Page 8 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter six

Bailey

He arrives right on time, watching me from the shadows while the Despair Motorcycle Club play fairy godfathers and make the body of the piece of trash I killed disappear.

I wiggle my fingers at him, but he just ignores me. Folding his arms over his chest in disapproval. He’s dressed in black, with black hair and dark eyes. He always seems to find me.

My silent shadow.

I’m halfway in love with him, and I don’t even know who he is. Pretty sure he’s figured me out, though. All my secrets laid out before him. He sees me in a way no one else does.

Except maybe her.

He scares the crap out of me because I haven’t been able to discern anything about him, but he keeps showing up wherever I am. My assumption is Dad sicced him on me, but it could have been my Uncle Charles.

There is one secret I would do anything to keep, even commit my life to someone I don’t love. Nice, normal, steady.

Not someone who is exciting, who fills my waking moments with intrigue and awe.

Fuck it.

I walk towards him, but, this time, unlike most of the others, he doesn’t walk away. My stomach fizzes, and I can barely stop myself from breaking into a jog.

He blends with the shadows, but, as soon as I get close, I feel the telltale indications that bring all my fears to life. My scent gets weaker, sweeter, more mellow. I can feel the alpha strength in me fade.

I grind my teeth in frustration, but I keep walking until I’m standing right in front of him. My designation screams that I’m an omega. Vanilla has joined the apple pie, filling the air with the cloying temptation and my shame.

To his credit, he doesn’t say anything. There’s no mocking, no sneers. He just studies me with a blank face.

“You’re here again.”

A car door slams, and I hear the van drive, taking the body somewhere else to dispose of. I need to thank my dad.

“Always,” he murmurs. “What have you been up to tonight, Bailey?”

I shudder. The rasp of his voice, so calm and soft, goes straight through me and leaves me wanting to lean into him.

“What do you want?” I try to sound aggressive, but it just comes out tired.

“You. I want you.”

Months of us dancing around each other have come to this sharp point.

His words send tingles of awareness right before his lips touch on mine. I stand frozen, lost in the way he breaks my entire world apart, and then I kiss him back, stepping closer and spearing my fingers through his hair.

“BAILEY!”

I let go, stepping back from him with all my strength. I turn around, cursing. What kind of moron calls someone else’s name at a crime scene?

With a furious growl, the idiot who called my name runs for his bike. Waving hastily as he vanishes.

I glance over my shoulder, but he’s gone. Like a ghost. I should never have given him the nickname Deimos. It’s started to work on my psyche.

I’m not my normal self. Everything is getting to me. The sacrifices I’ve made to become the head of Raines Entertainment. The war I had to conduct to force Alpha Labels to remodel. Losing my club.

I haven’t lost my club, not really, but I’m not one of them now either. I will never wear the president patch. It won’t be me leading the club into a new era. I won’t even be able to be around them.

All my futures got blown up and scattered in the wind, and I’m tired.

I’m so tired.

And now this. What was I thinking, killing him? I wasn’t thinking, that’s the thing. I just reacted.

She needed me, and I need him.

But they both bring weakness and turn me into that lesser version of myself. That omega side that is becoming impossible to contain .

I don’t sleep, just replay her smile and his kiss over and over in my mind. Instead, I pace around my new penthouse apartment that doesn’t feel like home or like me.

My uncle Charles said that I would get used to it, but it’s not coming. I’m not getting used to it. I hate the smells, the echo, the modern furnishings.

I feel constrained and out of control, and the more I try to be this person they all need me to be, the more I lose control of other parts of myself.

My omega scent blossoms into the air, and I clench my hand into a fist, resisting the urge to reach down and touch myself, try to find some relief.

It doesn’t work. I can come over and over again, but it never gets rid of the erection, it never eases the ache. This yearning for a fucking knot.

I don’t even know who I am anymore.

I’ve been guarding this secret so viciously that I think only a handful of people know about it.

My dad suspected. It’s why he sent me away from the club. He didn’t want to see me becoming the club whore.

I’d never recover my position or the respect. But just because I understand doesn’t mean it hasn’t hurt me deeply. My own mother didn’t want me, and now I’ve lost the only family that gets me.

I swipe my hand over my face, but that just has me thinking about him. And because I’m thinking about him, I’m also thinking about her.

My scent stutters and changes, getting stronger and more aggressive. I pause, almost weeping in relief when I inch my hand down and feel the base of my knot start to protrude.

