“Stop,” Olivier gasped. “Please stop!”
“You said I could have my revenge.” Zan’s musty breath fell on Olivier’s face. “You don’t mean so much to that alpha, do you? If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even have someone to return to.”
“I’d rather be dead,” Olivier hissed, choking when Zan’s fist closed painfully around his throat.
“Ah.” Zan eyed him smugly. Then he flung Olivier onto the ground.
With a panicked cry, Ollie threw his hands out to break the fall, pain shooting up his arms and legs. His baby was safe. That was most important. Ollie had to protect it.
Zan kicked him hard on the ass, forcing Olivier forward. Then he shoved his shoe up between Ollie’s legs, right against his balls, showing Ollie just how vulnerable he was.
Olivier scrambled away, his heart thumping when Zan followed behind like a predator toying with its food.
Ollie had never felt this helpless in his life.
Zan came to stand next to him. Olivier scrambled to his feet, only to be flung back onto the ground, landing hard on his ass. Need to get away. Need to hide. He couldn’t breathe.
“What if we get rid of this?” Zan pressed the rough sole of his shoe to Olivier’s belly, a cruel smile twisting his lips. “I’ll put a new one into you, no problem.”
Fear slid down Olivier’s spine like ice. Not Eric’s baby.
“Help,” he tried to yell.
“Try harder. No one can hear you.”
His face hurt, and so did his ass and his hands. Ollie glanced behind him. Just a few more yards to the backdoor of Olivier’s Strings. If Levi heard him, if Brad and Ian were still there...
Zan lunged at him, a sudden, sharp movement like he’d crush Olivier’s belly. Olivier screamed, lurching backward.
Zan stomped inches from Olivier’s groin. He raised his other foot, his smirk cold.
Olivier panted, his mind blank with terror. When he shuffled back, he left a wet, dark spot on the ground that reeked.
Zan laughed. “First time I’ve seen you piss yourself.”
Ollie swallowed hard, glancing at the backdoor again. It didn’t open. No one would help him.
He would die here, or lose his baby, and Eric would be none the wiser, would he? Eric would find another omega.
His heart breaking, Olivier sobbed. I shouldn’t have said those hurtful things.
He shouldn’t have let Eric go at all.
Zan stepped lightly on Olivier’s belly. “While we’re here,” he said, curling his fingers into Olivier’s hair. “What else shall we do with you?”
32
Eric
Eric had a bad feeling. He didn’t know what it was, or why he felt it.
He just knew, as he watched Jenn totter from the table to the couch, waving her rattles in the air. Something was wrong.
It wasn’t Jenn. It wasn’t Cole in the kitchen, or Aaron somewhere in Meadowfall. His dad was fine. His mom was at home on bed rest.
But Ollie—where was he?
“Bad feeling,” Eric said, picking Jenn off the floor. He stopped in the kitchen, his heart thumping. “Hey, Cole.”
Cole turned at the stove, raising his eyebrows. Bacon and eggs sizzled in the pan. “Yeah?”
“Gotta go,” Eric said. “I have a bad feeling.”
Cole scrutinized him. “You’ve been having a bad feeling the whole week.”
“It’s worse now.”
Eric couldn’t explain the sinking dread in his gut. All week, ever since that night at Wy’s Drive-In, he’d been sleeping poorly. The dreams about Alice still occurred, but they’d been interspersed with Olivier, Ollie in the shower, Ollie in Eric’s arms, sleeping soundly.
Eric had woken up from those dreams, only to find his arms empty, subconsciously sniffing for a carnation scent that wasn’t there.
And now the feeling was a hundred times worse—because Eric didn’t know where Ollie was, because he needed to know that Ollie was safe.
“Watch Jenn,” Eric said. “Just for a bit. Please?”
Cole rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Good luck.”
He took Jenn from Eric. Eric all but ran out of the apartment, his heart thumping louder than his feet. For all he knew, Olivier was fine. Maybe he was just seeing another alpha. Maybe he was still doing okay at his shop.
Maybe Eric would crash into Ollie on a lunch date, and things would just be awkward.
But he couldn’t help worrying, because he hadn’t seen Olivier in days. The last time he’d glimpsed that omega, Ollie’s face had been tear-streaked. You’re not my alpha, Eric.
What if that had been a lie, like... like all the other times that idiot had lied?
Like when Olivier had said, I don’t love you. Like when he’d said, The baby isn’t yours.
What if Olivier had been pushing Eric away, despite whatever he felt?
Eric slipped into his car, driving out of the parking lot with screeching tires. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he’d been an idiot himself. Because of course Olivier would try to push him away. That was what Ollie did at the first sign of trouble.
After Eric lost his job and Mom disowned Eric... Olivier had decided he’d hung around long enough.
He’d said crap about Mom and Alice because he’d known how Eric would react. Olivier had always understood Eric better than Eric knew himself.
So he’d said the one thing he could, to drive Eric away from him. And he’d done it ruthlessly, without care for either of their feelings. Both at the shop, and in the parking lot of Wy’s Drive-In.
You idiot, Eric thought, his heart aching. I should’ve realized this earlier. Instead of assuming the worst of Olivier, instead of thinking Olivier was heartless.
Because that was the exact opposite of who Ollie was. Ollie was an idiot who had looked sappily at Jenn, he was an omega who had cried when Eric said, I love you.
Olivier was supposed to be Eric’s.
He still loved Eric, didn’t he?
Hope fluttering in his chest, Eric pulled the car to a stop outside Olivier’s Strings, his dread intensifying at the Closing Down Sale signs. The banners hung across the shopfront, fat black words against a crimson background. Was Ollie still there?
Eric parked, barreling into
