Page 13 of Tying the Knot
Going to the counter by the sink, I uncap the lid of my bottle and pour it out on the marble tops, watching the small white tablets scatter. Then I grit my teeth and unscrew the new bottle. Tipping that up, I watch in horror as larger dark brown tablets hit the counter, making my stomach churn.
“Fuck you!” I screech into the emptiness. “Fuck you to hell and back, you absolute prick!” Hot tears pour out of my eyes and cascade down my cheeks. Allowing myself to finally feel after being numb since they were arrested, I scream and swipe my hand through the tablets. They skitter all over the floor, rolling under the island, but I don’t care. Yanking the pins out of the bun on top of my head, I shove my hands into my hair and slide down the cupboards under the sink, my heart shattering into a thousand pieces. So much time was wasted wondering why I wasn’t getting pregnant. So many seasons passed with the weight of this on my shoulders and tolerating Adam’s snide remarks when it didn’t happen again.
“Well, maybe next time, Mor. You’re still young.”
“Ah well, I wasn’t expecting it this time, so I’m not hurt.”
“Guess we should think about giving up.”
“Why?” I yell. “Why would you do this?”
I slump forward, feeling like I want to die. He manipulated me, lied to me, used me and for what? I don’t even know. None of this makes any sense. I drop to the cool tiles and curl up in a ball, sobbing my heart out, knowing I have no one to turn to and no one to help me.
Just the way he wanted it.
He isolated me.
I can see it now.
My friends who weren’t good enough and who supposedly tried to come on to him. My parents who saw what he was like and tried to warn me, but he said they were trying to tear us apart.
And what about the rest of them? They must've known. They stood by and let him treat me this way. They’re no better. I was a convenience to them, nothing more.
That knowledge hurts worse than anything else.
They never loved me.
ChapterNine
Nik
“Can you please stop hovering,”I mutter to Kaleb, who is still standing by my desk ages after Eli walked out of here with the omega.
“Not hovering.”
“Yeah, you are, and it’s distracting. Go find something to do.”
He sits with a huff in the plastic chair near my desk and hunches over. I ignore him. This paperwork has to be perfect. I will not let anything slide, forcing us to abandon this case after we’ve been after them for so long. I hunker down but find my mind wandering towards the omega that everyone seems to have their knickers in a twist over.
I only glanced at her. I didn’t get close enough to catch her scent, which sounds like it knocked Kal’s socks off. But there are several things wrong with this picture, the least of which is that she is already mated. And not just to anyone, but to the criminal gang we arrested only a few hours ago. Add to that, it now comes out that she’s related to Halstead, but there is also the underlying brokenness that simmers under the surface.
It won’t be apparent to anyone looking at her, but I know. I can see it. She is timid and anxious. She wouldn’t look anyone in the eye and closed in on herself when Eli left her by the door on her own. Her pack have done a number on her for sure. I saw it all the time when I worked in the domestic violence division. The wounds aren’t visible. I don’t think for a second that any of them physically abused her, but the emotional and psychological damage is there.
Whatever is going on with Eli and Kal, they need to get their heads out of their arses and forget about her.
Moments later, Eli storms back into the station under a dark thundercloud. I brace myself for whatever is headed our way. I’m reasonably sure it’s not going to be pretty, and we’re about to all get our arses kicked in a big way.
Kal sits up straight, and we watch as he redirects to grab Dylan from his desk to drag him over to mine. It could’ve been worse. It could’ve been the other way around.
“Hey,” Dylan complains as Eli has him by the collar. “What the fuck?”
“You, I will deal with later over what you said to Morgan…Ms Happs.” He corrects himself with a grimace. “I know you’re all getting bent out of shape about being mated, so tomorrow I’m having the agency send over a file of omegas who might be suitable. We’ll go through them and pick one that we can all live with. Got it?”
He roughly lets go of Dylan as we gape at him. He strides off to his office, where he slams the door shut so hard, the flimsy partioned walls shake under his fury.
“Well, that was less climactic than I thought it would be when he finally came around,” I murmur.
“That we can all live with?” Kal spits out. “What the fuck is he on?”
