No, I’d never tell him who’d been camped out in his basement. And after this building was completed, I’d find other work with someone else. Thank everything good it had been me who’d come across Miles and not Kent. If I had anything to do with it, they’d never meet. I didn’t know exactly what Miles was running from, but running into my boss would not be an improvement.
Chapter Seven
Miles
I sat on the edge of the couch and waited, looking at the worn clock on the wall over and over. Alois had been right, there was nothing on TV but, without the noise, the place felt eerily quiet and it freaked me out. At my old home, or house, as it was, I kept a radio going at all times.
I’d passed by the dryer earlier and nearly peed myself when the buzzer went off.
Alois had warned me he worked late, but the longer the night stretched on, the more nervous I got. What if Kent had come looking for me and offered Alois money? Or threatened him?
Kent could be on his way here now.
Alois wouldn’t know better if Kent simply put on his famous insincere pouty face and told him he’d lost his omega.
A flash of headlights came through the window, and I froze in place, unable to move and barely able to breathe. I watched as the doorknob turned and squeezed my eyes shut as I heard footsteps come in. I clutched the soft fabric of the couch on either side of my legs.
“Miles, are you okay? Is anything wrong?” The sound of his voice made me exhale, and the tears I’d been holding back fell down my cheeks in my relief.
I nodded and bowed my head as he shut the door. No monster behind him to come and snatch me away.
I forced myself to take long breaths as I listened to the sounds of Alois being home. He toed off his shoes and hug his jacket and hat on the hooks near the front door.
I expected him to take a shower next or get something to eat but, instead, when I peeked, he was in front of me, on his knees, his hands on each of mine. The warmth of his touch nearly made me topple over. “Do I need to take you to the doctor? Can I get you something?”
The look in his eyes left nothing to the imagination. He was sincerely worried about me.
How—strange.
Boldness built up in me and, before I could stop myself, I had put my arms around his brawny neck and hugged him tightly. He stiffened at first but soon after wrapped his arms around my torso and rubbed my back.
“Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay. You’re safe here with me.”
The last time I heard those words, I was running from a bully in middle school and my dad had reassured me.
I turned my head so that my nose was next to the skin of his neck and inhaled deeply. The sensation of his scent coursing through my veins ignited every cell, and I knew in an instant that he was mine.
Must’ve been that theta instinct kicking in since it had been so dormant for so long.
“I probably need a shower,” he said and chuckled. “Are you okay now?”
A twinge of concern still laced his voice, so I pulled back. “Yes. I’m sorry. Scary things go through my mind when I’m alone too long…” Oh dear. I’d said too much. “I mean, not that it’s your fault, and you have to work. I wasn’t blaming…”
He laughed again and took my face in his rough hands. “I know what you mean. I get lonely, too. But in all seriousness, you are safe. I haven’t told a soul that you are here or that I saw anyone at the building site. And I won’t. You can trust me.”
I nodded and truly believed him.
“Now, I need to take a shower.”
He got up and strolled away, again peeling off his shirt as he did. Before he went into the bedroom, he looked back over his shoulder. “By the way, that lunch was amazing.”
I scoffed. “It was just a sandwich.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Best one I ever had.”
Well didn’t that just puff up my chest. I wiped away the tears that had mostly already dried and washed my hands before getting a huge bowl out of the cabinet and plating him up a big serving of chicken and dumplings with garlic bread and salad and then made a serving for myself.
Kent let me eat only the chicken when I made this once in a while, and the salad, of course.
I shook my head to push away the thoughts of that bastard then poured Alois a glass of lemonade and waited. In no time, the water shut off and I listened hard to his sounds—the bathroom door shutting—the dresser drawers opening and closing—the bedroom door opening again.
He came back into the living room/dining room combo and, before he could say anything, his stomach growled loud and low.
“You didn’t have to cook, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit it smells divine. Thank you.”
He sat down and, with great gusto, tucked into his meal, savoring each bite with closed eyes and a moan.
A noisy eater—interesting.
“Are you going to eat?” he asked, taking my spoon in his large hand and giving it to me.
“Yes, sorry. I was just waiting to see if you liked it.”
He rounded his spoon along the bottom of the bowl, scraping out the last of the thick soup. “Does that tell you anything? Is there more? Please tell me there’s more.”
I laughed and almost didn’t recognize the sound. “Yes, of course. Let me get it for you.”
He gently pushed my hand away. “Nope. I can get it myself. You eat.”
I nodded and took one huge spoonful, letting the hearty tastes of chicken, broth, and thick dumplings take me back to my childhood. I’d improved on my dad’s recipe, but the memories stayed the same.
Alois took his seat again and wasted no time finishing off a second bowl and sopping up the leftover broth with his bread. Then he managed to eat the entire salad without any trouble.
He sighed loudly and looked at me. “That was the best meal I’ve had since...well, since lunch. You’re going to spoil me. Then what will I do when you’re gone?”
The thought made me sober. I swallowed against telling him right then and there that he was my mate and, unless he wanted to get rid of me, I wasn’t leaving. There was no one else.
There would be no one else.
