Chapter Twenty – Hayden
Before Bradford heads to bed, he stops by the room I’m bunking in for the weekend.
He stands in the hall, while I stand just inside the room.
With only the lamp near the bed on, the room is pretty dark.
I’ve already changed and showered; I swung home to grab a few things when I was out shopping for Kayla, so I wear my sweats and a plain t-shirt.
And Bradford? He still wears that suit. Wonder if he ever wears anything else.
The über glances down the hall, toward the room Kayla is in. Her door is shut. “Will you…” He trails off, as if he’s not too comfortable asking. I suppose he’s not comfortable with any of this, really, but he’s making do.
I know what he’s trying to say, which is why I tell him, “Yeah. I’ll keep watch over her tonight. I’ll leave my door open, check on her every few hours. I’ll make sure she doesn’t disappear.”
I don’t think she would, but stranger things have happened. Victims run back to their abuser every single day, because it’s the only life they’ve ever known. They can’t picture a future without them, or they’ve gotten so used to the abuse they’ve started to believe all the lies and manipulation.
It’s not something I understand. I’d never let someone hurt me like that, nor would I let anyone hurt the people I care about like that. It’s why seeing that bruise on her neck broke something in me.
I care about Kayla. I care about her more than I should, and the thing is, those feelings crept up on me before I knew it.
It’s been less than a damn week. Single-digit days since I first met her, but I knew even then there was something more about her. That something is the fact that she’s an omega, but the way my inner alpha raged at the unknown behind her bruise makes me think there’s more to it.
More to me caring. Just… more.
Bradford nods. “It would be nice if she’d tell us who did that to her.” He looks down. “Not that I can go anywhere or do anything, but… something should be done.”
I don’t tell him that my boss is pulling strings and currently looking into her.
I updated him when I found out Kayla is an omega, but it seems they’ve mainly stuck under the radar.
Maybe her real last name isn’t Prim, otherwise I like to think there would have been some update on her and whoever she’s living with already.
And when my boss does find that information? I’m going to do something. I just don’t know what.
All that to say: Bradford can’t know who I really work for. He suspects me as it is already, but I have the feeling he wouldn’t be too thrilled if he knew the full truth. After all, Alabaster Security is the reason his kidnapping and blackmail attempt failed.
“Something will be done,” I say. “Maybe she’ll open up tomorrow. Today has been a whirlwind for all of us.”
“I’m worried about her. I don’t want her to—” He lowers his voice. “—to die.”
“She won’t, not when she has us looking out for her.”
Bradford chuckles softly. “Us. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of an us before. For so long, it’s been just me.” The way he says it, he sounds like he’s realized something, something he was never faced with before.
He’s lonely.
I don’t know why I ask, but I do: “Have you ever thought about forming a pack? Getting a mate?” Sure, Bradford is a little, uh, let’s just say eccentric, but there are plenty of other rich eccentric weirdos that would probably love to form a pack with him.
Most commonly packs are formed at a young age, but you never know.
The way he shakes his head, I can feel his despondence. “No.”
“No? It’s never crossed your mind once in all the years you’ve been alive?”
“No. Things have always been… different for me.” He reaches up and rubs his jaw, his dark eyes staring hard at the door frame instead of at me, as if he’s ashamed to say any of this.
“It wouldn’t have been as easy as finding people I like, people who like me in return, and forming a pack.
I’m a Bentley, the only heir to Alpha Life.
My father would have controlled the whole thing, and that was never something I wanted. ”
Hmm. That actually sounds miserable. His father really does sound like a piece of work. Good thing I have my boss looking into him, too. We thought the problem was Bradford the son, but in reality it might just be Bentley Sr.
Bradford turns the tables around on me when he asks, “What about you? You don’t have a pack or a mate, either. I doubt your father is as… overbearing as mine.”
“No, my parents are great. Great role models and all that good stuff.” I shrug.
“I’ve just… never really had the time, I guess.
My parents have tried to set me up with matches and even saved up money for me to go to one of the ceremonies at the Omega Garden downtown, but, I don’t know.
It just never sounded appealing to me. I wasn’t one of the lucky kids who formed a pack back in school.
