Page 41 of A Baby for the Beast
"How did you even know about all of this?" I ask.
Jace is like nineteen and spends all of his time either on his phone, helping Henry and Sarah at their bakery and coffee shop, or he's with me. There's not really any time for him to have gone all super sleuth and found out everything Kyle was up to or all the other women he might've victimized. Yet somehow, Jace seems to know all about it, knows all about everything Kyle is up to.
Jace clears his throat, not making eye contact with me in the mirror anymore. "When Kyle started talking shit, I started looking into him. He's not a good dude."
"Well, yeah, we kind of figured that out," I say, not liking how Jace's usually easy-going attitude has firmed into something more serious.
He shakes his head like he's trying to clear it so he can think of what he wants to say. I wait, not rushing him since he's been taking this more seriously than anyone else.
"There are forums and stuff where others have come forward about what he's done to them. Names are never shared, obviously, but it wasn't hard to figure out who they were all talking about once I found the right place. But that's not important. What's important is that enough of them were willing to come forward if they weren't the only ones. Hayley's video going out, well, it showed them that at least one person was willing to stand up for herself even if it wasn't voluntarily."
"Okay, but how did you know?" I ask.
Jace's lips quirk for a second, his lighthearted mood returning. "Dude, I'm way better with omegas than you are." His face flushes as he realizes how that didn't come out how he wanted it to. "What I mean is, I earned their trust and they kept me in the loop of what was happening."
"Uh-huh," I say, letting the subject fall.
For all I know, every time Jace is on his phone, he could be messaging with these people. Honestly, whatever he's up to, at least he's using his snooping for good. A thought has me narrowing my eyes in the mirror, though.
"Why'd you start looking into it?" I ask, but before he can give me the same 'Kyle is a douche' answer, I cut him off. "The real reason, not just that Kyle is a jerk."
Jace shrugs. "You all talk about how I'm probably going to pack up. Until then, I have the family, and I don't like people messing with my family. Kyle was shit talking you, so I decided I wanted to fuck with him. Not my fault he ended up having a closet full of skeletons."
His answer has me smiling because, of course, the kid was just looking out for me, and then everything else just fell into his lap. My good mood lasts for all of a few seconds before something more pressing rises to my attention.
"Why did you all let me think I was going to get to kill him?" I ask, irritation lancing through me at how everyone just let me think I was actually going to go through with my plan.
It wasn't well thought out. I probably wouldn't have gotten away with it, but no one even really tried that hard to stop me. I mean, sure, I snapped and growled at anyone who tried, but still.
"Your omega thought it was hot?" Jace answers with a laugh, and I snap my teeth, not liking him talking about Hayley like that.
"What?" He holds his hands up. "The omega is into the whole violent alpha thing for some reason. We're just being good brothers."
I roll my eyes, put the car in drive, and slowly ease us out of the parking spot. The cop cars are still outside Kyle's building, but there's no reason for us to be here anymore. Kyle isn't going anywhere secluded tonight, and if he has more victims, they deserve to take a chunk out of him, too.
If he gets off somehow, I still say we kill him.
No arguments from me.
16
Hayley
I'm more nervous for this event than I have been for anything that's happened in the last few weeks. Sure, sure, finding out that the douchebag who knocked me up had done it to a handful of other women was a lot to take in. Realizing that what he did to me wasn't just a dick move was something else entirely to swallow. But, according to the law, lying about birth control to sleep with someone is illegal, and seeing as he left so much evidence of his lying, well… Even if I don't want to admit what he did to me was bad, I can't exactly argue with the law.
"You look beautiful," Lucas says, stepping up behind me, and wrapping his arms around my abdomen, his face nuzzling the crook of my neck as he presses a kiss to my bite mark. His eyes meet mine in the mirror, and I melt into him a bit more, trusting him to support me.
"Is it nice enough for a wedding?" I ask, looking down at the baby blue dress. It's not fancy, but it's so comfortable. The only thing I'm worried about is that it isn't fancy enough for a wedding.
"You could wear sweats to this wedding and no one would bat an eye," Lucas says. "Sarah and my brother are just happy to have family there."
"I know, but I don't want to make a bad impression, I'm still the newest person at dinner," I say, pressing my lips tight as I smooth the dress over my abdomen.
Tessie should be here in the next couple of weeks, and I'm starting to get nervous about her showing up. Not because I don't want her, but now it's all becoming so real. We moved all of my stuff from my apartment to Lucas's. Well, we moved over all the stuff I wanted, and the rest he put into storage until I have the energy to go through it and decide what to do with the rest.
"Newest or not, you're family now." Lucas presses one more kiss to my bite before stepping away from me.
It isn't until he does that that I realize he hasn't gotten dressed yet after his shower, and damn if I don't have the sexiest mate in the entire world. I don't even try to hide the way I ogle him. I'm classy, though. I check out his chest and abs, and then let my eyes stray down to where he's hot and hard and ready to make me feel good. I lick my lips, eyes darting up to his face.
