He handed Joshua a plate and a glass, then sat down beside him, setting his own meal on the ground next to them. He tucked into his sandwich, and Joshua did likewise.
They ate in companionable silence, but Joshua finished a lot quicker than he did, draining his glass of water and getting to his feet.
Cole glanced at the omega’s plate, surprised to see there was still half a sandwich left.
“Grilled cheese not to your liking?” he inquired.
“It was good,” Joshua said, licking his lips and smiling down at him. “Do you want the rest? I know what alpha metabolisms are like. And an alpha like you… well, you must have an appetite to match all that muscle.”
He looked Cole up and down as he said it, his eyes running along the alpha’s body. It was just a touch too rehearsed: Cole knew an excuse when he heard one.
“If you don’t like it, just say so,” he barked. “Enough with the false flattery.”
He tightened his grip on his plate and stood, striding back across to the cottage. The sooner he had the place to himself again, the better.
Chapter Three
Josh was surprised to find himself enjoying his time away from life. Sure, the work was boring and monotonous, but it was nice not to have so many expectations on him. He didn’t have to don a mask and play a role whenever he stepped out of his room.
Cole was the only speed bump on an otherwise smooth road.
“Are you going to stand there all day?” the alpha called from behind him. “That water trough won’t fill itself.”
“Just enjoying the fresh air.”
“I’m not paying you to breathe.”
“You’re not paying me at all,” Josh grumbled. “This is practically slave labor.”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to ‘volunteer.’ Maybe you thought you’d coast through this month, that you’d be waited on hand and foot…”
“I thought I was here to work with kids,” Josh pointed out.
“Let’s see how you handle horses first,” Cole said dismissively.
Deciding it wasn’t worth starting another argument, Josh picked up his bucket and went to fill it at the tap. It took five trips back and forth, his arms aching as he carried the last full bucket back across the yard.
Cole appeared next to him, reaching for the bucket. “Let me take that.”
“I can manage,” he panted. He wasn’t going to be bested by a bucket of water.
“Suit yourself,” Cole threw back, stalking off across the yard.
Josh felt a twinge of unease at the alpha’s dismissiveness. One minute Cole was insulting him, the next he was trying to help.
He poured the water into the trough, then went in search of the alpha. Maybe if they talked more, got to know one another a little, they’d find some common ground.
Cole was inside the stables, crooning softly to one of the horses. Josh hung back by the door and just watched. He’d never spent any time around horses except for a few rushed weeks where he’d learned to ride one for a film shoot. Even then, the only one who’d been given time to attend to the horses was their trainer. For Josh, it had been all about his posture, about looking relaxed, like he’d been riding since before he could walk. What he was watching, with Cole and the skittish mare Ginny, was something very different.
“Are you going to stand there gawking all day?” Cole said, making Josh jump.
How did Cole know he was there? The alpha hadn’t turned around or even glanced over his shoulder.
“You’re good with her,” he said in answer. “She’s never that happy to see me.”
In fact, she seemed decidedly unhappy whenever Josh so much as set foot inside the stables.
“She hasn’t gotten to know you yet. Or me, really. It’ll take some time for her to get used to her new home.”
“She likes you well enough already.”
“Well, I am the one feeding her all these nice treats,” Cole said, showing him the carrot slices in his palm.
Josh couldn’t see his face, but he could hear the smile in Cole’s voice.
“Why horses?” he asked. Alphas like Cole usually had predatory shifter animals, like wolves or big cats. As a rule, horses weren’t too keen on apex predators.
“I guess I have an affinity for them.”
It might have been a meaningless comment, but Josh took a stab in the dark.
“You’re a horse shifter?”
Cole’s shoulders tensed at that. He did turn then, peering at Josh over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised.
“Lucky guess,” Josh said softly, shrugging one shoulder and dropping his gaze.
He’d tried openly flirty, complimentary. Maybe Cole preferred the shy, timid type. He bit down on his lower lip, drawing attention to his mouth.
Cole’s snort had him glancing back up. The alpha’s unimpressed expression said it all.
“Well, if we’re sharing and all, what’s under your skin?”
Josh blanched at that and looked away, uncomfortable under the alpha’s scrutinizing gaze.
“Oh, so you can dish it out but you can’t take it?”
Josh just shook his head and turned to leave.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said quietly.
He didn’t wait to hear Cole’s response, walking away as fast as he could without running. He felt like he was a teenager again, walking on eggshells around the alphas in his life. So far, none of his usual ways of dealing with alphas worked with Cole.
The paddock where the horses grazed was fenced all the way around. As he walked the perimeter, he wondered about Cole. There was something about the alpha’s bearing and manner that suggested he was more than meets the eye. Josh didn’t know what, exactly. But whatever it was, it didn’t explain the alpha’s behavior toward him. It was not the kind of reaction Josh was used to getting from alphas. Maybe he was losing his edge. Or maybe Cole was just an odd duck. The idea made him smile. Maybe Cole was a duck, and not a horse. That would explain some of his hostility. Alphas could be so touchy about their shifter species. If they weren’t one of the traditional ‘strong’ animals, they often wound up with a chip on their shoulder. The smaller the animal, the larger the inferiority complex.
