Chapter Fourteen
Roderic
The knowledge that she’d left her car at the apartment complex was both good and bad, but it wasn’t as important as taking care of her pain.
I’d had my share of headaches, and my mother suffered from migraines, and it was better to catch them at the start than try to reduce them once they really got going.
“Why don’t you go lay down again, Sweetheart? I’ll turn the shades on so it’s not too bright in there.”
Paige blinked up at me before giving a small nod. I wanted to scoop her into my arms and carry her to the bed, but I was still trying to give her space so she would be comfortable. It was excruciating to do nothing more than follow her as she returned to my bedroom.
She only took a few steps into the room before pausing, her gaze focused on the bed.
I didn’t care about the mess or the smell, I wanted it to remain the way it was forever, but the pink tint creeping up her ears said she might not feel the same.
My alpha side didn’t like it, but I pushed that aside.
“I can get fresh bedding.”
My nails bit into my palms as I made the offer, wanting to do no such thing. Even if I knew it was going to have to be cleaned up eventually, it still hurt to purposely remove the evidence of the last few days.
“Okay.”
Her response was neutral enough I could hope she was wrestling with the same emotions even as I told myself new sheets just meant an excuse to make a new mess.
I wanted to win her to my side, to have her choose me, but one way or another, we weren’t done.
There was no way I wouldn’t have her locked on my knot again, I just had to be patient.
My movements were stiff as I walked into the closet and tugged down my spare sheets and duvet.
There was a cleaning crew who took care of the whole building, but it wasn’t like I wasn’t capable of doing things myself.
I knew there were alphas out there who wouldn’t have the first clue how to make a bed, but that wasn’t the way I’d been raised.
Paige was standing at the foot of the bed hugging one of the pillows that had been knocked off when I stepped back out of the closet. The hopeful part of me said she looked distressed at the thought of unmaking the last remnants of her nest, but I buried that voice as I moved closer.
“You can toss the dirty stuff in the corner. The bedding is usually sent out to be cleaned.”
She startled as if she hadn’t realized I was there before looking down at the pillow she was clutching.
“Oh, okay.”
I bit back my grin at her tone. It wasn’t just wishful thinking. She sounded as upset as I felt. The knowledge helped ease some of the worries I’d been ignoring, and I set to stripping the mattress.
Paige coughed as I tugged the sheets off the bed, and I pretended not to hear the growl she tried to hide.
I hadn’t been soft for a second since getting her into my car, but her reactions only made me harder.
I was tempted to push her, to remove the bedding from the room completely, including the pillow she still hugged to her chest, but I wasn’t sure I could control myself if I did.
Her attitude was peeking through, and it made me want to pin her down and see how feisty she would get, but that would lead to both of us naked and dirty again.
Which was how I wanted us, but I was trying to behave.
I had the fitted sheet on the mattress and was spreading the flat sheet when Paige started helping.
Her little fingers tugged and adjusted until it laid smooth, folded down precisely beneath where the pillows would be.
She was even more insistent with the duvet, working her way around the entire bed as if I wasn’t even there, pulling and petting until it looked like a set waiting to be photographed.
Then came the pillows.
I didn’t bother to help, getting out of the way so she could do as she wished.
It might not have made sense to take the pillows from the floor that smelled like us and put them back on the clean bed, but I wasn’t going to stop her.
The sight of her nesting in my bed outside her heat had my chest tightening and longing rushing through me.
I wanted this every day, and I was going to find a way to make it happen.
Some might have argued that it was too soon. That it didn’t make sense for me to be so sure she was the one when I knew so little about her.
But what about our hormones and instincts ever made sense?
She was mine. The omega for me. Her scent alone told me that. Anything else could be worked out.
I gripped my aching cock through my slacks as I watched her, wanting nothing more than to crowd her from behind and bend her over, ruining her hard work.
She’d whimper and struggle at first, but we both knew she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
The smell of slick mixing with her already sweet scent told me as much.
Our differences didn’t matter, we would find a way.
Her gaze lifted from the bed, landing on me where I leaned against the wall beside the door. She seemed to realize what she’d been doing, her pale skin flushing pinking as her eyes widened. Her lips parted, inviting me to come taste them, but I kept myself rooted to the wall.
“Better?”
I pushed all the approval I could into the single word. I knew she craved praise, but I wasn’t above withholding it to get what I wanted.
An image of her crawling to me on her knees and opening my slacks popped into my head, and I gave myself a harsh squeeze before forcing myself to release my cock before I pulled it out and gave her a show.
If she was as close to the edge as I was it might get me some relief, but it wouldn’t lead to what I really wanted.
