42. Beau
Chapter forty-two
Beau
B eau Aged 23
“Are you all right?”
Aspyn looks up and winces. “I told them not to tell you!”
I smirk at the outrage on her face. “Everyone tells me everything. There are no secrets between the four of us.”
She humphs and folds her arms across her chest. She makes my heart leap every time I see her. I just want to make her happy. I never want to see her sad.
I’m in love with her. We’re all in love with her, but none of us have told her yet.
“Let me give you a massage.”
She opens her mouth to protest and instead just nods. She stands up, and I move to help her limp to the table where she lays down on her stomach.
I hate her capitulation because it just makes it clear how bad her pain is. Meek and mild. Totally not her.
I work the stiff muscles in her lower back and thigh and idly think I’d do this forever if I could.
Does she even realise it?
That’d I’d do anything for her?
P resent Day
I stalk into the office, throwing open the doors for Kelly and Ezekial to enter behind me.
The boardroom of CEOs, investors, and upper management turns to face us as one mass.
Kelly looks so different now. He’s in a suit, which I don’t really like, with his hair slicked back and an expression that makes me think he could have been one of these people if he’d stayed just a few more years and let this place corrupt him.
I glance at Shale and find he’s got his hunting face on. Good. Last night, we sent Gael, Nat, and Aspyn home where they would be safe until we could sort this out.
I want it sorted now. The stretch of distance has silenced the bonds. I don’t like it at all.
With a look of loathing at the board members, I pull my phone out and send a message to her.
I see it’s read, but she doesn’t answer me back. That makes me uneasy, but I can’t say why.
Bailey stands shoulder to shoulder with Charles and Kelly and snarls at some of the more stubborn board members.
This particular guy is in his late fifties and has made a lot of money here. He also has rumours about blackmailing the young stars into giving him sexual favours.
He’s revolting and someone I have marked.
“You can’t just fire that many staff. The company would cease to exist.”
“I can,” Kelly says calmly. “It will keep going. We’re moving to skeleton staff while all the crimes are fully investigated. This is the list of people who are going on leave with no pay. This is a list of staff who can continue working, and, the final list, all the red names have been sent termination letters.”
“You can’t do this!”
Kelly snarls.
The room goes silent.
“Where is my uncle?”
They stare back at him, and I think they are finally starting to fear him. They are finally seeing the alpha beneath the man.
“Where is Typhor Raines?”
No one answers him, and Kelly finally stands upright, glaring at them all.
“Fine, I’ll find him myself.”
He turns and stalks out of the boardroom and jabs the lift button. When we get up to Typhor’s opulent office, Kelly turns and punches the wall.
I step into his path before he can destroy anything else and grip his neck, pulling his forehead to mine.
“We’ll get him.”
“He’s targeting her. I can feel it.”
I pause. “She’s safe there, right?”
“He didn’t know about it. He would have come after her if he did. I think it’s probably the safest place she could be. They can’t be here, and we have to find him.”
“Well, I might be able to help,” Charles says, walking into the room. “I spoke to my sisters, and they were able to tell me a couple of different properties we didn’t know about.”
“China, Chile, and Cara helped you?” Kelly is shocked. I make a note to ask why later. “Where?”
“Here, I’ll email you the list.”
I lean against the wall, letting all of this wash over me. My phone buzzes, and I look down and see a message from Gael.
All good here. Just catching up on some sun, surf, and good food. Can’t wait to see you.
I frown, rereading the words a couple of times. It’s generic and weird. But he’s probably just upset from being apart from us.
I pocket my phone.
“I’m going to head back and check on Ezy and Keagan.”
Shale follows me to the lift and comes down with me.
“What do you think?” Shale asks me.
“I think the pressure isn’t going to be enough to make them bend and break. Are we hunting?”
Shale shakes his head. “Not yet. I don’t want to mess this up.”
“They are all just trying to walk over him. It’s not helping him. Kelly is getting cold and angry. Ezy’s self-loathing is toxic. We need the pack to be together. We need to find him and get it done.”
“I know, Beau, but we also need to do it the legal way so it doesn’t come back at them, too.”
I let out a frustrated growl. “Fine. But how much longer?”
Shale shakes his head. “No longer than three weeks.”
I imagine that time without seeing our omega, and I want to roar and scream.
“Fine. I’ll behave. But not three. Two weeks.”
Shale chuckles. “Somehow, I doubt you will. And three, Beau.”
I flash him a grin, but it fades when I get out of the lift and head out of the building to where a car is waiting to take me back to the Boothe estate.
When I get back, I find Keagan sitting on the front steps, lounging with the most disconcerting smile on his face.
“Um, what are you doing out here?”
“Admiring the view.”
A flash of panic hits me, and I realise the low key rage I’ve been feeling is the muffled bond shuddering with Ezy’s rage.
“What’s going on? What’s he doing?”
“He’s redecorating.”
I sigh. “Keagan, do you think that was a good idea?”
“I mean, I don’t, but he needs it.”
I walk into the mansion and find, to my surprise, the place isn’t a mess, its pure destruction. The vase is broken; the paintings destroyed. Even the carpet has something dark and stinky all over it. Every wall is filthy and covered in god only knows what.
Ezy flies past me and jumps off a chaise, hitting the chandelier with a golf club.
“It’s therapeutic,” Keagan says and bites into an apple.
I snarl at him, and when Ezy rushes past me, I reach out and grab him, pulling him into my chest.
He punches out, twisting and trying to escape, but I hold him still.
“Ezy, calm down. It’s going to be okay.”
“I hate it. I need them back. We have to go get them.”
His chest heaves, and he’s slurring his words. Is he drunk? I glance back at Keagan and notice that he, too, is weaving.
“Fucking idiots,” I growl.
I wrap myself tighter around Ezy as he starts to cry. Big, gulping, hysterical sobs.
“I want to go home! She is my home. The islands, the big blue sea, the horizons that stretch forever, and the golden omega. Beau, let’s go home!”
I close my eyes and pull out my phone, pressing my last dialled number.
“Shale, we need the pack back here ASAP. We have a problem.”
Shale listens intently, hearing Ezy in the background.
“We’ll be back soon.”
I hang up and lean down to kiss Ezy’s cheeks. “Let's go up to bed. We can puppy pile while we wait for the pack to come home.”
“It’s not the same without them,” Ezy sobs. “I haven’t been away from Gael like this since we met. I need him. And Aspyn, what if they hurt her?”
“They won’t hurt her. Sonny will tell us if anything happens. It’s going to be fine.”
Ezy bangs his head on the floor, so I put my hand behind his head, protecting it.
“Ezy, come on. Let’s go take a moment, and then we’re going to get to work. When it’s done, we’re going to go get them.”
“And come and live back here? Miserable.”
“I don’t know where we’re going to live yet, that’s a pack decision, but anywhere you are is going to make me happy.”
Ezy stops smiling. He just stares at the ceiling with a bitter frown on his face.
“It's like they died. They are so far away I can’t even feel them,” he whispers. “I didn’t even know bonds could go quiet like this. There’s just a hole where he always was. And her light is gone,” he whispers and starts sobbing again.
I don’t say anything, even though I agree with him. Even though the discovery devastated me.
“We’re going to get this done and go find them, Ezy, I promise.”
His only response is to reach out a hand that I grab and hold on to. We lay like that until the pack gets home.