Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Roxie
“Thanks, Charlie. You’ve been incredible,” I said as I closed out of the video chat.
He’d been a lifesaver while I’d been doing this job, keeping things together and making sure our issues were going out regularly.
Thankfully, I’d hired competent people to do their jobs without me having to nag them, which meant it wasn’t hard to get articles out on time.
We exchanged a quick goodbye and ended the video call. The first article would be pushed out before tonight’s game.
I’d warned them ahead of time it was coming, and my team had pulled through like they always did.
Unfortunately, the usual relief I felt when I submitted something important like this was absent.
My gaze shifted over to the clock on the wall and I tried not to throw up. I don’t know why I ever agreed to meet my father, but I was regretting it more and more every minute that passed.
This was a bad idea. A stupid choice that was inevitably going to end with me hurting.
I’d even spent hours this morning trying to decide what to wear. I’d never struggled with that before.
He was throwing my life so off-kilter that it only made me hate him a little bit more.
The main reason I agreed was because there were so many things I wanted to get off my chest. Things I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.
He should hear that it was bullshit that he got to walk away and my mom didn’t have the same choices.
He was careless, made a child, and then acted like it was a business transaction.
The anger that flared in my chest was familiar enough to ground me.
I’d worked hard to block the bonds all day today. They had a game tonight. The last thing they needed was the emotions of their omega throwing them off.
Over breakfast they’d all asked me over and over again if I wanted someone to come with me, but I declined their offers.
I wasn’t particularly fond of people watching me fall apart. Even my pack.
Especially my pack.
It was far too early to leave for the diner, but I knew if I waited then my pack would try to join or take me over and wait outside. All options that made me even more antsy.
The sounds of practice going on had me rushing through the building and out the door. I’d shoot them a text when I got there, but, for now, I was happy to have a little peace.
Hayes promised that I didn’t have to fall apart alone or face anything alone anymore. Yet here I was, pushing them away again.
I made the drive out to the lake. There was a small boutique nearby for nesting supplies. I could always check it out to kill some time.
Two hours early was a bit too long to take up space in the diner, so I forced myself to walk into the boutique.
It was cute and small, but I couldn’t focus on anything they were selling. I just mindlessly wandered the aisles, occasionally picking up an item like I was considering it before putting it back down.
An hour and a half into my mindless circling, my phone started to blow up. The guys had figured out I’d left already.
Hayes
Where are you?
Kota
We would’ve gone with you.
Roxie
I know, but I wanted to do this alone. I promise everything’s fine.
I tucked my phone away as it started buzzing in my pocket. Whatever they had to say could wait.
Somehow I’d wasted enough time that there were only thirty minutes to go, which was a respectable amount of time to take up a table.
I walked over to the diner with my heart in my throat.
I’d seen him already and gotten the shock over with but it didn’t make this meeting any easier.
“Table for one?” the waitress asked with a smile.
I shook my head. “No. I’m meeting someone here, but I’m a bit early.”
“Alright, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Do you want a quiet booth in the back?”
“Actually, yes.”
If this conversation went like I thought it was going to, it wouldn’t be pretty.
“Can I get you anything while you wait? We have plenty of appetizers. We also have great coffee.”
“Coffee would be great, thanks.”
She beamed. “Cream and sugar?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “The sweeter the better.”
It took her only a minute to bring me the coffee, creamer, and sugar. I took my time doctoring it up until it was perfect.
At least they had strong coffee here.
My eyes drifted to the door every time it pushed open, a pit forming in my stomach each time.
Thirty minutes somehow flew by in my fog of anxiety.
Then sixty.
My waitress stopped by, refilling my coffee and shooting me pitying looks that only made this worse.
Now I wasn’t just angry, I was embarrassed. Which made everything so much worse.
At some point everything else faded. My emotions calmed until I felt strangely empty. I managed to smile and reassure my waitress every so often but that was the extent of it.
I’d give him a bit more time but I knew the truth an hour ago.
He isn’t coming.
Kota
My stomach was tied in knots. Not only had she gone early, but she’d gone alone.
She hadn’t even told us until she was already gone.
Hayes tried to reassure us and she’d finally answered our texts, but as time ticked on I quickly realized that something was off.
“I’m telling you, if she was having a bad time we would feel it,” Rylan tried again to reassure me.
“Would you?” I shot back. I was no longer the cheerful delta they were used to. “Or did she shut down the bond? Do you feel anything from her?”
Rylan seemed to think about it for a minute before his face went pale.
“That’s what I fucking thought,” I growled. “I’m going after her. Something’s wrong, and she needs me. Y’all can stay here and think it’s fine and worry about upsetting her, but I’m not.”
I dug the keys out of my pocket and practically ran out of the arena. It was no surprise when footsteps thundered behind me.
Sometimes, people assumed I didn’t take anything seriously. With Roxie it was different. I would always take my omega seriously.
I knew, even without being bonded, something was off.
I climbed in and so did the others. They squished themselves into my SUV without complaint.
No one said a word as I drove across town, fingers white-knuckling the steering wheel.
