Page 42

SEARCH PARTY

Pember

It took less than ten minutes to jog to the station, but Pember was already breathing hard and had to stop to lean against a shopfront.

What the fuck? What. The. Fuck.

Dropping onto the doorstep, he held his head in his hands.

He’d thought Maya was nice, and Sal, so why did he feel like a lone guppy waiting to be devoured by a group of piranhas?

He’d seen them in the aquarium when he was a kid, their grey skin covered in gold flecks, waiting.

Waiting with menacing stillness for something to cross their path.

Maya knew about his past, she knew he was isolated and alone, so why was she belittling him like that? Forcing him to look a certain way? Her way, that fitted in with her friend group. He could see it in Ru too, in the way he looked so fucking miserable, but unable to say no.

Had Leo ‘given him a night to remember’ too? Why? To make him more amenable? Sucking in a breath, Pember massaged his temples.

He may not have known Maya as well as he thought, but he definitely recognised the sensation she created deep in his gut. The queasiness that left him feeling unmoored, worthless and unsure in his own mind. He had thought the feeling was reserved solely for his mum.

Shaking his head, he pushed his hair out of his face.

He gripped the handrail next to the door and pulled himself up.

A few weeks ago, the uncertainty would have floored him; it nearly did tonight.

But Blake was right. He was surviving on his own, he was holding down a house and a job, he was living.

He didn’t need someone, anyone making him feel like that.

Taking a breath, he turned in the direction of the bus station. Blake was waiting for him. He’d come to get him, no questions asked.

The alpha’s black SUV was already parked under the glass awning, all the buses stowed away in the garages for the night. The light from the little corner shop flickered next door, shining light through the driver’s side window.

Pember nearly tripped over a drain cover as he ran down the hill towards it.

Skidding a little, he grabbed the handle and flung open the door to the passenger seat.

Blake jumped, mouth halfway to a takeaway cup.

His glasses were still pushed back in his hair, and he had a new black trench coat slung over a grey T-shirt and jogging bottoms.

“Is someone chasing you?” he said, leaning to look out of the passenger window.

Pember pressed his head back into the seat and let out a breathy laugh. “No.”

Blake’s expression darkened, and he touched the back of a hand to Pember’s forehead. “Did something happen? Did someone hurt you?”

“No,” he repeated, tugging Blake’s hand away. “No, I just… I don’t think I like Maya as much as I thought.”

Blake studied his face, running his eyes over his tense jaw. “What happened?”

Letting out a breath, Pember slouched into the heated seat and kicked off his boots in the footwell. “Can we just go? I’ll explain on the way home.”

Blake nodded, reaching across Pember’s lap and clipping his seat belt into place. “Coffee?” he said, tapping another takeaway cup that was nestled in the centre console. “I got it from the machine in the shop whilst I waited. It was only twenty pence, so it probably tastes like tar.”

Giving the alpha a grateful look, Pember nodded and took it. “Thank you.”

He sipped it slowly as Blake started the car and pulled onto the main road. There were university students everywhere, stumbling around and drunkenly singing into the night. It wasn’t until they were almost out of the town centre that Blake spoke again.

“Was the food good, at least?”

Pember shrugged. “Not bad, but I wasn’t hungry.”

“The sushi place, right? Next to the Nock and Ore?”

“Yeah.”

Blake nodded. “I think the chef got done for money laundering a few months ago. Glad to see it’s back up and running.”

Pember cocked an eyebrow and took another sip of coffee. “Do you know everything about every place in town?”

Blake chuckled. “Only the ones I need to know about.”

When Pember reverted to silence, Blake tilted his head and flicked Pember’s knee. “Are you sure you’re alright? You don’t seem like yourself.”

Letting out a long breath, Pember gently placed the coffee cup back in the centre console. “Yeah. But I think I just figured out that I’m an old person trapped in the body of a twenty-four-year-old.”

Blake’s mouth tipped into a smirk. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

He gently pinched the top of Pember’s thigh, turning his hand over so his palm was facing up. Pember stared at it for a moment, then looked up at Blake. It was impossible to see the alpha’s face in the dark, but the dim glow from the speedometer showed the stillness in his expression.

Pember swallowed before taking his hand and threading their fingers together. After a long moment of silence, he said, “There was a boy, Ru. I’m worried about him,”

Blake shifted in his seat. “How so?”

