Knot Without You: An Omegaverse Romance

Chapter 47

Chapter

Forty-Seven

Our plan turns to shit even before we’re a day’s ride out from where we marked on the map. Of course it does. But it’s a thousand times worse because Rex calls, demanding I meet him back at the Riders’ compound.

We ride hard. We’ve got fucking miles to make up and not enough time to do it. The first day we must spend a solid nine hours gunning it back before we even pull over for a piss.

Swinging off my bike, my foot barely touches the ground and King’s angry as fuck. My phone starts up and seeing Tyson’s name instead of Mav’s has my stomach feeling like acid.

I take the call, and Tyson’s already talking. “You good?”

“As much as,” I answer carefully. Living in the compound we’ve had to come up with a code of some sort in case my phone is being bugged. The fact Tyson is using my burner phone has the feeling of dread picking up.

“You sure?”

“As fucking good as! What gives?” I snap impatiently, already fucking knowing he’s got bad shit to tell me.

“I’ve got a patient inbound to emergency. Car wreck, one male who’s unconscious but breathing. Supposedly stable, needing X-rays to confirm no internal bleeding. And a CT scan for possible head trauma.”

It feels like I can’t get air in my lungs. “Mav?” I slam my eyes shut hoping I ain’t hearing right. “And what about?”

“No sign.” Tyson’s clinical in how he speaks, but I know he’s also fucking relieved he took the locum position at the big hospital near The Fallen compound.

“How? They had eyes on them.”

“They did. But then they didn’t. I’ll call you as soon as I know what I’m working with.” My brother ends the call without another word, but it’s too risky to keep asking questions.

King’s still straddling his bike; the waves of energy rolling off him are full of wild abandon and a raw savageness. I don’t need to ask what he’s talking about when he keeps screaming for answers.

“FUCK!” He screams, his eyes locked on me as he immediately makes another call. “JB, get to Western Memorial. I don’t give a shit how; you got an hour to report back to me. Find Big Tom and you work with him. I’m half a day out but I want reports every fifteen minutes. Get Twinkles to tell the boys on the gate to watch for the Riders.”

He hangs up on him, running his hands over his face in an attempt not to explode into a feral rage. He keeps his eyes away from mine when he speaks but his voice is still full of threats and bitter, bitter anger. “Where the fuck is Rex?”

“Probably on the road, heading to the compound.”

“Anyone you can check in with? I gotta know if he’s got her or if we’re dealing with some other fucking asswipe.”

“She’s really gone?” It’s a stupid question but it doesn’t mean I don’t ask it, but when he swings to look at me, I drop my eyes in an instant.

“Looks that way. I don’t like this, Steel. Not one fucking bit,” he says, his anger now making him talk quieter but there’s no less threat in it. I feel the instant he stops his glare at me, instead he is thumbing off a text to someone. By the desperate look on his face, I’d put money on him letting his kid know we got shit happening, and to be on the watch. It wouldn’t be the first, or the last time, a person’s loved ones were targeted.

I dig out a bottle of water for him and me and pass it over hovering close enough to talk, but far enough away in case he lashes out unexpectedly. As soon as he finishes texting, he gets a call and King doesn’t say a word, or even look at me while the person on the other end gives him an update. He hangs up and swings around to face me, crushing me to the spot with his Alpha designation, leaving me barely able to look at him.

“I’m going to the hospital. If you’re riding with Rex to hit my club up, at least give me the fucking heads up. I got good people there.” King talks like he’s resigned to the fact we’re splitting up and going back to our respective lives. But we’ve got no choice and until we know Rex’s plan, we’re going to have to trust each other. He pins me with his gaze, his Alpha continues to press down on my will making him impossible to ignore. “I expect fuckin’ updates, Steel. I’ll burn the fucking world down to find her. I got no bones about throwing you in the fire if needs be.”

He peels off, leaving me on the side of the road without a backwards glance. With King’s influence gone, I feel lightheaded, and sick with fucking fear. Sitting back on my bike I need a few minutes to pull on my game face. I eat the food I grabbed from the fuel stop, shooting off a text and letting Rex know I’m a few hours away.

I ride hard making it back to the Rider compound with time to spare. Not knowing what’s coming and what kind of mood Rex is going to be in, I shower to wash any lingering scent from my body. I chuck my clothes in the laundry with too much detergent, but I can’t risk anyone catching a whiff of what I’ve been doing and who with. Since Rex hasn’t tracked me down, I drink a gallon of coffee and pile up in my saddle bag with food, and then with nothing left to do, I sit on the chair in his office to wait.

