11. Locke

Chapter eleven

Locke

This innocent act is getting old. I am getting nowhere, and it’s crap. I finally slipped the leash, and I have a chance at not one but three smoking hot alphas and that incredibly fine beta, and I’m still suffering with the biggest blue balls in the history of blue balls. Of all the luck. I finally get a chance to decide, to choose, and they are holding back.

I don’t know how many more nights I can snuggle up to that alpha and continue to pretend I’m asleep. It’s becoming a hard issue to ignore.

I glance back at Finn and find him watching me too closely. I’m not convinced he’s as innocent as he’s pretending to be, either. His eyes never seem to leave me. Every time I try to sneak off, he’s there herding me back.

And Shane! The alpha is incredible. A smorgasbord of man meat, that is exactly what I’m starving for, but he refuses to even speak to me, and after outing me yesterday, I’m considering my options.

I wander away from them and peel off my top, conveniently shoving it in a bin so I don’t get commanded to put it back on again. I slip across the road to where a musician is playing. He’s good. I close my eyes and start dancing.

When a body presses up against mine, the bolt of fear that goes through me is instinctive and unpleasant. I open my eyes and find the girl from yesterday. Jess? Fear holds me still while her hands run all over me.

She licks her lips. I think it’s supposed to be sultry, but it just comes across as desperate. With a muffled growl, I turn away, but she runs her hand down my spine. I hiss and side step her.

“Don’t touch me!”

“You want me,” she purrs. “Everyone does, but I like you.”

I shake my head, my face a mask. Too many times I’ve been told to perfect my mask, to never let them see what I’m really thinking. She won’t be able to see my fear or my disgust.

I cast a look around, but I can’t see Shane or Finn.

“They left you here. You’re all alone.” The beta is relentless, her hands stroking my chest. I feel tainted and dirty.

I hear a sound, like the ringing of a phone that I know I’ve heard before, but it’s a unique tone. I whip my head around, holding still while I try to isolate the sound. Is it in my memory or is it real?

Her scent. The phone. Her hands on me. I can’t breathe. I’m going to die.

Panic flares and floods the air between us. She smiles wider and steps closer. Cupping my cock right in the middle of the dance floor, out under the blue sky of this small town. Shame explodes inside me, violent and nauseating, filling everything inside me until I can’t even think clearly.

It’s brazen, it’s inappropriate. It’s terrifyingly aggressive.

Did I hear that phone? Was that my imagination? My instincts are screaming. Run, run, run. But I don’t know where to run.

“I’ll take care of all your needs!” She whispers and stands on her tiptoes, pressing against me, her lips so close to mine.

That snaps me out of it.

Anger rises, and I step back and sneer at her. “I don’t think so.”

Her face folds, the pleading, sexy expression morphing into something sinister.

“I don’t think you understand-”

“Jess! I thought I smelt something foul. Be gone! I curse thee,” Bray spits on the ground and crosses himself three times.

“One of these days, Bray, you’re going to realise no one fucking wants you,” Jess snarls, planting her hands on her hips and tossing her hair.

“Well, fuck, today is not that day. I want you, Bray,” Erin purrs and leans on him with a wicked smile aimed in my direction. “Did my baby tell you no?”

“Your baby?” Jess snarls.

“Mm,” Erin points to Bray. “Mine.”

Her finger flips to point directly at my chest. “Mine.” She points behind me and her finger wavers. I turn and find Shane and Finn. “Both of those, also mine.”

Jess splutters. “I don’t think-”

“Exactly, you don’t think. Sexual assault is a chargeable offense, and if I find out that you are fucking around and pushing him into touching you…oh, girl, you do not want to see what I will do to you in a courtroom.”

“You’re a contract lawyer. I looked you up,” Jess spits out.

Erin just smiles. “You think I can’t do criminal? Oh, darling. I think you need to run home before the big city spanks your cute little ass.”

Jess has turned an interesting purple colour. I’d feel sorry for her, but I’ve seen women like her a million times before. They push, and when they don’t get what they want, they get mad, and then they get mean.

For a flash of a second, I feel apprehension, but when Jess spins on her heel and leaves, it fades under the powerful wave of mint and mocha.

I’m an addict for their scents. I’m not going to admit that I’ve stolen a number of Erin’s clothes in some kind of apparent break from reality. Sniffing them like a drug addict in the moments when she’s asleep or bathing.

Fuck, this is not me. I’m in control. I’m ice. Hell, I’m a freaking god.

Instead, I’m hard, unable to concentrate because every time my mind drifts, I’m thinking about fucking everyone. No, not everyone, just these four. Erin, Brayson, Shane, and Finn.

