Page 58 of Captive Omega

In my case, yes, you do.

“Why would hitmen hide a drunk’s body? Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave it there instead of whet the cops' appetite with a strange mystery?”

She crams a handful of chips in her mouth, chewing rapidly as her brow furrows in concentration. She swallows and nods firmly. “It wasn’t a drunk someone blew away. Maybe it was someone important.”

“Like?”

“Not sure.” She shrugs. “It’s interesting someone took the body though. What do you do if someone sees you with it? Say you tripped over it and were just moving it out of everyone’s way?”

I briefly smile, but yes, it is interesting.

Resa escaped from whoever had been holding her and made it to within feet of Ever Safe. She’d cut up her feet so badly she couldn’t have walked far, so where did she come from?

“Or it could be someone with something to hide,” a gruff male voice comes from behind me. “Maybe even something to do with this investigation into that club Asylum everyone’s talking about, given it happened across the road from us.”

I aim a lazy smile at Zach. He’s in the Ever Safe security uniform, the hallway’s overhead lights bouncing off his dark, bald head. “Interesting theory. Probably more likely than Bee’s talk of hitmen.”

Ever Safe exists for one purpose: to ensure omegas have a safe place to ride out their heat. It’s all our jobs to ensure that happens, and no one is more committed to that than Zach, our hulking beta security guard with an omega sister-in-law.

He was one of the first to apply for a job here, quitting a high-paying security managerial position in a casino when he heard about club Asylum buying and trading omegas. The thought of his brother’s wife being snatched up like that horrified him.

He said he was determined to work any day, any time, and he’s been true to his word.

All his background checks came back clean, but within minutes of meeting him, I’d known they would. Sometimes you meet someone and you know they are exactly who they say they are. Zach is rock solid.

He must also be remembering I left shortly before all that trouble across the road kicked off and haven’t been back since then for him to be eyeing me so suspiciously. “You didn’t happen to see anything when you left that night, did you?”

“Moi?” I clap him on the shoulder. “I was beat from a long-ass day of pushing papers. Walked to the parking lot with John and that was it, I was done for the day.”

“Right.” He gives me another long look, deep brown eyes narrowing, then shakes his head. “What are you doing here, anyway? Did someone call in?”

“Having a break from home life apparently,” Bee mutters, plunging her hand in her chip bag. “Bet he wanted to make sure Cynthia hasn’t moved into his office yet. She has, by the way. Has a little heater under her desk to keep her ankles warm.”

Her desk?

My pants vibrate before I can go investigate Cynthia’s brilliant heater idea. Even before I dig my cell phone out of my back pocket, I know who’s calling and why.

I answer the phone.

“You’re not using work as an excuse to stay away, are you?” are Garrison’s first words.

I consider my response. “No.”

At least, not only.

Garrison’s silence speaks volumes. I feel his disapproval like he just reached through the phone and slapped the back of my head.

I release a heavy sigh. “Maybe. Bee said Cynthia moved into my office, and cops are investigating trouble in the alley across the road.”

“You don’t give a shit about having an office and leave the cops to do what they need to do.”

He’s not wrong about the office. “Cynthia has a little heater I might like.”

“I’ll buy you one for Christmas. Now, get back here. We need to talk about the party.”

I’d intended to stick my head into Ever Safe for a couple minutes, find out what I could about the shooting, and go do a little investigating of my own. Like seeing if I could sniff out where Resa might have come from.

“I might check something out first,” I respond, ignoring Zach’s sharp look and Bee’s slow chewing as she scrutinizes me through the hatch.

---