One of the horses in the paddock trotted toward him, and he leaned against the fence, watching the piebald’s approach. On the other side of the field, he caught sight of Cole. The alpha’s gaze fell on him for the briefest of moments before he moved on.
Josh breathed a sigh of relief. At least Cole seemed to want to spend as little time in his presence as possible. It wouldn’t be too hard to avoid him, despite the close quarters they were living in.
Pushing away from the fence, he strolled on. His thoughts turned away from the infuriating alpha to his own situation. Despite Stewart’s assurances, Josh wasn’t sure he believed this was all going to blow over in the few weeks he was stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. It would take more than some physical labor and a photoshoot of him with rescued horses to get back into the industry’s good graces.
Whatever the price, he knew it would be more than he wanted to pay. It always was.
Chapter Four
From the look on Joshua’s face when he’d arrived, Cole had been certain the omega wouldn’t last one night. But there they were on day five, and he was hanging around like a bad smell. Cole moved on to trying to wear Joshua down with menial tasks. He had him doing every boring, dirty, wearying chore he could think of—mucking out the stalls, washing the floors, cleaning the toilet, and generally treated the omega like Cinderella.
Joshua set to every task without so much as a grumble, but the expression on his face said it all. He’d been expecting a walk in the park. He’d saunter in, take a few photos with some kids, and have a relaxing vacation away from the city. Instead, he got to deal with Cole’s cooking, blistered hands, and an over-familiarity with horse manure. Any minute now, Cole knew he’d crack. He’d call his manager or agent or whoever and beg to be rescued. An
d then he and Cole would go their separate ways, and all would be well.
Cole hadn’t watched the videos he knew were all over the internet, but he’d heard enough about it to know exactly what kind of omega he was sharing a house with. He’d done his best to keep his distance since Joshua’s arrival, not wanting the omega to get any ideas where he was concerned.
He pushed all thoughts of Joshua from his head and focused on his work instead. Ginny was still settling into the stables, and Cole suspected that he’d have his work cut out for him if she was ever going to be the kind of horse that worked with children.
Grabbing some carrot sticks and a leading rein, he went to her stall to see about making some progress on what they’d tried the day before. He could hear Joshua sweeping the stable floor behind him, the rhythmic drag of the brush moving back and forth.
“Hi there, darling,” he murmured in greeting. “Brought you a treat. There’s more where that came from if you’re a good girl today.”
The day before, she’d tolerated the rein but wouldn’t leave her stall with it on. Today? Well, they’d soon see.
He let her munch away on the carrot as he unbolted the stall door and let it swing open.
It all went wrong in a split second. A gust of wind from outside knocked over the bucket holding the main stable door open, and it swung closed with a loud bang. Ginny panicked and bolted. Cole narrowly avoided being trampled.
Joshua, standing between Ginny and the way out, had no such luck. He froze as the horse bore down on him, and Ginny reared back on her hind legs.
Cole was already moving, racing across the stables. He took Joshua at a run, grabbing him, and shoving him out through the stable door. He held it open so that Ginny could escape. She ran straight out into the paddock, slowing to a stop once there was grass beneath her hooves.
“That was close,” Joshua croaked.
Cole had pinned the omega against the stable door in his attempt to shield him from panicking hooves.
Taking a step back, he held onto Joshua’s arms and looked the omega up and down.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Joshua tipped his head up and sideways, a slow smile crossing his face.
“I’m fine, thanks to you.”
His hand came up, pressing lightly on Cole’s arm as his smile turned flirtatious.
“I’ll have to think of some way to say thank you.”
Cole yanked his hands away.
“Next time, learn to get out of the way.”
The smile fell from Joshua’s face, a blank expression taking its place.
“And here I thought all you alphas had hero complexes. Couldn’t wait to take a damsel in distress into your beds?”
“You thought wrong,” Cole said shortly.
“Did I, now?”
Cole would have left it alone, but the omega just wouldn’t drop it, his eyes meeting Cole’s in challenge.
“You think I’d touch you? I know all about you, Joshua. Hell, everyone with eyes in their head has seen far more of you than they’d ever want to. Would you be another notch on my bedpost, or would I be one on yours?”
The omega’s face fell, his lower lip trembling. He looked close to tears.
“Don’t give me that,” Cole growled. “You brought this on yourself. You made your bed, and you filmed yourself lying in it. If you can’t take the heat, don’t set yourself on fire.”
He went to walk away, assuming that would be the end of it, surprised when the omega’s voice followed him.
“I asked for it, is that what you’re saying?”
He glanced back to see that Joshua wasn’t looking at him, his eyes trained on the meadow where Ginny was grazing.
“Are you saying you didn’t? Wasn’t it just another career move, just like this ‘volunteer’ gig?”
The omega swallowed, faltering for a moment.
“A career move? Sure. I agreed to sex. I never asked to have my drink spiked with alpha dust, never agreed to be filmed for all the world to see, never asked to still have the bruises three weeks later…”
He choked back a sob, and Cole stood motionless, trying to get his head around what Joshua had just told him.
