Page 26 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter twenty-four

Selene

Mael smiles at me as he pulls the hood down on Davey’s beat up truck. “Turn it over, Selene.”

I turn the engine over and listen to it fire for the first time in almost sixteen months.

Our eyes collide, and the memory of how he and Bailey had fucked me spit roast style in the bathroom this morning resurfaces. My body heats, and I wonder if I can convince him to slip away with me for five or fifteen minutes.

Davey lets out a creaky cheer. Rubbing his whiskered face, wiping away tears of relief. “Boy! You’re a miracle worker!”

I’d explained to Mael that Davey hasn’t been able to go see his daughter since his truck broke down. He won’t let her come here, and so, he’s just been putting her off. He’s missed her terribly. Mael got dressed, grabbed my hand, and dragged me straight over here.

My alpha winks at me, and I feel like I’m seeing the layers of tension fall off him, leaving a Mael that is familiar and as intoxicating as the pain-filled alpha is. The acceptance of the neighbourhood and finding his place in it has done wonders for him

I sneak my hand up and finger the bond on my neck. I got a second chance. How often does that happen?

“Nah, not miracles, just engines.”

“I don’t care, you’re brilliant. ”

I climb out of the truck and stare up at him as he comes and wraps an arm around me, such steady and confident touches. It’s like before but so much more. I like these familiar touches. I adore him, and he is brilliant. And all mine.

I don’t feel as alone as I did before, instead the bonds thrum inside me, and I can feel each part of my pack, sure, it’s new, but it’s strong. Every decision we make is together, every time I turn around, they are there. It doesn’t feel real yet.

“How much do I owe you?“

“No way. I never get to work on trucks anymore. It was my pleasure.”

Davey and Mael talk a bit more, but I’m too busy wondering at how much my life has changed.

Bailey jogs towards us and passes me a purple iced drink. I take it and let him pull me away from Mael, who mock growls but waves us off with a mouthed ‘later’ at me.

Bailey’s phone rings, and I discreetly check the screen as he ignores the call. Lia.

“Bailey-”

He grabs my free hand, lacing our fingers together, and tows me towards the park. I follow with a smile that’s been glued to my face for the last three weeks.

Luna has avoided coming home, not that I can blame her. My pack and I can barely keep our hands off each other, but rubbing in her face that I have the pack but also her ex-boyfriend is a point of contention that she is not willing to bend on.

We get to the picnic table, and he lifts me up so I’m sitting on it while he steps in between my legs. I lean back on my elbows and peer up at him. The dappled light of the sunlight through the trees shimmers around him.

He looks like some kind of fae from a romance novel.

Bailey trails his lips down my cheek.

“We should take a trip. Go and enjoy ourselves somewhere, just for a day or so. I just want you for ourselves. Just for a little bit,” he murmurs against my lips.

I moan as he hikes up my leg and tilts my hips so that I’m pressed against the hard length of him. With a discreet move, he grinds his cock into me.

“Bailey, we’re in a park, it’s broad daylight,” I protest, but it’s weak. I am weak for him.

“Then give me what I want quickly.”

I moan. “What do you want?” I ask in frustration and sit up.

“If I can’t have you alone, I want to know you’ve come.”

“But-”

He pulls me against him harder. The seam of my jeans has become an almost painfully erotic torture device. He pushes me back so I’m on my elbows and leans over me, moving his hips in slow and deliberate movements.

“Bailey, you’re not playing fair. ”

“Nope. I’m not. What are you going to do about it?”

I throw my head back and laugh. Then grip his shoulders, holding myself up and to his chest, and gyrate against him.

“Fucking hell!” Bailey chokes out. “You’re going to kill me.”

“I’m close,” I gasp into his ear. “I just want to get down on my knees right here and suck your big, huge cock into my mouth and have you fuck me until you come down my throat.”

“Yeah? So you’d be all right if I used your throat for my pleasure.”

I groan.

“I could just fuck you here on the table, right where everyone eats. I could take that ass of yours until you scream.”

His huge hand finds my breast and squeezes hard. I cry out, but he continues to rock into me.

“Omega, your slick is leaving a wet patch on me,” Bailey teases.

He grabs the back of my neck and fuses our mouths together before breaking away for air. “If you come for me now, I’ll feed you my cock later.”

The thought of later, the promise of a future, the anticipation of hearing him groan and whine and beg me, sends me spiralling towards the edge. His continual thrusts press the seam of jeans harder against my clit.

I throw my head back, collapsing against the table, arching my back.

