32. Bailey-Rose #2
Letting out a sigh, I leaned back into him, a little overwhelmed. “It’s too much,” I whispered.
“Why?” Vili asked as he stood in front of me. “Why too much, kitten?”
“All I have is a concept, and there’s no proof it will work,” I reasoned.
“Anyone in the creative world knows choosing this for your living is always a risk. What if I do this, get people’s hopes up, and then it fails so miserably I have to close the gallery?
Then not only have I failed them, myself, but my family as well.
” Vili’s expression was understanding, but I could tell he didn’t agree with what I was saying.
Grasping my hand in both of his, he kissed the back of it.
“Kitten, the only time you fail people is not even trying. Your family gave you foundation, a place to start, so now you must make it grow. Feed it your passion, shower it in determination, pluck out negativity, and trust the dream. It’s okay to have fear, it makes you wise, but it can’t take over the dream.
This is the key… fear is good until it steals from you, but you have us. We won’t let it win.”
Turning my hand so it was palm up, he undid the band to my heart monitor and slipped it into his pocket.
Confused, I watched as he pulled something out of his other pocket.
It was a different monitor encased in silver with a band that had delicate-looking chains on it.
In various spots on the chain was a heart with a letter stamped into it—one for each of my guys and a larger heart with what looked like a QR code etched into it.
“What is this?” I asked, even though it was obvious.
Vili kissed my wrist before releasing my hand. “Proof we are always here, kitten.”
“What he means is that we have been talking to Dr. Arbour. He alerted us to this new heart rate monitor technology. This isn’t approved here in Preidon yet, so Dr. Arbour got us in the final product trial,” Gareth explained.
Yun-Sun tapped the screen twice, waking it up.
“Not only is it set to your specific thresholds, if it hits the danger range, an ambulance will be called, along with all of us getting notifications. That means it will give your exact location so the EMTs can find you, and we’ll know too.
We all agreed it was important for you to feel confident being here and running this place once it’s open.
This gives everyone peace of mind, and we hope it will do the same for you. ”
“The QR code was my idea,” Warrick interjected.
“It has all our numbers, what hospital to take you to, and to ensure Dr. Arbour is alerted about any situation. You’ve had to give up so many things in your life, but you deserve to have it all.
We hope this will be a step in taking back some of the confidence others have stolen from you. ”
Unable to hold back the tears from earlier, I sniffled, clutching my wrist to my chest. “Thank you, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me, not only because of the added protection but the trust my Alphas have in me.”
Arms wrapped around me as my pack converged into a group hug with me at the center, purring at the love and affection surrounding me.
Music filled the studio from the sound system I discovered had been installed thanks to Crew.
He knew better than anyone how much I loved to lose myself in the lyrics as I painted.
I stood in front of a large canvas, taking in the sketch I did and tapping the pencil against my chin in time with the song.
The outline of five men in various places around a kitchen counter stared back at me.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about painting them since it was so different from what I normally chose to do.
Most of my previous work had been of a single person, but this moment was seared into my brain.
One morning, I’d come down, but no one heard me enter the kitchen, so I watched as they worked.
Yun-Sun was running the show, which I’m learning is the normal way of things, and they were trying to make an extravagant breakfast. Gareth and Warrick argued over the proper way to cook a poached egg.
Vili was scooping flour into a bowl only to be knocked by Warrick dodging Gareth’s attack.
Flour exploded everywhere as the bowl flew across the counter and crashed to the floor.
Ulysses had been cutting up fruit across from Vili and now had a face full of flour since the scoop Vili still had in his hand got flung in his direction.
Yun-Sun was the only one not affected by this debacle, having just pulled bacon out of the oven, but the look on his face was priceless.
Warrick’s solution was to grab more flour and toss it at the two who were still clean. Unable to keep from laughing, the guys discovered me standing there. Moments later, I got dragged into the situation as Ulysses snatched me up in a hug, smearing flour all over my face from his.
Now here I was trying to recreate the feeling of that moment as my pack was currently sitting with the Scent Matchers.
