Kieran #2
An alpha with broad shoulders and a preppy, slicked back haircut pushed past me and headed into the loft, making a beeline for the couch.
When Jordy glanced up and noticed him, his entire body language changed from comfortable to defensive.
My hands curled into fists, my fingernails biting into the flesh of my palms as a growl sounded from my throat.
My field of vision narrowed to block out everything but them. My instincts had me completely on edge and ready to rip the smugly smirking bastard to shreds, but the logical part of my brain reminded me he hadn’t done anything. Yet.
They talked for a minute. I couldn’t read his lips, but it was obvious that Jordy was confused about him being there. I didn’t recognize him, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t gone to our school.
Eventually, the alpha plopped down onto the small couch, wedging his body between Jordy and the girl so both of them were effectively trapped against the arms on either side.
She let out a spluttering squawk at his rudeness, but he didn’t seem to notice her at all.
His attention was solely focused on Jordy.
When Jordy tried wiggling out of the tight space to stand, the alpha held out his arm to block him, preventing his escape.
When he made an effort to push the stranger’s arm off his chest, the fucker only barricaded him more firmly, pinning his back against the couch.
He grinned, and said something that I couldn’t hear but was absolutely certain I wouldn’t fucking like.
My adrenaline exploded and shot my blood pressure through the roof.
“Jordy!” I barked out his name as I barreled into the room.
“Kieran?” He squeaked out, even before he’d whirled his head around to see me. Once his eyes locked onto me, he started scrambling to wiggle out of the uncomfortable position. “What are you doing here?”
Reaching out, I grabbed his wrist and yanked him toward me, shifting slightly so my body was squarely between him and the fucker on the couch. Glancing back, I gave him a quick look-over to be sure there wasn’t anything seriously wrong. He looked a bit shaken, but otherwise fine.
“Do you have a fuckin’ problem?” The alpha on the couch asked, shifting into a position like he was going to spring up into my face.
“Do you?” I countered, giving him a look I hoped appropriately conveyed that I was suppressing the urge to murder him on the spot. I noticed that Jordy hadn’t moved from his spot behind me.
When he opened his mouth to argue, puffing up his chest like he had something to say, my lips curled back to expose my teeth.
I felt like I was going to turn into a werewolf or something.
I wasn’t normally this bad, but something in me had snapped at seeing Jordy, someone who was usually the epitome of calm and collected, squirming in obvious discomfort.
He scoffed, muttering some childish insults about me under his breath, but I couldn’t have cared less.
“We need to talk,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth as I glanced back at Jordy. Before he could answer, I pulled him back into the hall, popping open the door to the room with the betas in it.
“Get out,” I ordered, pointing toward the door with my free hand. My tone must have been enough for them to understand I wasn’t fucking around, because they both hopped up like they’d been poked with a cattle prod, scuttling out the door like frightened mice.
The moment the door closed, leaving me alone in the unfamiliar room with him and muffling the noise of the party, I became hyper-aware of everything.
The sound of Jordy’s soft breaths, just a little agitated, dug into my ears, and I could suddenly feel the pulse in his wrist hammering under my fingertips. But I couldn’t let go.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” he said, gazing up at me with his round, blue eyes.
“Didn’t I say not to do anything stupid?”
“What did I do?” He wondered, before glancing down to his wrist where my hand was still gripping him. I loosened my hold a bit. I didn’t want to leave bruises on him. But I still couldn’t bring myself to fully disconnect.
He hadn’t really done anything, other than come to this skeezy party full of douchebag alphas that had no problem using their strength to pin him against a couch and god knows what else.
But I didn’t have anywhere else to direct my anger.
And the thought of what might have happened if I hadn’t been watching had my blood rushing through my veins like a deluge.
“Didn’t you see the way that fucking creep was looking at you? The way he was touching you?” I could barely force the word out.
With his free hand, he pushed his pale hair away from his face, blowing out a breath. At least he knew enough to know it wasn’t the time for him to screw around with me by arguing and deliberately trying to get under my skin like usual.
“Yeah, I… I don’t know why he’s here.”
“You know that guy?” I realized. That was even worse.
“Um, kind of,” he admitted. “He hangs around the youth center a lot, where I volunteer.”
“Stay away from him.”
“I mean…” He bit down into his lower lip for a moment, before continuing. “I can’t really do that. He’s the son of the director, and-”
“Jordy,” I cut him off. My fingers tightened on his wrist, and he inhaled sharply. “I wasn’t asking. Stay the fuck away from him.”
“You’re kind of hurting me,” he breathed out, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear it.
Yanking my hand away, I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment.
Shame and self loathing welled up inside me until I thought I would burst into a fountain of sticky black tar.
This was why I needed to keep away from him.
It was like his presence opened up some horrible part of myself that I couldn’t control.
“Sorry,” I bit out, suddenly unable to look at him.
“It’s okay,” he said quickly, taking a step toward me to close some of the distance I’d put between us.
“Kieran…” The way he said my name was so soft and pleading, like he regretted that I’d let go of him.
But I could never tell if the thoughts I had like that were real, or if I was just pathetically desperate to believe them.
“You don’t have to worry about me so much. ”
He reached out, his palm hovering just barely above the back of my hand, so close that I could feel the warmth from his skin. When he brushed it, like he was trying to comfort me, I had to suppress a shiver. His fingertips were soft and smooth like silk.
