Page 11 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

Ren’s already too big eyes widen further and her lips form an ‘o’ of surprise. Then she wipes that look away and drops her gaze from mine. “Do you really think they’d do that?”

“I think they didn’t finish whatever they were planning. It seems unlikely that they’d just let me go until they get what they want.”

“What do you think they want?”

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip to keep it from wobbling. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. “You don’t think they would hurt you, right? Physically, I mean.”

“No.” My answer is immediate. “If that had been the goal, they had plenty of opportunity in the last month to torture or kill me.” They hadn’t. Instead, they introduced me to my bodyand pleasure and gave me more orgasms than I could stand. They made me think we were going somewhere that we could be something. That they were my forever.

And every second was a lie.

Which I guess is a sort or torture in its own right. Knowing they never loved me, never really wanted me. It fucking hurts. But I’ve survived worse than the Calloway pack, and I’ll survive this, too. I just have to figure out how.

Ren reaches out and threads her fingers through mine, squeezing. “Are you ready to talk about it yet?”

My lips tighten, and I drop my gave to where she’s holding my hand, feeling…ashamed.Yes, I feel ashamed that I fell for them, for their lies, for their fake touches and soft looks. I’m fucking ashamed that I followed my instincts as an omega and they led me, not to the happy every after I’d been hoping for, but this: hospitalized after my first heat. Heartbroken. And ashamed. How could I let them do this to me?

“Haven?”

“I found a scorecard,” I say, my voice surprisingly level, given the emotions bubbling up inside me. But I don’t look at her. “On Jude’s computer. Each of them had a sheet. They were tallying up points for each sexual act they got me to do. Got extra points if it was in public and if they made me come.”

“What?”

I shake my head. “There were videos or pictures of each sex act. Apparently, they have cameras in every room in their house. And in public, they’d record each other.”

Ren’s fingers tighten. “I noticed that,” she says, sounding fucking disgusted. “I noticed when we went to The Market and you were with Jude on the dance floor. Hale was recording you. I should have known something was wrong.”

She sounds apologetic, and I glance at her. “Not your fault. That was one example of many, many times they did things likethat, and I didn’t realize…” tears flood my eyes and I have to take a deep breath to keep from bawling like a baby. “It wasn’t just sex,” I say quietly. “They had a column for ‘I love yous’ and for me biting them. It was… their goal was to use the physical stuff to soften me up to get me to fall in love with them.”

That’s what fucking hurts so bad. I could deal if it was just sex. It would hurt. It would hurt a lot. But I’d get it. We all have instincts, we all have urges that our bodies want us to satisfy, and as alphas and omegas, sometimes we just have to do it.

But they weren’t stopping with that. They wanted me to fall in love with them. They wanted me to be emotionally invested, to care about them. Probably to ensure the most heartbreak when I found out what they did.

“I’m going to fucking kill them,” Ren mutters under her breath, her body trembling with the force of her rage. “I will. I’ll make it hurt too. Real bad. My mom and Ginny will help me bury the bodies.”

A choked laugh escapes me. “I’m… I don’t think I want them dead. I just want to never see them again.”Lies. Lies. Lies.Even knowing what they did, a part of me is desperate to see them, desperate to have them hold me and explain this away. To tell me this is all a big misunderstanding and that they do want me.

I tell that part of me to sit down and shut the fuck up.

I will not let the Calloway pack treat me like a doormat. I’m worth more than that.

“You won’t have to,” she reassures me. Then she glances over her shoulder like she’s checking to make sure we’re alone. We very much are. “Creed’s the only one still here. I don’t know where the others are, but when we get you out of here, we can pretty easily bypass him. There has to be more than one entrance to the omega ward, right?”

I nod. “Right. We can ask.”

I’m trying really hard not to let my disappointment show. Even after I’ve been hospitalized, Jude, Tic and Hale can’t be bothered to stick around? To make sure I’m okay? Why the hell is Creed still here? He can’t possibly think they’ll be able to continue, not after this. Right?

Ren sighs and pulls me into a hug. “I’m gonna go get you some clothes and get the guest room ready for you. I’ll also check with the nurses and see if we can sneak you out. And then once you’re home and have recovered, we’ll figure out where to go from here. Okay?”

“Okay.” I agree, gratitude swelling in my chest. “Florence?” She pauses in the act of pulling on her jacket, pinning me with a look. I never call her Florence. Ever. She hates it and I respect that, respect her.

“Than-”

“No,” she cuts me off, voice harsh. “No. Do not thank me for this, Haves. Do not thank me for taking care of you. You’re my best fucking friend and if our situations were reversed, you’d move heaven and earth for me. So don’t thank me for this, please.”

I smile at her. “You like me.”

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