Ziggy giggled. “I’m sure she knows when it’s my time to have her because she loves to share the love with me.”
Bowie frowned. “Share the love?”
“It’s a saying. As in she loves to share her poop with me.” Ziggy easily scooped her out of Bowie’s arms, not at all concerned by the dreadful smell as he grinned at her. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up, little lady.”
Ziggy glanced at Bowie, a serious expression replacing his smile. “If your daddy is as caring as I think he is, then talk to him. Be honest. He’ll help you Bowie, I’m sure of it.”
Ziggy left Bowie with his thoughts, and he was grateful that the afternoon was full of busy work following up on deadlines from his office.
When he shut down his computer hours later, Bowie rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate some of the tightness. He checked his phone and realized it was two hours after finishing, and it was dark outside. His belly rumbled as he stood, about to track Kari down, when he got a text alert.
Kari needed five minutes more to talk to Kodi and said Bowie should head down to the car and wait for him there.
Bowie grabbed his padded jacket and slipped his phone into the pocket. His thoughts wandered back to Ziggy’s advice. Should he just mention the heat and see what Kari says? See if he offers to help. Although Bowie didn’t know what that would involve. Could that give him the sex he was interested in? Bowie knew what happened during a heat. His body prepared itself to get pregnant, which meant sex. What kind of sex would it be, though? The way his body hurt, he wasn’t sure it would feel nice. Should he have asked Ziggy?
Exiting the building into the darkness, it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. Preoccupied, Bowie didn’t notice Rex until he was nearly upon him, looming out from around the side of the building, dressed all in black. Too late to backtrack, Bowie glanced about, seeing the car lot was empty of people.
The whooshing in his ears made it difficult to hear past as he saw Rex’s lips move but didn’t get a word of what he said. Fear made it impossible to get his legs to obey him and have him run back inside where it was safe.
“—I’ll have you for this!” Rex jabbed a finger into Bowie’s coat, pressing hard enough for Bowie to feel it through the layers of his clothes and knew that there’d be a mark there.
Not again, please, not again.
Kari.
Kari.
Kari.
Bowie blinked rapidly, his mind screaming Kari’s name when his lips were frozen in fright to voice it aloud. Kari would protect him. It was all his mind could clutch at. His shaky hand slipped into his coat pocket, and he felt for his cell phone. Clutching it with fingers that felt thick and clumsy, he took a step back, glancing at the screen to open it, two clicks, and he pressed call.
“What the fuck? Give me that phone.” Rex didn’t wait for Bowie to decide. He snatched it from his trembling hand just as he heard Kari’s voice. “No one is gonna come and save your sniffling fucking ass. I know what you did, texting my boyfriend those pictures. You’re gonna tell him what a damn liar you are, do you hear me?” The phone landed on the ground, plastic and glass sounding like it was splintering, along with Bowie’s hope.
The same hand grabbed hold of Bowie’s jacket, dragging him towards the fist flying at his face. Without thinking, Bowie cowered, his head tilting to the side on instinct. The fist bounced off the side of his skull, making the whooshing in his ears turn to ringing. He staggered in Rex’s hold, his legs going from under him. His weight pulled Rex off balance towards him. The snarled growl had spit hit his face as Rex didn’t let go and went with Bowie. They landed hard, the air forcibly leaving his body as Bowie was crushed by the large alpha. Pain radiated through his ass, elbows and head as they connected with the ground all together. Spots danced in front of his eyes before his vision wavered.
He clung to the vision of Kari’s smiling face, and he forced himself to stay conscious as fingers went to wrap around his throat. A terror so great forced Bowie to do something he’d never have done before Kari, he screamed at the top of his lungs. “Daaaaaddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kari
“Can you get to the point, Bowie’s waiting for me in the car.” Kari continued packing up his things. He had nearly escaped, two more minutes and he would have.
“I’m sure he’ll survive for a few minutes!”
Kodi was evidently in a mood, one Kari wasn’t in the frame of mind to deal with. It was already late, he was hungry, and he wanted to see if he could get Bowie to talk about what was bothering him. Something was making him anxious and unable to fully enjoy their playtime.
“Maybe so, but I’m hungry as I missed lunch because a meeting overran whenyou arrived late.”
“I offered to grab you a sandwich.”
Kari could tell a sulk was on its way by the way Kodi pouted. He sighed in frustration. “You did, sorry. What is it?”
“What do you think about the PAs all helping with Emmy?”
It was so left field, Kari stopped what he was doing to stare at Kodi, not sure what the heck this was all about.
“I’ve no problem with it. They have a routine Popi sorted with Frey and Hollis, so it shouldn’t impact too much on the workday. Why, what am I missing?” Clearly it was something, and Kari had some guilt because all of his attention of late was given to Bowie.
