Bowie crumpled over at the vicious kick that caught him on the elbow. Fright took hold and a wet warmth soaked his trousers. Bowie screwed his eyes shut, a desperate cry ripping from histhroat. Pain radiated through him, but not all of it from the blow. Betrayal weighed so heavily on his heart. The way he trembled didn’t register at the mortification of his body betraying him. The sobs that tore from his throat were those of a wounded animal.
Rex was right. He was pathetic, and he should have known better that nothing changed that for him—nothing.
Chapter Seven
Kari
Kari hit send on the email he’d composed and read four times, to let Rex know his agency had been unsuccessful. If he got a sense of satisfaction at finding an agency that filled the brief better, then no one had to know how petty he was being.
The few days away had done little to give Kari a clearer focus. He was a swirl of mixed emotions during the flight back home from Eagan on the private jet. He wanted to get back to Hazardville, he’d missed… being home.
You missed more than that!
He’d had way too much alone time with his wolf giving its opinion about his conflicted emotions over Bowie and his reasons for going to Eagan to settle the sale of his home in person.
Running away is what you were doing.
I’d business to sort,he snapped back at his wolf.Our townhouse needed packing up. The abrupt return home toHazardville at our parents' request was nowhere on our radar, remember?
He hated himself for justifying the suddenness of the trip that hadn’t been in his thoughts until he’d met Rex Lacy. The man was a slimeball.
Yes, he might be biased when it was more than obvious something was going on between Rex and Bowie. Rex revealed nothing, it was all Bowie who had no ability at subterfuge. The guy was just too gentle hearted to know where to even hide his emotions.
Yet something immediately set off his wolf’s heckles and Kari was honest enough to admit to himself that he wasn’t sure if it was because Rex was an ass, or self-conflict over Bowie dating such a dick and not noticing how dreadful the guy was to him. He was dismissive of the omega, and when he offered a crumb of affection—once in the entire meeting, Kari observed, Rex had shown a modicum of affection—Bowie had leapt on it like a starving man.
“Please could you switch off your laptop and fasten your seatbelt to prepare for landing, Mr. Starling?” asked the petite blond steward, who Kari had paid little notice to during the flight. His mind was too full of what he was about to do.
He did as requested, nodding his thanks. Laptop bag stowed away, his gaze returned to the small window where he could see the airport in the distance. The sight that would normally offer him inner peace when he’d been away did nothing to quell the unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Throughout the reasoning he’d given to Popi when explaining why he was flying to Eagan at the beginning of the week, Kari had kept his personal reasons to himself. He needed to get his stuff packed up ready for the removals firm he’d hired. In part, what he said was true, which was why he’d not felt overly guiltyfor holding back. He wasn’t ready to talk about his feelings when they were all one sided.
You’ve never expressed our interest to Bowie.
Yes, I heard you the first three thousand times you’ve mentioned it,he grumbled back. He had come to the conclusion, late last night, that they had lost out because he had taken his time considering if dating a colleague was advisable. Especially someone as sweet as Bowie, who could get hurt by his brothers’ often snippy comments.
There was no escaping this with how much his brothers liked to pry. Kari had forgotten just how much he preferred having his own space. Being alone in Eagan brought home that feeling of how overcrowded it felt with them all together. Although he suspected it wouldn’t be long before more than one of them moved out.
Taylin had taken his clothes to Hollis’s so essentially, he’d moved out. It was obvious Booker was acting weird around Frey, so Kari suspected something was going on with the pair of them. He also knew that Silas was staying back at work to have sex with Ziggy, with the smell coming from his office.
His brothers had far too many tells.
This all brought him full circle. He was a little jealous of his brothers, those getting what they wanted from their PA, which made his head an unfriendly place to live. He didn’t like feeling like this so when he couldn’t control himself, he’d found some reason to remove himself from the situation. Sorting out his house was the perfect excuse. It also allowed him to escape Kodi’s inquisitive questions about his noticeably shitty mood. Those same questions made Kari suspicious when they sounded like ones Popi would ask, reinforcing his belief that Popi had read the situation correctly. He hadn’t missed the look he’d given him when he’d kissed him goodbye before heading to Eagan.
Missing taking care of them all wasn’t the only reason Popi wanted all of his boys at home. He was a consummate meddler, and Kari never understood how his brothers were so capable of forgetting that little fact. It was hard to resist Popi when he gave them a look that played them better than a concert pianist.
Being honest, needing space wasn’t solely because of a certain omega or his brothers. Being home with Popi and Dad was an experience, given the way they were behaving. He understood in principle that his parents had sex, he just hadn’t had it shoved in his face before. And alright, they weren’t doing it in every room in the house, but it fucking sure as hell smelled like it at times. If anyone said a libido waned when they got older, he’d argue his parents proved that was so not the case. Despite that, when Popi and Dad suggested he sell his house when he’d arrived home, the idea of not having a bolt hole to go to made his ass twitch. And yet, he’d done it.
Signing over the house that very morning felt so final.
It was…
He released a groan of disapproval when his thoughts were back at the starting point, Bowie. While away, Kari made some tough decisions. After weeks of working side-by-side with Bowie, the sweetest fucking omega on the damn planet, Kari realized he was a little too invested in wanting Bowie happy. Then there were the sheer number of random moments thinking about big, soulful, brown eyes and how they’d look if Kari cuddled Bowie.
So he was going to drive home—as often as needed—and remember that the asshat Rex was the one dating Bowie and Kari would respect Bowie’s choice. If Kari hated witnessing firsthand Rex treating Bowie with what he felt was disrespect, leaving Kari’s usual control disappearing faster than a world-class sprinter off the start line, it was Kari’s issue, not Bowie’s. Knowing Bowie had a boyfriend—although Kari wasn’tcompletely convinced that the label fit whatever was going on between Bowie and Rex—gave him a kick up the backside to find himself a boy.
Bowie’s private life is his business,he told himself for the hundredth time, it felt like.We need to move on because there are plenty of sweet boys out there looking for a Daddy.
Do you think if you keep saying it, it will change what we both know?