“I’m an alpha. I’m an alpha.”

I grip myself hard and start to tug, furiously thinking about her blue eyes, that blue hair. All the things I want to do to her.

I let out a deep, growling grunt when I come. When I dare to look down at the mess, it’s all over my stomach and chest. I just fucked my hand in the middle of my kitchen and…no knot.

My ass clenches, and I whimper. Slick weeps down between my butt cheeks.

“What the fuck is this?” I kick my clothes off and race for the shower, washing it and the scent of apple pie and vanilla ice cream away.

It goes for a while, but, in the middle of the night, it returns. Strong, intense, and impossible to ignore.

I hold my girlfriend’s hand and stare at the front door.

It’s a house that looks very much like the one I grew up in.

I’m not sure why it’s so important to come here and meet her sister, but Luna has been with a one track mind about it.

I did not expect this rundown house in this dangerous neighbourhood. It makes me like her a little bit more.

In a moment of weakness, I gave in to her pleas.

Now, here we are.

I really wish I wasn’t.

She opens the door and walks in, glancing back and gesturing for me to follow her. Luna’s black hair sways in opposition with her short skirt. She leaves a cloud of incense perfume that does nothing for me at all.

She is safe. My safe bet. Pretty, sexy, the perfect mask. With her, I can be Alpha Raines. I feel nothing for her whatsoever.

“You’re going to live a short fucking life, Morrow!”

Who is that? Why does the sound of that voice set the hairs on my arm lifting? I can hear the voice of a man's reply, but I can’t discern any tones or words. Just a hum of sound.

Still, my hackles rise.

“Get your fucking hands off me, Graves.”

“Graves?” I murmur, not realising I ask it out loud.

My girlfriend looks back with a huge smile. “My sister’s best friends came home, but she’s not through being mad at them. They’re family. You’re going to love them.”

The hallway feels like it goes on forever. Everything screams at me to beg Luna to leave, to find an excuse to get out, but I can't. I'm compelled towards those voices.

“Come on, Sel, you have to forgive us. What is it going to take?” I don’t know that voice, but I like the teasing note in it.

“Crawl over broken glass, and I’ll let you know,” she says in a withering voice.

“Is your sister an alpha?” I murmur, hoping I’m right.

“No, she’s an omega. But she takes care of us.”

I have a horrible, horrible suspicion of who is on the other side of that door.

My skin crawls and goosebumps break out.

She lets out a howl of rage, and I hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

“Put me down, Kingston Noctis!”

“Never. You’re going to forgive us or I’m just going to hold you like this-OW!”

“Try it again, and I’ll shove this blade so far up your ass, Mael will think he has another hole to fuck.”

I wince.

Luna gets to the doorway and gives me an ‘are you ready’ look. I can honestly say I’m not, but there is nothing on Earth that is going to make me walk away from this either .

She pushes open the door and walks in. I slowly approach the door frame and look inside.

Selene spots me at once, looking between us. Frantically adding two plus two and coming up with the right conclusion. Her scent blooms into the air, blueberry cobbler, but it’s sour, it’s off.

Last night’s idiocy crashes back through my brain.

“It was a mistake.” The words slip out in a regretful whisper.

Her eyes flare and then narrow dangerously. I feel like I just made a huge mistake.

“Is this the guy? Your guy?” Selene asks, and I can see her rapidly turning to a level of rage that I haven’t seen in a person before.

“Yes. This is him,” Luna gushes, beaming between us. “This is my Bailey.”

Selene cups her sister’s cheek. “No. Fuck no. Not even if he was the last idiot on the planet. It’s no.”

Luna’s face falls. She just stares at her sister, stunned. I can only stare at her sister, stunned. Selene…oh, crap. This is bad, so bad. Of all the luck.

“You can’t do that. You can’t just veto everything. It doesn’t work like that.”

“I can, and I will. He’s not for you. He’s not a good person.”

I wince, but she’s right. I’m not a good person. But I don’t like her saying it.

Luna glares at her sister, the animosity between them growing and thickening.

“You’re just jealous.”

I wince. Selene stares straight at me. Daring me to say something, anything. I hold my tongue, trying to figure out how to play this.

“Okay, sure, I’m jealous. He’s so hot. Such an absolute winner of an alpha. You’d be lucky to have him, and I’d be lucky just to be in his presence,” Selene pauses, cocking her head to the side, “just like the other one.”

