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“Brin… We need to clarify something before you start working at the Alpha Bet,” I say. “The money you need, the debts… it’s not for drugs, is it?”
Her face pales. “What? Seriously?”
“You spoke of drugs on the phone.”
“Drugstore. I need money for the drugstore. For medicine.”
“But—”
“Fucking expensive medicine, okay? That good enough for you? Damn.” Her voice breaks and with it, my anger. It crumbles to dust, but she’s already dragging on her dress and shoes. “I guess this is goodbye.”
“Goodbye? But I mean… we’ll see you again, right?” Kyrian is on his feet. We all are—naked in every sense of the word. “Please, Brin…”
“You’ll call us, right?” Roman asks. “Come back here later?”
But she gives us all a sad look, her own anger seeming to ebb, and shakes her head. “It was a wonderful evening,” she says softly. “Thank you for coming to my rescue, and for giving me so much pleasure.”
“Brin,” I call out as she starts toward the door. I should look for my clothes, dress, and go after her, but my brain is sluggish. “Your new job. We’ll expect you at the bar tomorrow evening, yes?”
She stops at the door.
“Say yes,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. “Don’t make me beg. I’m sorry if I hurt you, but please, come to the bar tomorrow.”
I’ll beg if I have to. If we lose her through my idiocy, then I’ll never live it down, and my worry for her will destroy me.
But she gives a faint nod, a faint smile, and is gone.
37
SAWYER
Iwring the sponge out, then wipe the sink behind the bar once more. Is it clean now? I’ve done it three times. Not a good number. Two more should do it.
So I start again, my heart racing, spraying disinfectant and wiping it again, until it gleams, and?—
“Sawyer? You okay back there?”
The voice startles me, but after a long moment, I recognize it, my mind snapping into focus.
“Soph.”
“What’s up, Sawyer?” Sophie smiles. “You look preoccupied.”
She’s a sweet alpha femme fatale who used to room together with Bee and Gigi. Now both girls got their dream packs and have moved out. Sophie hasn’t commented on her new roommates, and truth is, I don’t know them, and I haven’t even asked her how she’s doing lately.
I’m a damn lousy friend.
“I’m fine,” I say.
While cleaning the counter. Tapping my fingers. Counting. Oh fuck, I need to wipe the sink one last time to round up the number. So I start doing that, even as Sophie watches.
I’m going crazy.
The pack I met yesterday was… nasty. I’m fucking shaken, man. The other packs my parents sent my way were nice, if bland, but this one… I was so freaked out that, once I left, I ran. I ran and ran until I found myself lost in the city. Thank fuck for mobile internet and being able to call an Uber to wherever the hell I was.
Things they said echo inside my head.
They cornered me. Shoved me. Licked my neck. Told me I was a good-for-nothing omega, dependent on my fucking parents, sold like a good little slave to pleasure them, and that they’d use me any way they saw fit once the deal was signed.
