Chapter Two

Liam stood there alone with the strange girl, Erik having chased off after Torrin.

Deciding who would deal with her had been an easy choice.

Torrin had all the emotional knowledge of a sheet of drywall and Erik frightened even Liam at times.

Neither of them should deal with a frightened woman whose bottom lip trembled.

And what a woman she is…

Liam had a strong love for the fairer sex, never hesitating to engage in a bit of fun. Something about women always drew him in. They were magical, really, special in a way men weren’t. No matter who the woman was, each one had managed to surprise him, to charm him in their own way.

Though none of those had come close to that burst of want when he’d spotted this female.

“Just let me go,” she said.

Liam slid on his most charming smile. “I’m not going to hurt you, sweet. You seemed like you needed a little help.”

She took her red lip between her blunt teeth, those striking blue eyes of hers moving over the bodies as if they were the proof of why she shouldn’t trust him.

“What are you doing out here so late? This isn’t a safe area.”

“I got off work and lost my way.”

“Oh yeah? Where do you work?”

She opened her mouth to answer then snapped it shut, as if just remembering she had no reason to trust Liam. Telling strangers where they worked was the sort of thing smart women didn’t do.

“Just making friendly conversation. Where do you live, at least? I’ll walk you back.”

“I just moved here,” she said, lines showing up between her eyebrows. “I got off at the Harrison stop and…”

“And you got yourself lost? It’s fine. I know most of this city pretty well. What street is your place on?”

“Carrington,” she whispered.

Carrington? Liam didn’t let his smile drop, despite the punch to his gut. There was nothing on Carrington he’d let any person he cared about live at. The street was trash, with pay-by-the-hour motels and the sort of apartments people paid weekly for, mostly because they might get killed before they needed to pay for another week.

He kept the growl from his voice. She wasn’t his problem. “I know where that is. Come on. It isn’t far.”

She didn’t move, her gaze suspicious.

“My name’s Liam,” he tried. “This isn’t a great area, as you saw. I just want to get you home safe and sound, I promise. How about your name?”

She hesitated again before her gaze fell to the still bodies. Whether she answered out of fear of what he might do or she realized he hadn’t hurt her yet, she answered, “Ashley.”

“Pretty name. Now, come on, let’s get you out of here.”

She stepped past the bodies, pausing as if worried about leaving them.

Which was just too damned sweet.

And more than a little naive.

“Don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine.” Well, fine-ish.

Again, she nodded and fell into step beside Liam as they exited the alleyway. Torrin and Erik had already left, which was probably a good thing.

If she was jumpy around Liam, he could only imagine how she’d act with them hovering as well.

And the growl Torrin had let out had been more than a little interesting. Nothing got his cousin that worked up.

“So, what is it you do for a living?”

Ashley stuck her hands into her pockets, darting her gaze around as though nervous. Of him? Just generally uncomfortable after the close call? “Waitress.”

That explained the outfit. He’d bet she made good tips with shorts that short and her curvy ass.

In fact, he wouldn’t mind cruising in some time and watching her run around in those shorts, tray in hand—

“Liam?”

He looked over at her, her expression saying she’d been talking and he’d missed it.

Great job being attentive.

“Sorry. What was that?”

Her lips curled the slightest amount, just in the corners, as if charmed by his distraction. Even that ghost of a smile was brilliant and showed she was a far sweeter girl than he’d realized.

Which was horrible, because he had a thing for sweetness.

“I asked who those other two were.”

“Oh, right. The blond is Torrin, my cousin. The one who looks just like me? Erik.”

“Is Erik your brother?”

“Twin, and before you ask, we do satisfy twin fantasies, but our charge is three hundred for the night.”

The joke drew forth a pretty flush over her cheeks. Shy? Why the hell did that do it for him? Or maybe the better question was why everything seemed to do it for him when it came to her?

“Why did they leave?”

“Because I’m the most charming, and they were making you nervous.”

She seemed as though she’d debate that fact before stopping herself. He suspected she wasn’t a liar by nature, which made him wonder if she stumbled over the attempts. What a pair that makes them, huh? Liam lies like he breathes.

It was part of life if he wanted to keep breathing in his world.

“Well, thank you all for your help.”

“You really shouldn’t be walking around this time of night alone. This area of town isn’t a good place.”

“I’ve noticed.” Before she could say more, she tipped her gaze up toward the building across the street. “You found it.”

