36. Willow
Chapter thirty-six
Willow
I cross my arms over my chest and stare out the window, the whirlwind of emotion in my heart growing with every tick of the clock on the wall.
“He left,” I mutter to Mr Shares.
My fucking scent-match alpha checked my electricals and vacated the house like I was a job ticked off.
And who would blame him, when I shut myself inside my room and had sex with his brother? Not that I regret my time with Jeremy, but now, Joel’s absence feels like a hole in my chest. He might’ve been really offended.
The worst part is, I can’t decide if I’m relieved or despairing.
The afterglow of making love clings to me, and yet the moment I stepped outside my room, that summer scent hit me so strong it took my breath away. And oddly, stronger in the hall there, than anywhere else in the house.
I rub my nose and groan. What am I supposed to do now? Am I gonna catch feelings for every alpha who walks through my door? If that’s the case, I’m bolting the door. Or, like Alessandro claimed, is it fate bringing us together in the most mysterious of ways.
Well, I should probably go see what needs fixing up in my studio.
I only make it a few steps when my phone vibrates. Digging it out, I light up at the sight of Jeremy’s face; he made sure I added his photo to his contact before leaving.
“Hey. Miss me already?” I tease.
The gasped breath that hisses through the line puts my nervous system on high alert. “Willow! I found Alessandro in his truck. He’s in bad shape.”
My heart thuds heavily in my chest and I lurch for the wall to brace myself. “What? What happened? A car accident?”
“No, the car seems fine, he’s just . . .”
The long pause sets my teeth on edge. “Just what, Jeremy!”
A deeper voice answers in the background. “He looks high as a kite to me.”
That’s Joel, and he’s saying he’s stoned? Alessandro? I can’t picture it at all.
“Should we take him to the hospital?” Jeremy asks away from the receiver.
“No,” I answer instinctively. “I mean, do you think it’s that serious?” What about his green card, or employers? If rumors of drug use get bandied around in this community, his business will dry up fast.
“Not sure yet,” Joel answers, his gruffer tones sending tingles through my core even via the phone. “But we need to get him off the street. His car as well.”
“Bring him here,” I say. “Please? I can nurse him, and, and call an ambulance if it gets any worse.” Not knowing what I’m looking at has me imagining the worst.
“You don’t have to beg, love.” That’s Jeremy, a trace of a smile in his voice. “We’ll be there in a jiffy.”
My heart hammers in my chest as I lock Mr Shares in the laundry and get the security gate and front door open. I crane my head, peering out from the threshold for a glimpse of them coming down the street.
The hum of a vehicle at high rev comes first, and then Alessandro’s work truck swings into the drive. I ache to run out to help, but even leaning past the door frame makes me shake so bad my vision blurs
“Hurry!” I call instead.
Joel throws himself out and runs around the vehicle to the passenger side. Alessandro spills out through the door, limp and totally naked.
“Oh, shit.” I press my hands to my mouth. What on Earth happened to him?
Jeremy tries to help, but he can hardly walk so in the end Joel gathers up the inert alpha and loads him over his shoulder, staggering until he finds his balance.
“Where?” he huffs out as he comes through the porch.
“First right.” I take Alessandro’s hand, finding it clammy.
Joel carries the alpha into the guest bedroom and drops him down on top of the covers. Alessandro writhes, throwing one hand over his head to grab the pillow. His eyes flutter and he looks at me, gaze unfocused. He smiles and slurs what might be a hello in Italian.
I sit down beside him and stroke damp hair off his sweaty brow. “What do we do?”
“I suggest we watch him around the clock,” Joel says, breathing roughly. “Could just be stoned, but seems a bit weird.” He slides a calculating glance my way. “Is this . . . normal for him?”
“No.” I shake my head hard enough to send my hair flying. “I mean, I don’t know for sure but . . .”
My gaze drifts across the alpha’s naked frame. The man who didn’t want to go further with me for fear of breaking my trust now sitting stark naked in his truck in the middle of the street, doing drugs?
“It just doesn’t seem like him,” I mutter.
“It’s not,” Jeremy declares, stumping in through the doorway on his crutches.
Alessandro writhes again. He struggles to focus on Joel and throws out his hands.
“No! Basta.” The alpha slurs out a string of things in Italian.
“Is he calling me a bastard?” Joel asks, frowning.
I grab my phone and search up a translator app. “I think it means “stop”,” I muse. When Alessandro murmurs again, I hit the record option and hold it near his mouth. The English sentence that forms on screen nearly stops my heart.
“What’s he saying?” Jeremy demands.
With trembling hands, I turn the phone so he can see.
I don't want you. I only want my omega. Don’t do this to me.
Jeremy swears. Joel grabs my hand and turns the phone his way to see. His touch lights up my skin.
“Some fucker roofied him,” he growls out, an ominous aura radiating off him.
“Then we have to take him to the hospital?” I ask. “They’ll need to test him and—"
“I’m sorry,” Jeremy says, shaking his head. “But we still need Alessandro’s permission for that. We don’t know enough about him or what happened. We could end up putting him in a worse situation.”
“He’s right,” Joel adds. “For an alpha to get to this state, something’s afoot. The police might be the worst people to get involved.”
They’re right. We need to hear Alessandro’s story first. I’m also letting my emotions get the better of me, which shows this alpha means more to me than I wanted to admit. My legs hollow out.
Joel’s hard gaze sinks to my shaking hand under his and he drops his grasp like my skin’s hot. Whirling on his heel, he strides from the room, stopping just outside the door.
