Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Tatum
I have never taken a faster, or a colder, bath. In a fucking dungeon. In a basically pitch black room. The soaps smelled nice, but the water was barely warmer than snow. I shivered and shook the whole time, while fucking Jimmy watched me. He didn’t touch me, though. Thank fuck for small mercies?
Now I’m being led down a dark hallway…also concrete, I might add…in nothing but a towel. Fantastic. My hair is wet, and I’m shivering because it’s still cold as fuck.
I’m exposed, and feeling very vulnerable in just a damn towel.
At least I’m no longer tied up, I guess.
“I would have taken care of you, let you suck my cock. My father isn’t as kind. But someone has to break the Omegas, and Keslor Merzotto always gets the first taste. Just be glad it’s not Easton, the Omegas he takes to bed are never seen again,” Jimmy hisses in my ear, before shoving me into a room and slamming the door as I stumble inside.
Did he just say Easton? Could it be the same man? What the fuck would he be doing in a place like this, though? No, I must have heard him wrong, or it’s someone else with the same name.
It’s dark in here. Shocker. I feel against the wall for a light switch, and it takes forever, but eventually I flick one, and the room lights up.
Oh, hells, it’s like a damn apartment in here, but like…if you built your apartment into a concrete dungeon. I try the door handle, but it’s locked. Of course. Okay, I’ll find a weapon. Because if I’m going to die, I’m not letting that Alpha bastard touch me first.
If I’m going down, so is he.
Unfortunately, after searching this room for several minutes, I can’t find anything even remotely weapon-like. I did trade the towel for a blanket that was on the couch, though, since it was larger. Not a scrap of clothing in this bitch, though.
I’m on my knees looking under the bed as a last hope when the door clicks open. I freeze. For ten whole seconds, I freeze there on my knees.
He hasn’t spotted me, because of the position I’m in, but I know he will any second now. I don’t know what to do.
“Tatum.” The voice is familiar, and I frown. No fucking way. No fucking way! I jump to my feet and gasp.
“Easton!” my mind is reeling. Nothing makes any sense. Jimmy said… “What the fuck…” I take several steps away from him, one hand gripping my blanket, the other held up as if it is any kind of protection.
“I brought you these. Come with me, and I’ll get you out of here, but we have maybe twenty minutes, tops.”
“Right… I’m not going to go anywhere with you. What the fuck is happening? Jimmy fucking kidnapped me. Then he told me you make Omegas disappear!” I’m trying to keep my voice low, but I’m going a little fucking insane here!
“I will explain everything, as soon as we get the fuck out of here. It’s not safe. Jimmy is my cousin. His father is my uncle on my father’s side. Think about everything you know about me. Do you believe me when I say that I would never hurt you?” His eyes plead with me, and I nibble my lip, still clutching the blanket.
“Okay,” I whisper, and walk over to him slowly. He takes in the sight of me with the blanket, and nods his head at me.
“Get dressed. Then I’ll spray you with this scent blocker so you don’t alert everyone we pass that you escaped.” He hands me the clothes, and it takes some time, but eventually I get them pulled on without exposing my nakedness to him.
Tatum
Easton helps me sneak through the halls, which are all, you guessed it, dark. I have no idea where we’re going, or how far away we are from escape. He’d given me a long shirt, and some large sweatpants, but I tie them at the waist, and they only drag on the floor a little bit, since I wasn’t given my shoes back. My hair is damp, so it’s still making me cold.
I shiver as we pass around another corner, into another hallway I can’t see.
“Fuck,” Easton hisses, his stride slowing, as he tucks me behind him. Loud footsteps before us give away the fact that we are not alone in this hall. I cling to his back, not wanting to be spotted. I don’t really want to touch a man who has lied to me from the moment we met either, but I don’t release him.
“Sup, man. How are you…oh, shit, my bad,” the other guy chuckles, patting Easton on the shoulder as we pass him. “Don’t break this one, she’s a pretty little thing. Worth a lot.”
