Craig gestured him inside and followed after him, shutting the door.
Jake went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth then retired to bed. He could hear Craig and Alan in the living room, the sound of the television covering the occasional word that stretched between them. As much as Jake tried to convince himself it was all in his mind, there was something off about the two men that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Even the niggling doubt wasn’t enough to keep him from sleep. It pulled him under with the surety of an undertow, swallowing him in darkness.
“Jake?” A hand roughly shook his shoulder. “Jake, wake up. We’ve got to go.”
“Huh?” Confused, he pushed himself up, finding Alan crouched next to his bed.
“We have to go, Jake. The safe house has been compromised. You can’t stay here.”
Those words had him wide awake and scrambling out of bed. He reached for the clothes he’d discarded the night before, pulling them on and grabbing his bag. He hadn’t bothered to unpack. It was just as well.
“Let’s go. Quietly, now,” Alan said, putting a finger to his lips.
Jake followed in Alan’s footsteps, out through the house and to a car that sat idling in the driveway. Craig was already in the driver’s seat, tapping the steering wheel impatiently. Jake climbed into the back, Alan getting in next to him, and then they were off, bumping down the country lane.
“How?” he asked in a whisper, his brain waking up enough to ask questions.
“How what?” Alan threw back, his voice equally soft. Jake had to wonder why they were both whispering, given the engine of the car would have drowned out the noise of their voices for anyone except Craig.
“How was the house compromised?”
Alan blew out a breath but it was Craig who answered, throwing the words tersely over his shoulder.
“Probably the guys who brought you here.”
Jake couldn’t believe that, unable to hide his skepticism.
“It might have been someone we worked with previously,” Alan added but he was looking at Craig, not Jake, and something passed between them, something unspoken.
“Where are we going?” Jake asked.
“Somewhere you’ll be safe,” Alan assured him. “This isn’t the first time this has happened. Don’t worry, we’ll have you whisked away before anyone realizes you were ever here.”
Chapter Eighteen
The silence was somehow heavier on the drive home with Dave. He tried to make conversation, asking after Dave’s mother, how things were going with Kate, Dave’s girlfriend. Dave talked more than he normally would, seeming happy to be the distraction Will needed right then.
The further away they got from the safe house, the worse Will felt, his stomach doing somersaults. Even the relief of finally reaching Snakes didn’t do much to lessen the sensation. But it was past opening time, and there was work to be done. He was kept busy through the evening and early night, only getting some breathing room when the clock hit two a.m., and the rest had filed to bed. He did one last walk through, checking everything was in its place and paused outside Jake’s bedroom, the door ajar.
He didn’t mean to, but he found himself inside, the room stripped bare of duvets and sheets and the few things Jake had acquired since arriving. The Omega hadn’t bought much, as if he knew it was only temporary and he’d be moving on. Hadn’t Will promised him that, a job and a room until he got set up? And now he was out of Will’s reach, and Will out of his, and it was better. That way only led to pain.
So why did he find himself sitting on the end of Jake’s bed and drinking in his scent? It was fading but there, pure and unadulterated. It would be in his room, too. His scent would cling to the sheets there, but different, mingled with his own, and overlain with the musky smell of sex.
Groaning, he let himself fall back to lie on the bed. Maybe he should just sleep in one of the empty bedrooms for tonight? He wasn’t sure he could take a night surrounded by Jake’s alluring scent. Why was that? What the hell was wrong with him?
The thought had him clambering back to his feet. He’d been through this maybe twice since Avery, found an Omega whose scent called to him, whose body drew his eyes like a moth to a flame. But never like it had been with Jake. And he’d never touched them, had gone out of his way to keep his distance. Which is exactly what he should have done with Jake. Instead, he’d pulled him closer, let him in, gave himself to the Omega. Then let him go.
Footsteps were followed by the sound of the door creaking open. Dave stood there, folding his arms, and just watching him from the doorway.
“Do you need to talk this out?”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he replied, his tone heated.
“You slept with him.”
“One night. A one-time thing we both agreed on.”
“Jake’s the first Omega you’ve slept with since Avery,” Dave said, with a lilt at the end, making it a question.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Doesn’t make it untrue, or irrelevant. There’ve been others that have caught your eye but you never made a move.”
Will lifted his shoulders and let them fall. “Jake was different. With the others, it was just the basic pull between an Alpha and Omega.”
“Jake was more like Avery?”
Dave was being careful with his questioning, his tone. It was an unknown for him. While Will knew Dave had heard the bare bones of what had happened, he hadn't been there when Will had lost Avery, had never met the Omega. And Will rarely spoke about it.
“More than that. When I first met Avery, there was an attraction there, sure. But it wasn’t any bigger or better than with any other Omega I’d met. It grew over time. With Jake… there was something different, right from that first moment. His scent that bit sweeter, my senses locking onto him. I guess that’s what happens with a dry spell as long as mine. Regular old sugar starts to taste like nectar.” Even as he said the words, he knew they weren't true. Jake was different because he was Jake.
Dave stepped inside, shut the door, and pulled the chair out from under the small desk in the corner. He sat, refolding his arms.
