14
Elijah
“So.” The office was cramped, and Elijah detested it. He pressed the back of his chair against the wall and tried to make himself as small as possible. Every once in a while, Tad’s knee would hit his thigh. Elijah squirmed further away. “You thought I was Silas?”
“You’re identical triplets,” Elijah replied, cross. Seth leaned against the door, not far away. Elijah knew him well. One of Baylor’s golden boys, Seth could do no wrong. Always trotted out for executive clients and brought to fancy parties, he’d lived the life Elijah dreamed of. “It’s not my fault I mistook you.”
“How old are you?” Tad asked.
Elijah pressed his lips together. “Legal.”
“He’s been employed by The White Lotus for four years,” Seth said. “Came in when he was sixteen, if I had to guess. That’s when most of us go into our first heats and get turned out onto the streets. So twenty?”
“Shut up,” Elijah shot back. “Why are you here anyway?”
“I’m the one who broke the ring up,” Seth replied simply. “What Baylor was doing to us was wrong. I’m glad The White Lotus is dismantled and that he’s in jail.”
“Because you’ve already found someone to service in order to fill his place,” Elijah retorted. He sat straighter in his chair, hackles raised. “You think all of us have it that easy? You’re fucking him, aren’t you?”
Tad shook his head and sighed. “We treat each other excellently here, remember? Be excellent to each other.”
“He destroyed my livelihood,” Elijah accused, jabbing a finger in Seth’s direction.
“Your livelihood destroyed my childhood,” Seth snapped. “If you can’t see how wrong The White Lotus was, you’re part of the problem.”
“Elijah, Seth,” Tad said. “Squabbling about things that can’t be changed isn’t productive. We’re here because we want to help Elijah, isn’t that right?”
Seth’s narrowed eyes shifted from Elijah to Tad, and he nodded stiffly. Elijah crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair. “I don’t want to see Silas ever again. I told him that.”
“Why?” Tad asked.
The question was infuriating. What did it matter? There were a million reasons Elijah might not want to see him again, and none of them were Tad’s business. If Tad wasn’t going to keep to himself, Elijah intended to make the truth uncomfortable for him to face. Whatever he said would ultimately make it back to Silas, and Elijah wanted him to know how angry he was.
“Your brother spent an entire week trying to convince me that omegas deserved equality, and that he was there to help me stake my place in society by offering me resources—things like getting a GED, finding employment to get real-world experience, and government funded housing. He made it sound like I had a real shot, like there are alphas in the world not looking to use me for sex. So I believed him. I fell for him. And the second he knew it, he filed to have my case transferred to a coworker, then brought me home and had sex with me all afternoon while I was in heat. When I got back, I learned he’d transferred me and that I was never going to see him again. He promised me a family. Is that reason enough for you?”
“Do you know that he’s been trying to find you since you left?” Tad asked.
Elijah tightened his arms and refused to look in Tad’s direction. He looked too much like Silas, and it riled Elijah to no end. “Because it’s his job. I bet Torres has been busting his ass about my disappearance.”
“He quit Stonecrest last night,” Tad replied, voice firm. “He left so you could be together. He called me not long after he dropped you off at Stonecrest, and we were discussing it.”
Silas quit? Elijah frowned and stared at the filing cabinet, partially unwilling to believe it was true, and partially heartbroken that he hadn’t given Silas the chance to speak. “He would have been fired if news leaked, anyway,” Elijah mumbled at last. “He was just saving his ass and getting out with his reputation still intact.”
“He told Torres everything. My brother may be stuffy, but he knows when he’s done wrong, and he’s not one to ever hide the truth—especially not when the truth matters so damn much to him.”
Was it all a ploy? Tad was Silas’ brother, and Elijah figured that he would lie in order to save Silas’ reputation. There was no proof that what Tad was saying was true—but deep inside, Elijah had a feeling it was. He didn’t know Tad, and he didn’t really know Seth, but he did know when he was too quick to act on his emotions.
Right now he was in the wrong, and he knew it.
“You keep running,” Seth said from the door. “I don’t know much about your past, but I know enough. Your family may have cut you loose, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make something of yourself. I get the feeling that you’re standing in the way of your own happiness, and doing everything in your power to prevent yourself from achieving it.”
The last thing Elijah wanted was an intervention. He wormed around on the chair and stared at his knees.
“Silas is here,” Tad said at last. “I want you to talk with him. Will you talk with him? I’m not saying that you have to make up, but I’m asking you to listen to what he has to say.”
“Fine.” As firm as he sounded, Elijah was flighty on the inside. Facing Silas after he’d thrown such a fit was terrifying. Elijah didn’t want to admit that he was wrong aloud. How could someone accept an apology from him after he’d gone off like he had? “As long as you’ll stop bothering me about it and leave me alone after the conversation is done.”
“We promise,” Seth said. He eased back from the door and pulled it open, slipping outside. “I’m going to get Silas, and then the two of you need to talk things out like adults.”
