Page 30 of Bully for Sale

As the car pulled away from the curb, a police officer jerked him around by his collar, getting up in his face. “What’s a rich alpha kid like you doing lingering around? Looking for Bright’s powder, huh?”

“No!” Ned babbled out an excuse and was relieved when the officer released him with only a warning to get back to the right part of town. “Hanging out in Roughs Neck will ruin you, kid. Got it? A short high from Bright’s powder and a cut-rate omega hole isn’t worth it. If you’re horny, you’re better off paying the prices in Show Town. Cheap isn’t always better.”

Ned trudged to the bus stop for the third time, sticky with sweat and with adrenaline raking through his veins. By the time he arrived back home, he’d missed eight texts from Braden and Finch, half of them foul photos of them toying with omega whores, and two from Amos Elson, thanking him for the hotel and reassuring him that Ezer was safe.

He wished he had someone to talk to, but Earl was already in bed.

Ned entered the room he’d slept in since he was a kid and dropped onto his mattress without even showering. He stared out the window at the view of the city below, feeling pent-up and confined. This room was too small for him now. He needed more.

He needed Ezer.

Ned imagined Ezer at the hotel, lying awake in bed, no doubt, thinking all kinds of thoughts. Was he scared? Was he worried? Was he thinking of Ned, too?

“What in thehell was Ned Clearwater doing there?” Ezer asked into the darkness.

The hotel was a decent one. Two beds, a television with all the streaming services, and a warm shower with endless hot water. It was clear Da appreciated that the most. Ned hadn’t scrimped in sending them to this place, but he was so wealthy it was probably a drop in the bucket to him.

With no cell phone, Ezer hadn’t been able to alert his brothers or his father—ha, his father!—about what had happened, and he didn’t know whether he even wanted to. His mind was a blur of new information, and troubled from the shock and trauma of seeing men die in front of his very eyes.

He was alive.

He was homeless.

He was penniless.

He wasn’t a Fersee.

To think, that morning he’d woken concerned only about whether he would be able to solve the math problems he’d chosen as a fun exercise for himself, and now…

“I’m not sure why he was there, but it doesn’t matter. Thank God he was,” Amos murmured. From the other bed the rustle of sheets came across the room. They’d cranked up the air conditioning when they’d first arrived, overheated, but now that they were safe, Ezer felt cold down to his bones. “He was able to help us afford a ride, and he got this room for us.”

“He was there buying Bright’s powder, I just know it. All those alphas use it.”

“Perhaps. Or maybe he came to apologize to you, like he said.”

Ezer scoffed. “Why would he even think I’d be there?”

“Youwerethere.”

“Yeah, but how would he have known that?”

“Ezer. It’s late. Go to sleep. Everything can wait until tomorrow. In fact, it will have to. There is nothing we can do about any of this tonight.”

The night crept by with theshooshof cars passing on the road outside, and the chatter of people walking down the hallway inside, and Ezer didn’t sleep a wink. Instead, he played back the last nineteen years of his life and tried to see it all from a new perspective.

So many puzzle pieces had clicked into place: why his father had never loved him as fully as his other sons, why he’d turned on him too when Da had been cast off, why he’d always been Da’s favorite despite being scrawny and ugly by society’s standards, and, most importantly, why Da had been sent away so decisively and violently.

“Why did you love Finn so much?” he asked, just as the sun started to rise.

Da shifted in his sleep, but only a slight snore answered Ezer’s question.

Why had his da risked everything for a few experiences with this Finn Swinton? Was love really so strong? And was it love or lust? Or the combination of the two?

He didn’t know. He’d never felt that kind of stirring for anyone before. He’d never even had a crush, so what did he know about love?

Yesterday had proven Ezer knew very little with regards to his life. He’d been wrong about everything from who his father was to what his da wanted for his future, to the very makeup of his blood and family life. Heknewnothing anymore. So perhaps hewaswrong about why Ned had been in Roughs Neck, too, then.

But no.