“But you still slept with him.”
There was no judgment there, only curiosity.
“He wanted it and I wanted it. It just seemed right. He knew he’d have to leave and so did I. Just a one-night stand, no strings attached, no consequences.”
Dave nodded at that, his gaze on the far wall.
“So why are you here?”
And that was it, wasn’t it? The question, the rub. If it was just a one-night stand, just a fling, why was he sitting in Jake’s room, desperate to hold on to his scent?
“It was the right decision, sending him to the safe house. The only decision,” he pointed out. They both knew that.
“That’s not strictly true, is it?”
“Of course it is. He wasn’t safe in Eden. It’s no place for an unattached Omega whose family want him back at any cost.”
Dave’s steady gaze found his, and Will knew he wasn’t going to like the next words out of his friend’s mouth.
“But for an attached Omega, one with a strong Alpha, like say, the de facto leader of the city, there’d be no safer place.”
Will looked away. There was no denying that simple truth, but nothing about this was simple.
“He didn’t want that. Didn’t want a life tied down to an Alpha and kids. He wanted college, wanted independence.”
Dave sat forward, resting his hands on his knees.
“But that was before, Will. Before he found himself pregnant. His circumstances are miles away from where I’d imagine they were when those plans were made. Did you ask him, talk to him about the possibility?”
“Whatever he wants, it isn’t what I want,” Will said, putting as much force behind his words as he could muster. They came out pitifully weak.
“Then why are you here, Will? Answer me that.”
He glanc
ed around the room, avoiding Dave’s piercing gaze, avoiding the cleared desk and shelves that signaled the emptiness of the room. Wasn’t that just the million dollar question? Why was he here?
When he finally returned to his bedroom, he couldn’t sleep. He started to change the sheets, but it felt wrong to be erasing Jake from his life. Instead, he lay down on top of the covers, staring at the ceiling until his eyes closed in pure desperation. It was still early when he woke, the glow of the clock showing six-twenty, mocking his brain’s alertness. With a grumble, he forced his eyes closed again and turned over, facing away from the clock and the suggestion that time was still passing. For him, it felt like time had stalled.
The sound of someone knocking on his office door woke him a few hours later.
“Will, we’ve made brunch, come and get it,” Celine called through the doors before slipping away.
He didn’t move at first. Then, in a fit of restlessness, rolled over onto his back and sat up. His head had that fuzzy feeling of not quite enough sleep, or a touch too much alcohol. It wasn’t the latter, given Dave had spirited away the bottle in the bottom of his cabinet, and he’d been lethargic enough not to bother rooting around for a second. There were no answers to be found in the bottom of a bottle. He knew that from experience. Mostly other peoples, but also his own on lonely nights with nothing else to dull the pain.
There wasn’t pain now, not exactly. It was something else, a tug in his chest, like someone had embedded a fishhook there, the line pulled taut. An uncomfortable sensation he just wanted rid of. But how to rid yourself of something when you don’t know why it’s there in the first place?
His talk with Dave in the early hours had brought some clarity, helping him admit things he hadn’t been able to before. Avery had been the right person, at the right time. A different time, a different place, there might have been nothing between them.
Jake was… Jake was the right person but the wrong time. But Will had the sense Jake would always be the right person for him, regardless of the time. While that might have been true of Jake for him, there was no reason to believe the reverse was true. Jake had sought comfort, good memories to cover the bad. He had been in search of an Alpha, yes, but not Will, and only out of the desperation borne of his situation. That wasn’t love, or the key to a lasting relationship. That was being practical. The same way going to the safe house was practical.
When Dave brought him food a few minutes later, he said the same to him.
“There’s no denying Jake is resourceful and practical. But I think you’re kidding yourself if you believe that’s the reason he went willingly to the safe house. He didn’t have any options, Will. No one gave him a choice. If he wanted to be safe, if he wanted that baby safe, he had to go where we were sending him.”
“That doesn’t mean there was hope for him and me.”
“That first time, when he stumbled out of your office, his face flushed, his lips red, I thought for a minute you and he had…” Dave trailed off, hiding a smile. “I knew he was different, but I didn’t think it mattered. And then you let him stay.”
“And nothing happened between us, for three whole months.”
“Because you stonewalled him. He tried, Will. He had eyes for no Alpha but you up until the last few weeks. I think he realized he was really in trouble and you weren’t going to give up that ice-shield anytime soon. That’s when he started to look elsewhere. You could have had him that first day, in your office. Three words from you and he’d have been yours.”
“No,” Will replied, his voice hoarse. “I’d have been his. It was like getting hit by a sledgehammer. I knew I didn’t stand a chance.”
He rocked forward, resting his head in his hands.
“Dave, I’m not sure I can do this again.”
“You have to let go of the past sometime, Will. What happened wasn’t your fault. Avery made his own choices, and they weren’t the best or the smartest. You’re living with the consequences of his actions, not yours.”
“I need to talk to Jake.” There was a sudden clarity of purpose, a realization that they’d talked to a point of action. The only way to resolve this, or move it forward, was to have it out with Jake.