I’d been hoping diving into a memory so perfect and full of love would keep my mind from thinking of all the terrible things that could happen.
Grabbing the eraser off the table beside me, I started to fix a spot I knew wasn’t working.
The drag of my pencil over the canvas was comforting as I concentrated on shaping the bowl of flying flour.
The feel of a tap on my shoulder had me spinning around and jerking away, sending me crashing into the canvas. A hand grabbed me, keeping me from crashing to the floor like everything else did.
“Bumblebee, it’s just me,” Randall said, trying to soothe me.
Seeing him standing there holding my arm did nothing to calm the adrenaline racing through my veins. “Randall,” I gasped. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I tried to knock and call out, but you didn’t hear me, leaving me no choice,” Randall explained.
“That’s not what I asked,” I pointed out as I tried to blow hair out of my face. “I asked you what are you doing here in this studio you should know nothing about.”
He reached out, making me flinch as he tucked the rouge hairs behind my ear.
“Bumblebee, if you’d only answered your phone or responded to me, I wouldn’t have had to come here.
It’s incredibly hard to get you alone since one of them is always with you.
Those fuckers know you belong to me and are doing everything in their power to keep you hidden.
Too bad for them I have connections in high places. I warned them not to fuck with me.”
Nothing Randall was saying made sense. It’s almost as if he was wearing a mask to look like the man I’d dated, but the words coming out of his mouth were nonsensical.
“I-I don’t understand, Randall, why would they be keeping me from you?” I questioned, in hopes of getting some clue to his logic. “Those men you keep talking about are my scent matches, so why wouldn’t I be with them?”
“No,” he roared, yanking me closer. “You can’t have a scent match. You were rejected, and no one who’s rejected has a pack out there waiting for them. It’s forbidden.”
Forced to place my hand on his chest or fall into him, I tried to keep as much distance between us. “I don’t know what to tell you, Randall, but that’s not true. I have a pack and five men who will be my scent-bonded Alphas.”
“Lies, it’s all lies. Don’t you see they used something to make you think that, but it’s not true,” Randall said vehemently, spittle from his words hitting my face as he gave me a rough shake.
“You’re mine, Bailey-Rose. I picked you.
They said I could have you because you’re a reject, and no one will ever claim a reject.
Who wants a broken Omega whose heart could stop working at any moment? ”
Fear clawed at my throat as tears rolled down my cheeks, constricting my airway so all I could do was squeak my protest at the rough treatment.
“Shh, Bumblebee, don’t cry,” Randall cooed, wiping my tears with his sleeve.
“I didn’t mean to upset you by saying that, but it’s the truth you need to face.
See, I was rejected too. I had a pack, but they told lies about me and said I hurt our Omega to the point she ended up in the hospital.
None of it was true. That bitch wouldn’t let me mark her, said I scared her.
No matter what I did, she didn’t admit to the lie.
If she’d just been honest, then I wouldn’t have had to be so rough.
They wouldn’t even let me see her in the hospital, but none of that matters now because I found you. ”
Horror washed over me at his words, taking me back to when we met. “Are you telling me you didn’t have a brother who was sick and in the hospital?”
“Well, in a manner of speaking, he was a pack brother at that time. Broke his nose when he didn’t let me in her room,” Randall mumbled as he licked his thumb and used it to wipe under my eye.
“You should wear waterproof mascara. We both know you cry over the silliest things. It’s okay…
I’ll make sure to clean you up. We can’t have people thinking I’ve upset you when we leave. ”
“Leave?” I croaked, panic screaming at me to get as far away from this man as possible.
“Of course, I can’t let you stay around here when those men are going to steal you from me.
Your family was no help either. No matter what I tell them, they disagree that you’re mine,” Randall explained absently, using his shirt sleeve to clean up another spot on my other cheek.
“There, now we’re good to go. All I have to do is inject you with this sedative so you don’t get too excited with all the travel.
Can’t risk you hurting your heart until we get you looked at by your new doctor.
I made sure to research the best of the best in all of Trastle. ”
Trastle! That wasn’t just leaving town, it was fleeing to another fucking country.