Chapter 22 Bleach
Bleach
Mads
Itry so hard not to let him see the goosebumps erupting over my entire body as he works on my hair. His hands are both strong and gentle. He’s confident in his movement. I have to suck in my lips so I can keep from...making any weird noises. He wraps my hair in plastic and we wait.
I don’t know why I’m letting him do this.
I did want my hair done, and he did offer. I’d been considering bleaching it for a while, but I just couldn’t afford it, and it seemed like a waste. Having Locke do it did make sense.
He keeps looking out the window like someone is right outside.
Locke has me lean forward over the sink while he uses the sprayer to rinse me. Then he puts the toner on.
I tell him I’m just going to take a shower so we are no longer on top of each other. Touching everywhere. Everywhere it doesn’t matter.
I don’t take long. And when I come out, he’s gone.
The front door is unlocked, so I go outside to see where he’s gone off to. That’s when I see him and another man embracing. Or fighting. They look like lovers. Angry and sexually charged.
“…if I want to court a beta, I will court a beta!” I hear Locke shout.
“Fuck you!” the other man spits at him.
I stand there in horror as I hear things I couldn’t have come up with in a million years.
He’s fighting with a beta. A rough looking beta. He looks like a gangster. The gangster talks about Kol and Oscar getting killed. And then he asks if he’s…I can’t even say it. He’s in love with me?
The man eventually spots me and leaves. Like he’s been caught.
“Who was that?” I ask. Is he a secret lover?
Locke isn’t going to answer me. His head is hanging low, and he won’t give me his attention.
“Like you care.”
“Like I care? What the fuck is going on?“ This gets his attention. “Was it all some fucking lie this morning? Are you hustling me? Oh my god. Of course you are. I don’t even have two functioning legs! I have no money! I’m not an omega! What the fuck do you want for me?”
I don’t stick around to hear his reply. I turn and “run” back to the apartment. He just strides behind me. Keeping a distance and pretending this isn’t so damned pathetic.
If they needed a beta for anything, why me? Why me? Apparently, that ugly guy named Mickey with the leathery skin couldn’t fill in for me.
Are you in love with him? Why would he ask that? Why is everything to do with alphas so fucking dramatic?
I try to shut the door behind me, but Locke just throws his weight into it. It nearly breaks, and I turn around fucking pissed. He’s not going to break shit in my mother’s apartment!
“Who was that?”
Locke shuts the door and storms up to me.
“The fucking devil, Mads.”
“Get out of my house.”
“Not likely. We have to bond you. I’m not playing anymore. Get it around your pretty little skull. You are bonding with my pack as soon as possible.”
I wait. I wait for a goddamned explanation.
“That was Mickey,” Locke finally confesses. “A muscle for Legs O’Bannon. He has this fucking delusional plan that includes me bonding his omega daughter on her 19th birthday. Which is, unfortunately, next fucking Friday.”
He sighs, realizing I’m still waiting for an explanation. And then he launches into a very long insane story about scent matches, Institute preferences, deals with gangsters and mob bosses…
Essentially, they need me to be eligible to speak to an omega. They need the omega to prevent Locke from an unwanted marriage (or whatever alphas and omegas get involved in). And he’s not actually dark bonded like Mickey accused, he tells me.
I crash down onto the broken couch.
I rub my face over and over.
“I shouldn’t have asked…”
Locke laughs darkly.
“I don’t want to be involved in any of this.”
Locke sits on the armchair near the couch.
“Can I ask you something?”
I make a noise like sure.
“Do you not feel what we feel? A connection. A pull. A familiarity?”
I shake my head back and forth. My hands are still on my face. It’s a lie. I do feel something. And I don’t want to give it a name. Then it would be real.
“Can you do me a favor and not tell Oscar or Kol about Mickey? I’ve been doing favors for Mickey so he doesn’t tell his boss everything we’ve been up to. I’ve been protecting my pack, and I’d like to keep my shame.”
And shame is what I see on his face. It feels like a privilege to be shown this. I’m not sure I’ve ever trusted someone the way he trusts me in this moment.
Until the incident, I always kept people at arm’s length with jokes and good humor.
