Page 22 of Fight

“Without Cere, we won’t open again,” I explain. “I’ll pay my employees and call around to let them know, but we’ll remain closed.”

“Bold statement to make, don’t you think?” Tommy asks. “Even being paid, won’t your staff walk?”

“Cerenity is the safe person you go to when you need help,” I growl, taking a step forward. “She’ll give you a job, help you find a place to live, and rebuild your entire Goddamned life. Every person who works for her is loyal. They’ll wait for forever if they need to. My covering their bills is just the icing on the cake, and the right thing to do. Something you clearly don’t understand about loyalty.”

Done with him, I turn and stalk out of the office, with Gabriel tight on my heels.

“He doesn’t understand, because most people aren’t that loyal,” he hisses.

“Maybe people who work in the cesspit of humanity,” I grunt. “I’ve found that most people just need someone to believe in them.”

Shoving the door open to stomp out to my car, I rub my face tiredly.

“I have to toss all the food in my cooler. Is there a dumpster where I can do that?” I ask, blowing out a breath. “I’m fucking exhausted and worried.”

“I know you are, but you can’t go around pissing off every mobster in Chicago, Auggie,” Gabriel says, rolling his eyes. “There’s a dumpster around the back of the building. We can throw it out there. I assume you’re staying with me while you’re blowing fire out your nostrils like an angry, possessive dragon?”

The image makes me chuckle, even in the midst of everything. I need Cere, but I also need Gabriel. They manage to balance me out.

“Yeah, I’m staying with you. I’m not going to ask if that’s okay, because you have a wicked right hook, so if it’s not, speak now or hold your peace, asshole,” I say as I open my truck. Gabriel is parked next to me, and rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, you know it is. I have to go for a run with Jasper in the morning, and then I’m training, but there’s food in the fridge and shit,” he says. “Follow me out to the dumpster so we can get some sleep.”

The end is said with a jaw cracking yawn, making me sigh. It is really late. Jumping in the truck, I follow Gabriel’s SUV to the alley to throw out the contents of the cooler. Letting him help me, I walk it down with him, because the alley is too narrow for us to drive down. There are rats skittering past us as we walk, their red eyes staring at us before moving by.

My nose wrinkles in disgust at the sight of them and the smell of trash.

“They’re supposed to be picking this up tomorrow. It’s pretty full,” Gabriel explains as he opens the bin. Together, we toss out everything in the cooler, though I know I’ll have to scrub it with bleach before I can use it again.

Once done, we walk back out. There’s nothing out of the ordinary back here, just the scent of trash and an empty alley. I feel as if I’m missing something as I return my cooler into the bed of the truck, stopping as I begin to back away.

“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asks as he rolls down the window to his vehicle.

“I don’t know. I just feel like I’m missing something,” I tell him. It’s the feeling of someone walking over your grave or a word being on the tip of your tongue but won’t come to you. Shaking out my hands, I shake my head. “Fuck, I guess I really do need sleep.”

Closing up the tailgate of the truck, I walk to the driver's side door to climb in. Staring at the dark alley, I still can’t shake the feeling.

Settling into the seat as I close the door and start the vehicle, I shove it into drive to follow Gabriel to my new home until I find Cere.

“Where are you, Sweetheart?” I whisper as I pass through the streets of Chicago. She could be fucking anywhere, most of them terrible places for an omega.

I swear, I’m shackling myself to you as soon as I find you. Be ready to wear me like an accessory, because you’re never losing me again.

TOMMY

“We’re fucking assholes,” I mutter under my breath as I hear the front door slam shut.

“At least we know her name,” Jasper says with a shrug.

My sister met me at my house at one forty-five in the morning to sponge bathe the omega, dress her in one of my shirts, and give her fluids. Unfortunately, the scent of garbage still lingers, but I won’t be able to do anything about that until she wakes up.

The girl was really out of it, and neither of us could get her to wake up before I had to leave with Jasper for this meeting. My sister said it’s due to the concussion and would try to wake her up intermittently.

She looked suspicious at why I have the girl in my home, but I don’t give her too much information, while she just gives me her middle finger. My sister loves me… deep down. I’m almost positive.

“Cerenity,” I muse. “So what do we do? Augustine is clearly head over heels over her, but they’re not bonded. Do we have any thoughts on this?”

“I’m not a fucking therapist, Tommy,” Jasper snorts. “I don’t know. People are complicated. Maybe the girl has a shit past.”

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