by Jayce Carter
Chapter Seven
Gray sighed, his feet kicked up on the table in his back yard. He’d have rather sat on the front porch—sunsets were a thing of beauty and he couldn’t see them from his back yard—but he couldn’t stomach the idea of running into Tabby.
Not that she’d made that a likely thing to happen. It seemed obvious they were both trying to avoid the other, since he hadn’t seen a speck of her in the past week and back before everything had gone to shit, he’d spot her every few days.
‘Back before everything’ being a bullshit code for ‘before she stomped all over my heart.’
You’re such a pussy.
Still, her words rang in his ears. If it had been a normal break-up, he wouldn’t have been happy about it, but he’d have accepted it easier. Hell, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been through his share of them. Those had only taken a night and a few drinks to get over, because he’d never cared all that much. Instead, Tabby had dug a knife into him by making him feel about two inches tall. Not her type. Bullshit.
Then he thought about how fucking different she was and he sighed, dropping his head back in the seat. Yeah, maybe he wasn’t her type. She was smart, driven, proper. She just didn’t want some tatted up bad boy around to drag her down.
Just stop it, already.
Haylee hadn’t stopped fucking calling, either. That was like salt in the wound. The girl he actually wanted wasn’t interested, and the girl he kept turning down wouldn’t leave him the fuck alone. She’d been there, just before the disaster with Tabby.
Haylee had shown up as she usually did, without an invitation. He’d told her he wasn’t in the mood, but she never took no for an answer well. He’d tried to let her down easy, telling her he wasn’t interested, that shit hadn’t been serious.
Haylee did what Haylee always did, taking his words as a challenge before throwing her arms around him and kissing him. Before, he’d have given in because even if they weren’t anything, that didn’t mean they couldn’t have good sex. The thing was, after his night with Tabby, everything with Haylee felt empty. It was like all the exciting color had drained away until it was an ugly, drab gray.
So he’d pushed her away, even as she’d kissed his neck. Not a single one of her touches had sparked anything inside him other than a slight nausea when she just wouldn’t get it.
Maybe that was what Tabby was, his punishment. He’d turned down Haylee, and Tabby had turned around and done the same thing to him.
The three-fold law came back, and he winced. Shit, it felt like he’d been kicked three times as hard as he’d done to Haylee.
The slider opened. Look who it fucking is…
“Go home, Haylee.”
She pouted, red lips sticking out. “Don’t be like that. I’m not even mad about last time.”
Dealing with her felt like it would take too much energy, especially as she came over and sat on the couch beside him. She leaned over and set her palm on his chest. “Come on, Gray. We argue sometimes, but we always end up back together. When are you going to see that?”
About five minutes after the end of the world if there’s any justice.
“I thought I made it clear. I ain’t interested.”
The weight of her hand felt all wrong. His skin crawled, which seemed like an awfully overblown reaction given that he’d fucked her more than a handful of times. And they hadn’t been bad times, either. They’d been fun, like scratching an itch. Enjoyable but forgettable.
Thing was, he kept thinking about Tabby. He thought about the way her glasses sat crooked on her nose, the way she offered her shy, honest smile. The sex with her had been more than he’d ever felt, and the idea of going back to the emptiness of another roll with Haylee was just more than he could stomach.
Haylee leaned in, her red lips far too close to his. “I’m not some nerd like that neighbor girl you’ve been chasing. We work, Gray, and if you give me an hour, I’ll remind you why.”
He straightened at the jab toward Tabby. The girl might not want him, but he’d be damned if Haylee said a word against her.
However, before he could say anything back, the slider opened again.
I really need to start locking my fucking front door.
“Are you kidding me?” Becky’s voice broke the silence of the back yard. She was all fire, reminding him of Tabby when she’d faced down her father.
Stop thinking about her, damn it.
“What are you doing here?” Haylee sat up but kept a possessive hand on Gray’s chest.
“Oh, I’ll get to you, don’t you worry.” Becky pointed one of her brightly colored nails in Gray’s direction. “You are my first problem.”
Gray met her gaze head-on, not afraid of the girl even if she was about spitting fire. “Why are you pissed at me? I didn’t do shit.”
“You fucked with my sister.”
He ignored the innuendo. “Get your facts straight before you go confronting folks. Your sister is the one who walked away and told me I wasn’t her type, that I didn’t fit into her world. If she’s all heartbroken over it now, it’s her own damn fault.”
If anything, that only seemed to drive Becky’s tempter up another notch. “Of course she did! She walked over here to see you and ran into Miss Never-Wears-Panties here leaving your place, and she felt the need to explain just how out of Tabby’s league you are. What sort of idiot would keep trying with you after that?”
The words were a slap to Gray. He turned a sharp look on Haylee. “You what?”
For once, Haylee had the decency to look ashamed. Or at least embarrassed for getting caught. “It was only a matter of time before you realized it,” she said. “It was kinder for her to get the stupid idea of you two out of her head now than lead her on for a few more months.”
Gray stood, then pointed a finger at the door. “Get out, Haylee. And if I find you anywhere near my place again, I’ll talk to Tom and you’ll find yourself banned from everywhere in town.”
