Chapter 6
Six
HOLLIS
My fingers massage my temples as I lean my elbows on my desk. Whimpering in pain, I try to release the migraine that’s building and trying to make me stab my eyes out.
Between looking for Alisa, working at Cupid’s Call, and doing hacking jobs on the dark web to be able to pay for all the mixer, my eyes are fucking throbbing. I usually try to take as much of the weekends off as possible, but that wasn’t in the cards for me.
Fuck, maybe I should just go home and try to sleep this off in the dark. My Monday is going to shit in a handbag. My app is current for my clients, and they can match with each other, set up dates, and message. I won’t need to touch that again until the end of the week.
I also have checked in with the clients that I know had first dates last week, and spoken to them about how it went. Some want to see where it goes, while others didn’t mesh. I regularly tweak the app’s algorithm, but I can’t help it if personalities clash. Sometimes, people just have an off day.
It happens.
The door opening to my office makes me want to cry, and I squint to see who it is. Fuck, this hurts so much.
“Hollis, are you okay?” asks Brice.
Why is he here?
I know what I promised Lars and Caleb, but damn did that have to be put to the test during a migraine?
“Why is it so dark in here?” he asks carefully. The lock turns on the door before he begins to walk slowly toward me.
“My head hurts,” I whisper. Tears are stinging my eyes, and I don’t even know how I’m going to be able to drive myself home. “I need to go.”
“Wait,” he says. I hear him put something down and walk across the office. Ice from the machine tinkles as he gets some and walks back. “Have you had coffee today and water?”
“Yes.”
I don’t know if he heard me because my lips are barely moving. I realize that he wrapped some ice in a towel when he presses it against my neck.
“Do you get migraines often, Hollis?” he asks. His other hand begins to massage my scalp in slow movements, making me suck back a cry.
It feels so good. I can’t even care that my hair is going to be a wreck. The pain is all that exists, and I can barely think outside of that.
“Only sometimes,” I lie. I’m actually pretty prone to these, but I can’t move past this one. I didn’t catch it fast enough, which means I just need to sleep it off now.
“It’s not nice to lie to me, Baby Girl,” he murmurs in my ear. “Have you been staring at a screen for too long?”
“You know the answer to that,” I growl softly. “Don’t stop doing that thing with your fingers, please…”
I swear I hear him make a strangled noise in the back of his throat, but I’m not paying enough attention to what I’m saying. It could probably be misconstrued in multiple ways.
“I won’t,” he purrs.
The rumble deep in his chest should be obnoxious. I should hate it, but it’s helping me relax slightly as he continues to massage my scalp and holds the makeshift ice pack to my neck. It’s beginning to melt a little, but not enough to bother me yet.
“What’s on your computer, Hollis?” he asks.
Fuck my life. I’m supposed to be taking my lunch, but I’m too nauseous to eat.
Instead, I’m on the dark web looking for a girl that’s been missing for way too long.
Since my family is close with the Finnegans, I know Alisa.
I remember the smart, sassy girl who used to ask me to have tea parties with her and ask me for fashion advice.
Playing with her helped to ease the ache of wanting siblings. My parents didn’t have any more children after they had my sister and I, and a part of me wishes they had. Maybe I wouldn’t feel the void inside of me so much.
“I’m working,” I murmur. “I need to log out of that before I leave.”
‘“But why are you there at all?” Brice hisses.
Hmm. Maybe this is the time to lay out how dangerous I am. Will he want to be near me then? I may be well versed in my weapons, but my brain is what keeps the mafia men from walking all over me.
“The answer still stands,” I reply. “You really don’t need to know, Brice.”
There’s silence for a moment before he sighs heavily.
“I shouldn’t like the sound of my name from your lips so much,” he mutters.
Brice tilts my head slightly as he continues his carefully crafted ministrations for my migraine before he buries his nose in my throat.
“We fucked up, Hollis,” he mumbles against my skin. “I’m here to say I’m sorry and I brought you daisies, but I don’t know if the scent will bother or help right now. They’re on the other side of the office.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me,” I sigh. The scent of warm sugar donuts surrounds me, and I moan softly. Fuck, he smells good.
I want to stay wrapped up in his scent, but we know nothing about each other.
“You know, don’t you?” he asks. “How could you stand there and pretend you didn’t know who we are to you?”
“My life is very complicated,” I say. “I’ve never thought I deserved a pack. Instead, I get to help everyone else with that. Always the matchmaker instead.”
