Chapter Thirteen
Cole looked Josh over as the car sped off. He looked flustered and pale, but otherwise, Cole couldn’t see a mark on him.
“What happened?”
On the phone, the omega had sounded rattled and a little hopeless.
“It wasn’t a dinner date so much as a party,” Josh admitted, avoiding his eyes. “And I was the evening’s entertainment.”
“You didn’t know?”
“Stewart said it was just dinner. A producer in town for business, wanted some company.”
Having a clearer picture of what Josh’s evening might have entailed, Cole lowered his voice and asked, “Do you need a hospital?”
Josh looked startled by the question.
“What?”
“We can take you to a hospital if you want, or Brax can see you at the clinic if you’d be comfortable with that.”
Josh still looked confused, and Cole worried he was in shock. “Emergency contraception, that kind of thing,” he said gently.
The omega flushed but shook his head. “No, it worked, what you said on the phone. I got them to order food. We put on some music and danced. They were a little handsy, but that’s it.”
Cole tried not to show how relieved he was to hear that. Josh didn’t need the weight of his opinions or judgment right then.
“Hey, how’d you get here so fast?” Josh asked.
“We were in the city,” Cole said, trying to sound casual about it.
“I thought you were going to spend the rest of the day at the packhouse?”
Josh seemed curious but not suspicious. Still, Cole didn’t feel it was fair to hide the truth.
“I changed my mind. Because of you.”
That drew Josh’s gaze to his, the omega’s eyes narrowing.
“What do you mean?”
“You had this look on your face when you were leaving, like you really didn’t want to go. Call it a gut feeling, but I figured it wouldn’t do any harm to be in the city for a few hours. I thought I’d call and check in with you. If you sounded fine, we’d head home. If not, you’d have a ride back.” The omega had been far from fine, and Cole was very glad he’d trusted his instincts.
“I’m sorry,” he told Josh. “I don’t make a habit of things like that, but something felt off. We weren’t following you or spying on you, just…” He paused before plowing forward with what he wanted to say. “It doesn’t seem like you have a lot of people in your life actually looking out for you. And what with me being an alpha protector and all… The clue is in the name.”
Josh nodded, looking close to tears.
“I’m not angry. I mean, it’s a little weird and stalkery, maybe… we might need to talk about that… but right now, I don’t care. I needed you, and you were there. Thanks, guys.”
He swallowed back a sob and curled up, leaning his head against the door. They lapsed into silence, and Cole didn’t break it. Josh would talk if and when he was ready. What mattered was that he was safe.
Zane switched on the radio, and some easy listening station came on. It filled the awkward hush that fell over the car as they drove home.
“We’ll drop you two off at your place,” Thorn said as they neared the packhouse.
“Thanks,” Cole told him.
He was concerned about Josh, who hadn’t moved or spoken in almost two hours. Sleeping, maybe.
When the car came to a stop in front of the cottage, he waited a beat to see if the omega would move, then called him.
“Josh?”
The omega’s head came up.
“What?”
“We’re home.”
“Oh.”
They climbed out of the car, waved goodbye to the guys, and then Cole let Josh into the house. He went to check on the horses, returning to find Josh in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea.
“Peppermint again?” Cole asked.
Josh made a face. “Have you got anything stronger?”
“Not much. Me plus alcohol is not always the best combination. I think there’s some beer in the fridge.” He paused when he opened the fridge door, snorting softly.
“What?” Josh asked.
“I hope you're hungry. Someone dropped us off the leftovers from the pack dinner.”
He pulled out four plastic tubs.
“We have… tikka masala. Or… I think this is lamb stew. Any preference?”
Josh shrugged. “Whichever.”
Cole made up a plate of both and heated them in the microwave.
“You want to take this outside?” he asked, nodding to the plates and beers.
“Why not?”
The omega seemed listless and dull. It was so far from how he was normally that it had all of Cole’s alarm bells ringing. They sat side by side, picking at the food and making inroads into the beer.
“Is that the first time that’s happened?” Cole asked.
“Alphas trying it on? You’re joking, right?”
“Being set up like that. Offered up to those guys for money.”
He hadn’t missed the inference in what that alpha Simon had said. Money had changed hands somewhere in the lead-up to Josh winding up in that penthouse.
“I don’t—No one said anything about money,” Josh said sharply.
“Simon did,” Cole said patiently. “In the same breath as he talked about Stewart.”
The omega looked away, taking another long swallow of beer.
“Not the first time Stewart’s sent me into a situation that wasn’t what it seemed,” the omega admitted. “But you know that already.”
“Right, the video. Did that role fall through?”
“What role?”
“You said that sleeping with that alpha actor was a career move. You must have gotten something out of it.”
“Stewart said it was networking. The actor was a rising star, he could pull me up along with him,” Josh said. “But it wasn’t about me, it was all for him. I didn’t understand until later. He, um… his image was too strait-laced, too conservative. There was this big role coming up, so his agent needed to spice up his image…”
“Which is where you came into it,” Cole guessed.
