#sorry faber it's a long journey but i promise you'll get there

[not-poignant]

Excerpt from chapter 104 of Underline the Black:

‘A long time ago, there was a terrible fire. Do you really want to hear about this?’ ‘I mean, it’s the least coherent story someone’s told me while they’ve been here, but yeah.’ Faber scowled. ‘Well. Tough. You wanted to hear it. But a long time ago, there was a terrible fire, and we nearly had to evacuate the entire property. We didn’t. But I was truly exhausted, and I went to a bar at the end of my shift, and I picked up an alpha and we hooked up. I didn’t know anything about him except that he was going for a job. I thought he might be in IT, or be an engineer, something entrepreneurial or perhaps even the hard sciences, though I can’t say why I thought that.’ Efnisien looked back towards the couple, swallowing. ‘And after a fairly devastating night where I fell in love – after never, ever believing that sort of thing was possible – we said our goodbyes. After all, I live in Augusta, and alphas are meant to be with omegas. Everyone knows that.’ Everyone knew that. Efnisien considered Faber now, and Faber was staring at the couple like a laser. His lips were chapped. Didn’t he normally take better care of himself? ‘But I was in love with him. And then I went to work two days later – I needed time off. As you’ve learned, sex with alphas isn’t nothing. And I interviewed Caleb for a job as an alpha companion.  There he is, with Lucien right now.’