I had friends, but it was obvious they already had their packs formed and I would’ve been an outsider. ”
Now he stares straight at me, studying me. “I find that hard to believe.”
It’s my turn to chuckle. “It’s true. I know I might come across as endearingly charming now—” When I say that, he narrows his gaze at me, clearly not agreeing with that description of me. “—but I was, uh, a bit of a nerd back then. Not as confident in myself as I am now.”
“Mmm.” Bradford glanced down the hall again. “She’s comfortable with you.”
“You think?” I don’t mean the question sarcastically. Honestly, I’m curious if he really does think that. I don’t take the man as someone who says things just to say them, so he has to mean it, which is crazy to me.
This guy is surprising. He really isn’t what I thought he’d be.
He nods. “I know it. I can see it on her face when she looks at you. Maybe she doesn’t realize it, but she enjoys being around you.”
I crack a grin. “Jealous of that?”
Though I say it good-naturedly, he squints at me and frowns. “What? I’m not—I do not get jealous over petty things like that. Besides, I already told you, things are different for me.”
It might be too much to bring up, but I bring it up regardless. “When you say things are different, you mean because you don’t like being close to people?” A second passes before I add, “And to be clear, I mean close as in physically close.”
He tries to sound nonchalant about it, but I can tell I struck a nerve when he mumbles, “Picked up on that, have you?”
“You’re not the only one who notices things.”
Bradford sighs. “I’m not proud of who I am. Someone like you must think I’m a pathetic excuse for an alpha.”
“No,” I say the word quickly, so quickly he clearly isn’t expecting it, because his brows furrow as he looks at me.
“Everyone has their quirks. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
It makes sense why you never felt the urge to form a pack.
From what I hear, there’s a lot of touching when it comes to packs.
” I give him a grin after that, for some reason wanting to put him at ease.
“I wasn’t made for pack life.”
With a shrug, I say, “Not everyone is. That said, I do think there could be people out there who’d be good for you.
People who wouldn’t push you past what you’re comfortable with.
You’re kind of stuck right now—” I gesture to his foot, where the ankle monitor rests beneath his pant leg.
“—but once you get that thing off, you could try. Your dad’s old, ain’t he? How many more years can he have left?”
My blunt question makes him chuckle. Yes, Bradford Bentley, the stony über alpha who never cracks so much as a smile on his face, actually chuckles at that, but that chuckle dies as quickly as it forms. “People like my father have a habit of sticking around long after they’re no longer welcome.”
“I’ll be the optimistic one out of the two of us, then,” I say. “It’s your life. You should be able to live it however you want, whether it’s with a pack and a mate or by yourself. The decision should be yours and yours alone, not your dear old dad’s.”
“If only it was that simple.”
“It can be.”
The way he looks at me after that makes me wonder if I still don’t have the entire picture, if there’s more to this story than I know. If he’s not comfortable with his father being alone with someone like Kayla… that has to be rooted in something.
Bradford tosses one last glance down the hall, toward Kayla’s room, and then he mutters to me, “Have a good night.” Without another word, he walks away, and I peer out of the bedroom to watch him go.
What was all that about? There’s more to this. Has to be.
Here I thought this whole thing would be simple and easy: watch Bradford Bentley and make sure he plays by the rules.
Keep an eye on him and report any suspicious behavior to my superior.
With that ankle monitor keeping him here, it isn’t like he has many options, so the position—or so I used to think—should be a boring one.
But then Bentley Sr. hired Kayla, and things became infinitely more complicated, just like that, for both me and Bradford.
Oh, yeah. I’m not the only one who cares about what happens to her.
Obviously. He cares, too. He said it himself: he doesn’t want her to die.
In other words, he doesn’t want her abuser to hurt her again, and if we don’t help her now, there might not be a next time. You never know with assholes like that.
Anyone who’d raise a finger toward Kayla, let alone wrap their hands around her throat…
I can’t imagine. I literally can’t imagine what kind of person they’d have to be—but you know what I could imagine, and quite easily at that?
Kicking that sorry person’s ass from here to the moon and throwing him into a dark jail cell where whoever it is will never see the light of day again.