“I do,” I argued, wishing I could make him understand. How could he not know how impossibly desirable he was? “It’s like you don’t know what could happen to you.”
“I wouldn’t have let him do anything to me.”
“Let him?” I repeated incredulously, unable to stop the shocked scoff from tumbling out. “Do you actually think you could stop an alpha if he wanted you bad enough?” Could he really be that naive?
“I just mean that I-”
“Stop me, then,” I snapped out. Flipping my hand over, I grasped his wrist again, raising it and backing him into a wall so it was pinned over his head.
He let out the tiniest little whimpering gasp as his back hit the wall.
It dug into my ears like an icepick, sending a dark thrill coursing through my blood.
“Show me how you’re not going to let me do anything to you. ”
I expected him to struggle or try to push me off.
To tell me to let him go, or threaten to scream for help.
Some form of self preservation, at least. But he only stared up at me through his pretty eyelashes, his perfectly pouty lips parted just enough that he could lightly pant through them.
The hand I didn’t have pinned to the wall crept up my chest to grip my shoulder, like he was anchoring himself to me.
Blood drained to my crotch, swelling up my cock so it was pressed into my zipper.
“Jordy.” I growled out his name as a warning, pulling his hand off me and pinning it to the wall too.
Even completely helpless, with his pulse fluttering like a trapped butterfly against my palms, he didn’t struggle or show any signs of fear.
His scent intensified, drowning my senses in artificial fruit and bubblegum until my teeth were aching.
My eyes snapped down to his omega gland, where his shoulder met his neck, hidden by the collar of his varsity jacket.
“Stop me,” I repeated. Only this time I really wanted him to.
If he didn’t, I wasn’t sure I could avoid doing something I’d regret.
He only shook his head, his pink tongue flicking out to wet his lips. “I really don’t want you to stop.”
“What are you not getting?” I demanded, my voice suddenly hoarse. Every muscle in my body was tensed, like I was ready to pounce on him. “Do you want some alpha to take advantage of you?”
“Not some alpha,” he countered. “Just one alpha.”
I groaned, releasing his wrists. Instead of pushing me away, he slid his hands up my arms, over my shoulders, and hooked them behind my neck, raising up to his toes so our faces had barely any space between them.
It was wrong. It was so fucking wrong, but I couldn’t stop myself from rocking my hips into him, grinding my cock into his navel. Shuddering out a breath, my mouth was hovering way too close, just an inch away from the soft skin of his neck, where his scent was the strongest.
“Just do it,” he whispered, his words gliding into my ears like silk as his slender fingers clutched at the back of my collar. There was a husky quality to his voice that I almost didn’t believe I was hearing. Like he was as turned on as I was. “You did it before.”
What was he talking about?
“Jordy, I n-”
The door to the bedroom slammed open, smacking the opposite wall with a loud bang.
Startled, we both jerked apart, Jordy letting out a cartoonish squeak.
It would have been funny if not for the insane circumstances.
Loud music poured into the room like a tidal wave, crashing over us, along with the sounds of laughter and dozens of conversations.
“Oh, sorry!” The girl in the door frame apologized, before giggling as a guy started giving her loud, smooching kisses.
“I-it’s fine,” Jordy stammered out. “We were just…”
“Leaving,” I finished. “I’m leaving,” I added.
I felt numb, like I was in shock. If we’d had one more single minute uninterrupted, I would have had my tongue on his neck and his perfect, perky ass in my hands.
What the fuck were we thinking? And what the hell did he mean by you did it before?
I’d never done anything like that with him.
Unless he meant… When I was drunk, and couldn’t remember. Fuck.
“You’re leaving?” He asked, sounding distressed as he scampered behind me to exit the room.
“Yeah.”
“Kieran, wait,” he pleaded, grabbing at my wrist and holding it with the lightest touch imaginable. “Um… I don’t want you to go.” Even that impossibly light touch was too much for me.
“I can’t relax here.”
“Let me come with you. Please.”
A neon sign in my brain was flashing with the word no.
It wasn’t a good idea. I needed distance from him.
I needed to get away from his scent, and his soft voice, and those pleading blue eyes.
But at that moment, being apart from him felt like the most devastating thing imaginable.
It was physically impossible for me to say no.
And there was no way in hell I was leaving him here now, not without me to watch over him.
“Fine. Come on.”
When he kept his light grip on my wrist, I gently reached down and pulled his hand off.
“There’s too many people we know here,” I said, when his brows furrowed together at my action. The hurt disappointment on his face was like a stab to my chest. He wanted to be touching me, holding onto me.
“Oh. Right,” he said, shaking his head like he didn’t know what had come over him. I felt exactly the same way. I felt like I was in a fever dream. A fever dream where Jordy wanted me as much as I wanted him. I wanted to be elated, but I couldn’t. “I’m sorry,” he added weakly.
I wanted to tell him not to apologize, that he could do anything he wanted to me, or use me any way that would give him even the tiniest sliver of pleasure or comfort. But I couldn’t encourage his behavior. No matter how fucking badly I wanted to.
“You want to tell Dani you don’t need a ride home?”
“I’ll text her from the truck.” And then he did it again, that tiny fleeting brush of contact to the back of my hand, right over where I had my royal crown tattoo. Even once his fingers were gone, that patch of my skin kept burning. “Lead the way.”