Chapter Nineteen
Craig drove too fast, taking turns at a speed that had Jake’s stomach lurching, his hands clinging to the seat to stop himself from sliding all over the place. Alan seemed unruffled but alert, watching Jake, the road, and Craig.
“Can I call Will and Dave, let them know that I’ve moved?” he asked, as they swung around another bend.
Alan blinked slowly, glancing at Craig through the rearview mirror before replying.
“I’m sorry, Jake. I can’t let you do that. It wouldn’t be safe. We’ll send word once we have you settled but the fewer people who know where you are, the better.”
It sounded sensible, sounded right, but Jake couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling inside him. At least, back at the house, the others knew where he was. Now his safety was in the hands of strangers.
Watching out of the car window, he could see lights in the distance. Scattered houses, farms maybe. It was still full dark, though they’d been driving for a few hours. He’d gotten enough sleep that it was easy to stay awake, to watch the dark world pass by outside.
There was only the barest lightening of the sky, the sun not yet over the horizon, when they pulled up a dark laneway, trees encroaching on either side until the road widened and a building came into view.
“We’re here,” Craig said, the car lurching to a stop.
A light went on in the house a moment later, the door opening, a man stepping out and making his way towards them. Jake went to open his door, only to find it locked.
“Hold on, I’ll let you out in a minute,” Craig said. Alan stayed seated next to him. He seemed tense, one hand tapping restlessly on his knee.
“Where are we?” Jake asked, watching as Craig spoke to the man. Alan ignored his question. Craig rounded the car to Alan’s side, letting him out. Alan stepped out and shut the door, the sound making Jake jump. He didn’t like this. It didn’t feel right. He watched Alan and Craig move a little away, talking quietly. He strained to hear the words, but it was what he was seeing that clued him in far faster than any overheard whisper. Craig handed back the car keys, which Alan held loosely in one hand. Into Alan’s other hand, he placed a large wad of cash, folded over and wrapped in an elastic band. There was no mistaking a deal being done; a price being paid.
He turned to the door, reaching for the handle, only to find the stranger from the house outside, opening it for him. A large hand reached in, grabbing the collar of his jacket, and hauling him out of the car.
“Let me go!” he yelled. “Alan!”
He twisted in the man’s grip, seeing Alan get back into the car, hearing the sudden growl as the engine roared to life.
“No, I’m going with him. Let go.”
Craig was at his side, grabbing his legs and tugging off his shoes before linking his arm like they were buddies, his grip tight and strong. The stranger did the same, releasing his grip on Jake’s shirt. Between the two of them, they forced him onward toward the house.
“Fool’s still only asking for half of what we normally pay,” Craig said, ignoring Jake’s shouts and struggles. “He doesn’t have a clue.”
The stranger laughed. “All the better for us. Lyle’s inside, has everything set up. He wants a quick turn around with this one.”
Jake tried yelling again, for them to let him go, for someone to help him. Craig chuckled.
“Yell as loud as you like, Jake. There’s no one to hear you.”
There were a million thoughts competing to be heard in his head. How had this happened? What did they want? Did Will know? He dismissed that thought easily. There was no way the ultra-protective Alpha would have let this happen. And no money had changed hands between Alan and Dave, not that he’d seen, anyway.
He was dragged inside, through a small kitch
en and down a staircase into the cellar. The steps were cold and rough under his bare feet. The room downstairs was a contrast to the house above. The floor a white linoleum, the walls smooth and white too. In one corner, equipment was set up, cameras, lighting. Another man stood there, holding a loose wire in his hand and muttering.
“Lyle, this one’s a beauty,” the man who wasn’t Craig said.
“You say that every time, Hank. I can only conclude you’re easily pleased.”
There was something familiar about the voice, enough to send a shudder down Jake’s back, even though the sight of the man stirred no recognition within him. The man’s scent hit him a moment later, and with it the scent of Forbidden Fruit and the memory of Antoine holding a photograph of him, drugged and dressed up.
Lyle looked up, gazing at him for a moment before turning back to his cameras with a huff. “Well, this was a gigantic waste of my time.”
The men stalled, their hands tightening on Jake’s arms, forcing a hitched breath from him.
“What?” Hank demanded. “We brought him just like you asked. Unmarked.”
“But not unphotographed. He was at Fruits a few months ago. I did some of my best work with him. He has just the right coloring for Snow White. Antoine wanted Sleeping Beauty but hell, they’re all asleep. That one is tired. Jet black hair and red lips just don’t come around all that often. I heard he got away before the deal completed.”
Jake shuddered at the words. Did that mean he could end up back in the hands of the man who’d hurt him?
“Are you going to photograph him or not,” Hank demanded.
“It has been months. I’d better do some body shots. He looks like he’s filled out a bit. It won’t hurt though, he was a little on the thin side.”
The men switched places, Hank standing behind Jake, holding both his arms while Craig tugging his pants and boxers off. The jacket was next, the two men moving in concert, with practiced ease. Lastly, Hank pulled his hands above his head, while Craig lifted his t-shirt up and over. Seconds later, he was naked as the day he was born, three pairs of eyes on him.
Falling Together (The Omega Haven Book 1) Page 10