“Still nothing in the bond?” I asked.
“No,” Rylan admitted.
At least he sounded just as worked up as I was now. He probably knew her better than anyone. They were friends and roommates before becoming official mates.
“I swear to God, if she’s sitting alone in that diner, I’m going to hunt this bastard down and punch him in the dick,” Greer promised.
“Don’t act like that’s all you’d do,” I shot back, knowing damn well I’d be right beside him while he did it, too.
“This is all my fault,” Hayes said as he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I should have never encouraged her to go.”
“We don’t know anything yet,” Greer attempted, but he’d lost confidence in that the moment I questioned their connection to Roxie. “Keep it together. She might need us to be strong.”
We pulled into the lot. Hayes leaned forward, looking around, then frowned.
“His car isn’t here.”
“Fuck,” I cursed. The SUV was barely in park before I was jumping out. Hayes was right on my heels.
As I entered the diner, the waitress at the door practically sagged in relief at the sight of us.
“I don’t know who stood your girl up, Hayes, but she needs you.”
Roxie was staring off into nothing when we walked up. She didn’t even react to our scents.
I slid into the booth beside her. Greer and Rylan sat across from us while Hayes took the end.
“Little bat?” I questioned, my fingers ghosting over her cheek.
She nearly jumped out of her skin at the contact, blinking rapidly until we came into focus.
“Why are you here?” she questioned. Her eyes flickered almost instinctively to the clock on the wall.
Anger flooded my veins. How could he do this to her. His one chance at redemption and he’d fucking blown it by standing her up.
“I’m so sorry, little bat. I never should have told you to come here,” Hayes said.
He sounded just as distraught as she looked.
“No,” she said. “I wanted to. I needed to know.”
She threw some money on the table before gently pushing me to climb out of the booth.
“Can we get out of here now? I can’t do this. I can’t be here any longer. I never should’ve let him ruin this place for me.”
“Men like that don’t ruin places. They ruin their reputations,” I countered. “We’ll make better memories here. Fuck him.”
“I just want to go for now,” she pleaded.
“We can call into the game,” Hayes started but she was already shaking her head.
“You missing your game is going to make me feel worse. Please. I’ll hide out in your office or something. Or go home.”
She physically recoiled at the idea of going home alone.
“I’ll stick with you. I already did my pregame physical therapy round with the old man.”
“Watch your mouth, omega,” Greer said with a huff.
Hayes lingered back to thank the waitress. He passed her an extra tip. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her.”
“Anytime. She’s a sweetheart. Fuck whoever did that to her.”
“Sometimes parents suck,” I muttered.
“Fucking understatement,” Roxie said next to me.
“Here,” Hayes said, holding out his hands for her keys. “I’ll drive your car back. You go with the others.”
She didn’t even protest. Her hand dug into her purse and she tossed them at Hayes. The alpha looked like he wanted to do anything but separate from her.
I managed to get her into the car and the door closed. The others piled in, surrounding her with their scents, the deltas trying their best to bring her back to life again.
I glanced over at Hayes. “You’re calling him, aren’t you?”
“Damn straight I am.”
“Don’t get arrested. We need a coach.”
When I climbed into the SUV, he was already screaming into his phone, hands waving wildly.
Her dad had the opportunity to mend a broken heart.
Roxie might be angry with him and resent him, but every child who had an absent parent wished they would wake up and realize what they’d done. Make amends.
These kinds of wounds cut deep. There was no denying that.
Roxie was eerily silent as we drove back to the arena. She barely looked our way as we guided her out of the car and got her to Hayes’s office.
Rylan scrambled around, finding an old stack of clean jerseys. He frowned at the couch where he stacked them before eyeing us.
“Shirts off. Socks. I don’t give a fuck give me stuff that smells like you,” he ordered. My omega was starting to get bossy.
“I have a gym bag in the locker. Give me a second,” I said, giving him a quick peck before running off. The omega was mine, but hadn’t given into me just yet. I’d been patient but I was also ready to claim what was mine.
Greer was right beside me, both of us raiding our lockers before running back, arms loaded with clean clothes doused in our scents.
Hayes and Rylan were both shirtless now, both using their bodies to scent up his couch. It would have been funny if my sweet omega wasn’t dissociating. She was standing in the center of the room, eyes distant.
Fuck, I hated her father.
When it was as good as we could make it for now, Roxie settled into the corner, curled across Rylan’s chest.
“We’ll be fine here,” he said, looking at the clock pointedly. “You have a game.”
“I hate leaving you,” I said, placing a kiss on her forehead then his. “After this, we’re taking you home, little bat. We can share the nest. We’re here for you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The broken sound of it shattered my heart further.
“We’re going to go out on that ice, beat the Wardens’ asses, and then come back here,” Greer said, voice as determined as I felt.
Whatever it takes to get back to our omegas.
I’d never wanted a game to end so quickly before in my life. Before Roxie and Rylan, hockey was my life. Now they were all that mattered.
Hayes better have found an address. We had an alpha to murder.