Before he could get a word out, the omega grabbed the bucket upturned by the door and stormed off.
“I’m going to fill the water troughs,” he called over his shoulder.
“Damn it,” Cole said softly, watching the omega’s back as he hurried away. He’d really put his foot in it this time.
What was he supposed to say to any of that? And if all of it was true, why the hell was Joshua the one out here doing penance?
Chapter Five
Every time Josh thought about his outburst in front of Cole, he felt himself flush. Of all the stupid, humiliating reactions to have in front of the alpha. The words played over in his head for the dozenth time as he lay in bed that night, and he inwardly groaned. He’d avoided Cole for the rest of the day but it wasn’t like he could do that forever. There was work to be done.
As tempted as he was to call Stewart, to persuade him to change his mind about this whole month-long volunteering gig, he knew it would get him nowhere. Cole’s opinion was shared by a lot of people in the industry. The story painted by the media cast him as the shameless omega throwing himself on a married alpha rather than the other way around. It would take time for the heat to die down, for the controversy to fade in people’s memories, and for casting directors to be willing to take a chance on him in any serious role. They wouldn’t want to risk their projects being overshadowed by gossip, and the alpha actors he was working with wouldn’t want all that speculation surrounding who was doing what backstage and after hours.
He fell into a fitful sleep, thankful that he woke with no recollection of his dreams. Underneath his skin, his shifter animal itched, but he ignored it. He’d wait until he was sure of a few hours’ privacy before he risked changing form. It wouldn’t help his image if the truth about his animal form got out. That was something he’d always been careful to safeguard at Stewart’s insistence. Knowledge was power, and people already had more power over him than he’d ever wanted to give up.
As he got dressed, careful to make sure the last of his fading bruises were covered, he listened out for Cole. He could hear the alpha moving about in the kitchen. No problem there. He would just skip breakfast and head straight outside.
He started by checking the gate and fence of the paddock. Cole had already been outside: two of the horses were grazing and the stable door was propped open. Josh filled the water trough, checked the feed bags, and then went to muck out the empty stalls. By the time he finished, he was warm and sweaty, and his throat was parched. Certain that Cole must have been done with breakfast by then, he made for the cottage. Only to come to a sudden stop inside the back door when he heard voices. Three of them, at least. Loud, deep, but not angry.
Josh spun around and went to hide out in his room. He’d survive another few hours without a glass of water. But Cole emerged from the bathroom, blocking the way to Josh’s bedroom.
The two of them stood there in silence, staring at one another.
“Morning,” Cole said awkwardly, leaning against the wall and trying to look casual.
“You have visitors?”
“Yeah.” The alpha looked sheepish all of a sudden. “It’s just the guys over for brunch. Sorry, I meant to warn you yesterday that they were coming.”
Josh inclined his head at that. “I’ll keep out of your way.”
“You should join us. There’s plenty of food to go around.”
“I—”
The last thing he wanted was to be surrounded by strange alphas, and he had no doubt ‘the guys’ were mostly alphas.
Cole’s sheepishness faded to something more serious in the face of Josh’s hesitation.
“Why don’t I bring you a plate? You must be hungry. I didn’t hear you in the kitchen at all last night.”
Josh never saw the harm in skip
ping a meal or two, so he ignored the alpha’s pointed comment. But he hated people treating him with kid gloves. He wasn’t a coward; he wouldn’t hide out in his room because there were people he didn’t know in the house.
“Maybe I will join you,” he said instead.
Cole brightened at that. “Great. Come on, the bacon should be cooked by now. I left Zane in charge of it. Thorn just burns everything.” The alpha kept talking as he led the way back to the kitchen. “I think he does it on purpose; he has a thing about fires.”
Josh thought Cole’s words were aimed at distracting him, but as he stepped into the room, it occurred to him that it might have been Cole warning his guests of Josh’s impending arrival. Certainly, not one of the four men in the room looked surprised when he walked through the door.
“Guys, this is Joshua. Joshua, this is Brax, Thorn, Duke, and Zane. Grab a plate, some food, and a seat. Let’s get this brunch on the road.”
Josh got a few scrutinizing looks from the guys, Thorn especially, before their attention returned to the food they were piling onto their plates.
He skirted around the table and took his time getting a glass of water. Then he grabbed a plate, being careful not to put too much on it. He hadn’t eaten since his half a sandwich at lunch the previous day. The last thing he wanted to do was make himself sick on top of everything else. He already looked pathetic in Cole’s eyes; he didn’t need to sink to new lows.
By the time he approached the table, everyone else was already seated. There was only one place left, which put him right next to Cole. Better the devil he knew.
He slid into the seat, set his plate down, and took a glance around the table. There was a mild but undeniable tension. And if there was one thing Josh hated, it was awkwardness during a meal. The food looked really good, and he didn’t want to waste it by being too on edge to enjoy it.
“So, are you guys like a book club or something?”
There was a pause before they erupted into laughter. Cole choked on a mouthful of coffee, and Brax clapped him on the back, grinning over at Josh as he did.
Keeper (The Lost Pack Book 2) Page 2