Page 8 of Running on Empty

It didn’t takea genius to work that out. The Kelly boys had been my idols, my protectors. When I’d revealed as an omega, my bedsheets a mess of slick and blood, it had felt like the fates were at work; that they had to be my fated mates. They just had to be. And apparently, it had seemed that way to the other boys in our friendship group, too. It’d been the first day I could go out after I revealed, and Mum had been happy to get me out of the house so she could have her space back. I’d been riding my crappy old bike to our usual meet up spot, working my way up the incline just before the bend to our spot, breeze in my face, when I heard one of the other boys quizzing the Kellys.

“So is Stevie your mate, then?”

I’d jumped off my bike when I heard that, not wanting the squeak of my brakes to give me away: the noise had been impossible to get rid of ever since I’d found the bike at the tip, despite Jax working on it regularly. Then I’d bent down and wheeled my bike a few metres forward to where bushes hid the clearing from the road, to see what was happening.

The three Kelly boys had stood clustered together, the picture of masculine perfection so I’d decided, even then: they were so much taller, bigger, stronger than anyone else. I’d almost walked my bike forward, I was so sure of their response, when Ash snorted and Ronan grinned, and that had felt like a knife shoved in my heart.

“Stevie?” Jax had said, his voice full of boyish disbelief. “She’s just a kid.”

“But she’s—”

“Don’t worry about her,” Ash had told the other boy, Sammy. “She’s like a little sister to us.”

Gods, my guts had felt like they were twisting in knots right then, strangling something inside me. Hope, I realised later, dying a slow and painful death.

“Little sister?” Sammy made a rude noise. “She’s fucking hot…”

Anything further he might have to say was choked off as Ronan’s hand went to his shirt, hauling him up and off the ground, leaving his feet dangling in the air as he clawed at Ronan’s hand.

“She’s a little sister to all of us.” Ronan bit off every word precisely.

“Put him down,” Jax ordered. “Ronan!”

Sammy fell to the ground in a messy crumble, the other boys instinctively taking a step backward. Ronan stared at the other boy, his eyes bright green, his crooked smile spreading right up until the point it was no longer a smile.

I’d watched him do this more times than I could count. At times, something bled through Ronan’s facade, showing me a glimpse of something other than the class clown he appeared to be, something dark and secret. But rather than feel scared, I’d simply observe him closely, because it felt like he was letting me in, sharing something precious with me, and he would usually give me a knowing smile and a wink.

But not now. This was a secret conversation I wasn’t included in.

I tossed my bike into the bushes on the side of the road, not caring that it looked even more worn out and broken now, and then I stepped forward, ostensibly just arriving. All of the boys watched me approach and for the first time I stood taller as I came closer, not trying to be one of the boys anymore.

Because I never would be again.

“Where’s your bike?” Jax asked with a frown, looking around as if for signs of it.

I shrugged, the epitome of fifteen year old cool, I felt. “It broke.”

“What happened?” he asked, stepping closer. But as he did so, I moved backwards and that stopped him. “Maybe I can fix—”

“Can you dink me, Sammy?” I asked. The boy who’d been on the receiving end of Ronan’s displeasure had gotten to his feet and brushed himself off. His answer came in the form of a wide smile, and he wheeled his bike over. He got on and then held it still as I hauled myself up and onto the handlebars of his bike, feeling his breath on the back of my neck, his arms on either side of me as we took off, the others following along not long afterwards.

Everyone but the Kellys.

I’d savoured the stricken look on their faces, the way they watched me with silver eyes as I sailed past, andthen they’d scrambled to get on their bikes and come after us.

“You could be up there,”Jack murmured against my skin, as his brother poured the tequila. The man had mistaken my empty-eyed stare at the stages beyond as fascination. I guess I could hardly confess to mooning over another set of alphas. “You’re far more beautiful.”

“So could you,” I said, taking a shot and knocking it back. Damn, that shit was smooth. None of the usual harsh chemical blast of cheap tequila. It was definitely dangerous stuff. Snake pushed another one towards me and I drank that down as well.

“I don’t normally,” Jack confessed. “But with you…”

Aww… I shot him a sidelong look, a sharp smile spreading across my face. Did this shit ever work? Did omegas really buy the ‘you’re the one’ bullshit? I knew I wasn’t their fated mate and they weren’t mine. I wouldn’t be here with them if I was. In some ways, coming straight here to the Viper Room worked well for me: no date first, no dinner to get through. I felt tired suddenly, all the way down to my soul. I turned to face Jack, leaning into his space and his smile spread further the closer I got.

“You obviously had something in mind, bringing me to a place like this.”

“Want to cut to the chase? Alright, baby.” He looked past me, gesturing for another waitress to come forward. “Bring our drinks to our private room.”

“Of course, sir.”

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