Page 24 of Packed Up In Vegas

The elevator was too slow. I slammed my fist against the metal doors and took off around the corner, barreling down the concrete steps until I reached the main level. The obnoxious pinging and bells from the machines had me growling as I ran through the casino floor.

What the fuck was she thinking? She couldn’t just run off. Even beside the fact that we still had a show to complete, anyone could grab her and soon she would be begging them to take her. I couldn’t let that happen to her. If she was going to be fucked by a stranger, she needed to at least look them in the eye and agree beforehand.

I hissed as I stepped out into the blistering Vegas heat. Even in the shade it was too hot and the second my bare feet hit the pavement I was filled with an ungodly fury. But then I saw Callie, running down Las Vegas Boulevard, also barefoot and only in a robe.

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

I took off after her. I had done firewalking in the past, and racing over the sun scorched pavement was uncomfortably similar, except this wasn’t a ten-foot stretch with people encouraging me. This was a blacktop nightmare.

“Callie, will you fucking stop!” I yelled after her.

She didn’t slow, but she did stagger. I pushed forward with as much speed as I could manage. I needed to overtake her quickly and get her back inside.

She shrieked like a goddamn banshee when I grabbed the back of her robe and wrenched backward.

“What the fuck is the matter with you?” I hauled her over my shoulder, hissing as her additional weight ground my feet into the little gravel bits at the edge of the road.

“Let me go! I need to go home,” Callie insisted. She squirmed and when I almost dropped her, I cracked my hand against her ass, making her yelp.

“I’m not letting you go.” The way back was so much slower and every step I took was like stepping on shards of glass that were on fire. “If you’re gonna be a pain in my ass, I’m gonna be a pain in yours. Stop fucking squirming or I’m going to spank the shit out of you the second we get back inside.”

Callie whimpered and let her weight properly sink against me. “Please.”

“You don’t have to finish the heat with us but you can’t fucking run around like this. It’s not safe.”

“I have to go home.”

I adjusted her so I was carrying her bridal style, letting me see the tear tracks down her face. I couldn’t afford to let it get to me right now.

The second there was an ounce of shade, I moved us into it. “I’m gonna be really pissed if I burned my feet chasing after you.”

Callie didn’t answer, only curling up in my arms, sniffling quietly against my chest. Her tears turned to hiccups a couple of minutes later when we reached the entrance to the hotel.

Anyone within our line of sight was staring at us as we walked through, but I was pretty sure I looked ready to murder someone, so not a single one of them approached us.

Callie looked up at me with shiny eyes when we were in the elevator. “I’m sorry. I panicked and I don’t?—”

“We’ll discuss it later.” She wouldn’t be able to go back onstage like this. I needed to get her settled quickly.

The suite was in chaos when I kicked the door and Diego opened it. “Holy shit, where were you two?”

“This one was running fucking barefoot down the road.”

Diego gaped at Callie and quickly took her from me, transferring her to Kai a second later when he realized we were back. Callie and Kai dropped down onto the couch and she burst into sobs. I slammed the door behind me and beelined straight for the bathroom, shucking my pants and sitting on the edge of the tub so I could wash my feet. They were tender as hell, but not as bad as I’d expected beyond being filthy. I took my time scrubbing them for the opportunity to calm down. I could understand that Callie wasn’t in her right mind when she fled. No one who fled barefoot in a robe was. The only issue was I didn’t have a clue what had set her off.

We’d never had an omega run off on us before. The omegas we played with were more than happy to indulge during this experience. They took advantage of the spa and the room service and the suite, filling up their bank accounts with a few short days of getting railed.

Callie was still sobbing away on Kai when I emerged. He wasn’t in his right mind either with a fresh bond chafing and fucking with his rational brain.

“Give her to me,” I ordered when I approached the two of them.

Kai clutched her to his chest even tighter.

I sucked my teeth and stared at the ceiling, praying for the strength to deal with these two. She wasn’t going to get her feet tended crying on the couch.

“Give. Her.”

Kai only growled in response.

---