I swallow thickly. What if Easton is just taking me to another room so he can hurt me there? Why make me think he wants to help me, though? Why give me hope? Is that just a part of his game? That makes no sense. He could have hurt me many nights, if that was what he wanted.
“Fuck off,” Easton snaps as his hand disappears into his front pocket, and the other guy steps back, shaking his head.
“Always such a dick. I was just being friendly.”
Easton doesn’t respond, just stares the other guy down. He takes the hint and walks away, and I exhale.
“Come on, we need to hurry. Not everyone here will be as intimidated by my aggression. My reputation won’t stop an Alpha close to his rut from attacking,” Easton growls in a way that makes my heart falter.
“What’s going on?” I whimper, following closely after him. Easton spins around, and I bump into his chest.
“I’ll explain once we’re in my car, okay? For now, let's just get out of here before someone catches us. Alright?”
I nod.
“Great, now let's go!” This time he grabs my arm and tugs me along with him. He’s not rough, just firm, and I follow along behind him easily. Right now, I don’t have much of a choice.
When we push through a random door at the end of another hall, the crisp night air hits me like a balm. My ability to escape increases greatly if I’m outside.
“My truck is just ahead. Come here.” He doesn’t give me the chance to respond, as he scoops me up in his arms and carries me to a black truck.
The windows are all heavily tinted. It’s shiny and massive.
He opens the driver side door and helps me inside, looking around behind him before he climbs in with me. I scoot over, pressing myself against the other door. Easton doesn’t comment on it, though.
With one last look around, he starts the truck and drives. I look at every fucking detail, taking in everything I can, but I don’t see much before Easton reaches across the seats, presses his big palm to my head, and shoves me down into the foot well of the car.
“Can’t have anyone seeing me leaving with you,” he explains with a lopsided smirk.
“You can move your hand. I’ll stay down until it’s safe,” I grumble. His touch is too familiar, and it’s fucking with me. I want him to get his arm away from me.
“I know. I just like touching you.”
I glare daggers at him. “Now is not the time to flirt, Easton. I get that maybe this isn’t an abnormal sort of situation in your very clearly chaotic life, but this is a little fucking insane for me.” My annoyed tone doesn’t convey just how fucking off balance I feel.
“I know. I’m not trying to make a joke out of this, I just know that… I shut down. When things are too…much. I’m trying to avoid sending you into shock.” Easton winces, his brownie scent flooding the space between us, attempting to soothe me.
“You’re an unusual Omega,” I murmur, and Easton snorts a loud laugh.
“Necessity,” he’s still laughing, shaking his head, but there’s pain in his tone. I don’t resist my instinct to reach for him, as I grab his hand and tug it back over to me.
I do trust him, even though he’s been lying to me since we met.
“Why risk your own life for me? If that scary Alpha is your uncle, and Jimmy is your cousin, why not just… I don’t even know. What am I missing?”
“You can sit up now,” he says as he checks the rearview mirror. I keep my eyes on him as I move. He looks stressed as hell. When I’m seated, and after he makes sure I buckle in, he glances at me. “Because it’s you. No fucking way was anyone going to touch you. Sure as fuck not Jimmy, or my uncle. Because I know first hand what happens to Omegas in those concrete walls. Because you’re my friend, and I care about you.”
Easton hisses, ready to pull off the road when I undo my seat belt. But I scoot over and buckle into the middle seat so I can be closer to him. He settles, looking marginally less shifty when I wrap my hands around his bicep and nuzzle his shoulder.
“You can never go back?”
“That’s a complicated question, my Sparrow. I don’t have an answer for you. Not one I want to fully explain, anyway.”
“Don’t want to? So you have answers, but you don’t want to tell me?”
“I’m not trying to scare you away…” Even though I’ve only known him a short while, I never doubted him.
Maybe that's foolish of me.
But…
Well, the void in my chest that screams out to be filled with love, just before my mind fills it with soul deep fear, recognizes something inside Easton.
Pain, sorrow, loneliness.