“I made blackberry lemon bars. You had a can of pie filling in the back of the pantry.” I hopped up and cut the bars that had been cooling on the counter.
His eyes widened. “I love anything lemon or lime. How did you know?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t, but now that I knew, I would be making him lemon and lime treats until he couldn’t stand them anymore.
I sat down next to him and polished off my meal while listening to the approving noises from Alois as he devoured three helpings along with a big glass of milk. The man could eat, but his job plus all those muscles probably burned a ton of calories.
After he ate, he got up and turned off the TV. I thought he might go to bed, but he sat down next to me again. He toyed with the edge of the tablecloth for a minute. “Miles, what happened to you?”
Chapter Eight
Alois
Usually after dinner, especially now that the days were longer and warmer, I would go outside and work on my projects in the courtyard. Surrounded on three sides by the gray brick apartment buildings, the space was quiet, secluded, as if it weren’t right in the middle of the noisy life of our township. I’d received offers to sell my small footprint property, but if I did, where would I go? This bit of inherited square footage was all my grandmother had to leave me, and she’d gone to court to prevent the builders from forcing her to sell.
It was home.
But usually I ate a frozen TV dinner, maybe a can of tuna or, mostly, more fast food on the way home. Usually I hadn’t had two huge helpings of chicken and dumplings, three pieces of garlic bread, a big, crisp salad, and enough dessert for a month. I felt a little bit guilty for having checked the pan to make sure there was a bar or two left for lunch. But I was stuffed to the gills and had no desire to move—just a desire to learn more about what this omega had been throug
h. I was drawn to him. When he hugged me, I lit up inside in a way I’d never done before. But I couldn’t allow that to color my behavior.
He’d been so terrified when I came in, his fear nearly knocked me backward onto my ass. Who had done such a thing to him? Who had instilled such fright in such a beautiful soul? When I found out I’d kill them dead.
Whew. Maybe not dead, as long as they didn’t try to come near him again, my being in jail did nobody any good. But if he did make a move on my omega, fear of imprisonment would not stop me.
Ohhh...I didn’t just think my omega. He already had someone trying to control him and didn’t need someone else doing the same. He was hot, he was sweet, and he cooked. Anyone would think he was amazing. So...the omega. I was helping him.
But I still needed to know more.
“Miles, what happened to you?”
We sat at the table, still, rather I had returned to join him there after turning off the TV. I didn’t want the news droning on in the background of this conversation. The dessert plates and my empty milk glass were in front of us.
He licked his lips and stared at the steel and slate of the table before lifting his gaze to mine. “I’d like a beer. Do you mind if I have one? Do you want one?”
I blinked. “Uh, if we have any, sure.” I didn’t have a lot of room but wasn’t having him drink alone.
Miles grabbed the remaining dishes and set them in the sink before going to the fridge and fetching two bottles of craft beer and returning to the table. He handed me one and I twisted off the cap and took a sip.
The omega poured half of his down his throat.
I waited for him to be ready to speak, but as he tipped the last drop down and swiped the foam from his lips with the back of his hand, it became apparent that he wasn’t going to be doing it soon.
He’d need some assistance. “Miles, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but the more information I have about what you’re running from —” I fixed him with a serious stare. “Can I assume you are on the run from someone or something at least?”
The omega nodded and swallowed hard.
“Okay, the more information I have, the better I can protect you. You told me you don’t do drugs, but is law enforcement looking for you for something else? Maybe something you didn’t do?”
“No, nothing like that,” he said in a tiny voice, but at least it was words.
“Then...family? Are you hiding from your family for some reason?” How old was he anyway? I hoped I hadn’t just given a beer to a minor. He was so thin but surely not under twenty-one.
“No.” He snorted. “I haven’t seen my family since I was eighteen, five years ago.” Well that answered that, but as I got ready for the next in our game of twenty questions, the who’s out to get you edition, he went on. “It’s silly, really. I left my alpha, and he probably isn’t happy about it. He was, umm, a little controlling. So, I don’t want him to find me.”
“Is he in the area?” Sort of important to know.
“Yeah, not too far. And he’s wealthy and kind of important in the community.” He clapped a hand over his mouth but I reached over and pried it free. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Is it a lie?” Not that I thought it was.
“No, but this is a really small town and I don’t want you to...that is, not that I think you would, but.”
“Beat him up? Make him pay for harming you? I’ve already decided not to kill him as long as he doesn’t come anywhere near you.” He could take comfort in that, right?
“He didn’t really harm me. He was strict, and, like I said, controlling, but he didn’t hurt me too much.”
And what the hell did that mean? “Too much? Like only beat you on Tuesdays?”
Miles flushed deep red and returned to the fridge for another beer that he also guzzled at least half of. He didn’t even offer me one, which really showed me how upset he was. “He didn’t beat me every week, but yeah, if I crossed him, he punched me a few times. But he always took me to a doctor friend of his...or this dentist...so they could fix it.”
Rage filled my every cell. All bets were off. “Give me his name.” So I can kill him.
Chapter Nine
Miles
After I’d told Alois that I wouldn’t give him my former alpha’s name for fear that he would do something to land him in jail, he pouted a little but got over it quickly.