Liam groaned at the apartment complex she was looking at. Of all the shit-holes on the street—and there were quite a few of them—that was without a doubt the worst.

He held his tongue. She wasn’t his. He had no right to tell her anything about where she should live or what she should do.

But, damn it, this wasn’t the sort of place she should be.

“How long have you lived here?” Liam held open the door, making it clear he intended to walk her all the way to her apartment. Her building might be even more dangerous than that alley.

“A week.” Her lips tipped down before she curled in further. “It’s not that bad.”

Liam tried to wipe the look off his face. No reason to make her feel like shit. “Sorry, I’m just a fan of more neutral wall colors.”

Ashley huffed softly, as if she heard and appreciated the deflecting lie as they took the stairs up three flights. The fact that she was winded and took the last ones slower showed she hadn’t gotten used to using them.

And she had worked all night on her feet already.

At a door down the hallway, she slid a key into the lock and turned it. As she opened the door, she reached up and pulled a toothpick from the frame.

He’d been around enough to know that cheap, easy trick. Stick something in the closing door to signal if the door had been opened while they were away.

Why would she know it? Just from living in places like this?

As if Ashley had heard the question, she responded. “The lock doesn’t really work well. I talked to the super, but I don’t think he’ll be fixing it anytime soon.”

Liam closed the door and focused his attention there. The frame showed cracks, implying it had been kicked in a time or two before and never replaced. There was no deadbolt, and sure enough, after a quick test of a bit of jiggling, the lock on the handle failed.

Fuck.

Liam pulled his phone out and sent out a quick message. Sure, they couldn’t pursue anything, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t do the bare minimum of making sure Ashley didn’t have people walking into her place with just a little handle shake.

Though when Liam turned around, it got worse.

“Where the fuck is your furniture?”

Her back went straight. “I told you, I just moved in.”

“Yeah, but normally you take your stuff with you.” Her place was empty. Not just under-furnished, but entirely bare. The small studio apartment had an open kitchen with a few bags on the counter, nothing in the living space and a few blankets on top of a plastic sheet in the corner where the bed would go.

At least she had the sense to cover that disgusting carpet before sleeping on it.

“I didn’t have anything, okay?” She slid off her jacket and set it on the kitchen counter—not like there were other options. “I didn’t ask you to come in, so maybe don’t judge me? I’m doing the best I can.”

Liam rubbed his hand over the top of his shaved head, trying to ease the tension in his body. Why the hell did he care?

Then it hit him. He met her gaze. “Omega?”

Her eyes widened for a moment before she nodded. “So stop feeling like you need to save me. I’m doing fine.”

Like hell she was. He kept that thought to himself as he repeated that this need to help her was biology, nothing more. Alphas like Torrin, Erik and himself were driven to want and protect omegas, no matter if they knew or liked them.

He could ignore that because he was not in a place where he wanted an omega.

“So, thanks,” she muttered in a way that implied she wanted him gone. Wounded pride didn’t look good on her, and hell, it wasn’t fair to judge her too harshly.

He didn’t know shit about her, and any girl willing to live in a place like this on her own had to be tough.

Though, with how soft she seemed, he had to wonder about her history. She hadn’t grown up around these sorts of places, because no girl who had done so would act as sweet or naïve as she did.

Liam shook his head. Nope. He could not keep going with that line of thought, because it was headed nowhere good.

“Sure,” Liam said. “Try to stay off the streets at night. Take a cab.”

By the looks of her apartment, that wasn’t going to be happening. Cabs were an expense, and people who didn’t have furniture didn’t splurge on such things.

He walked out of the door, leaving her behind even when everything inside his screamed not to.

Good thing he’d become an expert at ignoring his instincts.

* * * *

Erik growled softly at the apartment. Liam had messaged him an hour before, and suddenly Erik wished he’d been the one to walk the little spit of a girl home.

Not just a girl, but an omega, according to Liam.

Liam, who stood beside Erik’s truck with his gaze floating up the building as if he could see her through the bricks.

Liam always had been too easily swayed. It was the reason Erik had no intention of letting his brother back into that omega’s apartment or anywhere near her.

Erik would have been content to walk away, but Liam wouldn’t do that, not without fixing the girl’s security situation.

Fine.