“What if I said you can’t scare me away. Friends don’t abandon friends, especially when they’re in danger. I don’t know your story, but I know how you treat me. I’m not scared of your darkness,” I tell him honestly, as I consider what his uncle wanted to do to me. What he was planning for me. Assault me. Sell me.
The way Jimmy looked at me as I bathed.
What if Easton is like them? Maybe he wouldn’t let those things happen to me, but what about other Omegas just like me. The ones who came before me.
The ones those evil men “broke”. That Easton made disappear? No. I don’t believe that, but I need to hear him say it.
“Did you hurt the ones before me? Jimmy said you make them disappear?”
“I did make them disappear, that much is true. My uncle is an unsuccessful trafficker. It's the only aspect of his business that repeatedly fails. Not for the reasons he believes.” Easton’s hand clenches into a fist, and his jaw is tight with tension. “I help them find safety. Or new lives. I…” Easton glances at me, pausing as his scent spikes with fear. I look around for signs of danger, but find nothing. “This is the darkness you said you aren’t scared of. This is your chance to change your mind. Once I tell you, you won’t ever think of me the same again.”
“I want to know,” I decide, loosening my hold on his arm, so I can lean back and watch him more closely. “If you have to hide yourself from me, then I don’t deserve to be called a friend.”
“I kill the buyers.” He leaves the words hanging between us.
“Good,” I decide.
“Good?” Easton asks, and I nod.
“Yep. Fuck them. Buying Omegas? Forget that it's illegal… It’s pure fucking evil!” I shake my head. “Unless the Omega willingly, happily, and enthusiastically volunteers to be sold , then it’s evil. Death is too easy. You should sell them. See how they fucking like it,” I hiss, feeling that same raging fire return from those moments when I tried to appease Jimmy.
“Well, Sweet Sparrow. I certainly didn’t expect that reaction.” Easton has a soft smile on his lips, and I shrug. The satisfaction in his scent makes me a little smug that I impressed him.
I’m smug that I impressed a murderer.
I’m concerned that I picked that, of all things, to be proud of myself for…
Ah, well. What can you do?
“I’ll tell you more, but I think for now, maybe that's enough sharing?” Easton winces, and I wonder if he’s feeling as unsteady about all of this as I am.
“I just want to know one more thing. What does all of this have to do with me?” I pause, thinking back to what Jimmy said when he first brought me before his father. “Does Jimmy have any other cousins?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him.
“No. I’m the only one.” Easton glances at me, his scent spiking with uncertainty.
“Why were you watching me, and what does any of this have to do with Haze?”
“Right. Guess I should have seen that coming,” East grunts, as I release him and lean back to get a good look at him. “Don’t freak out, okay? I started following you when I first met you.” He flinches, possibly realizing how that sounds. “What I mean is…” he trails off, looking unsure, like he wants to explain but would also rather eat toenails than continue this conversation.
“So you were stalking me.” I pull back to cross my arms over my chest, mostly to have something to do with my hands. The knowledge that Easton was stalking me isn’t as upsetting as my reaction to gaining this knowledge. Which is that I feel a little bit flattered.
I’m seriously concerned that I’m not…more concerned!
“Okay, yes, but… Uh. There’s a history here. It’s all connected. Obviously, there are things you don’t know, but you understand that my uncle is a criminal, who does a lot of…criminal things,” Easton stammers through his excuse, looking ready to toss himself out the window.
“Can you just explain so I can maybe understand a little more clearly? Obviously, there are things I don’t know. That's why I’m asking questions. But your answers only bring up more questions!” I huff in frustration.
“Right. Twenty or so years ago, the Hayes twins took over their father’s empire when they were barely teenagers,” he starts, glancing at me. I nod for him to keep going. “The feud between my uncle and the twins started when they killed their father David Hayes, Merzotto’s closest colleague. Business partner. Whatever.” East waves a dismissive hand in the air, glancing from me to the street and back.
“So your uncle, Keslor Merzotto, was already in control of his…organization? Crime family? Whatever you call it…”
“Correct.”
“And then Declan and Kodiak Hayes killed their own father, and took over his…business? As teenagers.”
