Page 107 of In Knots

Chapter 28

Two weeks pass and I could get used to living like this. The alphas work in the day and in the evenings we go riding on their bikes, out into the countryside, swimming in the lake, sitting around campfires. We go out to pubs and bars. We drink and we dance and we’re happy.

I take pictures on my new camera, finding a place that will print them and ways to upload them to the garage Instagram account. To my surprise, the hits and comments keep coming. And not just from people liking the bikes and the cars, but admiring my art too. They want to see more so, with Cam’s encouragement, I set up my own account and take pictures of anything and everything. Of cracks in the pavement, of dark clouds hanging in the sky, of lakes shimmering in the moonlight. People contact me, wanting to buy prints, wanting to commission me, and I think maybe I have found something I can do with my life at last.

Bear takes the four single beds to the dump and he builds a new one from scratch, one big enough for all of us. It takes up the whole of Ryan and Buzz’s bedroom and we have to take the wardrobe and chests of drawers next door. It’s makeshift and a little crazy, but I love lying in bed at night, safe between these four men.

And of course, we spend our days loving each other too. In fact, I can’t get enough of them. I’m greedy for them and they are just as hungry for me.

Will it always be like this? Will we always want each other this much? I think we will. I think I will never grow tired of the way they taste, of the way they smell, of the way they feel, and the way they move. Sometimes it all feels too heavenly, too perfect, too much for someone like me to deserve.

But I’m not stupid and neither are they. We are living in a dream and soon we’ll be forced to wake up. I haven’t spoken to my parents since that day I left. They don’t know where I am. I sent them one short message to tell them I was alive and not to come looking for me. If I’m honest, I am gripped with guilt. I know I have hurt them. And I miss them. But I can’t see that it can be any other way. They wouldn’t approve of this life, and they wouldn’t let me have it.

So, we continue in our perfect bubble hoping nothing will burst it.

Until it does.

It’s late in the evening, already dark, Midsummer long past and the hot days of August stretching on forever. We are lying in the giant bed Bear built, talking together softly when we hear it. A thud on the garage door.

Around me the alphas stiffen, suddenly alert.

“What was that?” I ask.

“We’re not expecting a delivery, are we?” Buzz asks Cam and he shakes his head no.

Bear places his forefinger to his lips and we listen.

More thudding. So loud it seems to rattle the whole apartment. The alphas are up and out of the bed in an instant. Pulling on clothes and throwing each other anxious looks.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good. Stay here, Omega.” He points a finger at me and gives me a stern look.

“But …” I scramble towards the edge of the bed. He bends down, his knuckles resting on the surface of the mattress and meets my eye.

“Omega! Stay!”

I scurry back into the bed automatically, and watch as they all race out of the room. I hear the apartment door slam open and their heavy footsteps on the stairs. The thudding is even louder now, as if someone is trying to break in, and the garage doors rattle. There are voices as well, lots of voices. Then an almighty crash, followed by shouting.

I strain to hear. My mouth is so dry my tongue seems to stick to the bottom of my teeth. I swallow and notice my hands are shaking.

What’s going on?

More shouting, more bangs. Then there are footsteps on the stairs again, this time coming nearer and nearer, and at the top they halt.

“Alexa?” The voice is familiar, concerned, but angry, and it isn’t the voice of any of my alphas. It is the voice of my father.

For a moment, I’m caught in indecision. Part of me starts to respond to the command in my father’s tone automatically, while the other part wants to shrink away and hide under the covers. But I do neither of these things. Instead, I freeze, my heart loud in my ears.

“Alexa, are you in here?”

I can hear more footsteps, men talking to each other, and then my father is standing in the doorway of the bedroom, the electric light from the living room framing his dark figure. I can see his eyes though. Perhaps I’d expect to see relief in them. After all, I’ve been missing for nearly four weeks and now he’s found me. There’s no relief, though. There is only triumph and rage.

He scowls at me, his top lip curling in disgust as he takes me in, cowering with the sheet pulled up around my throat.

“Alexa. Get up and put some clothes on. We are leaving right now!” I stare at him as if his words are spoken in a foreign language. I’m not going anywhere. He can shout at me all he likes. “Alexa!” he barks. “I said, get up!”

I shake my head slowly, my grip stiff on the sheet. He marches towards me and grabs my upper arm so tightly that I yelp in pain. Then he shakes me hard.

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