Don’t Offer Me Anything Else
“Give him the keys,” I said to the valet, and dropped into the passenger seat, leaning my head back and trying to calm the shaking of my hands and the rough, pounding vibration of my heartbeat.
Dimitri got in a second later, started the car, and pulled us out of the club’s driveway without a word.
We’d made an announcement that unfortunately, my father had been taken ill, that it wasn’t an emergency but that the family would be leaving, and that everyone was welcome to enjoy dinner and the club’s amenities if they’d like.
And then we’d hightailed it out of there, leaving the rest of the “family” to figure it out their damn selves.
“We can’t tell them he’s ill!” my mother had wailed. “Alphas don’t become ill. We can announce that you’re the one who’s sick. Everyone knows you’re weak, that you—”
“We’re not lying anymore,” I’d said, more firmly than I’d ever have believed I’d be able to cut off my mother’s ranting, fueled by a fresh wave of hurt and disgust. I’d always known she didn’t care about me all that much. But she was mymother. And that wound wouldn’t stop bleeding for a while, if ever, even if I could write my father and Blake off without a qualm. “We don’t have to announce the whole truth to everyone in the world, but we’re not lying anymore, and I’m not taking the blame for his bullshit.”
And that was the end of that.
I’d told them my father would retire, and he’d promote me into his position as he did. And that I’d run the company without interference, paying them a generous—overgenerous, in fact—pension, out of which they could support Blake, on top of his own trust from our grandfather, if they wanted, but that I was done with him.
I hadn’t needed to spell out the alternative. Dimitri had already taken care of that earlier, when he’d threatened to take the mic and spill all the family’s secrets. He hadn’t been bluffing, and they knew it.
My father nodded once, jerkily, and then closed his eyes.
Dimitri took my hand, and we left.
Just like that.
And now we were winding our way along the road home.
Wait, winding our way? The road home was mainly straight. I opened my eyes and saw not the lights of the suburbs, but the velvety shadows of a moonlit forest on the sides of the twisty road.
We came through the trees a moment later as the road emerged onto the side of the hill. Dimitri pulled over into a turnout overlooking the city, cutting the engine and slumping back in his seat with a sigh.
His hands worked at his throat, and then his tie went flying over his shoulder into the back seat to join its friends that he’d tossed back there every day after work.
Christ, I was going to miss him. I couldn’t even begin to quantify how much.
My heart started pounding faster again. I’d gotten the other thing I wanted tonight, albeit in the worst possible way. Maybe I could convince him to stay. He still needed money, probably. He’d told me he needed the whole forty grand left over after he’d paid off his debts, and he’d tried to negotiate that extra twelve. If his mother needed some kind of specialized care, surgery, what have you…he might be eager to earn the money in a relatively easy way. I’d give it to him if he’d take it, of course. But I knew he wouldn’t. He had too much pride. I tried not to feel guilty about the fact that his pride would put him in a position where he’d need to give me what I wanted from him.
“I need some air,” Dimitri said, and popped his door open.
I followed, undoing my own tie and stuffing it in my pocket, taking up position next to him propped up on the hood of the car. Boise wasn’t the biggest city in the world. Compared to real large cities, it was a speck on the map. But that only made it more beautiful, in my opinion. The Boise capitol building gleaming like a jewel, a few skyscrapers with their own interesting lighting schemes, and the scattershot glitter of the smaller buildings and the outlying suburbs, all of it surrounded by the soft darkness of mountains and a summer night. A cricket chirped nearby.
Well, this wasn’t so bad. Especially with Dimitri lounging beside me, big and dangerous but at his ease, like a panther in a lazy mood.
Or maybe not quite at his ease. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, trying not to turn my head too much and let him know I was watching him. He’d leaned back on his hands, but the line of his shoulders and the angle of his head told me he hadn’t really relaxed.
I couldn’t ask him to stay, not without easing into it a little bit, anyway.
So I went with the second thing on my list. “When you were using my laptop, and on the phone all week? Were you working on figuring out what was up with my father?”
“Partly.” He paused for a second. “I had some personal matters to attend to, too.” Another pause. Jesus, this was like pulling teeth. I bit my lip to keep myself from prodding him. “But yeah. I did some research. Read everything I could find about Hensley’s, all the stuff I hadn’t dug up before, including the part where alphas can’t even carry it, in addition to not being able to have it. By the way, that would’ve been good information to tell me to begin with, Brook.”
My cheeks burned. Yeah, I remembered when I’d decided to keep that from him, and how I’d felt a little guilty about it even at the time, when I didn’t know him yet. “It wasn’t really relevant. I mean, it didn’t matter. I’m not an alpha, so it didn’t apply to me.”
“Not relevant?” His voice rose, and I winced. “It was relevant. I might’ve put the pieces together a lot sooner about what the fuck was up with your father if you’d told me. To be fair, I should’ve kept reading on my own.”
“You’ve done way more than you had any obligation to do,” I said thickly, fresh guilt and shame and impending loss hitting me all at once. Fuck, I’d break down right here, the aftermath of adrenaline turning me into a shaky mess, and then Dimitri wouldn’t want to stay. He’d want to run until he hit the ocean. “Thank you. For everything. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I really didn’t feel like airing more of someone else’s secrets for no reason. Family loyalty, I guess.” That last tasted as bitter as bile on my tongue, nearly as bitter as I felt.
“You’re welcome. And I did make some calls, too, like you thought. Found a Russian shaman through some friends who helped me figure out what might be going on. Don’t worry, I didn’t give him anything identifiable.”
