Page 47 of The Gift
“How the heck do I know? Maybe he heard us talking about vabbing or… what the hell is that smell?”
“I’d say he’s confused about the situation,” Reno says, his voice devoid of his easy-going nature, “because if he’s not, Koda is right. I don’t particularly give a shit if you guys have been inside the house of a perfuming omega, Colton knows better.”
“Why?” someone adds, god, the chaos is making it hard for me to define who is who.
“Why what?”
“Why is he reacting like that now though, but better yet why the hell is A-team all about to lose their shit?” Carmen’s screech is the loudest, but she’s also got that ‘hell-yeah-I-love-drama’ overtone that makes her voice pitch higher than usual.
I snap, slapping one of CJ’s hands off me and swing around trying to stop the craptastic scene from unfolding. “You do not do this to me. Don’t you dare, CJ. I will kick you in the nuts right this second unless you get a grip!”
It’s like a green light, making everything happen. His eyes blink and I think I’ve reached him, but his nose flares wide as he drags in the heady smell of Jenna’s heat over me. He gets his wires crossed. Again.
“Bails, stand still.”
“Are you serious right now, Koda?” Now I’m screaming like a T-Rex over my shoulder, raising my arm ready to pull CJ’s fingers off me.
“Stop!” CJ alpha barks, rendering me useless as he shoves his groin to mine. And that’s when reality slaps me in the face and hurtles me backwards in my memories.
My fear morphs and twists, burning inside me into a rage that makes it hard to see. But he’s made it a thousand times worse, his alpha compulsion makes it so I can’t fight his command even if I tried.
I feel like a rag doll as he rubs over me. I can hear his breathing pitch, probably in direct correlation to mine, but as I freak out, he becomes someone I’d never expect CJ to be—my nightmare. Taking from me.
I fracture away from what’s going on. Still hearing noises, feeling movement but no longer present. My eyes lock on one of the little buttons on his shirt and I can feel the movement of my body, but I don’t feel it too. And when my vision tunnels, the sense of free-falling picks up, another part of me surrenders. While he keeps doing what he’s doing, my eyes close when I realise I don’t have to watch.
Not being able to hear, see or feel what’s going on… works. I don’t like it, but it is what it is. Accepting whatever is coming, I honestly float around feeling sweet fuck all. It’s almost like I’m in my own little happy place, where time, space and this reality doesn’t exist.
“Bailey!” A sharp voice at my ear is like a bucket of ice water, snapping me out of the past.
I know the voice, and the next time it comes it’s closer. While the alpha intention is there, it’s vastly different to CJ’s. My hidden traits respond to this alpha on a baser, primal level.
“Get your head out of your ass, and your ass into gear! You know he is not your alpha. Not the way I am. His words mean nothing to you.” Whispered words said straight into my ear, blowing my hair along with the cobwebs from my brain. Kickstarting me better than a defibrillator could, and that’s not even taking into account this unexpected need to obey him, accompanied with a knowledge doing so would be so intensely satisfying.
Henley’s softly spoken, gently said words are like pumping nitrogen into my world, snapping me out of CJ’s compulsion and wake up my inner cage fighter.
One of my hands wraps around CJ’s junk, I squeeze him so hard my knuckles crack. I can’t even hear if he made a noise, so focused on getting away from him. My other palm rams straight up under his chin. And CJ is not a shrimp, my arm fully extends. I manage to shove enough space between us that I can twist and escape out of his hold, racing off in the opposite direction of everyone.
The more distance I get from CJ and what happened the more everything comes back online. The noise, the attention of everyone, my panic.
“Bailey!” Carmen yells, adding to the sound of the commotion chasing behind me.
“Not now. I’m fine. Have to run for an appointment.” I somehow manage to throw over my shoulder, my feet slapping hard over the grass. I’m shocked I don’t break an ankle in my sprint. Chanel pumps are not built for speed and Henley is my alpha. Huh?
Bailey
Inearly destroy Jenna’s back gate, flinging it open and making it bounce back, nearly hitting me on the ass as Henley chases behind me.
“Bailey, hold up!” he says. My legs pick up speed in response, going a mile a minute. I make it to my car before he loses his composure, his alpha bark accompanying his impatience. “Would you wait up! I’ve got your bag.”
Spinning around, I pin him with an arched eyebrow. “What was that about? Back there, Henley, what the hell was that about?”
“I snapped. You looked at me, and what I saw made me freak out, Bailey. You were in trouble!”
“So, you tell the whole fucking world, he’s not my alpha, but you are? You’re fucking nuts! Like honestly, you’re so fucking loopy, you’re making me loopy! In front of everyone, when I implicitly asked we keepthison the down fucking low! This is exactly what I was worried about, Alpha Henley.”
My voice actually hurts when I finish whisper screaming at him. And it’s lucky that my car separates us or I think I might be squashing his gorgeous face all over my car in my frustration, even though the thoughtful git remembered to grab my bag. I mumble a thank you as I take my bag from, digging through it to find my keys.
“I messed up!” he admits, his voice low enough that this conversation is between me and him.
