Page 105 of Sugar Rush
“He’s got a pulse,” I muttered, unsure if I was relieved or disappointed.
“Maybe I should call an ambulance or something,” Jordy said quietly. Glancing back and up at him, I gave a quick nod.
“Yeah.”
I watched him skitter back into the office and pick up my phone off the ground.
“Sandy sent a text,” he announced, his voice easily reaching me through the alpha-sized hole in the wall. “She already called 911 and she’s on her way.”
“Alright,” I said, rising back up to my feet and taking a deep breath. I’d never been involved in anything so fucking crazy before, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t either. At least, I hoped not. “Jordy, come here.”
Instantly making his way back around and to my side, he intuitively wrapped his arms around my waist, squeezing me tightly and nuzzling his face into my chest. As usual, the way his candy scent flowed into my senses, and the affection in his touch helped soothe my turbulent, boiling emotions to a low simmer. Holding his body as tightly to mine as I could, I shivered as I tried not to consider what could have happened to either of us.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re okay,” I choked out, hoping he wouldn’t notice the way my voice cracked on the words.
I felt him nod against me, his soft cheek rubbing against my chest through my shirt. “Yeah. You saved me. Again.”
“I don’t know,” I breathed out, glancing up to the ceiling. “I mean, you were doing pretty good on your own there.”
He snorted a little. “Told you I wasn’t delicate.”
I’d always felt protective of him, almost from the first moment we’d met, but now I wished I could avoid letting him out of my sight for the next decade or so. But he’d be leaving for college in a few weeks, so that was an impossibility.
Was I going to end up drowning in stress and anxiety and worry, five days a week, for the next four years minimum? If so, I knew I would have to endure it. I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t live without him. I didn’t have any doubts about that anymore.
We were quiet for a short bit, before he spoke again, staring up into my eyes. “Kieran, I need to say something, and you’re not going to like it, but it’s just one of those things that we have to deal with.”
“What?” I asked, uneasy. That perfectly calm timbre in his voice, the one he saved for when I was freaking out and only he could pull me back from the ledge put me on high alert.
“Police are going to be coming along with the ambulance to figure out what happened here. Andrew’s really hurt. We don’t know how hurt he is yet, because I’m afraid to move him.”
“He’ll be fine,” I said, but the anticipation of whatever the hell he was leading up to made me hear my own voice like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. “He’s an alpha. He’ll heal up.”
“I don’t really care about that,” Jordy explained placidly. “What I care about is what’s going to happen to you when the police ask us what happened and they find out you did this to him.”
“I had to!” I argued, confused. “It was self defense! He was choking me!”
“I know,” he assured me softly. “But the blood all over the glass and floor in here is from before that. I’m not saying either of us did anything wrong,” he amended quickly, before I could pipe up again. “Sometimes life isn’t fair and people get blamed for things. But if they knew that you’re my mate, it would be fine.”
He was right about that part. The law always made allowances, within reason, for territorial behavior regarding alphas and protecting their mates. On top of that, once an omega was marked, the penalty for harassing or assaulting them was significantly more serious. Not only the legal consequences, but you’d get fired from your job and basically shunned from society on top of that. That wouldn’t be the case for Andrew, because Jordy wasn’t marked yet, so I wasn’t exactly sure why he was even bringing it up.
“But you can’t prove that I am,” I said, my brows drawing together as I tried to understand his point. “They won’t just take your word for it. I’d have to mark you.”
He blinked a few times, his expression remaining perfectly neutral.
“That’s right,” he finally said, like he was a kindergarten teacher and I’d successfully recited the alphabet.
“But I… We can’t just leave,” I said. “It’ll look even worse if we do. And the hotel’s like half an hour away, anyway. We’d never have time to go there and come back.”
One of his eyebrows quirked up, and I watched an expression of obvious sympathy show up on his face before he slid his hands up my chest to cup my jaw on either side.
“I didn’t say we should leave.”
“Then what exactly do you want me to do?” I asked. He didn’t respond, only staring up at me with that frustratingly kind look on his face, even tinged with a little bit of pity maybe. Like I was a sick animal he was about to put out of its misery. “Jordy?”
“Kieran,” he responded patiently, but only with my name. Nothing else. After a few more moments of silence, his fingertips lightly stroking my face, my stomach dropped.
“Here!?” I asked incredulously. “We can’t!”