“No amount of skeletons in your closet should be enough for you to refuse us,” he says.
I’m vulnerable right now, my body needs a time out, and I’m saying too damn much.
“I promised some very good friends that I’d give you guys a chance,” I rasp. “It just can’t be today. My stomach is a wreck and my vertigo isn’t helping either. I’m seconds from just laying on the floor and taking a nap.”
“Let’s not do that,” Brice says. “If I walked by and saw you on the floor, I’d probably break through the door.”
“You’re all so growly,” I sigh. “I’ll call Caleb to drive me home. Lars is still at the cafe working.”
“Who the fuck are they?” Brice makes another sound, and it feels as if he’s counting in his head.
Squinting, I move to the computer screen to log out of the dark web. An open window is asking for trouble if I’m not paying attention. I haven’t found anything that’ll help Alisa yet either. I’ll come back to this as soon as my head hurts less.
A few key strokes close me out, and then another stabbing pain hits me right at my temple. Shutting my eyes against it, I whine as I struggle to breathe.
“Fuck, ow, shit,” I gasp. “It’s like an ice pick is trying to mush my brains.”
“A time out it is then. Hang tight, Hollis,” Brice murmurs. “Turn off your computer.”
As if by feel and squinting, I power down my computer, and Brice shuts off all the lights. The darkness helps despite the open windows, and I pant from the exertion of trying to survive from minute to minute.
That may sound dramatic if you’ve never had a migraine that takes over your entire identity, and for that you’re lucky.
I hear him moving around before he’s picking me up from the chair.
“There are things I need to take with me,” I say, my head dropping onto his shoulder.
“Okay,” he breathes. “You and I need to talk about who Lars and Caleb are soon, Baby Girl. I’m trying very hard to not be a savage and an asshole.”
“Do you think I’m sleeping with them?” I ask, amused. “They play the part very well when I need to create space between myself and pests.”
“My pack and I aren’t pests,” he says. “However, we behaved very badly. I came over with apology gifts.”
“Sorry to fuck it up,” I say peevishly.
“You’re dying, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “I’m a complete bitch when my pain is a twelve.”
“A goddamned twelve?” he breathes. “Fuck. Okay, I see your bag, binder, phone and laptop. Do you need anything else?”
“No,” I wheeze.
One handed, he packs all of my shit up and pulls the strap of my bag over his shoulder. Walking me to the security pad, he obediently looks away as I input the code and then walks me out the door. He fishes out my keys and relocks it before striding toward his car with me in his arms.
“Do you need to cancel any calls or meetings?” he asks, loading me into the passenger seat.
“Uh-uh,” I rasp.
Brice pulls the seat belt over me before kissing my temple.
“Can I take you home with me? Please?” he asks.
I want to say yes. The omega in me yearns to be taken care of by her alphas, despite how badly our first introduction to each other went. My lips part before I shake my head.
I have a feeling that my migraine isn’t just because I’ve been working like mad and not sleeping much. Alpha pheromones may be pushing me to start spiking. Just because I agreed to see where this goes doesn’t mean that I’m ready to spend a heat with them.
I don’t do one night stands or sex with strangers. That’s why I’m an almost thirty year old virgin. I can flirt with the best of them, but that’s all it is.
“Hollis,” Brice says, hesitating. My eyes are tightly closed because I both don’t know how to explain what I’m thinking, and stringing together any more words together is beyond me.
Shutting the door, he goes around the SUV, and I listen as he gets into the driver seat.
“For now, we’ll do this your way,” he grumbles. “What’s your address?”
Rattling off where I live shouldn’t be this hard, but I really can’t concentrate. Finally, I’m able to get the words out, but not once does Brice get annoyed. Instead, I can tell he’s worried about me, which makes me sad.
How can he feel this protective about me already? Does the scent match work that fast? I have to admit that I couldn’t sleep this weekend. I kept thinking about their good looks, the way their suits stretched over their shoulders, and how pretty they all are.
Four alphas shouldn’t be this gorgeous.
“Hollis, you’re fucking drowning me in your scent,” Brice groans. “You smell like every wet dream I’ve had this weekend.”
“Inside thought,” I whisper, kind of amused by his words.
“You shouldn’t be this mouthy,” he says, careful as he drives me to my apartment. “I wouldn’t be able to function if I were you.”
“I’m not,” I grunt. This is survival, not actually functioning.
People think that if you have a migraine, you’re completely unable to do anything. Instead of taking my migraine medication immediately, I chose to push through so I could finish my to do list.