Page 22 of A Baby for the Beast
Lucas looks like he wants to ask if what Steven is saying is true, but I just shake my head and hold up my hand. "We can talk about it later."
Lucas doesn't hide his smile, and it helps me feel better. Of course, those good feelings are dashed as soon as I look up at one of the televisions showing more coverage of the fact that Kyle blasted my name and place of work to his entire following.
I don't know what the legal definition of doxxing is, but the fact that my face is now being broadcast on national sports channels has me feeling a little exposed. I try to push the feelings aside, looking back over at Lucas's table where he's watching me, his expression furious, but he's keeping himself in control.
If he can stay calm, so can I. I'll put on a fake smile, get through this shift, and see about taking a few days off until this hopefully calms down.
The bar gets busier as the night continues on, most of the new people are here for one reason, and it's me. I don't know how they all miss Lucas sitting at one of the tables, but they don't pay him any attention. They're too busy thinking they're sneaky about taking pictures of me, or making inappropriate remarks.
Paul and Dale toss out three more alphas, and Lucas follows them out each time, returning with Remus in control before he sees I'm okay. Then he gives control back to Lucas. They watch in their quiet fury as I finish out my shift.
When he walks me straight to his car as soon as my shift is over, I don't even argue. Not that he says anything either. Hiswhole body shakes with tension, with anger that he's had to keep in check all night. I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted after the day I've had, and he's close to being at his limit, too.
It isn't until he has the car in drive that the floodgates open, and I spend the whole drive to his apartment sobbing while he purrs at me with what is still a terrible purr that he has obviously been trying to get better at. It's the worst symphony ever composed, but Lucas and Remus don't try to make me stop.
They're here with me, a hand on my knee, squeezing in support. They're a strength I need, and one I want to help me weather the storm that's coming because I don't think this is even the beginning of whatever Kyle's trying to do.
9
Lucas
Hayley's still asleep in my bed when I wake in the morning. When we fell asleep last night, it was while we were both still dressed, her crying against my chest as Remus and I fought about how our purr still sounds like absolute shit.
Rip them all apart. Make them pay for making her cry.
Not so into her tears now, are you?
Shut the fuck up!
I shouldn't be surprised by the vitriol in Remus's words since he's the one who's been struggling so hard with feeling useless when it comes to protecting Hayley before harm happens to her. It's not like he can just ban any alphas from entering the bar she works at, and we don't know which ones we need to give a beat down to until they've already done something to upset Hayley.
No, he had to sit there and watch her get hurt over and over. He wanted blood, and I had to pull him back from killing the alphas every time we followed them until we were relatively alone when he'd put some of our skills to use. They weren't fair fights in the least, but it wasn't fair of them to bombard Hayley at work when she had to just stand there and endure their bullshit.
I grab our cup of coffee and our laptop and head back to the bedroom. Hayley's where we left her when we got up about an hour ago. We ran for a half hour and showered, and even being away from her for that long had Remus snarling and growling like he'd been kept from her for months, as if we hadn't been dealing with being away from her this whole time.
He's fraying. There's one thing he wants now, one object of his desire, and we haven't had her. He's going to fall into a rut soon, and if he's not careful, he's going to scare our omega before she decides to stay with us.
She's staying.
Going to force her?
She wants to stay. Just, fuck you.With those eloquent words, Remus takes control of our body and settles us back in bed next to Hayley.
He wants to forgo the things we need to get done this morning so he can hold our omega and admire how beautiful she is, but he's not completely lost just yet and knows we have things to schedule if we're going to figure out this whole thing with Kyle.
Remus opens the laptop and types out our password, sipping our coffee while we wait for it to open all the way. He adjusts our glasses. Usually, we wear contacts, but when the plan is to stay in bed for as long as possible, there's not really any point. When Hayley shifts in her sleep, he scoots closer, purring in satisfaction when she nuzzles her face against our thigh, coming to us for comfort even in her subconscious.
Our phone buzzes in our pocket, and Remus huffs because he knows damn well he doesn't want to talk to whoever's calling us. He doesn't want to talk to anyone except Hayley. So, as much as he wants to be the one in control, he relents and lets me answer the phone.
"What's up, Phil?" I ask, already knowing what he wants. I lift my glasses and pinch the bridge of my nose.
He texted me multiple times last night about what was happening. He was about fifteen minutes behind Jace, who had sent me screenshots of the posts Kyle had made about Hayley. The things he said about her were vile, and while there were plenty of people who were calling out his bad behavior in the comments, there were a lot who thought she was getting what she deserved for betraying him.
"How are you doing, kid?" he asks.
It's such a stupid question. The reason for my being is having her name dragged through the mud by a scumbag who wanted nothing to do with her until I showed an interest in her.
We did this to Hayley, and that's what has Remus so mad at me and himself. He showed our hand to Kyle by going into his locker room, by staking a claim on Hayley right in front of him. If he hadn't done that, who knows where we'd be right now? Probably with Hayley, going about life like normal while I watched her from afar until I could convince her that I'm the man she should spend the rest of her life with.