I didn’t think it was a mask at the time, but seeing how close all three of these men are and what they are willing to do for each other, makes me realize I’ve never seen such love and devotion.
I’ve never shown it and I’ve never felt it.
I don’t say yes, but he gets that I will keep his secret.
He stands up and heads for the door. He turns the handle on the door but before he opens it he says, “Your hair looks great. Thanks for letting me do that. If you choose to stay with us, after knowing this, I promise to take care of you. I’ve been dying to do it all day.
I probably won’t be able to stop myself next time.
I have to go calm Mickey down. Take care. ”
I pop my head up to see the look on his face. Genuine. He’s being genuine.
He leaves, shutting the door gently behind him.
There’s no way. There’s no way on this green earth I can go through with this.
I pull my phone out. I have a text from Oscar checking in. I have an email from Kol asking my opinion on a project for one of his properties.
Which I desperately want to review and give him my opinion. But instead I call Cadi.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Cadi. How’s your night?”
I can hear her breathy smile. “Good. I saw you today.”
“I saw you today.”
“You were having brunch with alphas.”
I smile. I love hearing her voice. It’s so calming. It’s slowly erasing all the intensity of the day.
“Yeah, I think I’m being courted.”
“Oh goodness. I’m an omega and I’m not even being courted. I have to admit that’s got me a little jealous, Mads.”
She’s halfway serious, I can tell.
So I decide to tease her.
“Maybe I’ll put in a good word.”
“Oh will you? Make sure to tell them how pretty I am. Alphas love that.”
“Is that why they like me?”
“Probably. You are very good looking, Mads.”
This girl.
“Stop. Things like that will make my head big.”
“Will it make other things big too?”
A smile I haven’t felt all day spread across my face. “You are in a saucy mood, Cadi.”
She laughs and I ask about her day. It sounded really nice and normal and nothing like my day.
I don’t want to tell her about my shit so I keep her talking about her stuff.
Her gossip. Her worries. Her friends. This event she’s doing on Tuesday at the Omega Women’s Shelter.
And soon we’ve been talking for an hour.
She is like a breath of fresh air.
“Where are you now?” I ask, lying back on the couch.
“My nest.”
Fuck me, the way she says that goes right to my cock. Omegas. Absolutely infuriating how sexy I find them. She has her own special little space she gets horny in. “I bet it’s so comfortable in there. Do you have the best nest out of all your omega friends?”
“How would you know? You’ve probably never been in a nest before.”
“You do, don’t you. It’s probably so soft and nice. Anyone would be lucky to get invited into your nest.”
She’s preening. “Shut up, Mads,” she says with no heat. I bet she’s blushing. “You know,” she says with a low husky voice, “I’ve never invited anyone into my nest before.”
“Does phone sex count?” I ask, jumping the gun. My hand is already rubbing my cock over my pants.
“I’ve never done that either. You’re my first, Mads.”
All the blood in my brain is now gone.
“I love how you say my name. You are so sexy. What would you do with me if I was in your nest?”
She sighs, but it hitches. She’s turned on. Oh my god. What is happening?
“Clothes aren’t allowed in here, so you’d have leave those behind.”
“Do you have clothes on, Cadi? Or are you ready for me?” She makes another pretty, little sound. “Are you touching yourself?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
“If I was there that would be my hand on your pussy. My mouth would be on your neck. Do you like your hair pulled, Cadi?”
“Yes, I like it a bit rough.”
“I can do rough, duchess. My fingers deep in your pussy and sucking hard on your nipples.”
I can hear her moving around and shuffling sounds through the receiver.
“What else do you like?”
“Threesomes,” she answers quickly. Oh goddamn.
I find myself describing a threesome for her. Her and another omega, a female, wake up to me fucking her and fingering her friend. This imaginary friend sucks and pinches her nipples while I fuck her slow and rough.
I take her through the fantasy until we are both coming through the receiver. She’s panting and whispering things like, “Oh my god, Mads. My skin is on fire. What the fuck. Oh my god, I feel so good.”
And I whisper back, “You are so fucking hot. You take my cock so well. Like a good omega.”
We stay on the phone for a while after we finish, just listening to each other breathe. I could fall asleep like this. I feel so close to her, even though we are a city apart.