Page 13 of Rocked By the Alpha
“Tonight?”
“Yep.”
This isn’t like Kim. She’s a fixer for sure but that’s because Ash pays her to take care of all the band’s publicity, although she acts like more of an assistant. That’s never before included asking him to hang out. She wouldn’t do that unless specifically asked to by Ash. Or she has another ulterior motive.
Whatever that might be, he’ll never manage to coax it out of her over the phone. He might as well bite the bullet and go meet her for a drink. It would be good to get out of his house.
Usually he has one member or other of his extended family staying — one of his little sisters or one of his cousins. He even had his uncle stay for a month when his wife kicked him out.
With no one else here, it makes the house seem unnecessarily large and empty. Sometimes he feels like a marble rattling around in a jar; every sound he makes is amplified and intrusive.
He agrees to meet Kim in an hour and then towels himself down in front of the mirror. He’s never had any cause to complain about his looks. Women say he has nice eyes, but he knows it’s his body they like more, tall and muscular. Surely, he’s what every Omega wants. Not some short dude with a pretty face and a semi-successful career.
He twists his head and thinks of the times they’ve been together. The sex has always been good. He’s been with enough women to recognise that. He’s not deluding himself. Besides, he wouldn’t have had those three late night calls from her if it was bad. No one makes a booty call to someone crap in bed.
He snaps the wardrobe door shut so his reflection disappears and pulls on his clothes.
Sometimes he thinks back to that fucking video and such regret barrels through him, he can taste it in his mouth. He wishes he’d never made it. It had been fun at the time. Mocking the new girl band and their frankly insulting accusations. Why the hell would they need to steal a song? He and Ash had proven time again that they were quite capable of writing a fucking hit. The video had made his band mates and staff laugh and had gotten an insane number of hits, which had then of course led to all the countless articles about the feud.
It had just gotten worse from there. Especially when they’d nabbed the latest Bond theme several months later andSweet Desirehadn’t.
But perhaps if he’d never made that video, if they’d just ignored the stupid accusation and rolled with the punches, the whole ridiculous feud thing would’ve faded away and he’d be dating Ruby now. She’d be his Omega.
Instead, he was living some twisted version of Romeo and Juliet, for no logical reason at all.
* * *
Kim is waiting for him on a stool by the bar, two bottles of beer resting in front of her. She’s dressed in her usual black jeans and black top with her short hair slicked back.
“You’re late,” she tells him.
He grins. “I’m worth waiting for.”
“Debatable,” she says. She slides the beer towards him as he takes the stool next to her and waits while he takes a long slug.
The bar is small and quiet, one they come to often because the regulars here know not to bother them. He’s still wearing his baseball cap through, pulled low over his eyes, just in case. He tugs at the peak now, adjusting it on his head.
“What’s this about then?” he asks Kim, placing the bottle back on the bar top and spinning it in his fingers.
“There has to be a reason for me to request the pleasure of your company?”
“Ha! Yes.”
Kim shrugs. “I have a little proposition for you.”
“Is this a proposition,” he asks, “or a command from on high?”
“Honestly, both.”
“Out with it then.”
“The American Music Awards ceremony …”
He groans, “Yes?”
“They’ve asked you and Ash to present one of the awards.”
He groans, picking at the damp sticker on the beer bottle. “Do I really have to do it? It’s such a pain in the ass. All the fake smiling and air kissing.”