Because Rex is an asshole, he leaves me hanging for the rest of the night. It must be close to three when shouting down the hallway wakes me up. I sit up and look alive as the door crashes open. He’s not alone, a new club slut struts in after him—the one who I saw on the side of the road when we were doing the job for Reid.

Much like last time, she looks smug as fuck happy to be in Rex’s world, taking his cock. I barely manage to keep my face a blank mask, but I’m so put off by her—every cell in my body takes offence but that’s because of Tristan.

Rex’s new slut carries herself in such high regard, it’s almost like a fucking act. Her short strapless fluro-green dress that looks like it’s painted on has the desired effect; all Rex’s crew watch her with hungry eyes as she passes in her red hooker heels. She’s going for classy, but she’s fucking trash and she’s trashed. She trips and I reach out to steady her but Rex clocks me in the face with his fist before I can snatch my hand away from her.

I get the message loud and clear. To prove the point, I open my hand and let her fall to her ass.

“She ain’t yours to touch. Ree Ree is all mine. Aren’t ya, baby?” Rex smirks without taking his eyes off my face. He lounges back on his office chair and she’s up in his lap like a dog.

“I wouldn’t, Rex. Touch her I mean,” I offer immediately. The smile on my face matches his—it’s cold and callous—and I shouldn’t be baiting him but he’s seriously fucking delusional if he thinks I’d go anywhere near her.

For so many reasons she’s a fucking turn off. Jesus, anyone willingly mixing with Rex barely rates in my mind, and whoever she is, she’s a beta, using some stupid black-market cream to make her scent like a fake Omega.

Behind me Rex’s crew led by Bash his enforcer start sitting or leaning against the wall. And even before the last prick—Cog—enters, all the others start cheering and encouraging when Ree Ree starts rolling her hips provocatively on Rex’s lap.

I fucking hate Rex’s crew, they’re scum and I don’t trust any of them not to shiv me in the back or front. I also fucking loathe being around them in such a small space. But worse, I know where this whole set up is going already—and I refuse to watch them all fucking dick a slut.

I flick up my chin, climbing out my seat. “I’ll leave.”

“Bullshit. You’re gonna film us, ain’t he. Make it like one of those movie teasers,” he says, throwing his phone at me. Bash drags his chair to the side of Rex’s desk and flicks his head at the slut and when she doesn’t move quick enough, Rex fists her hair, yanking her to comply. She splits her legs without being told a second time, swinging them open. Bash clamps a hand on her foot, and Cog and a couple of the others start cheering, urging the whole fucking shit show on.

Something isn’t adding up, and I look at him waiting for an answer. At a sign I miss when the woman stands up and fluffs her hair out, but as she peels down the top part of her dress her tits burst out, but under them is the reason for the celebration. She’s got a fresh club tatt spread under her tits but more concerning is the hand drawn fish supposedly sucking on her nipple.

“Press play, Steel. And I see you get fucking hard when you watch, I’ll cut your cock off and make her choke on it. Yeah?” He stares through me as he speaks, but the threat is piss-weak, made worse because Bash swings to glare at me too.

Once upon a time I would have been intimidated to hell by the both of them, but the past few days with King have taught me what the threat of a real Alpha feels like. Honestly, if I didn’t need answers, I’d be trying my luck and ridding the world of the Riders.

“All right, baby,” Rex slurs as he violently twists her nipple to stop her obvious flirting with the rest of Rex’s crew. “You good to make a name for yourself?”

She giggles and it’s like nails on a chalkboard. A knock on the door startles me, I thought we were done with fucking visitors, and Rex’s eyes dart to one of the guys behind me. The door opens and I twist behind to see the rest of the club sluts all dolled up for some reason.

“And action.” Someone yells behind me and everyone starts laughing until Rex looks at me, and then when I don’t move the room descends into silence.

“I fucking told you to press record,” he barks, the mood in the small office continues to drop, and all the eyes are on me until I lift up his phone and press record like he wants.

Rex shoves the woman out of his lap and undoes his jeans, and she openly flirts with Bash, holding his eyes as she tries to lick her own tit. Rex pushes her forward, so she’s over his desk, her ass to him.

“What do you say?”

“Rex, you got the best fishies in the ocean.”

“Yeah,” he grunts, before fucking her viciously. “I do, don’t I.”

There’s no doubt in my fucking mind that Rex has lost it, but it’s pretty clear he and his crew are also wired to the eyeballs. Every time he goes to visit the El Dominos it’s the same too, and it’s a dangerous time in the club; they cause fights just ’cause they can. But this time, they’re even more fucked up than usual and they all keep on with this fishy bullshit.

