Page 11 of Two For the Show (Trapped On The Tightrope Duet #2)

I’ve been drumming for three hours now. With my headphones on, I blow through every song that I enjoy lately, chasing a high that only comes from playing.

It’s been a long time since I used real drums over these electronic ones, and I miss the size and feedback they give, but this has been a good substitute. It’s not like I can fit a drumset in my trailer.

Well, not if I want any chance to move around.

Sweat gathers on my hairline, and if I weren’t noseblind to my scent, I’m sure it would feel like I’m swimming in caramel right now, because it’s been a long time since I’ve worked up a sweat like this.

We caught the clowns. We made a spectacle of running them out of the circus. Why isn’t she here yet?

Wasn’t that all she needed to feel safe here?

Or did the doctor not trust us to be able to protect her from her ex-Alphas?

I shouldn’t care.

I shouldn’t.

But something changed between us during RutGate. It took me a couple of days, a kick in the pants from Dario, and distance from her, to process it all, but it did.

I wasn’t saving my virginity or anything. It’s a made-up social construct designed to make people feel like sex is a commodity that must be won. I assumed Dario would find a nice Beta to settle down with, and maybe I would be involved, but probably not, and that’d be that.

Sex never felt like a motivator. I mean, I was attracted to people, sexually. I could see how it would be enjoyable, and the idea of it did not repulse me. But I wasn’t one of those people who felt like I had to pursue that kind of relationship. It was a take-it-or-leave-it thing for me.

But with Alex, I felt nearly feral for her, like I would never be happier than I was when she was wrapped around me, touching me, kissing me.

Addicted.

That’s why Omegas are dangerous.

They come into your life and take it over. It’s precisely what I didn’t want to happen.

And yet, I want her to come back more than I’ve wanted anything else in my life.

I’m an addict.

And I can’t find it in me to be mad about it.

I’m not moronic enough to think that everything between us is going to be perfect if she makes her way back to us. I mean, I was shitty to her, she’s more flighty than a bird, and we both have enough trust issues to fill a canyon.

It’ll take us a bit to figure this out.

But that’s the change that has happened over the past three months. I want the chance to figure this out.

If she gives it to me.

Finally, I put my sticks down and pull my headphones off. I’ve gotten enough demons out for now. I don’t want to wear myself out before the show tonight.

I snag a cold bottle of water from my fridge and gulp it down. My phone is buzzing on the counter with a missed call from Dario.

Before I call him back, I open up the pack group chat, since the notifications in there have blown up.

Jude

photo of him holding Alex

Quinton

Holy shit onmyway

Dario

Dexter, where are you? She’s asleep, but you need to be here.

Seriously, you need to get over here. She needs us all right now.

What the fuck are you doing, Dex? She woke up. She’s asking for you.

Oh, shit.

Alex is here.

She came back.

My plan worked.

She came back, and she’s asking for me. For me. After everything, she wants to see me.

I don’t stop to shower, throwing myself out of my trailer and high-tailing it over to Jude’s.

The door slams open as I burst into the crowded space.

Jude is on the couch, glaring at me. Dario is on the floor, also glaring at me.

Quinton is sitting on the other side of the couch, and yep, he’s glaring at me too.

Matteo is stretched across Quinton and Alex’s laps, so I can’t see his expression .

I can make an educated guess about what I would see if I could.

Slowly, I take a couple of steps toward her.

“Hey, Doc,” I say softly. “Sorry, I’m late.”

Matteo shifts so I can get a good look at the runaway Omega. She’s still beautiful, but she looks worn down, similar to how she did after we brought her home from the hospital. I can smell her chocolately scent, but only barely.

She must still be on suppressants.

“Hey, yourself,” she says through a scratchy throat. “I thought you were hiding from me.”

“I was drumming.” My face flushes, and I look down at my bare feet. I forgot to put on shoes in my rush to get here. “I had my headphones on and didn’t see the text.”

She looks me up and down, glassy brown eyes wide and trusting. I don’t deserve that trust, but I’ll happily take it. She inhales deeply, nostrils flaring. “Can…” Her voice cracks, and Matteo leans over and rubs his face on her neck. Jude’s hand squeezes her knee.

The contact seems to settle her.

“Can I have your shirt?” she asks quietly. “It’s sweaty and…”

“Covered in pheromones,” I finish for her. “Of course you can.”

