Page 75 of Bully for Sale

“I’ve seen that a few times. What do you like best about it?”

Ezer shrugged. He wasn’t about to admit that he’d always found the situation the omega finds himself in—a famous actor omega, lost in heat, taken in by a bookstore owning alpha he hardly knew—titillating, and the sweetness of the unexpected romance heartwarming. Instead, he offered an indisputable fact: “The alpha playing the lead is handsome. What’s your favorite movie?”

“I’m a TV guy, and lately I love the showHow to Catch a Cow Thief.”

Ezer blinked, trying to see a glint of humor in Ned’s eyes, revealing this confession as a joke. “Please tell me that show isn’t literally about catching cow thieves?”

Ned grinned. “That’s for me to know and you to find out when you watch it with me later.”

Ezer rolled his eyes, and started to flip back around, but Ned’s hand on his hip stayed him.

“Okay, what’s your favorite book?”

Ezer shrugged. “I don’t have one. What’s yours?”

“Superhero comics.”

“Figures.”

Ned, who had seemed relaxed with post-sex afterglow, jerked when his phone pinged. He sat from the sofa and reached over Ezer to pick it up from where it rested on the coffee table. Glancing at the screen, his expression went tight, and his lips drew into a thin line. Ezer wondered who the message from was from. His father, or Uncle Heath, or maybe Finch and Braden sending him taunts or threats?

Ned ran his eyes over the text once more and then passed the phone to Ezer, saying, “Look.”

Ezer stared down at the screen for a moment, his cheeks getting hot, and then he handed it back to Ned. “What does it say?”

Ned’s brows furrowed. “You didn’t read it?”

“I can’t read.” Ezer’s gut churned at the admission. His biggest shame.

Ned stared at Ezer. “You can’t read?”

Ezer shook his head. “No, and I can’t learn how to.”

“I could hire someone to teach you,” Ned said, clearly dumbfounded.

“I saidI can’t learn. The doctors say I have a brain problem.” He tapped his forehead with two fingers. “I can’t ever learn to read.”

Ned shook his head. “But I’ve seen you in school, working math problems.”

“Numbers are different.”

“How?

“They don’t move around. They stay put on the page.” Ezer’s throat tightened. “Numbers are friendly that way.”

Ned considered that for a long, quiet moment. “So that’s why you were at St. Hauers?”

Ezer nodded. “But my da arranged for me to switch over to Doubleton, and to take my exams verbally. So…yeah. I can’t read. Not the message you showed me, not a book, not the contract I signed, not anything. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Ned said, but he still sounded uncertain. “Is that why you didn’t read our contract? Because you couldn’t?”

“George offered to read it to me,” Ezer admitted. “I declined.”

Ned stared, his brain working overtime.

“Who’s the text from?” Ezer asked, bringing him back to the present.

“Uh, it was from your da. He wanted to know about you.” He opened the message again and read from the screen: