Chapter 3
Chapter Three
QUINN
Kade makes a grab for the bill, but I snatch it off the table faster. With a teasing laugh and a quick step, I dodge as he tries to stop me.
“You paid last time.” I smile, walking backward, waving the bill folder at him.
“No, you did. You also pulled this same shit then.” He makes a rumbly sound of challenge, placing both his hands on the table and pushing himself to stand. He starts stalking toward me like a lion in the jungle.
Like every other time we’ve been here, my intention of leaving him quickly never actually happens. Once the dinner rush is done, the place empties, and we get to talk for hours without being rushed. And each minute I spend with him, I feel my reserves filling back up.
There are a few people around, but they are in their own world, leaving Kade and me to drink and flirt, to forget about life and responsibilities for a few precious hours.
Staying true to form, Kade ordered way too many plates for us to share.
I love how indecisive he is, but I’m also well aware it’s his way of making sure I’m eating properly.
Of course, we ate our way through them and shared a bottle of wine.
Then we started working our way through the cocktail menu.
Kade’s hooded eyes are proof of how lethal fruity cocktails are.
I take another step away, and he takes one closer. Then he pulls out the big guns in his attempt to scramble my brain and stop me from paying. “Come here, my beautiful little whore.”
His ploy of deliberately throwing me off my game works.
Until I remember what I was doing, or probably more accurate is why I was going to pay.
Kade has a shitty job at a small accounting firm, with an even shittier paycheck.
Unlike me, who negotiated like a demon, and as a result has more of Victor’s money than I know what to do with.
I give him a grin of victory, making the final dash to the waitress. I hand over my card quickly before leaning against the side of the greeting station and savoring my win by staring at Kade, using my eyes to let him know he’s a winner too.
The front door opens behind me, letting in a gust of wintery weather. Twisting around to let the new person walk past, a glint of something flashes in my periphery before the cold of it presses against my cheek, stopping me dead in my tracks.
“All I want is money.”
A man speaks, his voice pitching all over the place. He’s so unbelievably close, all I can smell is rotten eggs. My anxiety climbs; meth users can be more irrational than Alphas in a rut.
I shrink down submissively and become as small as I can. Which is harder than it sounds, because a part of me wants to lecture him on the danger of drugs. Thankfully, my survivalist side mutes that voice.
The robber keeps his weapon pressed to my skin, and I keep my gaze on the ground. Everyone is deathly silent.
“You, go get everyone’s wallet.”
He’s talking to the waitress, and she starts hyperventilating. From the corner of my eye, I watch as she walks backward at a snail’s pace. Her hands are up in surrender as she makes her way to where the others are all standing.
“No one act the fucking hero. You don’t need to be doing nothing but getting your wallets out.”
She gets to the first group and they pass their wallets, but she drops half of them because she’s literally shaking like a leaf. You can feel everyone encouraging her to keep going, but you can also sense their fear.
Kade clears his throat, drawing the focus to him. Like everyone else who’s standing, he’s made sure his posture is unthreatening. He points to an ice bucket on the edge of the bar. “Could I carry this bucket for her? She’s scared.”
Kade’s eyes are locked on the man next to me as he waits for an answer.
The man next to me chuckles before he presses the weapon a little harder into my cheek. “If you screw around, it’s not you that’s going to suffer. You get that, right?”
“Yes. No hero shit, just get everyone’s wallets so you can get out of here,” Kade parrots, not moving until he gets permission.
“Hurry up, then, Romeo, ’cause your girlfriend is already bleeding.”
Kade goes to the girl. I can hear him talking quietly to her, trying to comfort her, but the words he says are lost over the adrenaline coursing through my system.
I keep my eyes glued on him, borrowing his calmness.
He’s that person; always going out of his way to make sure everyone around him is okay and at ease.
When we first got together, it irked me how he’d stop and chat with people, but not now.
It’s just another of his qualities I find endearing.
The man next to me is starting to get impatient, scoffing and shuffling on his feet. “Let’s go. I ain’t got all fucking night.”
Kade leaves the girl in the middle of the restaurant to finish doing the rounds. He hands the full bucket to the girl, talking quietly again to her. She’s shutting down more and more with each quiet word Kade says.
He puts an arm around her, facing her away from the robber. “Can I bring it over? She can’t.”
“Slide that shit over here, then. Make it count, though; I’d hate to slip and mess this pretty face up.”
Kade remains passive despite the threat, his movement steady, but he rises to the situation too. There’s no hesitation when he walks to where the path between us is the straightest and the clearest. He leans down and slides the bucket over.
Time stretches, making it feel like it takes forever for the bucket to slide to a stop, right at my feet. The moment it’s close enough, I get shoved as the man makes a grab for the bucket.
I trip over my own feet and hit the floor as the door slams shut.
“Call 911,” Kade yells as he leaps over the distance. The instant he’s in front of me, his voice is as tentative as his touch. “Quinny.”
I bury my face against his chest. His arms hold me tight, and he starts calling out instructions to the others. I twist and see the poor girl has gone into shock and is collapsed in a heap on the floor.
“Let me go to her,” I murmur, but his arms tighten.
“I will. I just need to hold you a bit longer first.”
I itch to go help, but Kade needs me too.
“I’m so sorry that happened.” He tips my face up, his eyes full of sympathy, mixed with anger and control.
“Not your fault.”
“I’m never letting you pay our bill again.” He laughs quietly; it’s forced, but he’s trying hard. He wipes his thumb over my cheek. “Does it hurt?”
“I can’t feel anything.”