I have to endure Bash, Cog, and a couple of the others doing the same to the other Club Sluts, but if by doing so I get the smallest hint of what his game is, and if he’s got Tristan, then I’ll sit here and film for fucking days.

Rex snatches his phone out of my hand. “Stand up, Steel.”

I stare him down, his earlier threat in my head, but if he seriously thinks I enjoyed filming them, I’m about to really make his day—my dick shrivelled smaller and smaller having to watch what I did.

Of course, Rex flips my lack of a hard-on back in my face. “You got fucking issues if your dick didn’t rise. You got a bit on the side I don’t know about, Steel?”

I take a step towards the door, shaking my head, “You’d be the first to know if I did, Rex.”

“I’ll slit you open if you’re keeping secrets. And I’ll burn you in front of the whole club if you stick your cock where it doesn’t belong.”

I flick off a salute, leaving him to go wash my eyes out with fucking bleach or something. Anything to rid myself of the reminder of what I had to sit and watch.

“We’re going in a bit, Steel. Be ready.”

“Yep.”

I don’t stop making a break for it, leaving him and his crew to do whatever the hell they want. I stop off at the bar, walking away with a quart of Jacks before I go outside and use every last drop of it to swill and spit, trying to get rid of the feeling I’m going to hurl. Never felt more turned off by life.

Rex finds me outside, holding the empty bottle in one hand and a joint in the other. I watch him carefully as he comes to stand near, he flicks his eyebrows up being a judgemental prick when he eyes the empty bottle, and the glow of the reefer between my lips. And I ain’t going to be correcting him anytime soon. I hope he does think I’m fucking tanked, hopefully he’ll start spilling secrets.

“Steel, you ain’t seen nothing yet. We’re going to fuck over that cunt.” He sucks on the spliff, one huge inhale until he can’t fit in another hit, before he blows it out slowly.

“King, I take it?”

“Don’t play dumb now, kid. All I’m doing is letting him know there’s plenty of other fish in the ocean. But he ain’t having any of ours. I even caught you one. You good to ride still?”

“Always.” I flick my head.

“Good. One of the bitches is making me a burger then we can roll out.”

I push, and I probably shouldn’t but I do. “Just me and you?”

“Steel, I’m trusting you with this. You and I are gonna make a statement, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to see him lose his fucking mind, always been so fucking righteous. The Fallen bullshit, you can’t trade pussy?” Rex winks at me. “Lucky, I ain’t trading or they might come after me.” He pretends to shiver like he’s scared.

“I didn’t realise you were engaging so openly with him. What changed?”

“I want the strip down south. The Fallen think they own it, but me and the El Dominos got big plans. And we start tonight, putting the screws on and making him see he got shit happening under his nose that he don’t even know about.”

“King? What about Ace? Isn’t the Southern Sector in charge of the strip?”

“You know King thinks he’s king of the whole fucking Fallen, right? We’re gonna show him he don’t own nothing. He’s fucking done, and I’m thinking you’ll slot right in and sit down there as my eyes and ears while we undergo our change of management.”

I laugh and slap him on the back. Because it’s expected. All the time my fingers twitch to grab hold of the blade hidden in my shoe and drive it deep into his lungs. When the time comes, I want his death to be drawn out and painful, and for now I have to be happy with what little he’s said.

Rex walks back inside and I shout out to him I’m heading to my room to grab some cash. I’m hoping I can at least get something over to King for him to work with.

The door to my room has been picked and all my gear has been flipped which pisses me off but doesn’t worry me. I don’t keep anything worthwhile or of value here, just the bare minimum to keep up appearances. One of the sluts gets me before I have a chance to reach my burner phone that I stashed away in the hollow of the floor under my bed. I’m being watched but it’s nothing new, I have been for a long time.

Rex going through my saddlebags on the side of my bike isn’t the first time he’s done that either. And given his not making much sense and acting more fucking paranoid than normal I don’t do anything but shrug when he smiles at me with challenge in his posture.

“I was looking for your stash,” he says indifferently. I dig in my pocket, throwing a baggie at him before helmeting up.

“Steel,” he flicks his chin at my backpack. “Lose it. We’re travelling light and we’ll be back soon enough.”

“Easy.” I drop it to my feet before kicking it down the corner of the clubhouse. It’s a fucking gamble riding off leaving my phone behind but the look in his eyes has me being as amenable as possible.

He smokes the rest of my joint before flicking the end my way. Everything seems like either a taunt or a test tonight. And the way he rides through the night, powering through dead ass towns has the dread in my gut getting worse because a paranoid Rex is bad enough, but an excited one spells trouble.