It was an easy fix. It wouldn’t take more than an hour, tops, to upgrade the frame, replace the door and put in proper locks. Erik had even brought a few locks for windows, just in case.

When he finished that, Liam would be able to relax and hopefully put the near-miss out of their minds.

They had too many things on their plate to be dividing their attention, and he suspected the curvy little omega would prove one giant distraction.

“Maybe I should go back up,” Liam said.

“Like hell. Get your ass back home before you dig us any deeper.”

“You’ll scare her.”

“And? Maybe it’ll do us all some good if I do.”

Liam offered a glare toward Erik, paired with a soft growl. It wasn’t that Liam didn’t mean it, that he wouldn’t attack Erik, but as brothers, they’d been fighting their entire lives.

What was another throw-down?

But he needed Liam gone, so Erik gave in. “I’m not going to scare her. I’ll replace the door, fix the locks and do it all with a smile.” At Liam’s lifted eyebrow, Erik sighed. “I’ll do it without snarling. How’s that?”

Liam let out a long, slow breath, as if he needed to prepare himself for walking away, which said what Erik already knew. This was a clusterfuck waiting to happen.

“Okay,” Liam said. “You’re right. I’ll go.”

Erik didn’t move until Liam got into a cab, until the car pulled away from the curb and disappeared down the street.

Finally.

He hauled the items up the stairs. It would have been easier with a partner, but again, he couldn’t trust Liam to use good sense. The process took thirty minutes, but by the end, he’d brought everything he’d need up and rested it outside the door to Ashley’s apartment.

He’d hardly looked at the omega earlier. He tended to not look at women. The times he succumbed to those baser needs of his typically happened in bars, when he and Liam would find a female who was only too happy to be sandwiched between them. Those times were quick, dirty releases. He’d never cared what the women looked like, never bothered with much else but getting off. Liam tended to focus more on the woman, but Erik?

He was scratching an itch, and that sort of single-minded focus must have done it for women, because they were never short on volunteers.

So while her scent had tantalized him in the alley, he’d tried very hard to not pay attention.

When he knocked, however, and when she answered, he didn’t have that option.

“I thought you were leaving.”

He got ready to explain he was Erik, not Liam, since he’d grown used everyone mixing them up. Growing up as twins had made that commonplace, with only their closest few able to tell the difference.

Except Ashley actually looked at him and took a step backward. “Erik.”

It drew a frown from him. “Not many can tell us apart.”

She didn’t smile. “Your eyes are different. You also smell different.”

Smell? It had never occurred to him that he and his twin might be able to be identified by scent.

Erik pushed aside the thought. “Liam asked me to repair your lock situation.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

Erik nodded at the supplies just outside the door. “I’ve already brought everything I need. It shouldn’t take me long.”

“I can’t afford that. I’m sorry.”

Erik hesitated. He lived around people who took everything they could, who wouldn’t turn down a favor for anything. He didn’t know how to deal with someone different. “I’m not expecting any payment.”

“So why do it?”

“Because Liam will not relax or forget about you until he knows you have the bare minimum in security.”

She furrowed her brow, as though the words didn’t quite make sense.

Erik went to work on the door as he spoke, wanting to finish the job and the conversation as quickly as possible. “You know he’s an alpha. One of the rarely discussed but often hated parts is a drive to protect omegas, even those we don’t know. You were in danger and we helped. It makes Liam feel responsible.”

“But not you?”

“No, not me. I’m less easily swayed by a pretty face than Liam is.” Erik was so used to lying that when the words left his lips, he couldn’t tell if they were a lie or not.

Not about being less swayed—that was true. Liam was far more likely to be led around by his dick. Erik reacted with a cooler head and usually after thinking things through. However, whether he was affected by her? Well, that he wasn’t sure about.

He’d fix her security so he could calm his brother down, then they’d forget all about the little brown-haired omega who had turned their night upside down. If she causes this much trouble in a night, imagine if we spent longer together.

“Good.”

Erik glanced over his shoulder at her, the statement odd, as though she’d read his mind.

At his look of confusion, she spoke again. “I’m glad you don’t fall for that. I didn’t ask any of you to take care of me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your help with…” Her voice trailed off, something uncomfortable in her expression. It was fear, but not sharp.

Sharp fear had a sting to it, something quick, like stubbing one’s toe. Instead, this was shadowed, the sign of disease that lingered with a person.

Erik understood that sort of fear all too well.

