Page 20 of A Baby for the Beast
I think I'm going to be sick. I shake my head, my hands starting to tremble. I swear, if I cry, I'm going to be so upset at myself. "I need you to leave."
"It's okay, baby, he said you were easy. We just wanted to know if we could have a go."
They're laughing, they're both laughing like this is some funny joke, while I'm trying to keep my dinner from coming back up. How do they even know who I am or where I work?
I shake my head again, this time looking around the bar, wanting to motion to Paul and Dale that I need help, but they're already on their way to our end of the bar. They're both older, but they're powerful enough alphas.
I don't say anything to the two men, and I try to put it out of my mind that they were probably recording the interaction. I take shaky steps to where Chloe is serving someone else. She glances at me and then back to her customer before snapping her attention back over to me and asking me something I can't quite hear because of the roaring in my ears.
"What's wrong?" Chloe says, this time in my face, her hands on each side of my face.
She looks behind me to where I'm sure Dale and Paul are escorting the two alphas out of the bar. I want to cry so bad. I want to cry and throw up and go curl up in my nest.
If two strangers came in knowing who I am to Kyle, that means he's told them. I don't know why, and I don't know what he wants, but he's told his audience about me. Bile rises in my throat as I try to force down the disgusting feelings surging through my mind. For the first time since I found I was pregnant, Kyle's managed to make me feel shame.
"Did those guys say something to you?" Chloe asks, but I don't answer her.
I want Lucas. I want him to tell me it's okay, that I'm okay, that he doesn't care about who Kyle is to me, just like he made me feel the one night we shared together. When I look over to the table he always sits at, it's empty, a few bills lying underneath his full beer glass.
Chloe catches who I'm looking for. "He just left. Do I need to go get him?"
Chloe is an omega too, and just like me, she doesn't have a mate. Unlike me, she isn't pregnant. Still, she knows how important having an alpha around can be when we feel vulnerable, and right now, I feel more than just a little vulnerable, and there's not a single alpha here who will make me feel as safe as mine will. And yes, mine, because that's who Lucas and Remus said they wanted to be.
Before they were confronted with what your baggage will bring on them.
If I wasn't already feeling bad enough, that thought does it.
"I need to go sit down," I tell Chloe, looking around the bar, making sure it doesn't look too busy.
"Go, go, Steven and I can handle this," Chloe says, ushering me to the back of the kitchen area. We have a singular cook backthere, Brad, who mostly just reheats cheap bar food. We're not exactly known for our cuisine here.
"Jeez, are you okay? Is it the baby?" Brad asks.
He finishes one more puff on his cigarette before tossing the butt into the little trashcan Chloe stuck out in the alley through the back door for him because she was tired of him throwing them on the sidewalk. He's supposed to stop smoking, but that normally lasts about a week before he starts again for a few months, and then the process repeats itself over and over again.
"The baby's fine," I say, stroking a flat hand against my abdomen and taking deep breaths.
He runs to the little closet that acts as the manager's room, pulls out the office chair, and brings it over to me.
"Thanks," I tell him, sitting in it and trying not to start crying now that it feels safe to do so. Brad starts purring, the sound startling me so much that it causes a laugh to bubble up out of me.
"What every alpha wants to hear when he purrs," Brad murmurs in faux annoyance. He doesn't stop purring, though. The rumbles help to calm me down, even though he isn't my alpha, and he doesn't want anything to do with me in that way.
"Hey, at least your purr calms me down. My alpha, his purr is so bad," I tell him, not realizing just how out of pocket that remark is.
Brad catches it, though, and just like the slip of Remus's name, I know this is going to get around to everyone because they're all a bunch of gossips at Night Owls.
"You got yourself an alpha," Brad says, his purr still rumbling, which means he doesn't think my alpha would care about it.
I don't think Lucas or Remus would. They might not like the idea of another alpha purring for me, but they would want me relaxed and calm when I'm stressed. Or, they probably would if they actually wanted me.
"I thought so, but something happened just now." I frown and shake my head. "I think it became too real for him."
"What did?" Brad asks.
"Uh…" I look down at the basketball-shaped lump attached to my body. "My baby, that she has someone who contributed his genetic material to making her, and that alpha turned out to be a complete jackass who might be more trouble than I'm worth."
"I doubt that's true," Brad tells me, his purr slowing until he silences it. "I can't imagine the alpha you're finally willing to settle down with is scared away that easily."
