I flinch back as he moves toward me, but he doesn’t attack. Instead, he circles behind my wheelchair and grabs the handles, wheeling me out of the room at a jog before either of the nurses can stop him.
I laugh as we burst through the cafeteria doors, and King chuckles along with me.
“Jailbreak!” he cries, earning him several concerned looks from other patients and staff, not that he cares.
“No! That way!” I point, directing him toward the group session rooms.
King makes the sharp turn to correct course, making the sound of squeaking tires with his mouth. My face hurts from smiling, and there’s a lightness in my chest I haven’t experienced in a long time, at least not since I came to be here.
Claire and Cindy catch up with us, barely able to corral King long enough to get him to push me through the right door. When we enter, there are five other patients, all male omegas who look at me with immediate distaste.
“Mr. King! Thank you for joining us! Miss Montgomery, you can go—”
“She’s with me, Doc. Showing me the ropes,” King says, cutting across David, one of the counselors here.
King parks me in the space next to the last empty chair, throwing himself down and spreading his legs almost obscenely wide as he stares David down, daring him to say something. The other omegas keep throwing me dirty looks, and I drop myhead a little in submission. Male omegas tend to be a bit more territorial, and I am technically invading their designated space and therapy time. Though I’m fairly certain that if I tried to leave right now, the barely contained chaos inside Joker would unleash itself again.
David clears his throat and flips his legal pad open and makes a note, not that King cares. “Then let’s get started.”
“Is this the part where you show me a doll and ask me where the bad man touched me? Because I promise it was all consensual,” King says, speaking before David can even open his mouth.
Several of the other male omegas pale, and cover their mouths, turning away even as King cackles at his own twisted joke. I turn and look at him in alarm too. Of all the things to talk about in a place like this, he had to bring that up, just to stir the pot? He’s either truly insane or hasn’t heard of the consequences for acting up like this during sessions.
“Mr. King, if you please!” David exclaims, fully aghast.
“Aww you beg so pretty, Mr. Quack,” King banters back.
I have to put both hands over my mouth to stifle my giggles, a nervous response. King throws me a wink and a lopsided grin. Why is that so attractive?
“What is your deal, dude? Some of us are trying to heal,” one of the omegas spits.
“My deal could fill several books, mate. And you, if you’re lucky,” King says, licking his lips seductively.
My face turns hot as I look away. Yeah, definitely attractive, like the way some soap looks edible even though you absolutely shouldn’t eat it. Dangerous to my health, but somehow I can’t make myself leave or protest.
“If you aren’t going to take this seriously, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” David says, trying to regain some semblance of control of the room.
King slaps his thighs, getting to his feet.
“Say less. Good talk,” he says, moving behind my wheelchair and pushing me out of the room without a backward glance.
“You’re insane,” I laugh once we’re out of earshot of the group rooms.
“How do you think I ended up here, beautiful?” King says smoothly, and my heart skips a beat.
No one has called me beautiful since my alphas…
My smile slides off my face as memories start to creep forward, and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. I look unseeing as the hallway ahead of us starts to stretch and twist–
But then I’m snapped back to reality as King pops a wheelie with my chair, making me shriek in a heady combination of fear and delight.
“Give me the tour, yeah? I bet you know all the secrets here,” King says, turning a corner blindly.
I look up at him, expecting that mischievous grin, but find something softer, more genuine pulling at the corners of his lips. He flashes a smile of perfectly straight and white teeth, and I relax.
There’s more to Mr. King than meets the eye, it seems.
Chapter five