Haylee’s eyes opened wide and her bottom lip trembled. Not tears because she felt bad but because she hated losing, he was sure. Still, the threat worked—probably in part because she knew Tom didn’t stand for her bullshit—and she rushed from the house.
“You really didn’t know?” Becky’s suspicious gaze said she still didn’t quite believe him.
“No, I didn’t fucking know. Yeah, Haylee came over, and I told her shit wasn’t going to happen and kicked her out. I had no idea she talked to Tabby at all.”
“Tabby said you had lipstick on you.”
He groaned as he realized exactly how bad it must have looked. “Haylee doesn’t take no well. Yeah, she tried to kiss me, and I still kicked her out.”
Becky eyed him. The same hard edge Tabby had, which reminded him that even getting the elder sister to listen to him might be an uphill battle.
Though, suddenly the way she’d acted seemed to make a bit more sense. Tabby had been hurt, wounded and snarling because of it. She hadn’t struck him as a mean person, which made her words all the more jagged.
He’d been pouting around the house, mourning a life he’d sworn he hadn’t wanted. Just a few days before he would have lost his shit over the idea of anyone changing anything in his house, in his life.
Then he considered that box of tea sitting in his cabinet, and his pathetic ass who had made a cup that morning just for the smell of it, because he’d missed it. Maybe she hadn’t claimed a drawer, but she’d still left her mark.
She’d planted a claim so much deeper, and he’d started to think there wasn’t any way to evict her. And he didn’t fucking want her gone. Just like that tea, he wanted her there, in his life, in his house.
Gray went toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go explain myself, and she’s damned well going to listen even if I have to tie her ass down.”
Becky’s chuckle had lost some of its edge. “Yeah, well, seeing as she isn’t home, I don’t think tha
t’s going to work right now.”
He cursed under his breath.
“Plus,” she continued, “even if she was, I don’t think she’d even open the door for you. Unfortunately for you, she actually locks her door.”
“I know people who can pick locks,” he pointed out.
“Because that would really make her like you, huh?”
Maybe not. Gray crossed his arms.
“Stop pouting. She’ll be home in about an hour. Gives us an hour to come up with a plan.”
Gray narrowed his gaze, ready to argue the whole pouting thing, before he took in her words. Us.
Well, at least he had some backup. And against Tabby?
He’d need it.
* * * *
Tabby set a glass down on the counter far harder than she needed to. At least she hadn’t broken this one.
Though, even if she had, it wouldn’t have been the first casualty of her frustration.
She’d been the one to call things quits, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She’d had Becky over the night before, and at first she’d tried to pretend that nothing had happened. Leave it to her sister to know better, though, and after a few drinks, Tabby had poured out the entire tale.
Which might have been a bad idea, given her sister’s temper. There had been a few schemes that had been considered as payback, everything from toilet papering his place to a complicated and unrealistic plan involving trained rats—that one had been Becky’s contribution. Despite the risks, Tabby hadn’t been able to help it.
It had been Tabby’s one night to actually say how much it hurt. The rest of the time she’d have to act unaffected, pretend it had just been a fling.
And, maybe that’s what it was but it felt like more. No matter how much she told herself it didn’t matter, she hurt from the loss of that idea.
She’d started to honestly think of what life could be like with Gray. He’d given her a sense of confidence in herself. It wasn’t that he made her better—he just saw something worthwhile in her, something he helped her to see.
She thought about the fun, about the way she laughed with him. In the days since, she’d felt as if that spark of life she’d found had dwindled. She’d fallen back into her old life, into her work and closing off the rest of the world.
It wasn’t just losing Gray. It was losing everything she’d thought she’d have for a moment.
And Becky had been the perfect listener. She’d poured more drinks while Tabby had complained, ad nauseum, about both Gray and his tart of a girlfriend and all the ways that Tabby didn’t live up to her.
However, purging all that hadn’t helped Tabby once she’d woken up. The hangover had made her worse, and she felt like she’d only dug the wounds in deeper.
A knock on the door had her freezing. She’d gotten no word from Gray, didn’t really expect to, but she’d also dodged all calls and visits to be on the safe side.
“It’s Becky,” her sister called.
Then she opened the door to find the exact man she was working so hard to avoid standing at her door, and her turncoat sister behind him.
Becky waved and offered a grin before darting off.
It left Tabby with two options.
She could face him, or she could slam the door shut like a child.
The choice was obvious.
Unfortunately, Gray must have guessed, because he caught the door before she could fully close it.
“I don’t think so,” he grunted before stepping into her living room. “We are having a conversation whether you like it or not.”
Tabby threw her arms up and backed away, giving him space. While he annoyed her, she knew better than to think he was any sort of threat.
Well, to anything but her heart.
“What do you want to talk about? I feel like we covered it all last time.” She cut him a hard look. “And what did you tell my sister to get her to side with you?”
“I don’t think we covered anything last time. And your sister just actually gave me the chance to talk instead of making assumptions.”
Which meant Becky had run over to confront Gray, so Gray must know what Haylee had said.
