Paul sighed, but nodded his agreement.
“Good. Do you know which truck is mine?”
“Um, yeah. The restored antique one?”
I laughed. I’d paid cash for that truck in the nineteen-fifties and treated her like the treasure she was. She was showroom fresh, not restored, but whatever. “Sure, let’s go with that.” I handed him the keys. “I need to detour past my room to grab my bag, but I don’t think anyone will expect you to be trying to get away. Go wait in the truck and I’ll be right there.”
“Okay.” Paul exhaled sharply and I could see fear in his eyes.
“You’ll be fine, Tiger. Go out the back door and she’s waiting in the front row of the parking lot. I’ll be right there.”
Paul straightened and then surprised me by planting a kiss on my lips before easing out the door and disappearing down the hall.
“What the fuck is going on, Sy?”
I wasn’t even mildly startled to find Chuck waiting for me in my suite, although the sight of my go bag fully packed and sitting at his feet surprised me a little. “It’s a long story, but I’m guessing that you already know part of it, don’t you?” I heard the accusatory note in my voice but couldn’t help it.
“I’ve done the best we could to help the kid, Sy,” Chuck said with a muffled groan. “We only accepted Paul into the program so young because his father seemed determined to unload him. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that the only reason he wasn’t sent to the Omega Auction was his age. That or his asshole father didn’t know how much a human Omega was worth.”
“Then you should understand that I can’t walk away from this.” And suddenly my packed bag made sense. “You do understand.”
Chuck rolled his eyes, the behavior completely at odds with his perfectly polished business persona. “I told his father that he had to wait for the police before he could speak to Paul or you again. That will buy you a little time, but probably no more than an hour before the sheriff’s office arrives.”
“That should be plenty.” I hiked my bag over my shoulder and clapped Chuck on the back. Not wanting to put my old friend in any tougher of a spot than I already was, I kept the details to myself. “I’ll be in touch.”
“I know.”
Chapter Seven
Paul
Afraid to draw attention to myself, I tried to look casual as I slowly ambled toward the parking lot. As Sylas had promised, his truck was sitting in the front row under the shade of a towering oak tree. I took another quick look around but the handful of students and staff that were out in the heat weren’t paying me any attention, so I slipped into the passenger seat and quickly locked the door behind me.
The heat was stifling, but I was afraid that the sound of the engine starting would announce me, so I rolled the windows down a few inches -enough to get some air, but not enough for an arm to snake in- and prayed to every deity that I could ever remember hearing of that Sylas would be out quickly. It must have worked because he was suddenly standing on the driver’s side of the truck, waiting patiently for me to flick the lock up.
He climbed in and slammed the door, much less concerned than I was about drawing attention to our presence.
“You ready?”
I nodded and drew in a shaky breath. “Is it okay if I’m terrified?”
Sylas laughed as the truck roared to life. “Sure. I’ve been told I’m a scary guy.”
Thatmade me laugh and I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
Sylas gave me a fake hurt look as we pulled out of the parking lot. “I’mnota scary guy?”
I shook my head. “Be serious.”
“Okay,” Sylas surprised me by agreeing as he reached over to pat my knee. “It makes perfect sense for you to be scared. You haven’t had any real control over your life and this is a huge step, but I promise everything is going to be okay.”
We rode in silence for a few minutes before I spoke again. “If we’re not running away, why did we need our stuff?”
“Just in case,” he said softly. “Technically, your father is currently your guardian until we have a marriage certificate filed, so he is entitled to remove your belongings. I didn’t want you to get back and be missing anything that is important to you. There’s also a chance that we won’t be going back for a day or two, so this way we’re prepared.”
“Oh.”
“A friend of a friend is going to meet us at the courthouse with all the paperwork that we need, but that’s still a little over an hour from here. We’ll stop in the next town and get some food, but why don’t you rest until then? All of this stress isn’t good for you or the little one.”
