Page 70 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

“Oh, goody. I can’t wait.” She bypasses me entirely, heading for Creed instead, sinking into his embrace. I would be upset by that obvious snub, except I don’t think it actually was a snub. Haven’s so small that when Creed picks her up and her legs wind around his chest, he can zip both of them inside his jacket.

She’s just fucking cold.

“Come on, baby girl,” he murmurs into her hair. “Let’s get you home before your toes fall off.”

Fuck. I don’t even like him joking about that.

She doesn’t lift her head from where it’s nuzzled against Creed’s neck, her nose pressed into his skin. “Ren?” Always her first thought.

“We sent her home, angel,” Tic says, falling into step next to Creed as he carries her toward our car. Jude runs ahead and slides into the driver’s seat. I know by the time we get in, the heat will be blasting and all the seat warmers will be on.

“She didn’t even fight us on it. Just trusted us to take care of you,” I add.

Haven peers at me with one eye. “You didn’t bark at her, did you?”

“What? No! Haven, what the fuck? You think I just go around barking at omegas?”

Creed’s jacket shifts with her shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m realizing I don’t know any of you all that well. I never would have thought you were the type of men to frequent a place like that, but apparently you are.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“No?” she asks. “So you didn’t go there to have sex with omegas?”

“We did, but-”

“Did you know most of them are under contract? Not like a contract that they set up themselves, but a contract where their familiessoldthem, Tic?” she asks, peering at us. “Where the people who were supposed to love them the most sold them to an establishment to be used by alphas like you?”

“We never did that,” I reassure her. “We never used those girls.”

I open the door for Creed and he slides into the back seat, into the warmth of the car.

“How can you be sure?” She asks when Tic and I have joined them.

“Because we asked,” Tic says. “We made sure that any of the girls we booked were there willingly.”

She lifts her head and stares at him hard. “You asked?”

“Yes, angel. We asked.”

“And you think they would have told you if their family sold them? You think they weren’t coached to say whatever you want to hear, maybe even commanded to tell you whatever would close the deal? Do you think that maybe, since they have to work to pay off a debt they didn’t accrue, that they might lie to you just to get it over with quicker, to get out of there quicker?”

Shit. She’s right. She’s absolutely right. They could have just been telling us what we want to hear. The more clients they have, the faster that nightmare is over for them. Of course, they would lie to us, especially since we were nice enough to ask. They’d probably rather be with us than some asshole who couldn’t care less.

God, I feel sick. And Haven is absolutely right to be disgusted by us.

I swipe a hand over my face as Haven settles back against Creed. Her shivering has eased, but it’s still there and I can’t imagine my pack mate is in any hurry to let her go.

“When was the last time you went there?” She asks. Something in her tone tells me she already knows, so I don’t lie to her. I wouldn’t have, even if she didn’t know the answer.

“The night you found the score sheet,”

“You met my father there.” It’s not a question. “You met in a private room withfiveomegas.”

Creed hugs her tighter against him, and based on the subject, I wonder how long she’s going to allow that to continue.

“Yes,” Tic agrees. “We did.”

She lifts her head to glance at all of us. “What did you talk about?”

---