“That makes sense.” He threads our fingers together, and I know it’s for both our comfort. I’m shaking in my stress, and his arms tighten to hold on to his control. I suspect if I made one wrong move or sound, I’d be bundled up and raced to the hospital.
In the distance, sirens echo, but it doesn’t mean they’re coming here. Though the neighborhood isn’t the roughest, it’s not the safest either. We both watch for a few moments before the flashing blue-and-red lights of a patrol car appear.
“You tell them what happened,” I say.
“Wait here.” He kisses my forehead before stepping around me.
While Kade goes to meet the police with the owners of the restaurant, I triple-check everyone is okay. It turns out one of the couples are doctors from out of town, and they have everything under control. The only injury is the cut on my face, but it’s not bad enough for a visit to the hospital.
Another patrol car pulls up out front, and something about the scene makes me anxious. I wait next to the door, ready to go stand near Kade and give my statement but wait. Not only is Kade talking with the officers, but he’s also shaking hands with the latest arrivals.
I lean against the wall and watch.
There’s familiarity between them.
They know Kade, and Kade knows them. The longer I watch, the more obvious it becomes. Kade’s whole demeanor matches theirs.
I’m about to vomit, or faint, but I force myself to stay and see what I have been blind to. My friends-with-benefits-Beta-scent-match lover transforms from bullshit accountant to an officer of the law.
I never had a reason to doubt what Kade previously said, but now I’m scrambling over old conversations to see if he ever slipped up.
And I get people make conscious decisions about what they’re willing to share with others.
Even when you’re close to someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean they get the “real” you, but Kade’s deceit hits hard.
There might not be any malicious intention as to why he lied about his career, but it’s a dangerous, and intentional, move on his part. For all I know, he could be one of Victor’s people. I’m mostly sure he’s not, but I once thought my father would protect me forever too.
There’s no coming back from this. There’d be no explanation from Kade that could reverse the damage to our relationship. Not just because of the lie, either. I live with lies myself. But an officer of the law? Yeah, no thank you.
My regrets come in thick and fast. The main ones being, I wish I had held him longer and taken another draw of his scent.
With a heavy heart, I turn away from him and make my way through the restaurant to the back door. One of the kitchen hands is standing outside, the skunky smoke of his blunt hanging like a cloud.
Perhaps it’s the trauma we shared inside, but I lean against the same wall the kitchenhand does.
It’s one of those weird times you don’t need words.
He offers me a smoke, and I keep taking hits until my lungs catch fire and my stress fogs.
When the buzz outweighs the trauma, I hand him back his joint.
Digging out my phone, I consider calling Kade, but I can’t, for about a million reasons. A text will be just as effective and more emotionally efficient.
You are seriously the best FWB a girl could ask for. Tonight was the shakeup I needed… a reminder that life is short, and I’m holding you back. I can’t give you anything more, no matter how much I wish it was different. Always, Q
The guy next to me is busy on his phone, and he offers the blunt again without looking my way, but I don’t take it.
“Night,” I offer, walking away from him. And my life with Kade.
The first couple of blocks, I do an amazing job of denying the truth about the whole day. The Alpha bite is a real fucking concern, but when I put that next to finding out about Kade—and leaving him—it fades into obscurity. I sob my heart out as Kade consumes me.
But I need to feel the suffering and let our time scar me deeply, so I don’t ever forget.
It's a necessary pain, a long time coming.
I put metaphorical distance between us as long as the miles I walk on my way home.
The deep sadness that settles in my bones needs no exaggeration; he was, after all, so much more than a hookup.
I hate Victor more and more every day for how he ruined my life. I hate fate for delivering someone as special as Kade is into my world, when I could never have him properly. I hate that my trust is so fractured, I don’t know what is up or down anymore.
Kade always wanted me to bring him back to my place. As an Omega, every cell in my body wanted to have him in my space too. I wouldn’t have let him leave until his scent was ingrained in every inch of my house. Like he did to my soul.
But I couldn’t let that happen.
For both of our sakes.
There are too many secrets hidden inside, and I would have spilled every one of them to him if his body was tangled with mine, in my own bed.
Even knowing I made the right choice by keeping him at arm’s length, it doesn’t make me feel any better. It’s not like you can mend a broken heart by walking from one side of the city to the other.
The security guard is already standing up when I start entering the access code to the front entrance, hiding my cheek from him.
“Did you have a nice evening, Quinn?” he asks when I get closer.
“It’s always nice to be home. Quiet night?” I go to move to the next sliding door, waiting for him to unlock it, but he places a familiar-looking envelope on the top of his desk.
“Another letter arrived.”
Pasting on a smile, I turn to face him, and he gives me a smile in return as he buzzes me through.
The high-level security available here should bring me a sense of peace, but it doesn’t.
Tonight, I’m seeing the illusion I’ve been living with vicious clarity.
I might now be older and have my career, but I feel more unprepared than ever.
Inside my apartment, I keep the lights off; the sparkling skyline is bright enough anyway. Like always, the view beckons me closer. There’s something soothing about the constant flow of movement from high above.
Tonight, the view doesn’t bring the sense of freedom it usually does. My chest aches with the vastness of the skyline, the freedom so close anyone can touch it. And I know the reason for the tension.
It’s the bite on my hand.
It’s Kade, but it’s not him too.
It’s the message in the envelope.
It’s what happens if I refuse.
I don’t need to open today’s envelope to know what it says; the countdown to my wedding is a timer that accompanies me wherever I go. And time is nearly up.
Usually that brings me a glimmer of happiness, knowing I’m one step closer to facing Victor again, but not tonight. Tonight, I’m completely empty, and disillusioned, and unable to see anything good in the world.