She needed to trust me.
Choose me.
And I decided I didn’t want it to be halfway. She needed to know what I did, my past and the potential risks of the future, and still choose me anyway.
“Sorry.”
She looked down at the bed as if she was waiting to be reprimanded, but I wouldn’t go that far. Withholding what aroused her and punishing her were two different things, and she’d done nothing to deserve negativity.
“Nothing to be sorry for, Sweetheart. You’re free to do as you wish. Go ahead and climb in, and I’ll dial the shades up.”
Her brows bunched, and I realized she probably didn’t know what I meant. Leo had the entire building built with all the latest tech, and she likely hadn’t seen windows like ours before. When the entire wall of the room was a window, sometimes it was too much.
Turning to the control panel in the wall behind me, I tapped the icon on the screen, then slid my finger up the bar. I always kept the panels behind the bed opaque, but the rest slowly darkened, the light in the room dimming.
A glance over my shoulder showed me her surprised expression as she watched the wall change from clear glass to frosted panes. I stopped when it was dark enough to be able to sleep, but still light enough to be able to move around the room with ease.
“Go ahead and rest. You’ll be able to hear the buzzer when the dryer is done.”
I wanted to go over and tuck her in. Sweep the stray hair falling into her eyes back out of her face. Kiss her plush lips.
One day.
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she eyed the bedding she’d just fixed. Her eyelids were drooping, the skin beneath her blue orbs turning darker and screaming her exhaustion, but I was learning my omega didn’t listen to her body’s needs. It was something I was going to have to change.
“I’ll wake you if you fall asleep.”
Sucking in a breath, the promise seemed to reassure her, even if it would be better for her to sleep. She needed the rest, but I knew she was still planning to run as soon as she got the chance.
And I was waiting for her reaction when she realized I would follow, no matter how far she tried to go.
“Okay.”
I watched as she pulled back the blankets, but left before I saw her climb into the bed. The sight of her there, in nothing but my shirt, would have been something I couldn’t resist.
To keep myself occupied and not thinking about all the things I wanted to do to her, I walked down the hall to my little office and booted up my computer. I wasn’t the tech savvy one of our group, we had people for that, but I still needed to check if I’d received any important emails.
On paper I was nothing more than security for The Warehouse, the club Leo owned.
I wasn’t even listed as the head of security, and that was because there were times I was hardly there.
When things were quiet I spent my nights making sure the club stayed safe, but when the family had issues, I was one of the men who took care of them.
Each of us had our own specialty, but all of us were there to be sure the Galleons and everyone under their protection remained as safe as possible.
Thankfully there was nothing major waiting for me. While the Walkers continued to be a thorn, they had been avoiding outright confrontation, and despite our movements against them like what I’d done the day I found Paige, they still hadn’t retaliated.
It made me worry. It could be that they were too small to retaliate, but generally the type of people who ran these upstart groups weren’t smart enough to realize that until it was too late.
They were prideful, cocky, and made mistakes.
We’d given the Walkers plenty of reasons to either leave the city or step up, but they’d done neither, and the variance from the usual gave me bad vibes.
I deleted all but two emails, grimacing at the names of the senders.
I knew Nicholas’ would be another request for me to come in to check how my old bullet wound was healing, but getting one from Alasdair, my brother who Nicholas was mated to, meant I was one more deleted email away from Nicholas escalating the issue.
My fingers went to my side without thought, pressing on the divot the bullet had left behind. It wasn’t my only gunshot wound, just the newest. It was close to a year old, but I still wasn’t ready to admit it hadn’t healed as well as my previous ones and still caused me pain.
I was getting old.
Sighing, I decided to ignore the emails for another day. Alasdair’s wouldn’t likely be anything more than a scolding for not answering Nicholas, and while I didn’t need Nicholas to report to Leo that I was avoiding the medic, it could wait a little longer.
Unable to resist, I snuck down the hall to the bedroom door I’d left partially open.
After staring at a bright screen, it took my eyes a moment to adjust, but it wasn’t hard to spot the slight lump beneath the sheets that was Paige.
She was small enough she could have been mistaken for nothing more than a poorly made bed if I didn’t know everything had been perfectly tucked and smooth before she climbed into it.
The urge to go cook another meal for her was almost overwhelming.
I wanted to provide for her and make sure her every need was met, but I had to remain patient and see how she reacted once she realized I wasn’t letting her leave alone.
I could hope she’d welcome me, but I knew she was more likely to get upset, so I enjoyed the sight of her resting peacefully for a moment longer before walking to the dryer and changing the timer. It was the least I could do to help.