“I didn’t make any assumptions. I just finally got the truth and realized we want two very different things.”
“Oh yeah? What do we want that’s so different?”
“I want something real.”
“And me? What do I want?”
“Haylee.”
He tsk’d lightly. “And that’s where our problem is. You ain’t listening to me at all, just hearing what you want to hear.”
“Trust me, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear.”
“Yeah, it was. You’ve been waiting this whole time, expecting shit to go bad. From that first day, you been watching me and expecting me to fuck up. The moment you got an inkling that you might have been right, you ran off.”
“What else was I supposed to do? Go have a heart-to-heart with you when you were wearing her lipstick?” Even saying it hurt, took her back to seeing the red on Gray’s lips.
“Maybe fucking talk to me! Because Haylee came over, yeah, and once again I threw her ass out. She tried to kiss me, and I told her no, that I wasn’t interested. Even though she kissed me and offered up fucking everything, I still tossed her to the curb.”
The words stilled Tabby. “You threw her out?”
Gray walked forward, catching her shirt in his fist before he pulled her up against him. “Because I don’t want her.”
“Why not?”
He leaned in close, his lips a breath from hers. “Because I want you. Even when you ain’t so nice to me, like right now.”
Tabby met his gaze head-on, unable to believe him. “We’re too different.”
“I like that we’re different. I like that you’re smarter than I am, that you got more sense than I do. I like your cute little glasses, and the way you look padding around barefoot, and I even like that god-awful tea you make. But don’t you ever repeat that because I’ll deny it.” A smile touched his lips. “I keep that tea at my place, and I ain’t never had someone else’s shit in my cabinets. I like it there. It looks right.”
The words went deeper, she was sure. He wasn’t talking about the tea. He was talking about her. Tabby let herself lean against him. Could she really let herself fall for him?
Who am I kidding? I already have.
“So, this isn’t just a one-night stand?”
“You are far too much work for any one-night stand.” His words, which should have been annoying, she found charming, like his backhanded compliment. “Still don’t believe me? Fine.”
Tabby squeaked when he lifted her, tossing her over his shoulder. “Let me down! What do you think you’re doing?”
He chuckled as he carried her toward her bedroom. “I’m going to show you exactly how much I like you. By the end of tonight? You’ll be too tired to keep questioning me.”
He dropped her onto the bed and was on her instantly. He scooted her up to the center of the bed, his large body against her.
“But things are complicated,” she whispered against his kiss.
“They really aren’t. Do you like me?”
She gave him a look to say she shouldn’t. Still, the truth was obvious, wasn’t it? “Yes.”
“I like you, too. The rest? Fuck it.”
Tabby gasped when he settled between her thighs, when his hard cock pressed against her, the thin fabric of her leggings doing nothing to dull the sensation.
“See? Simple. Shit isn’t so complicated if you just stop worrying, if you stop looking for reasons this ain’t going to work. So stop thinking yourself out of it and just fucking enjoy, especially because I ain’t planning on letting you out of this bed until we come to some sort of understanding.”
Tabby looked up into his blue eyes, and she didn’t see the biker. She didn’t see the bad boy, didn’t see Haylee or any of the other things she’d thought made them so different.
; She saw a man who wanted her, a man she wanted, one who made her feel good about herself and she finally understood what he’d been trying to say, what she’d avoided for so long, what she’d let her own doubts keep her from. She’d tried to fix everything in her life because her childhood had been so unpredictable. She’d tried to organize and sort it all, to order it so it would make sense, yet it never did.
The first time things had ever made sense was when she’d seen Gray, when she’d spent time with him.
Tabby slid her arms around him and leaned up, taking a kiss and banishing the thoughts that normally plagued her, the ones that made her question everything.
It really was simple. She liked him. He liked her. It didn’t matter how different they might be, whether or not the world got it or what anyone thought. All that mattered was what Tabby and Gray wanted, and when his body blanketed hers, when every strong, warm inch of him pressed against her, Tabby knew.
They might have nothing in common and they might not make sense to anyone else, but she just didn’t care. The bad boy next door had turned her life upside down, and Tabby loved him for it.
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The Omega’s Alphas:
Tamed by the Alphas
Jayce Carter
Excerpt
I’m handcuffed, and I’m not even going to get an orgasm out of it.
Kara twisted her hands as she sat on the hard chair in the conference room she’d been stuck in since the night before. What she’d expected to be a quick in-and-out job had bitten her in the ass, as all quick jobs tended to do.
She brought her foot up, pulling the bobby pin from the cuff of her boot. A vibration of her watch let her know she’d gotten a text, and only one person would have sent it. Her ride, who no doubt had gotten an alert when a certain blue-haired omega had been arrested.
The pin let her pop the cuffs open, and she could have moaned as the metal dropped from her sore wrists.
‘Steal some files. It’s easy money!’ When would she learn that easy money was never easy? The moment she’d read a few of the files she’d been hired to steal, Kara had known she couldn’t turn them over to the asshole who had hired her. Most of it was so far above his paygrade it would be like handing space station schematics to an especially slow five-year-old, and honestly? She didn’t like him enough to give him anything useful.