Page 12 of Bully for Sale

“I know…” Ned rolled around on the lounger, holding tight to Earl’s jacket, and wishing he could somehow worm his way into a different reality, where none of this had ever happened, and he didn’t have to worry about his father’s livelihood or Ezer’s safety. “I wish there were more legal protections for omegas.”

“With your testimony, I’m sure the police would take him seriously, if he wanted or needed to press charges.” The hesitancy in Earl’s voice gave Ned pause. He was asking without asking if the omega in question had been raped, and if Ned knew of a real crime.

“No, no, it’s not like that.”Yet.

Earl studied him, and satisfied Ned was being honest, he rose. “So what do you plan to do about it? Pout the day away?”

Ned huffed in irritation, but he supposed Earl was only pointing out the truth. He had little to gain from trying to sun the shame out of his skin. Besides he was huddled under Earl’s jacket now. Not even the sun could purify him like that. “Any better ideas for me?”

“One or two.” Earl rose and put out his hand to help pull Ned up. “Starting in the gym. Some exercise will set your mood right. And then we’ll begin on some of those extra studies the teachers sent your way.”

“Not the math.”

“Definitelythe math.”

Ned groaned but followed Earl into his father’s big, rented house built into the hill above the sea, and down to the weight room on the lowest level.

Chapter Four

After working out,followed by agonizing his way through several equations with Earl, Ned left the house alone, eager to get some fresh air and shake off the irritation that always descended when he tried to do mathematics.

Why couldn’t the numbers make sense the way words did? They simply slid out of his mind into a heap.

As the evening descended, Ned let his feet lead the way to the scene of the crime. Or rather, they led him to the subway, and then to a bus, and to Ezer’s omega parent’s apartment complex. Getting to Roughs Neck took some dedication, and Ned’s unconscious mind had plenty of that. Because there he was, standing outside the creaky chain-link gate, staring at the concrete table where Ezer had sat yesterday looking like a scrawny kitten with dazzling eyes.

Ugh. Why hadn’t he found a way to hustle Braden and Finch on by? It was like as soon as Ned saw Ezer his head became stuffed with cotton, and he’d been unable to think of any compelling reason to lure Braden and Finch away. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get those monsters as far from Ezer as possible, but his ability to make a plan or accomplish anything at all vanished whenever he was near Ezer. He’d acted like an utter fool last week when Mr. Gregson had assigned them to work on a group mathematics project together. He’d been unable to contribute even the smallest answer. Now Ezer thought he was an idiotas wellas a total asshole.

“Looking for something?” came a deep, somehow familiar voice from behind Ned. It held an implicit threat, and Ned was surprised when he turned around to find that Amos Elson wasn’t holding the pistol at him again. Instead, his arms were full of groceries, but the hate in his eyes burned like fire. “Looking to buy Bright’s powder? Or here to torment my son again?”

Ned’s face flamed, and he moved aside, giving the man access to the gate.

Amos didn’t take it. “What’s your name?” he asked instead.

Ned cleared his throat, scraped his toe on the concrete, and then offered up an unintelligent, “Um, uh?”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Please, sir. I didn’t mean for things to get that far.” Amos scoffed, so Ned tried another tack. “Really, Mr. Elson, sir, I tried to stop them.”

“Sure you did.”

“I swear. I…IlikeEzer.” His throat grew dry as he spoke the words, and his tongue almost tripped over itself. “I didn’t want…I mean, Iwantedto do something, but…”

Amos glared at him.

“Please, sir, I want to apologize.” Hedid, he realized. That was the reason he’d come, though he hadn’t known that until now. “I want to say I’m sorry.”

“If you know anything about my son, then you know he doesn’t live here.”

Right.Right.

He did know that, actually, but he’d forgotten. The events in the yard here, at Amos’s apartment, had been at the forefront of his mind, and he’d thought that maybe, just maybe, if he came back, Ezer would be there at the table again, and he could have a do-over.

“To you, I mean. I wanted to apologize to you.” That was a lie, but it was true enough in the moment. Now that Ned was standing here with Amos, he was sorry for what he’d done to his son, and he did think he should apologize for it. “I’ll do better in the future. I swear.”

“I feel like that’s a promise you must make a lot.”

Ned flushed.