Chapter 16 #4
“Shit. We’re on our way. Don’t leave. But get out of the fucking rain.” He hangs up and I shove my phone in my pocket, dipping my hand into my other pocket to grab the pack of smokes I shouldn’t have, but do.
I take shelter under a nearby tree and lean against the trunk. Lighting up a smoke, I inhale it deeply, letting out a broken groan.
Closing my eyes, I let the buzz of the nicotine hit my bloodstream. I wish it was something stronger, much stronger.
Maybe I should take what the students did, I deserve the same fate for not stopping it when I could have.
“Beckham.” The sound of my name being called has me opening my eyes.
Three big bodies head towards me.
“Are you fucking smoking?” Alaric growls, snatching the cigarette from my hand.
I don’t say anything, don’t fight him on it.
“Shit.” Jamie grips my face, forcing me to look at him. “Baby, what's wrong? What happened?” He growls.
“They died,” I mumble. “They all died because of me.”
They look at one another confused.
“What do you mean?” Alaric asks.
“Who died?” Jamie asks.
“Beckham. Talk to us.” Tatum growls.
I don’t, I just blink the water that keeps running into my eyes away and stare at them.
“Fuck. He’s in shock.” Alaric growls, shoving off his jacket. He wraps it around my shoulder and pulls me away from the tree. “Come on, baby. Let’s get out of here.”
“I have class.”
“Fuck class.” Jamie growls. “You’re in no shape to be teaching anything.”
I don’t have it in me to fight, don’t want to really. So I let them bring me to their car and take me to their house.
They get me in and work together to strip me out of my wet clothes. If I wasn’t in such a shocked state, I'd be crying for a whole new reason. I’ve never been cared for like this. And fuck if I don’t need that right now.
You don’t deserve it. You don’t deserve them. You’re nothing, just like Ralph said you were. Just a weak omega who can’t do anything but run and hide.
Isn't that what I’ve been doing most of my life? After what happened with Ralph, I ran when I could instead of going to my father for help. I stayed away because I was afraid. And when I got back, I still ran from the real issues. The reasons I came home in the first place.
Jamie helps me into a pair of his boxers, then Tatum puts a pair of his sweats on me. Jamie gets me to sit down while Alaric puts his hoodie over my head and Tatum puts socks on me.
It’s all too much. I roll over onto my side and curl up into a ball on their bed.
They don’t say anything for a long while, each of them with a hand on me as they rub my leg, my back, my hair. It makes me cry harder.
“Baby, please talk to us. You’re starting to scare us.” Alaric says, brushing some of my hair away from my face.
Whimpering, I crawl until my head is in his lap and I’m looking up at the three of them.
I know I need to tell them. But how much? I mentally can’t handle telling them about my past with Ralph. I can’t. I just. Fuck. I can’t.
But I can tell them everything else.
“I moved back home for a reason” I tell them.
“Wasn’t it to join your family business?” Jamie asks.
I snort out a laugh. “No. At first, that's what I planned on letting my father believe, but I ended up getting so caught up with my new life and teaching at the school that I forgot all about the family business. And the real reason I came home.”
“And what reason was that?” Tatum asks, his hand rubbing comfortably up my calf. Fuck, I love his touch. All of their touches soothe my broken soul.
“At my old job, a good chunk of students died of drug overdoses. It all happened in a short amount of time so they expected something more was at play. I felt horrible, sick to my stomach because these are kids I knew, kids I taught. Even one…” I get choked up thinking about Chad.
“Even a student who I was a sort of mentor to. It broke me. The police weren't doing anything about it. I didn’t understand why. Nothing was being done, so I thought I’d try my hand at helping.
I overheard talk about a local gang that could be the cause of it, so I paid them a visit. "
“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Tatum growls. “Because we’ll fucking kill them.”
“No.” I shake my head. “But their leader did kick me out of town.”
“What, why?” Jamie asks.
“Because they were getting the heat, when in reality I guess the talk was, my family was behind it.”
“What?” Alaric frowns. “No. That's not possible. Your father hates anything to do with drugs. It’s something he and our fathers clashed over because he refused to do any business with Jamie’s dad.”
“I know.” I close my eyes seeing my sister’s smiling face.
“My dad has nothing to do with drugs since my sister passed away.” I open my eyes again.
“That’s why I knew I had to get to the bottom of this.
I had to find out who was spreading that rumor and why they believed it was my family.
