Page 106 of Dubious Match
“Okay, I’m fine. These are not my monkeys, but you are,” he says, his gray eyes returning to me. “While Caleb and I were guarding your door at the hospital, something really weird happened.”
“Define what weird is?” I ask.
“It was really late, and you were sleeping. An omega was wandering the halls, kind of in her head as she walked. I don’t even really know how she was allowed onto the floor,” he grunts.
“Anyway, she walked by us,” Caleb adds. “I think we scared her, because she was almost hugging the other wall as she passed us. She glanced through the window and saw you, and that’s what pulled her to our side of the hallway.”
“Do I know this person?” I ask, confused. They both look really serious. “Even if I didn’t know her, I was badly beaten, guys. That’s enough to bring out sympathy in anyone…especially when you two lugs are together guarding my door. Where are you going with this?”
Caleb groans as he leans his elbows on the table and his fingers pull on his hair.
“Do you want the easy version or the bandaid torn off, Hollis?” he asks.
“Bandaid,” I whisper, my heart starting to pound. I bite back the words where I tell them that they’re both scaring me. I force my breaths to stay even though they know my tells.
“Her eyes look like yours,” Lars rasps. “She has crazy hair, and it’s blonde, purple, and pink. But…Hollis. Hereyes.It was like looking into yours.”
“Lars,” I whimper, shaking my head. He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying.
I’ve looked for years, and I haven’t been able to find Maree. How would they just find her like this? It’s the only thing they could possibly be saying to be this upset and hiding shit from me.
“Please don’t cry, fuck,” Caleb whispers. We’re too exposed, sitting in the middle of the diner instead of a corner.
Letting my hair fall forward to hide my face, I gasp in a breath.
“Who is she?” I ask, my voice ragged and fucked. “I mean, are you really telling me that she’s Maree?”
“We are. I don’t think she knows that’s who she is, though,” Caleb says.
“We scared her,” Lars whispers, as if telling a secret. “She ran away like her hair was on fire. The girl is your height, and I swear everything else other than her eyes is different. I can tell when people are hiding things, Hollis. She definitely is.”
“We tried to find her later at the hospital,” Caleb adds, sighing. “I didn’t want to leave Lars for too long at the door without me. I overheard that she’s a midwife and she was with a client who needed her.”
No.Shaking my head, I try to focus on their words. There’s only one person who that could be. How many others have fashion colored hair who are also midwives? There’s too many pieces that all point in one direction.
The one where I am currently living. Mal asked that I stay with them for now. I have to make some decisions, and I don’t want to let my loft go for now in case I need somespace. However, all of that pales in comparison to what my two childhood best friends are telling me.
“Hollis,” Caleb hissed. “Fuck. We should have just picked up takeout and gone to the bar.”
“Not too late,” Lars grunts, exploding out of his seat to find the manager.
“I…” I gasp, trying hard to put two words together.
My phone goes off on the table, and Caleb growls as he reads the name. I think one of my alphas is feeling my distress.
“Let’s go, Hollis. Up,” he says. Grabbing my giant shoulder bag, he helps me stand and escorts me out. “Hello?”
He walks me all the way to the car, and helps me in before shoving my head unceremoniously between my legs.
“I’m fine,” I rasp, my breaths wheezing in and out.
“We’re talking and she got upset, Remy,” he says. “Yeah, I’m talking her through it now. I’ll have her call you later…No, she can’t talk now because she’s hyperventilating. Gotta go.”
I glare at him as he hangs up the phone and dumps into my bag.
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” Caleb growls, tossing my bag into the seat beside me to crouch down to meet my gaze. “What did you just figure out? You’re always the smartest fucking person in the room, Hollis. It’s rare that you’re not ten feet ahead of me. Tell me.”
“Give her some space,” Lars barks at him, opening the passenger side door to put bags of food inside. There’s no power behind the words, simply worry. “The manager was nice enough to pack it all for us.”
