“How many Alphas pull the same bullshit and lay claim to an Omega they don’t have a claim on?” Ryder asks without looking at the screen.
Dominic glares his response before finishing his drink. Dom in bed with a glass of wine should be criminal. And yes, I lean in to the screen to watch the way he stalks naked acrossthe room to refill his glass. It’s a beautiful sight, and I’m desperate for him.
Honestly, the way all the blood in my body drops to my cock the instant I see the silvering mark of my bite on the back of his neck should have me locked up in one of those Alpha wards at the hospital.
I glance back at Ryder, who’s stopped what he’s doing and is staring at me. “God, Hendrix, the way you look at him has my knot swelling. Not the best when I need to go on stage.”
Dom spins after hearing Ryder, the light from his laptop the only source in his room. It makes the shadows curl around his physique.
I guess I’m not the only one out of sorts. Instead of climbing back into bed, Dominic sits on the edge of the bed, his legs wide as he leans backwards. Giving me an unobscured view of his body.
“You’ll pay for that,” I mumble, the threat lost under my longing.
But this game of distraction is one we have been playing for years. After long days interning for his father, Dom would come home and study until he couldn’t see straight. I’d be there right near him, or behind him, or between his legs, where I could make his body do the most amazing things, but it was his attention I wanted, and I never got that until he finished for the night.
Our game of willpower drove us both crazy, but at the same time it gave Dom the ironclad disposition he needed to survive his chosen path. Dominic Torres was pushing shit uphill before he even accepted his first client as a criminal defence attorney, surviving telling his family he was bi, and not packing the Omega they had chosen for him. It was a rough time, made worse because of Dom’s heritage, and hisfamily’s expectation he be involved in their accounting company.
Dominic was never made to be contained in an office chasing numbers. He had an infatuation with helping the underdog. Helping me went against his family’s wishes but try telling Dominic he can’t do something and you’ll see why he is one of the most successful criminal attorneys in the country. His list of clients makes the FBI weak in the knees. Dom’s other trait—good and bad—depending which way you look at it, he is a closed book. The FBI had tried to break him, as had Dom’s longest client.
Gordon Godfrey met Dom for a client briefing one Tuesday afternoon shortly after Dom got his license, to discuss charges by the FBI and IRS. I remember the day like it was yesterday because I didn’t find Dom until four days later, tied to a chair in the basement of one of Gordon’s clubs.
It was a game to Gordon, firstly abducting then trying to break his new attorney, but Dom is not built like that. He is a vault. He also has a wicked temper. Gordon lost two good people that day, but he gained a lawyer for life. An expensive one. Dominic still charges him infinitely more than any other of Dom’s clients, but they share a respect for each other I don’t understand. Fuck that. Gordon, the prick, is lucky he’s still alive.
A sharp knock on my door puts a lid on the memories from a long time ago and is a solid reminder of the life the three of us have built. It is not conventional in any sense, but it is ours.
“Why do you have a meeting, Hen. I thought you were leaving?” he asks, instantly flipping to business.
I find my voice after watching him as he climbs back into bed, pulling the sheet up, covering his lap. He tips his chin up impatiently as he waits for me to go on. But I’m still on thetopic from earlier. “You’re not concerned about the cease and desist?”
“Not at all. I’m more worried about not being able to find the Omega. Equally concerned I might have misread or misjudged her scent, and how she felt in my arms, since I was getting sick myself. I can barely remember five minutes into the new car. The fever hit me out of nowhere. I can’t remember ever being so sick, and so quickly too. Which is one of the reasons why I wanted to find her. To make sure she was safe, and to see if I had fever dreamed of her.”
“I’m going to suggest you never get anything wrong,” Ryder adds quickly before going on, not giving Dominic the chance to argue. “No, hear me out. If you had the same flu as I did, it was awful. Except if we did have the same flu, then you need to put a little more faith in those initial feelings you remember, because that’s exactly how I felt and still do about my mysterious online girlfriend.”
“You can’t be serious, Ryder. Don’t call her your girlfriend. Send me her details straight away. I’m pinning her with a water-tight NDA. What if she’s another fucking crazy fan?”
“She’s not. We share something tangible. I’m not going to be able to prove it to you, Dom, but I can try to explain what it’s like when she’s next to me. Our connection makes me feel everything you and Hen do. And no one has made me feel what you and Hen do. Please, I need your support on this. And no fucking NDA. She wouldn’t do anything shitty like try for my money. I’m chasing her harder than she’s chasing me.”
Dominic’s eyebrows pinch together as argument builds in his eyes. I can read this man easier than a book. In his mind, he’s steps ahead of Ryder, hell, he’s probably half drafted an NDA to send already. But three things happen at once: Dom’sphone starts ringing, I get an alert on my computer, and there’s a knock on Ryder’s dressing room door.
The three of us groan as one.
“Fuck this being away from each other.” Dom snaps, storming out of bed and starting to pace. “What, Siderno?”
Kozantine Siderno is a newer client. If you’re after weapons, he’s your man. He’s actually one of Dominic’s clients I don’t mind spending time with.
Ryder leans in to the microphone, dragging my worry from Dominic being pulled back to work and diverting it to Ryder about to go on stage.
I point to a spot on my neck, “You need to do more makeup here. Please be careful, I don’t like it when I’m not there to watch you backstage.”
“I’ll let Dale know he gets another ringing endorsement from you.”
“Ryder, he should have been watching you on New Year’s Eve. You were sick as a fucking dog, and you were alone in the laneway at a venue with hundreds of thousands of fans. He is paid to watch you.”
“Well, lucky for me he had to take a piss or he would have scared off Sin before we got to connect.” Ryder winks, swiping more makeup on the spot.
While he dresses in his trademark white shirt, black suit, and skinny black tie, he talks a mile a minute. “Only two days left, Hendrix, and then we’re all together again. Don’t overwork yourself in the meantime because you’re stressing out. And don’t forget you’re the one that taught me to trust. Our Omega is on her way to us, who knows where she is and why she’s taking so long to find us, but I promise we’re all on the same path to each other.”
Even with all his tattoos hidden and the mask resting atop his head, waiting for it to be pulled down, all I see is him.And Ryder is a deep thinker with a tender heart and a generous soul.
