“I mean, what answers did we get when we asked how you got those puffy lips?” I tease her as I pinch Simone’s lips shut. Of course, she tries to return the gesture and manages to nab my lips between her fingers.
And Tristan snorts loudly. “An Alpha with a giant dick in the broom closet!”
“Any who-who, you got to do you, and now I have to do me. Or him, actually. You know how it goes. I’ll drop a pin!” I promise as I talk through her finger lock before I go to spin away.
“Not good enough, we need a name.” Sim talks around my fingers too, still holding her lips semi-shut.
I pull back, making her fingers pinch my lips. “Ow!,” I whack her hand away. “Don’t have one just yet.”
“So, you’re just running or do you really have a date? Because if you’re just running, we’re coming. We could grab a pizza…”
“No seriously, I actually do have a date, and I don’t have a name. I promise I will drop a pin and send you a photo. If anything incredible happens, I’ll let you know.” I say, darting in again for a super quick side hug with them both.
“What have you got on you?” Simona asks.
The Scorned Girls and I are well versed in having the world’s fastest conversations. So sorting this out in three seconds is nothing because one of us usually gets rushed back to safety, even when there is no risk at all. Such is the glamorous Omega life we lead.
As the majority of the room keeps their focus on Daisy-Mae as she answers questions on her latest masterpiece, I give Sim and Tris a final hug knowing I’m going to have to do a runner. Which is absurd.
As is, the fact the bodyguards assigned to watch over me don’t think I have the ability to make rational decisions about my own safety. And yeah, I most certainly take offence at the way they constantly treat me like I’m an idiot incapable of reading a room.
And then to make the entire situation even worse, Verdune re-employed Ayden as one of my personal guards. In their eyes, he’s an Alpha of honour for going the extra mile, for never once spilling the truth that he was a mole. They overlook the relationship we had. I guess I must be the only person who is still completely livid at being blindsided by him and the board. And for some inexplicable reason, my father continues backing the board’s decision that he not only stay on the roster, but he also is the lead on the team.
Like clockwork, the man in question makes himself seen on the fringe of the crowd wearing his trademark scowl. Even over the distance, I can see how cool and calculating his eyes are as they sweep from one side of the room to the other. Without even looking at me, there’s no mistake he’s on his way over to shut down my night.
But in my mind, if I can’t hear him saying I have to leave, I can keep on going. Right? This game of cat and mouse is not the first time the girls have helped me disappear. Though our friendship is not one-sided in the least, we all do necessary, occasionally dubious, things for each other. If one of us needs, the rest of us are there to help and support.
“Ho, for the sake of our friendship, tell me what you have in your purse,” Tristan says seriously.
“ADV tests, flares…”
“The spray?”
“Yep.” I pop my p. The spray. No other name is necessary because whenever the girls and I refer to it, it’s as ‘The Spray’. But in scientific terms, and past references, the spray is the same one the Alpha who attacked me used to make me as malleable as an unfeeling lump of clay, Duratious. Still not available for sale on the market, but I have a few canisters of it in my possession.
Simona clearly was checking for different reasons. “Clean panties, lube, and condoms?”
I laugh too loudly, and without checking, I know the noise would have Ayden looking my way. I wave my girls goodbye. “God, I love you two. Yes to all those listed. And I have you both listed as my ICE along with Raney. If all else fails, Koz is my guardian as opposed to anyone at Verdune or on my security team.”
“Plus, you can fight like a bitch in heat and don’t need any of the aforementioned things.”
“Correct.”
“Love your boobies,” Tristan says with a final wink before she drops down like she’s doing an impression of a line-backer. She even hoists her couture gown up over her thighs, before she hollers. “Run, Forrest, Run!”
The crowd splits down the middle, some of them scattering to add some space in part to get away from our antics but also because Daisy-Mae’s auction is underway.
“Drop a pin, Ho. You know the rules,” Heidi says over her shoulder with a wink, joining Tris in forming an Omega barrier. It won’t hold Ayden off, but it will give me precious seconds.
Ayden lost all his softness after his stint in prison. Sadly, he did not lose his infatuation with my protection and doing shady shit behind my back, including giving the board a weekly report on my activity. Each time I raise my concerns about his conduct they either lie or ignore me. And every time they do, I document who said it this time.
Because while they play games, I am gathering all the evidence I need so that when the time is right, I will remove each and every person who has intentionally avoided telling me the truth. Ayden’s reporting has nothing to do with my safety and everything to do with the looming pack deadline.
In regards to my safety, I’ve not been complacent. Living at Unity with their twelve-foot-high fences, in a compound even Ayden marked as safe, inadvertently gave me the privacy to refine my skills behind a computer screen, and in several forms of self-defence. My Scorned Girls know of the impressive name I’m making for myself in computer research, which is my preferred description, because hacking is an ugly word.
The girls also have seen first-hand my half decent aim at the shooting alley and they know how hard I train in hand-to-hand combat.
I dig through my bag before tucking my head down and squat as I move through the crowd hiding in the sea of people with my eyes locked on my target. An emerald eyed, deliciously scenting Alpha who might just be the Alpha for me, is already standing in the gap of the bar, his arm out wide for me to pass.
