Page 48 of Corrupt Me

That’s definitely a thought but I don’t have much that I care about taking with me. My painting and my mother’s things are the most important as I pack three full bags. The only thing that doesn’t fit is a small jewelry box. It was my mother’s, filled with odd pieces that my father gave her over the years before she died. I found out later that it was just to placate her and not because he loved her but Mom loved them. She cherished them and cleaned them all the time. I can’t find the heart to wear them but I also can’t find the heart to get rid of them.

“Bring her. She’s the reason you’ve kept your smile so long, it would be wrong of us not to make her a special little mantle in the condo. Maybe we can visit her grave-”

I shake my head, hugging the small box to my chest. “Mom was cremated. She’s on the mantle in the living room. It’s the only piece of her that Dad has allowed to stay in the house. Everything else was thrown out or in my closet. I don’t know why he doesn’t want to remember her. He won’t even talk about her.” I shrug, trying to show Amiri it doesn’t bother me but my face is too expressive for my own good.

It also doesn’t help that the lingering effects of my orgasm are making it even harder to hide my emotions.

Amiri shoulders my bags and guides me back down the stairs, his eyes wandering for several seconds. I want to ask him what he’s looking for when his gaze locks on the periwinkle urn sitting on top of the fireplace. “She’s gorgeous,” he murmurs from my side before marching into the living room. My eyes widen as he grabs her off the mantle, my father yelling as he steps out of his office.

“What are you doing with my wife?”

“I’m putting her somewhere she’ll be cherished and loved. Before you try to argue with me on that, the first day I met your daughter, she was wearing this color. I thought it might be her favorite but seeing her closet there and now her mother’s ashes, I’m convinced it’s not just a color. It was her mother and everything she embraced. Your walls are the same shade. That’s her touch to this god-awful house. If you treated her even partially the way you’ve treated Camila, this woman does not belong here.”

I can’t hide my smile. No one has ever stood up for my mother. How could they to the preacher of our church? “Bailey. Her name was Bailey.” It’s a name I haven’t said in forever, a name that brings life back into this dreary house I grew up in.

Amiri nods. “Ezra, I’m sure you won’t miss either your wife or your daughter once the dust settles. If you ever learn how to be a gentleman, call me. Maybe we can figure something out should Camila want to make amends.”

My father grunts at my Alpha’s harsh but true words. “You cannot take her away from me. Either one of them.”

“Your daughter is a full-grown woman. She can make that decision for herself.”

Both men turn to me and I reach out for the small urn, barely bigger than my hand. “Mom’s coming with me. She deserves a place she’s loved, just like I do and that isn’t here.” Maybe I’m making a mistake taking this piece of my father’s heart but he has never cherished her the way I did. With Mom in the condo, Ethan can finally and truly say his goodbyes as well.

Amiri places it in my palm before nodding to my father. Of course, my father isn’t remotely done with the conversation. “What about Teo? You can’t just run off into the darkness with these men and ruin another Alpha’s life.”

I don’t know what he sees in Teo. I really don’t. “It’s being handled,” I spit out. I hope it is. Amiri and Kolsen haven’t mentioned it and I don’t want to bring it up now. I also don’t want to be here any longer, something Amiri catches onto immediately as I throw out a goodbye and walk out the front door, clutching my items to my chest.

Amiri stops me before we get to the car, turning me around so that his dark eyes meet mine. “Sweetheart, I know there’s probably a billion and one things running through your head but I will say this—it will all work out. Everything. You’re ours and we are yours, regardless of what happens and your mother would be proud of all those things you said to your father. He needs to hear it, even if he isn’t truly listening.”

“I didn’t really think I’d care having her with me but it makes a world of a difference. Thank you.” I reach up on my tiptoes to kiss him just as a low groan reaches my ears and ‘just stick it in’ comes from Sasha’s mouth. I twist back to look at the car, the windows steamy from heavy breathing. “Seriously?”

Amiri chuckles and heads for the trunk. “I don’t think we’re making it to Temple tonight. Not if Sasha couldn’t even wait to get to the apartment over the club.” He presses a button on the back door and it raises, my Alpha’s entire demeanor changing from playful to pure desire. His nostrils flare in response, the scents taking a little longer to reach me before I stumble towards the car and rip open the side door.

I should have known that I would essentially be receiving a live porn show but it’s so much more real seeing it in person. Sasha’s straddling Kol, his pants disappeared somewhere in the car, Kol’s pulled open just wide enough to get his cock out. My Omega’s head is thrown back, one of Kol’s hands digging into Sasha’s side while the other is tangled in the Omega’s collar. It looks like a fucking picture, ecstasy and desire making it hard for me to concentrate.

Well, I’m focused enough to cover my mother’s urn so she isn’t totally appalled. Amiri ushers me into the front seat and closes the side door before slipping into the front seat. “Home?” He asks, looking in the rearview mirror.

“Home,” Kolsen grunts before Sasha groans and the scent of his release has me squirming in my seat. “I’ll call one of the managers but Sasha is in heat. The bastard probably slathered on an entire bottle of scent blockers so that he wasn’t a nuisance to the business.”

Kolsen doesn’t sound happy with Sasha regarding this topic. It isn’t the first time it’s been brought up either. Our Omega takes suppressants so he doesn’t have to take time off but it’s messing with his biology. Long-term use hasn’t been studied and Sasha is definitely taking them for longer than he’s supposed to. Skipping a few heats is fine but for as many as Sasha has, I’m sure it’s taking a toll on him.

This will either be the best three or four days I’ve ever experienced or the worst. Or some wonderfully twisted combination of both.

I try to keep my head, rolling down the window so that I don’t have to inhale my mates’ scents. It doesn’t help when Kolsen leans forward from the backseat, cradling Sasha’s head against his chest. “You smell like sex, love. Did you have a romp in the sheets with Ames with your father in the house?”

“No.” I twitch in my seat, that damn butt plug reminding me that it’s there. The first moments I get to have Mom and she hears this mess.

“But you wanted to,” he purrs.

I tighten my arms around the urn and my mother’s jewelry box. “My mother doesn’t need to hear this,” I whine.

Kolsen laughs. “You brought her back with us? Love, I’m not sure anywhere is safe in that condo.” He’s right. Sasha doesn’t care where he fucks and I’m not shy either. Which means that I will be calling Ethan as soon as possible. No fucking way am I allowing anyone to bend me over in front of the woman I’ve looked up to for so long.

Chapter twenty-nine

CAMILA

The trip upstairs is awkwardly quiet as Sasha is squirming for a knot, not in the same state that I met him. He’s nowhere near as obnoxious as Ethan can be close to his heat but when I try to reach out to my Omega, Amiri drags me away. “You will have more than enough time in the nest, sweetheart but right now, he needs a knot. Anything else will be painful for him. Once I give him that, Kolsen will bring you in.” I don’t fight him on it as Amiri extracts him from Kolsen’s cock, redresses him, and carries him inside.

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