A whine slips from me, and I slap a palm to my mouth to silence the sound, but Bray is staring at me with darkened eyes. Erin either didn’t hear or is pretending not to.

Bray moves in closer and grips the wrist that’s covering my mouth. He drags me away from the dance floor. I stumble in an effort to keep up and then find myself tripping and slamming into something hard.

I step back and look up, finding Shane staring down at me. His eyes are filled with the same flinty hardness he always looks at me with, and I feel like a kicked puppy.

I wilt under his derision.

Erin slides a hand up my spine, causing my skin to break out in goosebumps.

It’s with relief that I spin towards her and capture her curvy hips. I love that she’s not skinny like all the other women who throw themselves at me. I love that she’s soft and confident about who she is. She loves herself, and that is fucking hot.

Another pathetic whine escapes me.

She steps into me and drops her lips to my collarbone, teasing her way across my chest.

All of a sudden, she licks up my neck. “I licked him, now he’s mine.”

I hum and lean back. Huge hands land on my waist, holding me in place as Shane steps into me.

“He’s not yours.”

Erin flicks Shane a look that is maddeningly unclear. She grabs one of his hands, drags it up to my shoulder. Leans forward and licks him, too.

Shane stiffens. I can feel the power of him as he curls his fingers into my shoulders.

I expect him to protest, but he stays silent and then abruptly lets me go, stepping back so suddenly I sway.

“While I appreciate how amusing this joke is, we are drawing a crowd of onlookers.” Finn rubs his chin and glances around us uneasily.

Joke?

I glance at Finn and see the strain around the corners of his eyes. Whatever reason he has for pretending this thing between us doesn’t exist is crumbling. He feels something.

I fold my arms over my chest and step into his space, bumping him with my shoulder.

“All right, Dad.”

Finn levels me with a look that makes my stomach spark with excitement.

“I want to dance.”

Bray holds out his hand. “Your wish, my command.”

“Take notes,” I say to the others and strut with him back to the dance floor. He dances close but not inappropriately.

Every time I turn, I spot Erin, Shane, and Finn watching from the road, standing still despite the flow of people around them. A glow of warmth grows inside me.

I can’t have them forever, but maybe I can have them for a few nights.

I throw myself at Bray, pressing my body against his. My mouth collides with his, and the kiss is inevitable. It’s like music and dance. It just works. We work. That mint seeps into my senses, twisting around me and tearing reason and logic out of my brain.

He pulls back and stares down at me.

“What are you doing, Locke?” Bray whispers.

“I want you. That’s what I’m doing.”

Bray laughs lightly. “Well, it’s working. Let’s go kidnap your girlfriend and see if she wants to play with us.”

I brush my hair back and smile, flipping a wave at the guy crooning into the microphone.

Erin is leaning against the wall, her eyes glittering and her cheeks red. I’m well aware of the signs of her arousal, though she probably wishes I wasn’t. I don’t say anything, but I do subtly check Shane and Finn, and to my surprise, they are both packing as well.

Well, well. Maybe we’ll make this night a party.

“We’re ready to leave,” Bray says and puts an arm over my shoulder.

Shane stiffens, and I cross my arms over my chest and narrow my eyes.

“No!” He says as if he alone can stop me.

I laugh. “No one tells me no.”

Shane steps into my space, ignoring Bray’s growl of warning. “I’m telling you no.”

I shrug. “Go right ahead. I’m not going to listen.”

Shane lets out a low, deep sound that makes me want to lick him. “You’re not doing it. You’re my scent match.”

I start to laugh.

He stops talking, pulls back, staring at me with a hint of uncertainty.

I stop smiling and decide what the fuck. I hate looking before I leap.

“You think he’s my scent match?” I ask them.

They all nod.

I shake my head and chuckle again. “Nah, he’s wrong. He isn’t my scent match.”

Erin is about to open her mouth, but I beat her to it.

“You all are. Welcome to the fucked up world. Lucky for you, I’m not a keeper. I’m a week of fun times, and then, lucky you, you get your lives back.”

There’s pain in my voice that I can’t hide because I’ve found my forever. My soul mates, my fated mates, my scent matches. No one will ever be so perfect for me as these guys. And I can’t have them. I can’t keep them.

It’s agony.

Finn and Bray are shocked speechless. But Erin narrows her eyes at me and steps into my space. Does she feel my pain when she searches deep into my eyes and her hand presses against the ache in my chest? Can she feel me?

“Well, if we’ve only got a week, why are we wasting time?”

Exactly my point. I love this alpha.