Page 7 of Her Knotty Alphas

My thoughts are cut off by Ollie, pulling out his tablet and showing me the final design he's been working on. "Fuck, it's even better than I had thought," I mutter, peering in close to the design.

"I have to say, I've never tattooed a magpie on someone before." Ollie laughs. "They're cute little fuckers, huh?"

The picture on the tablet, a magpie, spreading its wings in front of a full moon with a small string of pearls in its beak and draped over its neck, is going to look perfect on my pec, right over my heart.

When I find her, she won't ever question my devotion to her again.

Ten minutes later, I'm laying on one of the benches while Ollie starts on the outline of the tattoo. The burn of the needle against my skin fades as I try to summon the courage to ask what I wantwhile Ollie talks about some new fantasy show he and his omega are watching.

It's the perfect segue to ask about his omega, and though Ollie doesn't strike me as the super-territorial alpha-hole type, you just never know…like with me.

My nickname paints me as this all-American, mild tempered, nice-guy alpha, but that's surface-level shit. TherealCharlie Williams? Underneath the smiles and the handshakes and the good press outlining me as "The Golden Boy"? There's an alpha who lost his mate twelve years ago and hasn't recovered since.

The Golden Boy. That's been my moniker since I was the captain of the high school basketball team. It followed me to college, and later to the ABL—American Basketball League. Little does everyone know that the nickname came from Hannah.

Hannah, teasing me over my "perfect" image.

Suppressing a sigh as to not mess with Ollie's line work, I just spit it out when he mentions something about his omega not liking how the dragons look in the show.

"Not to pry, but…is Cady De Lucca your omega?"

Instead of getting pissed or annoyed, a huge grin lights up his face, and he glances at me quickly before going back to the tattoo. "Yeah! You a fan ofThe Knotty Omega?"

"Actually, I went to high school with Cady," I admit. "My best friend was her best friend's brother, so we ran in some of the same circles." I hold my breath, waiting to see if he'll mention Hannah at my reference of a best friend.

"Oh, sick! Hey, we're having a birthday party for our packmate, Titus, tonight if you want to come. I wouldn't usually invite a random over for a party, but I think if you were an axe murderer we would have heard about it in the news already."

Damn. Ollie really is a good guy. Some alphas might be snarling and snapping at another alpha knowing their omega,but he just rolls with it. I can ask Cady about Hannah, and she won't be able to just ignore me this time.

He snorts. "Can you imagine the headlines? NBA Star Charlie Williams Commits Ultimate Foul: Murder.'" He shakes his head, laughing at his own joke before glancing at me again. "Might be cool for you guys to catch up."

"Yeah, man. That would be awesome. What time?"

Ollie turns off the machine, switching needles so he can start to fill in the color. "You need a break?" He asks, and I shake my head. "I'm pretty sure six. But I'll double check with Cady. I'll make sure to get your number before you leave so I can send you the address."

The machine switches back on, and the burning is more dull now, compared to the stinging of the line work. "Hell yeah. Sounds good."

***

My chest is sore when I make it back to my apartment, the cling wrap on my fresh tattoo is sticking funny and the knowledge that I might have more information on Hannah in a few hours makes my heart pound in my chest.

The message with Ollie's address in it sits unread, and I flop onto the couch, opening the message and copying the address over to my map app. Damn, they live in a nice neighborhood. I guess that's what happens when you mate with the CEO of the country's largest tech company, NeoTeck. Not that I have any room to talk. With my salary, I could definitely afford to live in that neighborhood…which isn't a bad idea.

I'm getting ahead of myself. I know I am, but I can't help it as I plug the address into a text and shoot it off to my realtor.

Me

Can you see if there are any houses in this neighborhood for sale?

Ben

Thought you weren't looking to buy yet, golden boy?

ME

I'm not. It's just a hunch. I'll let you know more tomorrow.

After I put my phone down, I try to figure out how I'm going to waste the next two hours before I go to the party. I had planned on spending the evening vegging, but now I can't go two seconds without envisioning Hannah. Maybe I'll finally get answers about why she left me when I made it so clear how I felt about her. Cat had tried to tell me that Hannah never loved me, but I wouldn't trust the bitch as far as I could throw her.

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