“I didn’t know beforehand, but I figured it out quickly enough afterward,” Josh admitted. “The tape got leaked, it was everywhere in a matter of hours. Within days, it was all over the grapevine that he got the role. They’re officially announcing it next week, to put a respectable distance between it and the scandal. All it took was some extra-marital sex.”
“That wasn’t sex,” Cole argued, knowing the circumstances from Josh himself, “that was r—”
“I went there for sex,” Josh said woodenly. “I knew what I was getting into. I consented.”
“To sex, maybe. Not to being drugged. Not to being filmed.”
“My word against his, and who’d believe me?” Josh said, draining the last of his beer and reaching for another.
“And how do you explain today?” Surely the omega couldn’t rationalize it all. There was a clear pattern there.
“It was just supposed to be dinner. Alphas like a pretty omega on their arms when they’re out in public. I guess the plan changed.”
Cole let it go. He knew Josh didn’t believe what he was saying. He just wasn’t ready to face facts yet. Cole couldn’t force him to come to terms with it; he had to get there on his own.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said instead.
Josh made a face.
“Stewart’s going to be pissed. He knows my grandma is long gone.”
“Hey, what was the alternative? You didn’t feel safe, you got yourself out of the situation.”
“I couldn’t even get to the door,” Josh pointed out. “You got me out of that situation.”
“Because you called me and asked for help.”
“And you came,” Josh said with a soft sigh, leaning back against the stable wall.
They changed the subject after that, talking long into the evening about Zane’s terr
ible taste in music, Thorn’s fashion sense, and the trouble with quintuplets and telling them apart.
As they got up to go inside, Cole tried to do the sensible thing. “That offer’s still open, if you want to talk to someone. Kira’s nice, and she’s got all the training about what to say and how not to put your foot in it.”
Josh shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
It wasn’t a yes, but it was better than a no.
Chapter Fourteen
Josh woke to a dull throbbing in his head and a room that was far too bright, even with the curtains drawn. He groaned and rolled over, yanking the pillow over his head. But sleep had deserted him. After another futile minute of lying there, wishing for unconsciousness, he sat up.
He swung his legs off the bed and stretched, rolling his head from side to side as he tried to recall why, exactly, he was hungover. It all came back in a rush—Stewart, Simon, Cole, and the others, and a few too many beers to wash the day away.
It was another few minutes before he braved getting up, padding toward the door and letting himself out into the hallway. The smell of food hit him and set his stomach rumbling. He stumbled to the bathroom, and then onto the kitchen, trailing the delicious aroma. Only to be greeted by the oddly appealing sight of Cole flipping pancakes.
The alpha glanced at him over his shoulder. “Good, you’re up. Grab a seat, it’s almost ready.”
Without quite knowing how or why, he found himself seated at the table as Cole placed a sizeable stack of pancakes in front of him.
“See if you can make some inroads into that,” the alpha challenged, setting a bowl of berries and a bottle of syrup down in front of him.
The smell of the pancakes was mouthwatering. He drizzled syrup over them, then added some berries, grabbed his knife and fork, and started working his way through the stack. They were delicious: light and fluffy, with the burst of sweetness from the syrup contrasting the tartness of the berries.
“Good?” Cole asked, flipping another pancake into the air and catching it neatly in the pan.
“Uh-huh,” Josh mumbled around a mouthful of pancake.
He chewed and swallowed the last bite, setting his knife and fork down on the plate.
Cole glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “I like to see an omega with a good appetite.”
Still hungover, and a damn sight more prickly than normal, the comment rubbed Josh the wrong way.
Before he’d thought it through, he ground out, “Alphas always say that. Yet they want the omegas on their arm to be small and perfect. Which means hours in the gym, working off all that food, or becoming skilled in the art of sticking your finger down your throat.”
It came out angry and bitter, and he expected Cole to either dismiss him or argue the point. Instead, the alpha crossed the room and crouched next to his chair. Josh fixed his eyes on his plate and refused to look at him. Gentle fingers caught his chin and nudged his gaze toward Cole’s. The light touch was at odds with the alpha’s tone.
“Is eating a problem for you?”
Josh was embarrassed to find himself panicking in the face of Cole’s firm kindness, wishing he could take back the words.
“I wasn’t talking about me. I’m just telling the truth about what omegas do. There’s constant pressure to be slim and pretty.”
If the way the alpha gentled his tone was any indication, Josh’s words hadn’t done much to reassure him.
“I just want to know that I’m not making things worse,” Cole said. “That you’d tell me if I’m doing or saying things that bother you.”
Josh calmed at the alpha’s quiet words.
“I really wasn’t talking about myself. I figured out long ago that it was easier to just not eat more food than I need in the first place. When I’m auditioning or on set, I do what I’m told, whether that’s my agent or the casting director.”
His own words brought the previous day’s events back to him, alongside the knowledge that Stewart was going to be pissed.
Cole let him go and sprang to his feet with a muffled curse, diving across the room to rescue his burnt pancake. He tossed it straight into the garbage and grinned ruefully at Josh over his shoulder.
Josh sat and sipped his coffee, assuming that would be the end of their conversation. But it seemed Cole wasn’t ready to let it go just yet.
