked. “Maybe Representative Adam will be next.”