Page 27 of No Strings Attached
She sighs as she leans against the counter, her blouse creasing. “I’m having Reggie look at the contract, which you already knew, but he texted me on the way home. There’s a clause in there that requires Elias to pay back almost 50,000 dollars to end the contract early.”
My stomach drops. “That’s a lot of fucking money,” I say, running my hand through my hair
“I know. A lot of Tristan’s employees either don’t read the contract before they sign, or it’s so convoluted you miss things without a lawyer. I’m also thinking that more often than not, whoever signs those contracts thinks they’ll make enough to break it, but there’s other clauses about meeting quotas. It’s not going to be easy…”
“Well, Alpha, it’s a good thing it’s never been easy. Just more of the same and we’re always ready for that. Let’s go find out which spot in that room Elias likes best, hmm? I’m banking that he took the middle, right where your scent is the strongest.”
Olivia swats my ass as I grab a few containers and bring them to the nest, laughing at the way Elias is sandwiched into the pillows, passed out from exhaustion. Snores reverberate through the room, our Omega looking perfect right where he is. I step forward to wake him but Olivia pulls me back.
“Just set everything on the stand here. He needs rest just as much as he needs food and I’m more than happy to cuddle up against our Omega for an impromptu nap.” Olivia offers me a smile but I can see right through her.
We both need him, right now, pressed up against us, reminding us that he’s still here and he’s not hurt worse. Tomorrow or the next day, we can figure out what the fuck happened and address it accordingly.
Elias
Two days later and reality comes back to bite me in the ass because that’s all the time I’ve been afforded. I’m technically still under contract with Warren, even if Olivia and Jamie are currently my bosses and without giving me favor, I’ve used up the rest of my time off.
At the very least, I’m glad that I’m not as sore as I was the first day, Olivia’s nest was the absolute perfect place to recuperate. I stretch, careful not to jostle my right arm still tender in its sling. Olivia’s burrowed into my side, her lips parted as she snores away, her wavy hair spilling over my chest. Jamie’s on my other side, his arm slung across my waist, his blond hair a mess against the pillow.
They’ve been attached to me since I got here, feeding me and bathing me with gentle hands, pressing little kisses to my forehead before snuggling up at night. It’s perfect, a peace I haven’t felt in years, especially with my phone off, cutting out the chaos of the outside world.
Olivia explained it the first day—since I’m working on an ad for her company now, she has rights over what I do, where I go. Which means rest, sleep, and no pushing myself into another hospital bed. Even if it is only two days.
Some part of me still misses my cabin and Snow and the quietness of the woods.
A small tap pulls me from my thoughts, and I frown, sitting up slightly. The tap gets louder and I glance at the bedroom window, my eyes widening as a little white paw scratches at the glass.There’s no fucking way. I climb over Jamie, careful not to wake him, and ease the window open. Snow stares up at me, her tiny red eyes bright with mischief. I let out a bitter laugh, shaking my head. “Did you come find me for food?”
She rubs her face with her paws, looking up at me like that’s a given. I have no idea how she found me out here but I’m not complaining. Seeing a piece of my life in the woods just makes me wonder if Snow is telling me that I’m safe here, withthem.“Let me find you some nuts,” I mutter. “Jesus Christ, a squirrel is following me.”
Laughter spills into the nest, a soft, hearty sound that could have only come from Olivia. I look around to see her propped up on an elbow, sleepy browns meeting mine. “It’s not odd that we see squirrels around here,” she muses, “but I guess it’s a bit more odd that we’ve seen that one specifically around the windows the last couple of days.”
I frown. “Wait, what?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had a guardian angel in the form of a little squirrel. You said her name was Snow?” I nod enthusiastically, jumping into a little tale of how we first met, how Snow was pressed up against my window during a torrential rain storm. And then she just showed up every day or so after that.
“I’ve been feeding her for a while and when she doesn’t come around, I always worry. Finding me out here, though… you might be right about that guardian thing.”
The early morning has been all lazy kisses and Jamie feeding me fruit from the market. We’ll have to get up eventually but I’m enjoying having my head propped up in Jamie’s lap as he feeds me, Olivia beside us as she types away on her computer.
She’s been working from home the past two days, keeping me close, while Jamie has been scoping out the different sets needed for their current projects. Neither one of them likes leaving me and as much as I love their presence beside me, I have to remind them that I’m not dying.
“You’ll meet some of the other actors and go over the ad,” she begins. “Everyone else has already started filming, but I want to give you another day to heal.”
I’m glad she did because yesterday I nearly toppled over in the bath, Jamie laughing at me until he realized I couldn’t push up to my feet on my own. I’m not as dizzy and weak as I was yesterday but the heat from a few days ago is back in full force. I’ve been doing everything I can to taper down my scent but that doesn’t get rid of the fact that I’m at half-mast, my Omega pushing for an actual heat.
I want to bury myself in their scents but hold back knowing that I’m not strong enough to withstand what a heat would do to me. What little I know about an Omega’s heat means more strain on my body, a body that still needs more rest.
Jamie hums as he runs his fingers through my hair and I lean into it, my lids falling closed. Olivia gently nudges my side, reminding me how surrounded I am in this moment. “Reggie’s been working through your contract, Elias. There aren’t a lot ofoptions, but there are a few to break free that wouldn’t include paying lumps of money to Warren or Tristan.”
Jamie feeds me another piece of my mango, his fingers lingering near my lips. Olivia sets her laptop aside and lets out a sigh. “The easiest one is committing to a rigorous schedule to meet the filming quota for a year. That would give you a clean break. The others involve making another deal of some kind, working part-time, amending the contract, or having someone voluntarily sign to take up the remaining part of the contract.”
I snort, a bitter laugh escaping me. “No one will willingly sign that contract after having read it. It was cool to work for Tristan a few years ago. Not anymore.”
“I wish I had better news for you, Elias,” she says. “We’re still working to see if there’s another loophole, but for at least the next week and a half, you work for me.”
I smile up at her, my heart warming despite the weight of her words. Working for her means safety, rest, a chance to breathe—unlike the hell of Warren and Tristan. Olivia then hands me my phone, her fingers brushing mine. “Unfortunately, the world must go on. I have absolutely no idea what you’re going to find after you turn that on, but we’re right here, okay?”
I brace for a flood of messages as I hold down the power button to cycle it on, but at first, there’s nothing. No calls, no texts, just silence. Then the vibration starts, a rush of notifications pinging one after another, each message a variation of the same gut-punch.