I peel the faded band tee off, cringing a little at how wet it is, and hold it out. Matteo moves off her, and she pushes to her feet. On wobbly legs, she walks to me and takes it from my proffered hand and pulls it up to her face.

She inhales deeply, and my dick twitches at her obvious enjoyment of my scent.

Now is not the fucking time for that, though.

“Thanks, Dexter.” I watch, slightly slack-jawed, as she immediately pulls the sopping wet shirt over her head with no regard to the boxy blue shirt she’s already wearing.

She shuffles back to the couch and wedges herself between Jude and Quinton again, with Matteo climbing up until he’s on her lap.

Immediately, she leans forward and grabs Dario’s hand.

I may not be piled onto the couch with her, but I’m there in the shirt that she’s wearing. And for now, that’s enough.

“What do you need?” Jude asks, voice gruff. “Tell us.”

She blinks slowly, worrying the edge of her shirt. “Where’s Sylvia?”

“She left while you were sleeping,” my brother answers softly.

Alex nods like she expected that. “What did she tell you?”

“Enough that we know you were in danger if you stayed with her.” Matteo’s voice is slightly muffled from where he has his face pressed into her.

“Can I…” She inhales deeply, as if asking for what she wants again is physically painful. “Can I build a nest somewhere, and then we can talk?”

“Of course,” Jude says, scooping her into his massive arms. “Your trailer is as you left it.”

We watched Alex painstakingly rebuild the nest we put together for her. All of the pieces we picked out had been meticulously packed away, and she pulled them one by one out of her suitcase.

Even those stupid pink pillows I chose.

Every once in a while, she would look to one of us for confirmation that each piece was in the right spot, and we all voiced our encouragement every time.

Finally, after she took the original items we had given her, including my face mask, and scattered them around the bed, she sat back and sighed.

“Okay.”

Dario’s face curls up in a grin. “Okay?”

She nods. “Yeah. Okay. Now you can climb in here, and we can talk.”

It takes some adjusting and uncomfortable positioning, but eventually, all of us end up in the nest, touching Alex in some way. Jude and Quinton stay the closest to her, which makes sense. Jude will help the FOS the most, and Alex is what will help Quinton’s Rot.

I don’t mind that I only end up with my hand around her ankle.

Alex glosses over the first few weeks without us, explaining how she ended up with Sylvia. When she details how sick she was getting, I feel my grip getting tighter. I can’t forget the image of her passed out in the bathroom, the gray color of her skin.

It haunts my dreams, that moment when I wondered if I would find a pulse.

“Matteo was sick too,” Quinton says after Alex describes how bad it had gotten for her. “Not as sick as you, of course, but there was almost an echo of it.”

“Oh my god, I didn’t even know that was something that could happen,” she says softly. “Matteo, I am so sorry.”

He strokes her thigh with a sad smile on his face.

“It’s okay. I understand why you left. It sucked, having the bond stretched like that, and feeling the fear and illness you were going through, but at least I knew you were alive.

I know, eventually, I could’ve used the bond to find you. And I would have.”

“I can’t believe you still want me, after all of this.” She sits up a little, ignoring the grunting protests of the two Alphas closest to her. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“Well, you were right not to,” Jude admits. “We had people in our midst determined to hurt you. And the day after you left, Rich showed up.” He drops his voice, tone filled with venom. “Smarmy bastard. I don’t know what you saw in him.”

“We knew you wouldn’t actually be safe with us until we found out who it was that told him where you were, so we had to do that first. Then, we could hopefully convince you to return.” Matteo says, interlacing their fingers.

“Dexter had an idea to get the word to you that you were safe here, and Jude planned the show, after finding the clown masks in their trailers,” Daro continues.

“And I’m assuming you saw the rest,” Jude finishes.

Alex nods, taking in our words quietly as she burrows back into the nest.

“For what it’s worth,” she says, her voice quiet and muffled, but I am so focused on her it’s impossible not to hear. “I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to stay away. I felt like I had to. I’m not used to relying on others, especially not a pack.”

“We know,” I tell her. “This is kind of new for all of us.”

“Thank you for letting me come back.” A yawn breaks the last word apart. “I’ll do better this time.”

“You don’t have to do better,” Quinton whispers. “You just have to be here. To trust us. We’ll figure everything else out.”

I hope she believes him.

Because this time, I’m going to do things differently.