Luna flinches, but she juts her jaw. How long have we known each other now? Two months. We’ve kissed, but I’m so grateful now that we never went past that. This relationship is over, and I think Luna is the only one who doesn’t know it.

“Mael, Kingston, Edric, have you met Bailey Raines?” she glances over her shoulder, but I can’t take my eyes off her. “He is a lot like you guys. Self-absorbed, jackass. No sense of right and wrong. The ethics of a pig.”

“How did you know his name?” Luna asks.

“Pig of a man,” Selene snarls.

“HOW DID YOU KNOW HIS NAME, SELENE?”

“Ask your boyfriend,” Selene hisses.

She walks past her stunned sister and up to me. She tilts her head back and then wham, her knee slams into my junk. I double over, wheezing .

“Selene, wait-”

She whirls around, and, for the first time, I notice the alphas. My body is struck as if by lightning. I can’t move. All I can do is hold on as my entire self disintegrates.

“Oh, shit!” I whimper.

My scent changes before I can stop it. It slams into the air, mixing with hers. The room is unlivable.

“Bailey Raines,” my mystery stalker purrs and glides towards me.

“This is him?” The ice alpha asks curiously. He brushes his white-blond hair behind his ears and cocks his head to the side.

He’s gorgeous enough to make me want to stumble in his direction just so I can look at him better.

“Our other omega,” the dark-haired one says with a smile that has all the wildness that calls to my own soul.

“I’m not a fucking omega!” I wheeze.

“What?” Luna whispers.

Selene picks up a frying pan and swings at him. He ducks away from it, laughing and captures her again. Are these people insane?

“Don’t be like that.”

“You can’t just claim omegas every time you see one,” she howls. “Get out! Get out! Get out!”

Selene looks like she’s really losing it, and I hate this for her.

“We didn’t claim you.”

The words are out before he can stop and think about them, but maybe because I’m an outsider, maybe because she’s been all I can think about, I see the absolute agony on her face before she hides it.

“Thank god for that. There’s justice and mercy in the world. I can’t imagine a worse fate than being chained to you,” she sneers, “for the rest of my life.”

She glances around at us and then looks at Luna.

“If you want him, have him. I’m going to work.”

“Selene, wait, talk to me,” Luna sobs. I feel a healthy dose of guilt for the pain I’ve caused her, and no matter what I might have with the others, my first explanations and conversation need to be with Lu.

Selene ignores all of us, grabbing up her bag and rushing out of the house. I want more than anything to follow her. To explain, but Luna needs me more.

We weren’t seeing each other. I did nothing wrong.

So, why do I feel so guilty?

I didn’t cheat. I wince. Not with Selene, at least.

“Luna, I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t! Just leave me alone.”

Mael glances at the others, and, as one, they move towards me.

“We live across the street. When you are done, come and see us. Nothing but talking.”

I swallow hard and dip my chin. “What’s your name?”

“Mael Morrow.” My Deimos. His name is Mael.

The blond angel approaches and smiles slightly. “Edric Graves.”

“Kingston Noctis.” The wild one.

I draw in a shuddering breath and dip my head. “I’ll be there.”

“Good.” Mael sighs. “Who wants to go after crazy girl?”

“I’ve got her,” Edric says with a grin.

They file out of the house, and I’m left alone with Luna. She’s facing the corner, not looking at me, but I can see her shoulders shaking.

“Lu, please. I can explain.”

“Were you seeing my sister?”

“It wasn’t like that. We met by accident at the pub, and we became friends.”

“It seems like it’s more than friends.”

“On her side. But, on mine, it was always just friendship.”

I hate myself for it, but it’s true, well, mostly true. My infatuation was growing, but I could see how she felt about me, and it made me feel good. That’s all it’s allowed to be.

Why did I do that?

“And them?”

“Mael and I keep running into each other. I didn’t know they were my pack until right this minute, I promise.”

She sniffs. “Do we have to break up? Can’t you just pretend they aren’t yours?”

I hesitate because I really don’t want to hurt her, but that pack isn’t the type to just allow their omega to walk away. I’m in for the fight of my life.

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry.”

“What about Selene? You’re not going to be with her, are you?”

I hesitate again. “Selene is not my omega.”

She lets out a relieved breath. “Good.”

I don’t get a chance to ask her what that means, she just walks away from me.

I’m left standing in an empty kitchen, my life completely imploding from the outside in, wondering why I just denied Selene was mine when it’s clear to everyone that she is.