When I got back, I hinted the subject to my dad and he shot it down fast. I knew he didn’t have anything to do with it. ”
“So what did you do?” Tatum asks.
“My plan was to join the family business, giving myself the opening I needed to dig deeper. But not long after I moved, all deaths stopped. No more students were dying because of drug overdoses. At least not any similar to the cases beforehand. Then work got busy, and I got distracted by life. I thought if the deaths stopped, everything was okay. I was wrong. So fucking wrong.” I squeeze my eyes shut.
“It’s happening again.” My voice breaks.
“So many kids died already and I could have stopped it. I could have found out who was doing this sooner and stopped those kids from dying.”
“Hey. Stop that.” Alaric growls before cupping my face.
“Do not blame yourself. Do you understand me? This isn’t your job to handle.
You did not give them dirty drugs. You did not force those kids to take anything.
You did not kill those kids. It was a very fucked up tragedy, but you are not the cause of it. ”
I close my eyes, my body jerking as I start to sob. I roll over, burying my face into Alaric’s stomach, breathing in his ocean scent calming me into sleep.
“He’s sleeping,” I hear Alaric’s voice say as I start to wake up. “What's this about?”
Rolling over, I rub at my eyes. “Hey,” Jamie murmurs. I look over to see that I’m cuddled into his side.
“Hi.” I rasp.
“Let’s go to your place,” Alaric says.
“Who’s on the phone?” I murmur as I move into a seated position.
“Alaric’s dad,” Tatum says, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts. My body is tired. I want to sleep for the rest of my life,” I say softly.
“Not happening,” Jamie says. “But you are going to eat.”
I shake my head. “Not hungry."
“What’s going on?” Tatum asks when Alaric hangs up the phone.
“That was my dad. He said that there’s a big meeting happening in about two hours. And we’re attending in their place.”
“What’s this about?” Jamie asks.
Alaric looks at me and my heart sinks. “The drugs and the students dying because of them. The families are not happy because it’s going to draw attention where it’s not needed, so they want to get to the bottom of it and find out who’s the snake and cut them off by the head.”
“I’m coming with you,” I say, scooting out of bed.
“No,” Alaric says.
“Yes.” I growl. “I might not have any plans of taking over for my father, but I am still a part of this life. And this is about something I failed to put a stop to in the first place.”
“Stop blaming yourself.” Tatum growls. “This isn’t something you could have handled on your own. And now you have us. And we are damn sure going to find out who it is, and put a fucking end to it before anyone else dies.”
A big wave of relief takes over. I knew I could never have done this on my own and I was a fool to think I could. Trusting in anyone is hard for me, but I know my alphas are on my side. They won’t fail me.
I take a quick shower and put back on my clothes. Jamie washed and dried them for me. I thanked him with a kiss before taking the sandwich Tatum made me, eating to appease my alphas.
When we get to Cross Industries, I wish I hadn’t eaten. As we head up to the top floor, I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“Come on.” Jamie takes my hand. “Everything is going to be okay.”
As we approach the door, we can hear yelling. We all frown as we all look at one another. “Welcome to the shit show,” Tatum mutters before throwing the door open.
“I don’t give a fuck what people are saying!” I see my father leaning over the table, his face a mask of fury. “It’s not me!”
“Well then who the fuck is it?” I recognize the face of the man sitting a few spots down but can’t remember his name. “Because it sure as fuck isn’t me.”
“Maybe there's another family we don’t know about,” Alaric says, stepping into the room.
All eyes are on us now and I’m starting to regret wanting to be a part of this meeting.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Ralph’s growl has my spine stiffening.
“We’re here in place of our fathers,” Jamie says with a laugh. “We have more reason to be here than you, you dirty little lap dog. So why don’t you go fuck off.”
“Just because you’re my son’s alphas doesn’t mean I’ll allow you to disrespect my men.” My father growls and fuck, it’s like a stab in the gut hearing him defend Ralph like that.
“And why is he here?” Ralph growls. “He’s with the enemy.”
“I wasn’t aware our families were enemies. This is news to me. Is there something I’m not aware of?” Alaric asks my father.
“No.” My father shoots Ralph a look. “Enough. I won’t have you starting shit where it’s not needed.”
Fuck. I sure enjoy watching my dad scold him like a bad dog though.
“Sit.” The man I now remember as Donald Rockwell, head of the Rockwell mafia family, says. “We were just discussing the recent deaths and the fuckers dealing dirty bullshit drugs on our streets.”