“Also correct. But there's a little more to it. Declan and Kodiak took over and cut ties with my uncle. And killed…some of his men. They’ve been at war ever since.”
“Okay, that explains their beef with the twins, but like… The fuck does that have to do with me?” I squeak, feeling outraged.
“You got caught in the middle after someone informed my uncle that you’re unmated, with no close family to miss you if you disappear. Working at Haze actually might have been the only thing that saved you for so long. I met you before all of this, that night at their bar. I was curious… They don’t know who I am. I saw you walk in that night…” Easton blushes, and the fact that my first reaction is to say awe, isn’t making me feel any better about myself.
“So…” I squint, trying to piece everything together in my head, and Easton sighs.
“So, I was already following you, when my Uncle was tipped off about your existence. He assigned Jimmy to watch you, but by then I already…enjoyed your presence. I told Jimmy to get fucked, and that I would watch you.”
“Watch me…” There’s an icy feeling spreading through my veins.
“Watch you, until we knew if you had family. If not, use you to get to the Hayes brothers, or…”
When East trails off, I scoff. “Or take me. Kidnap me, and then sell me to…fucking hell knows who!”
“I never would have let that happen.” East reaches out, placing his hand on my thigh, but he keeps his eyes on the road.
“Because I’m your friend? Also, don’t think I missed the part where you said you’d use me to hurt the brothers you pretended to know nothing about.”
“Even if I didn’t already have an attachment to you, I am the reason all their attempts in the past have either failed, or the clients disappear. And I didn’t think you did miss that bit.”
He did say he kills the buyers. I believed him when he said that. I think I just needed to hear him say it again.
“Also, I don't have the same path planned for myself anymore, my Sparrow. You have changed everything. I just need a little time to get some answers.”
“Okay, Easton. I believe you.”
Easton
“What?” I hiss, as Ghost chuckles in my ear. This phone call is not going how I intended.
“She’s connected to them. You know it’s true. It’s the best plan. Unless you want to take her to your safe house that is currently occupied by Stella and Bernard?” Ghost offers, knowing damn well there’s no fucking way I’m doing that.
What if Tatum likes him too? The idea of sharing my Sparrow with Alphas makes me want to rip their throats out with my bare teeth, and Ghost wants me to deliver her into their waiting hands.
He doesn’t know that I’m lying to Tatum. Well, only a little. My uncle had fully intended to harm Tatum, but I wasn’t supposed to ‘free’ her until after… But what I said to her was true. No one is fucking touching her without her permission. And even then…
I’m snarling just thinking about someone else's hands on her body.
“No. I need somewhere safe we can go.” This was true. Ish. No one is hunting me. Not the way Tatum thinks, anyway. The plan with my uncle was for me to take her, have her believe she’s safe with me. Then, contact the Hayes brothers. Arrange a meeting. Use her to set them up.
When they showed up to get her back, we’d kill them. But I’m not putting Tatum’s life in danger.
Not only that, but my uncle…he’s been lying. I’ve always known that, but it wasn’t until very recently that I started doubting certain truths I’d always believed.
“They’ll protect her and you.”
“I tried to…” I pause because Tatum is listening, and I’m not sure if I want her hearing everything all in one night… a man needs some secrets… “They'll know who I am. Where I’m from.”
“They’ll know you protected their Omega.”
“She is not theirs,” I hiss, covering my mouth and turning away from Tatum to hopefully hide the words. “Ghost, I swear to fuck–”
“I think…maybe I know a place we could hide?” Tatum murmurs, and I frown as I swing my gaze back to her.
“They’ll know where your other coworkers live.” I’m already turning back toward the driver’s side window, but Tatum leaps at me, grabbing my arm.
“No. Not a coworker. A teacher from my childhood.” I pause, considering this. That’ll work. Sweet little old lady from her childhood? That could work. Old ladies are weary of me, though, so I’ll have to charm her…
Anywhere would be better than that place…
I hang up on Ghost who’s still trying to defend the Hayes brothers. I know he does business with them, but he’s crossing a line there.