She recovered quickly. “Just, thank you. But don’t make any mistake—I wasn’t out there looking for alphas to take care of me. I’d just as well have you all out of my life as quickly as possible.”

“At least we can agree on something.” Erik turned and went back to work on the door while Ashley moved around behind him.

The work went without issue. Erik replaced the door and frame, then drilled the hole for the deadbolt.

Erik had done construction, back when he’d first been trying to make ends meet. Torrin had already been setting up a business, but their work as a trio had been slow-moving. Someone needed a consistent paycheck to keep them all afloat, and Erik had managed it.

While he didn’t use the skills often anymore, they at least helped him in cases like this one.

Before long, Erik had finished the door. He tested the lock then rechecked his work. The last thing he needed was a chance of it failing, for Liam to worry or find some reason to return.

He set the old door in the hallway so he could take it with him before turning to find Ashley in the kitchen, with two cups on the counter.

Erik lifted an eyebrow at the mugs.

“Hot chocolate.”

“What are you, five?”

Ashley pursed her full red lips. “I don’t like coffee. Plus, I need to get some sleep after you leave.”

The sun peeking through the window made Erik glance at his clock. Six-thirty in the morning. “Do you work this evening?”

Ashley shook her head before she picked up her cup and sipped. A speck of the dark chocolate sat on her full bottom lip, and Erik’s gaze locked onto it.

He tore away and lifted his own cup. Not because he especially cared for hot chocolate, but rather because he hoped tasting the actual drink would strike away the temptation to take it from her lips.

It also gave him the chance to really look around. Liam hadn’t been kidding.

There was almost nothing in the place.

Not my problem.

Erik went to the windows, cup still in his hand. He frowned. “Why are the windows nailed shut?”

Ashley walked over, though she kept space between them. “I did it. There weren’t any locks, and the windows open to the fire escape.”

“They open to the fire escape in the event of a fire,” Erik said before setting his cup on the windowsill. “If you nail them shut, what happens if there is a fire?”

“What happens if someone tries to break in?” Her voice wavered at the question, and it took Erik by surprise.

Again, those shadows. She was afraid. Of life? Of living alone? He wondered what her life had been like, what had led her to living in a place like this.

Whatever she thought about said it wasn’t a pleasant story, but he kept himself from asking.

If he asked, he’d know, and knowing would only make this harder. Whatever troubles in her life had happened, they were nothing compared to the trouble he would bring to her door.

“I’ll add locks to them and remove the nails.”

Again, Ashley disappeared into the background as Erik worked. He pulled the nails, then secured the new locks.

“No one will be able to get in?”

Erik turned after finishing the last latch and leaned against the windowsill. The question had been soft, and no matter how much he told himself to walk out, to not ask, he couldn’t do it. “Is there someone you’re worried about getting in?”

She shook her head, but the lie was loud and clear.

Shut up. Walk out. Don’t ask.

“What’s scaring you?” He cursed when he couldn’t stop digging deeper. Clearly, he needed to get the hell away from her and do whatever it took to keep Torrin and Liam away, too.

After he dealt with this problem.

Ashley went to walk past him. “Nothing.”

He stepped closer and set a hand on her arm. “I can help.”

“You really can’t.”

Erik wanted to set her cup down beside his, to tug her closer, to grasp her ponytail and tilt her face up to his. Whatever problem she had was nothing compared to what he’d dealt with. It probably wouldn’t take more than a few hours of his time to resolve it.

That was worth doing, to be able to walk away knowing shit was handled.

Not because he cared. Nope. It was basic self-interest.

“You want us out of your life? Then tell me what’s going on.”

Her shoulders drooped, and the breath that left her was slow and drawn-out, as though she’d been holding it for a very long time. “It’s nothing you can help with,” she finally said. “You’ll only make it worse by being involved.”

Erik wanted to deny it, but the set of her jaw spoke volumes. Whatever it was, she wanted him nowhere near it.

Which was a blessing, right?

He had enough on his plate without taking on anymore.

Erik stroked his thumb along the soft skin of her arm, dropping his gaze to watch the action. It was…almost soothing.

Which had him staring, a strange quiet as he touched the warm skin of her arm.

As quickly as it happened, he shook himself awake and released her.

It was just another example of all the reasons he needed to get the hell out of there.

He’d walk away and never see her again.

And not a moment too soon.