The alpha took a seat across the table from him, his own coffee cup in his hand.
“I don’t know what your normal routine is like,” Cole began, “but with all the physical work we’re doing here, we need fuel, and plenty of it. Okay?” He got back up to tend to his pan.
Josh decided to answer the alpha’s question with a question of his own and see if he couldn’t derail the uncomfortable conversation enough that Cole might just drop it and move on.
“So I’m not your type, then? Too scrawny? Too weak?”
Cole shook his head, amused. “You’re exactly my type, and I think you know it.” He grinned and added, “A few more pancakes wouldn’t do you any harm. I don’t care what all those bullshit style magazines say, strength is sexy in an omega; whether it’s inner strength or outer.”
Josh wasn’t sure he had either. He always felt weak and powerless—a pawn on a chessboard for other people to move around, manipulate, and sacrifice. It almost sounded like Cole… but that couldn’t be right. Yet Josh couldn’t fail to see the look in the alpha’s eyes as he slid another pancake onto Josh’s plate, sitting down opposite him with a stack of his own.
“If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it,” Cole said. “But I’ve got plenty to get through.”
Josh accepted the pancake with a grin, reaching for the syrup.
Once he’d finished, he poured himself another cup of coffee, keeping Cole company while the alpha demolished his breakfast.
“I’ve got to head to the packhouse,” Cole said as he drained the last of his coffee. “Are you okay to hold down the fort for a while? There’s a delivery of hay being dropped off this morning.”
“No problem. A bit of work will help take my mind off things.”
Cole headed off, and Josh got started on the dishes. The rhythm of the work was soothing, bolstering his good mood from breakfast. He was halfway through when he heard a vehicle pull up outside. Assuming it was the delivery, he dried off his hands and went out to the front. But it wasn’t a truck, it was a familiar car. Stewart climbed out, peering around with a look of distaste on his face. Josh’s good mood deserted him as he opened the front door. Stewart’s eyes narrowed in on him. He did not look happy. With a sigh, Josh went out to face the music.
Chapter Fifteen
Cole didn’t delay at the packhouse. Concerned by how brittle Josh had seemed that morning, he decided it was better not to leave him alone for too long. He returned to the cottage, pausing at the back door when he heard voices around the front. At first, he thought it must have been the delivery of hay bales, but the conversation was too intense for a mere delivery.
He made his way around the side of the house, pausing again when he heard Josh’s voice. Another voice answered him. The infamous Stewart, at a guess. Torn between moving away to give them privacy and interrupting, he opted to say where he was. Josh’s history with Stewart seemed less than stellar, and the anger in the agent’s voice was clear as day. He listened in, learning that the source of Stewart’s anger was what had happened with Simon.
“I told him how attached you are to your non-existent grandmother.” Stewart’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “It bought us some time, but he’s furious, Joey. You royally fucked that up.”
“It wasn’t a dinner like you said, Stewart. I was up in his penthouse, there were three other alphas there, drunk and high—”
“Do you ever want to work in the industry again?” Stewart demanded, interrupting Josh mid-sentence.
“You know I do,” Josh said quietly. “This is my life.”
“Really? Because I’m starting to feel like I’m wasting my time and effort on an un
grateful, spoiled omega.”
There was a long silence, broken only by the crunch of feet on gravel. Someone was pacing, and Cole would bet money it was Stewart.
“The good news is, this is fixable. Simon is throwing a party this weekend. On the top floor of the Saturn nightclub. Very exclusive, VIP, invitation-only. If you were to be there and be very… obliging, to make up for yesterday, all may be forgiven.”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable after what happened yesterday.” There was clear reluctance in Josh’s tone. “All Simon could talk about was the sex tape and how he wanted—”
Stewart interrupted again, his tone pushy and aggressive.
“Simon is your best chance of working in the industry again. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Yes,” Josh said. “But…” If anything, the reluctance in his tone grew stronger. “You know the kind of movies Simon produces. They’re all R-rated. The only roles he ever has for omegas are basically porn. I don’t do those kinds of films; I don’t play those sorts of parts.”
It was a reasonable argument. Cole had seen a few of the movies Josh was in—romances, romantic comedies, a thriller or two. A world away from Simon’s playground.
Stewart scoffed at Josh’s objection. “What choice do you think you have now, with an image as tarnished as yours?” He changed tack then, sounding suddenly earnest. “This is a good move for you, Joey. More scope, more grown-up roles.”
Cole suspected he didn’t mean the complexity of the roles as much as the sexual content.
“Maybe we could just wait a bit longer for this whole thing to blow over,” Josh said.
Stewart laughed. “Blow over? It’s all over the internet, Joey. The first thing that anyone finds when they search your name. It’s never going away.”
Cole took an involuntary step forward, his hands clenched into fists. But he forced himself to stop when Josh spoke again, the omega finally getting angry.
“I never agreed to that. Never. Not the drugs, not the tape—” Cole mentally cheered him on but Stewart clearly didn’t like being challenged.
“Don’t forget where you came from, Joey. I pulled you up from the gutter, saved you from a short, miserable life working the streets. And this is how you repay me?”
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