“You look like my most perfect little slut. My slut.”

His hand slips between us and finds the seam of my jeans, and he presses, stroking in quick movements.

“Bailey!”

“Give. Me. What. I. Want!”

He grabs my shoulder and drags me up, his hand still sending those painful and pleasurable strokes straight against my clit.

“Come, Selene-”

His phone rings, and he looks at it. He looks back at me and smiles, putting it on speaker.

“Hey, Bailey, where are you?” Edric asks.

I whimper.

“Bailey!” my alpha growls. “Where are you?”

“I’m so close,” I sob, “don’t stop.”

“Damn it!” Edric growls. “Don’t you dare stop, Bailey.”

Bailey leers at me. “You heard your alpha. You’re not leaving this table until you’re satisfied. ”

I toss my head from side-to-side, but he just presses at exactly the right spot.

I’m suddenly wrapped around him, my whole body squeezing tightly, almost painfully. I grit my teeth and hold the scream in. While he eases back, holding me in his arms as I float back down to Earth.

“That was perfect. You can get off the table now,” Bailey snorts a laugh and bites his lip.

“Come home soon, kids, we’ll show you how to really play,” Kingston purrs into the phone and hangs up.

Bailey kisses me tenderly and rubs our noses together. “You are beautiful.”

My heart is still trying to slow to normal when Mael calls his name. He kisses me hard and quick.

“I’ll be back.”

Everything is so different, and while there are times like now when I wonder if I will wake up and find that it’s gone, I’m getting used to this happiness.

I lay back on the table, staring at the canopy. The world is more colourful now. It’s more alive. There is excitement and hope, and I hadn’t realised how much that was missing from my life before.

My phone rings, and I reach over and answer it a moment before I realise it’s not mine.

“Hello?” The woman’s voice is sharp and amused. “About time you answered me, Baby Bailey.”

I hesitate. Rage icing my insides. “I’m sorry, I answered the phone by mistake. Who are you?”

“Who are you? Where’s Bailey?” The female voice changes and becomes sharp with aggression.

I hesitate.

“Oh, are you the woman we saw in the shopping center? He said you weren’t friends? What’s going on? Why can’t we reach him?”

“You need to speak to him about all that.”

“No, just wait a minute. Zaden! She’s going to hang up.”

I hear a shuffle, and then an alpha’s commanding force comes through the phone line.

“Where is Bailey Raines?”

“Who are you?” I snarl, my hackles lifting.

“Zaden Mirakill.”

I swallow hard. “Mirakill? As in the MC Mirakill?”

“Yes, so where’s-”

“Why is Mirakill interested in Bailey Raines?”

“Because his sister is bonded to me. And his father is going out of his mind looking for him, so unless you want the Despair and Mirakill MCs searching every inch of your neighbourhood, you need to tell me where he is right now!”

I close my eyes. Despair and Mirakill. Fuck. “I have to go.”

“You listen here. If you want both MCs descending on your neighbourhood and ripping it apart, you keep being evasive. I have your location. I need proof of life.”

My stomach flips wildly, but I catch sight of an ugly red convertible driving really slowly.

“No,” I breathe, standing up, my stomach dropping out.

“NO?” Zaden growls.

“Oh, god, no. Wait, what’s the day? It can’t be that day already.”

“Hey! Listen to my, what’s going on, we can help you!”

I burst into movement, sprinting across the oval, moving as fast as my legs can go but knowing I’m not going to make it there.

“Where is Bailey?”

“Shut up! Shut up!” I shout at him and pull the phone away from my ear.

It takes far too long to get to the footpath outside my house, but none of my alphas are in sight. I’m panting and out of breath when I spot Hammer. He hits Mr Match hard enough that the old man falls to an unconscious heap on the ground.

“NO!”

I charge across the street, abandoning the phone, and throw myself at Hammer. I get in some good hits, but he gets in some more. Guilt and fear drive me, and I keep swinging, keep fighting, even though I can’t win.

He beats me steadily back until I’m stunned and losing hard. My body aches, but worse is the humiliation of knowing I’m failing to protect my pack.

My neighbours are watching, tears in their eyes. They know they can’t do anything.

They can’t.

No one can.

“Keep your fucking hands off her!” Bailey roars and catches the fist that’s about to slam into the side of my face.

I stare in shock as this feral, vicious energy I didn’t know existed takes over my alpha. He’s as remorseless as Hammer was to me, breaking him bit by bit.