He leaned back and patted his stomach. “How about some things that are safe for me to ask?”
I laughed and downed the rest of the beer straight from the bottle. “Like what?”
“Anything. When did you meet him?”
I clinked my fingernail on the side of the bottle. “We got together right out of high school. I went to college for a semester but it was too hard to handle him and his jealousy.”
He gruffed out, “The jerk. That’s what I’m calling him from now on.”
I shrugged. I didn’t want to revisit that conversation again. One day I would have to tell him but not today. “How old are you?”
“I’ll be thirty in a few months,” he said and stood and walked into the kitchen.
I half rose. “Can I make you something else?”
He waved me back down. “Nope, just making a pot of coffee. I have a cup before bed. I know it revs up some people, but it relaxes me.”
Note taken.
“While it brews, let’s go outside. I have a nice courtyard.”
I’d noticed the courtyard as I swept some dust out the back door but hadn’t taken a moment to inspect it.
I followed him outside and gasped when I stepped into the paradise right outside his door. Hibiscus plants spilled from pots, and an awning had long, flowing plants hanging everywhere. But the main attraction were the sculptures. My instinct told me that he made them, but I didn’t yet have the courage to ask.
“This is beautiful.”
When he didn’t answer, I turned to find him watching me. “It is beautiful.”
A surge of lust tore down my spine. But maybe I was mistaken. He didn’t know yet that I belonged to him.
Or maybe he did.
“You do all this yourself?” I stepped toward a plum-colored blossom and bent to smell it but didn’t dare touch it. I had a black thumb for sure.
He puffed out his chest. “I do. It gives me a place to be peaceful after a noisy job.” I understood. At night sometimes, with Kent, I would get into the oversized pantry and just sit. “Sit down, let me ask you some more questions.”
Couldn’t we just move forward to the making out? I sighed. He probably wasn’t interested in the least.
“Shoot,” I replied, feeling bold around this man. “Ask me anything except about the jerk.” I used his term.
“Did you go to college?”
I shrugged. “No. I had hopes to, but they faded away.”
He grunted. “If you could’ve, what would you have been?”
I looked up at the night sky. Alois reached to his right and flicked on some twinkly lights above us. “A teacher.”
He smiled, and it was contagious. “I have a feeling you would be a great teacher.” Alois sat and stretched his long and built legs out in front of him and crossed his arms over his chest. He seemed truly content and here I was interrupting his life.
A few minutes later I jumped up and fixed his cup of coffee and brought it to him outside. He thanked me and I sat down next to him. It seemed like my chair was closer than it had been before.
I tried to fight a yawn, but it won.
“Go to sleep, omega. I know you must be exhausted. Don’t think I didn’t notice the great job you did cleaning the place. I’ve never seen it so well kept. Thank you.”
I swallowed against the emotion building in my throat. I’d never been thanked before, at least, not by an alpha. “You’re welcome. Is there anything else you need before I go to bed?”
His gaze drifted down my body and back up again. “Not yet. Good night, Miles.”
I washed the dishes quickly before getting into the shower. Betting that Alois was still outside, I took the alone time to ease myself under the hot spray. I reached down and let my hand slide up and down my hardness over and over, thinking about how he would feel on top of me, inside me. How his mouth would taste.
I finished with a soft moan and clapped my hand over my lips to quell it.
Afterward, as I toweled off, I felt like an idiot. I barely knew him. He might not even know what a theta was, most alphas didn’t. Kent didn’t, and I never told him. He wondered why we couldn’t get pregnant and blamed me—took me to dozens of doctors.
But I knew better.
Tucked into bed later, I listened to him shuffle around the house before his bedroom door clicked closed. He watched some TV for a few minutes and then shut it off.
I wanted to be with him, his arms around me, his body next to mine, keeping me warm.
Why was Alois still single? Maybe he wasn’t, although he seemed to live alone. When I put away his clean and folded clothes, I hadn’t seen any signs of someone else’s belongings. But I hadn’t thought to ask that question, and now the notion had my stomach churning.
I tossed and turned most of the night, finally drifting off just before dawn. By the time I woke, he was already gone, but a note tacked to the bathroom door made me smile.
I didn’t want to wake you. See you when I get home. - A
Chapter Ten
Alois
I slipped out early, before Miles awoke but not without some of his cooking. Chicken and dumplings warmed in the microwave made a really good breakfast, and the dessert bars would have to do for lunch along with one of my not-nearly-as-wonderful sandwiches. Still, I was humming as I pulled into the lot and unloaded my gear. This time, I had also beaten most of the workers even with driving through for a cup of coffee to avoid making too much noise in the kitchen.
The sun was just clearing the horizon and I had begun my work when the others began to drift in, stumbling and grumbling like every day. Truth, I’d been on many jobs and most had better morale. Kent paid the least he could get away with and demanded a lot for his money. I’d bet none of the other workers had gotten what I did for that Sunday, but they didn’t all have my skill.
Welded: MM Mpreg Romance (Industrial Alphas Book 1) Page 3