“Maya and her friends were really unkind about him. He just… I could tell he didn’t want to be there.

I tried to get him to leave with me, but it was like…

I don’t know. Like they had some kind of hold over him.

He seemed really vulnerable, and after everything that happened last year… I’m just worried for him. That’s all.”

Blake hummed, and gently squeezed his hand. “You tried. It’s more than most people would have done.”

Sighing, Pember tipped his head and pressed his cheek against the window.

The cool glass was soothing, and it helped slow his jumbled thoughts.

“And then there was a guy called Leo. He was pregnant, and drinking and eating sushi, and I know it’s not my place to judge, but…

” His words trailed off, but Blake’s fingers twitched.

“Pregnant?”

Pember nodded.

“What did he look like?”

“Why?”

Blake let out a breath and ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “It’s nothing. Just the police officer in me. You were saying?”

Pember frowned, and he nudged Blake with his elbow. “No, why?”

Blake ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Remember the intel that the second victim met up with a pregnant male omega the night that he died? It’s probably nothing, but you don’t see that many of them around in High Enfield, with it being a university town.”

Pember swallowed. “This guy was about my height, blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles. You wouldn’t have known he was pregnant, to be honest, with the way he was dressed.”

Blake cleared his throat, squeezing Pember’s hand again. “Like I said, probably nothing.”

“We were right next to the Nock and Ore pub, though. Wasn’t that where Zayne Stewart was last seen alive?”

There was a pause, then Blake sucked in a breath. “Yes. Do you know his surname?”

“No. But Maya might. He was her friend; she invited him.”

“Right.”

Silence stretched between them, the dark road like a twisting serpent as it tapered away into a narrow country lane. They’d be home soon, and Pember found that he wanted to hold Blake’s hand for just a little longer.

There was also something they both needed to address.

“I… uh… I’m really sor—” He cut himself off. “I hope you’re okay. After yesterday.”

The tips of his ears were already burning.

Blake cleared his throat, letting out a steady breath. “I’m good, but what about you? Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“N-no, I just… Actually, yes, it does.” Pember dropped his head, pressing his lips together.

“Not what happened, necessarily, just that it happened at work. I felt really out of control and I… You were there, and—” He closed his eyes, turning his face towards the window.

“You made me— make me feel safe, and shit , I’m really bad at this. ”

Blake hummed, tugging his hand out of Pember’s and sliding it to the nape of his neck. He slipped his fingertips into the neckline of his shirt, tracing a pattern across the top of his spine. Pember leaned into the feeling, and without meaning to, let out a breathy sigh.

“Pember,” Blake said, his voice low and rumbly.

Pember swallowed, huffing out an awkward laugh as his toes curled against the footwell mat. He could feel his skin beginning to pebble beneath his clothes, his nipples pulling tight against the silky fabric of his shirt.

“Yes?” he whispered, squeezing his thighs together.

The alpha ran his fingers up the length of his neck, brushing his thumb into his hairline. Pember shivered.

“Sometimes, we hold on to people because we don’t have anything else,” Blake whispered.

The comment made Pember crack his heavy eyes open. “Is that what we’re doing, Blake? Holding on, because it’s all we’ve got?”

A car came past in the opposite direction, and Pember caught a glimpse of the alpha’s soft expression in the passing headlights. He was smiling.

“No. I’m holding on, because for the first time in my life, I look forward to coming home,” he said, thumb caressing the curve of Pember’s ear. “And I… Every now and again I catch myself thinking about the future, which is something I haven’t done in a very long time.”

Pember looked down at his hands, a strange heaviness filling his chest. “I look forward to coming home too, which is something I haven’t felt in a very long time either. The cello in my living room… It’s my sister’s. We joined the school band as a way of avoiding home.”

Blake gently squeezed his neck. “You miss her.”

Pember glanced up with a sad smile. “Every day. If I ever have kids, I never want them to feel like they can’t come home.”

Rounding the corner, they finally reached Bell Lane. Blake pulled onto the driveway at the side of the house and turned off the engine. The headlights dimmed, leaving them in total darkness.

“They won’t,” Blake whispered, leaning across the gap to press a kiss to Pember’s cheek. His mouth lingered for a moment, his rough five o’clock shadow at odds with the softness of his lips. Pember let out a shaky breath before slowly turning his head to capture Blake’s mouth with his own.