I’ll think about that later. For now, Alessandro needs my focus.
“Okay, if he’s basically high . . .” I type into my search bar and read the results. “Keep him hydrated, offer a healthy snack, keep him calm and quiet. If he’s mobile, walking around can help burn it out of his system.”
Jeremy nods. “I’ll make food.”
“It mentions avocado and nuts here,” I call after him. “Healthy fats.”
“Roger that.” He touches his brother’s shoulder as he hobbles past, a small gesture but it feels powerful and connecting in this moment.
Joel seems even more worked up than I am.
I grab a face washer from the bathroom and use it to dab the sweat off Alessandro. He squirms, giggling when I wipe his ribs. The gentle sound eases the coil of fear lurking in my stomach.
“Ticklish, are we?” I ask, leaning over him.
Alessandro moans softly and arches up into me. His cock hardens and a soft moan vibrates across his lips. He lays there, slightly twisted, like a carved statue of a perfectly formed alpha that should belong in a museum.
I press a kiss to his forehead.
Alessandro squints up at me. “Cara mia?”
“Yes, I’m right here.”
“Are you a dream?”
“No. We found you. You’re safe in my house.”
Tears glisten in his eyes. He chatters in Italian at rapid fire until I grab his cheeks.
“English, Alessandro. English, please. I can’t understand you.”
He sucks in a shaky breath. “I didn’t want. I only want you.”
I scoop my hands around him, my chest aching. “I know. You’re okay now.”
He hooks one arm around my neck and squeezes with a fraction of his usual strength. We stay there for a long moment. Then he growls.
My heart breaks for him. I pull back so I can see his face and ask, “Do you . . . want to go the hospital? If someone touched you, then we need to get the swabs done, for evidence.”
His gaze goes murky for a second. He shakes his head. “No, she didn’t . . . but merda she tried.”
She? The words shock me. A woman did this to him? I mean, yeah, Alessandro’s stunning, like he should be a model in a magazine with an expensive watch and three-piece suit looking off into the distance while leaning on a Lamborghini. But to go that far, to actually attempt to assault him?
A growl from behind me echoes my inner rage.
Alessandro lifts his head. “Who is there?”
I snatch a peek at Joel who leans in the hallway outside, one arm locked rigidly across his chest.
“Joel?” I call.
He jerks forward like I’ve pulled on an invisible leash.
I turn back to the bed. “Alessandro, this is Joel. He found you on the side of the road and brought you to my house.”
Alesandro peers over my shoulder but his eyes can’t seem to focus. He gives up and slumps back. “Grazie, amico.”
“Yeah,” Joel replies. “No big deal.”
Alessandro snorts but keeps the joke to himself. He forces one eye open and reaches for me. I cup his offered hand to my cheek.
“This is your house?” he slurs out.
“Yeah.”
“Nice house.”
I chuckle. Just how high is he? “It is, isn’t it?”
He nods, tousling his black curls on the pillow. “I’m so sleepy, cara mia.”
“Drink some water before you sleep.”
When I offer him a cup, he thrashes out wildly, flailing at my face. “No! No acqua!”
Joel swoops down and pins the alpha’s hands to the sheets.
“You okay?” he asks me, voice burring.
His powerful scent this close to my nose makes my senses swoon. I want to drag him onto the bed beside Alessandro and—
“Willow?”
I jump. “Yes. Fine, all fine.” My cheeks flame and I hope to heaven he has no idea what just flitted through my thoughts.
“Maybe keep some distance," Joel says, tightening his grip. "He’s not himself right now.”
A loud snore bursts out and we look down to find Alessandro’s passed out.
“Well, probably doesn’t matter now.” Joel releases the sleeping alpha and arranges his hands across his abdomen.
With a flick of his wrist, he whisks the comforter from the far side of the bed over Alessandro’s waist, covering him.
Then he glances at me, and his gaze feels like lasers, heated, full of intensity, and boring through me.
Abruptly he turns and strides out of the room.
I lurch after him. “Where are you going?”
He stops but doesn’t turn around. “To get my van.”
“Right now?”
“There’s over twenty grand of gear in the back and we left it on the sidewalk.”
“Oh.” I fiddle with my shirt hem. “Um, thank you.”
He glances back at me, jaw flexed and teeth clenched. “No problem. I’ll be back.”
When he takes another step, I grab the back of his shirt. Is he angry with me? Did I truly offend him earlier?
Joel goes rigid and I drop his clothing immediately. “Ah, how are you getting there?”
“I’ll walk. Was only a few miles away.”
“There’s a bike. In the shed down the side of the house.
If you want it.” I twist my hands together.
“Not sure if the tires are good, but there’s a pump in the box with helmets.
Take one of those too.” My traitorous mouth runs away like a wild animal.
I haven’t had verbal diarrhea since the first year I started filming social media content.
Joel hesitates, back still turned to me. “Sure. You better get back to him.”
He says him like Alessandro’s an alien presence we can’t speak about. And I think I know why.
Jeremy rounds the corner, a salad wrap perched on a dinner plate. “Oh. Going somewhere?” he asks.
Joel swipes the wrap off the plate and marches out through the front door.
“Hey!” Jeremy roars. “That wasn’t for you.”
Joel’s voice drifts from out of sight. “The dude’s asleep.”
The front door slams.
Jeremy glances at the empty plate and then back at me. “Alessandro fell asleep?”
I nod, throat too full to speak.