Page 61 of Rocked By the Alpha
“Come on,” he says. “I promised you a good time.”
Then he’s pulling her up the steps and into the aircraft.
She blinks as she steps through, her eyes adjusting to the light, and is greeted by the sight of many pairs of eyes trained her way. West pulls her into the aisle and pauses.
Someone coughs and her stomach somersaults, her pulse suddenly violent in her throat.
And then someone starts to sing. She recognises the voice — who wouldn’t —it’s one of the most well-known voices on the planet — Ash Canon.
“Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby,” he sings and the two men sitting around the table with him — West’s other band mates, Hunter and Trey, join in.
Soon, everyone on the plane seems to be either singing her name or whooping and cheering. Beside her, West wears a huge grin across his face.
She catches his eye and he leans down to whisper in her ear. “He’s getting his own back.”
Her brow creases in confusion, but he doesn’t get a chance to explain.
“Sit down,” a tall woman with slick platinum blonde hair calls from the front of the plane. “The pilot wants to take off. You’re late.”
West raises his hand in apology. “My fault.” Then he leads her to empty seats at the table alongside the ones occupied by his band mates and the bride-to-be, Layla.
She sinks into a large leather chair and the singing finally stops.
“Hi Ruby,” Layla says, reaching across West to squeeze her hand. “Glad you could come.”
She opens her mouth to reply, but the roar of the engine drowns her out and makes any further conversation futile. The plane skates along the runway, lifting into the air and the force presses her back into her seat. She glances out of the window, watching the huge cluster of city lights come into view and the slither of moon draw closer.
Was this a mistake? How will she explain her absence to Tanya and Nat? They think she’s staying at a hotel while security works on her house but they’ll wonder where she’s gone. And if they find out the truth …
This is the problem with her compulsion to leap in. The high from the risk fades and she’s left with the consequences. She knows all about that. It was three years before the wounds with her parents faded enough for them to start talking again.
West nudges her in the ribs and she turns to look at him, only to find everyone staring at her again, including another woman hovering in the aisle. She wonders if every woman West brings on a group date gets this treatment.
“Hi,” she says slowly.
“Hi, I’m Ash.”
“Yes, I know.” She smiles at him.
“And that’s Hunter and Trey,” West tells her.
The taller, stern Alpha, jerks his chin in her direction and the band’s drummer gives her a little salute.
“Are you going to be a brat on this trip?” Hunter asks her flatly.
“Depends. Are you going to be a jerk?”
“Talk to her like that again and I’ll rearrange your face,” West tells his friend.
Hunter glares at him. “What? We’re all meant to conveniently forget she’s been bad-mouthing us for months just because you’re sleeping with her?”
“Yes,” West says.
“What you did was pretty shitty,” Ruby says. These men can’t deny they were assholes to her band in the beginning.
“You accused us of stealing your song,” Ash says, “do you know how insulting that is? And that stunt at the awards.” His jaw tightens.
What is this? Not what she signed up for.