I scramble to Mr Match and check for a pulse. It’s there, he’s breathing. I wave to a couple of my people. They scramble over and make him disappear. It’s a relief to know Dot will have him soon.

He’ll be all right .

I turn back to the fight, watching with my mouth parted as Bailey refuses to allow the bigger alpha to yield.

Hammer collapses to his knees and stares up at Bailey.

“Leave and don’t come back,” Bailey growls in a vicious growl that has me shivering.

Hammer gets up and staggers to the car and his waiting gang members.

We’ve made a mistake. They will be back now, vicious and ready to destroy us. But Bailey saved us.

He turns to me, his jaw set, aggression in every line of his body. Bailey turns that savage fury on me, and I can’t help but stand ready to embrace it. He’s beautiful. When he approaches, I back up a step, but he catches me, yanking me close.

“You should have come and got me.”

“I didn’t have time.”

“Damn it, Selene. Pick your battles.”

“I am the shield that protects this neighbourhood from the gangs and clubs that want this territory.”

He stares at me. My words penetrate and leave him speechless. “You’ve been keeping back the Crimson Cobras and Despair? Alone?”

I press my face to his shirt. My body aches, and, for the first time in ever, there is someone here to rescue me. I just want to feel that. I want to fall into that.

I’m not alone.

“You’re fucked when he finds out what you are, Omega!” Hammer bellows down the street.

I rip away from Bailey and pull out my knife. “I’ll carve out your tongue.”

“You’re still going to be dead. You think one alpha can keep you safe?”

“That’s Bailey Raines!” a kid calls out in defiance.

I close my eyes, wishing things would stop conspiring to go wrong.

“Bailey…Raines?” Hammer looks at us, and I can see the incredibly slow thought processes going through his head. The thought catches, connects, and, suddenly, the bruised and bleeding Hammer understands exactly how happy his boss is going to be when he gets back.

His smile is pure evil.

I run towards him, intent on killing him, but they take off in that ugly red convertible in a cloud of smoke and squeals from his tires. I chase after them, cutting through the yards of our neighbours, ignoring the shouts and calls of everyone, ignoring Bailey.

I jump a fence and pull myself up onto the Garrison’s roof, running along and taking a flying leap to land on Mrs Tingle’s house. My foot slips on the tiles, and I go down hard, sliding off and falling to the hard concrete below .

“Selene!”

Bailey crouches beside me, his hands hovering.

“Where does it hurt?”

I ignore him, instead lying back, breathing hard. Of course, this good turn can’t last. Of course, it needs to end. I should have known better.

“You need to leave. You need to take the pack and go.”

Bailey sits back, brushing his glossy black hair out of his eyes. “Not a chance.”

“He knows what you are. He’s going to-” I cut off, turn my head, and vomit.

My body aches everywhere.

“He can try, but he won’t be able to.”

I snort a laugh. “Keep hoping that. But when he takes you, he will destroy all of us. Just go.”

“Say I did. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to stay here and protect everyone. That’s what I always do.”

“What about you? Who is going to protect you? Take care of your wounds? Fight when you can’t?”

I stare at him because we both already know the answer. It’s mean of him to bring it up like this.

I push myself up on trembling arms, only for him to hoist me up and into his arms.

“I can walk!” I snap.

“Of course, you can. And cook, clean, fight, fix gutters and cars, landscape, organise an army. I’m not sure there is anything you can’t do. Except maybe accept help.”

“Bailey, you don’t want to see what he can do. He will break you.”

“He won’t.”

“He will!” I shout.

“He won’t!” Bailey says firmly, “because I have you. You are my anchor in this world. To reason and sanity. If I’m ever in doubt about what I can do, I think of you and what you have done to survive, and I will always try harder. Besides.”

Bailey stops walking and waits until I look at him. His smile is a work of art and my heart jumps in my chest.

“Besides, if he takes me, you’re going to come rescue me. I know you will, Selene. Because, I understand you now. I know who you are. I see all of you, and you’ll be there saving my sorry ass because there isn’t any version of you in any world that would abandon anyone you consider yours.”

“It’s almost like you love me,” I grumble.

“Is it? I’ll try harder. Because I do love you, there is no almost. ”

He carries me back to my house and sets me in the shower. I watch him in silence as he peels my clothes from my body and turns the water on.

He steps back, strips out of his own clothes, and climbs in with me.

I lean against him, and his arms come up, wrapping around my back, holding me safe.

I should make him leave, but I can’t do it. I can’t bear to be without him.

Or them.

I’m going to have to kill Benson first.