Page 28 of Bully for Sale
“Da…”
“So, I used your father’s allowance money to take Finn up to a heat cabin in the woods which I’d already rented for the duration.”
Nausea hit Ezer hard. The room spun. The air seemed sucked dry of oxygen.
Amos’s expression pleaded for understanding. “I just wanted one heat with him. If you ever fall in love, Ezer, you’ll appreciate how it was for me. Love is irrational. It doesn’t care about right or wrong, or if the alpha is a good match, or if you’re already married.”
“No.” Ezer didn’t believe that.
“Someday you’ll understand. It was the best heat of my life—the only heat that I chose my partner for.” Amos blushed, his eyes going glossy as he remembered. Clearing his throat, he went on, “Your father—well, George, believed me when I told him I’d gone into an unexpected heat while on my annual solo vacation. He believed me when I said it had come on too hard and fast for me to contact him, and that I didn’t know the identity of the alpha who’d taken me in and helped me through it.” Amos swallowed hard. “George had no reason to doubt me. I’d been a faithful, devoted omega until then.”
Ezer shook his head, his entire life spinning in front of his face.
“Finn grew curious, though. He suspected the heat had ended in pregnancy. He was familiar with the way of it from his own omega’s experiences, and he recognized the signs. A few years ago, he came to Wellport seeking answers. He wanted to see you.”
Ezer stared at his da, a memory flitting into his mind. Several weeks before Amos had been dismissed from the house, he’d taken Ezer to the shore, and there they’d run into a small but handsome alpha whom Amos had called Mr. Swinton, an old friend from his hometown. They’d shared an ice cream together, just the three of them, and Mr. Swinton had asked Ezer annoying and boring questions about school and his hobbies. After Ezer had finished his cone, Da had sent him on home alone, saying that he needed to run some errands.
“Finn thought you were wonderful,” Amos said, with a hint of tears in his voice.
“No,” Ezer said again, still denying the wreckage of his life.
Amos looked away, a veil of shame falling over his features. “After you and I met with him at the shore, he told me he could stay in Wellport for two nights. The temptation was too great. I stayed those nights with him.”
Ezer remembered that as well. He’d been confused as to why Amos had gone to “visit friends,” leaving little Rodan to the servants and his older brothers to care for. Normally, when Da traveled, he’d given them much more warning. Father had also been confused.
“It was reckless.” Amos closed his eyes and shook his head. “I didn’t want to destroy our lives. I was caught up. Finn made me feel so…” He swallowed again, opening his eyes, and gazing at the ceiling. “It was so good, but we knew it couldn’t be anything lasting. His omega needed him, and I belonged to your father. We could never be more than the one heat and these few nights. We knew that.” His lips curved up sharply. “I daresay it only made it all hotter and more intense for both of us.”
Ezer shuddered.
Breaking free of his memories, Amos ran a hand through his graying blond hair, shifted to cross one leg over the other, and met Ezer’s gaze again. “Anyway, your father found out about us. Well, not George himself, but one of his hired men. There were photos, and your father recognized the resemblance between Finn and the son he’d agreed to raise as his own out of pity for me.”
“Soyou’rethe reason he hates me?”
Da sighed. “Ezer, he looks at you, and he sees only what I did to him. He wants you out of his house because it hurts his pride far too much to have a constant reminder of my betrayal. He wanted to auction your heat as soon as you turned eighteen, but I talked him out of it. Then he wanted to send you out of the house to live with me, but I pointed out that if he did that everyone would suspect that he’d been cuckolded, and he knew I was right. As it is, most people just think he’s a heartless ass.”
“And this Finn didn’t take you in after Father kicked you out?”
“Finn is poor, and his omega is in love with him.” Amos shook his head. “I wasn’t about to ruin his life too.”
“Just mine then. I hate you.”
“I know you do right now, but Ezer—”
The explosion rattled the room and the tea mugs fell to the floor, shattering, as awhooshof flame licked beneath the door, setting the rug on fire. Amos leaped up and grabbed Ezer by the hand, dragging him toward his bedroom.
“Da, we have to go,” Ezer said, tugging him the opposite way, toward the front door.
“This way, Ezer. This way.”
Outside the window of his da’s bedroom, there was a rickety, wooden fire escape. Amos couldn’t seem to get the window open, and smoke filled the air behind them from the burning carpet. A glance in the other room showed that the sofa was on fire now, too, and the drying clothes draped over the furniture.
“Help me,” Amos ordered, and Ezer leaned in next to him, adding his effort to the window. Both of them groaned with relief when it finally gave way. They climbed onto the fire escape with ash floating down from the upper stories. Several other tenants were trying to scramble down, too, but two stories above, a section of the fire escape had caught fire, and the beta couple was trapped.
Ezer wanted to help, but there was no way and no time. Da tugged him away, saying, “We can’t help them now. We have to get you down.”
Coughing, they both stumbled all the way down the fire escape, the old wood shaking beneath their shoes, and they held on tight, hoping the steps didn’t break. Ezer’s heart raced; he felt flakes of scalding ash on his skin. When they dropped into the yard behind the apartment, they ran far back from the blaze, following the others who’d escaped. Once they were safe, in an empty lot away from the heat, Amos drew Ezer close, covering his ears to try to stop him from hearing the cries of the trapped people.
The squeal of fire engines filled the air, and they both fell to a huddle on the ground as the columns of water rose above the building, damping it down.
