“Amanda…” Tobias growled at the blonde-haired woman as the three of them exited the toilets, but I wasn’t having that.
“Don’t focus on them, focus on me,” I snapped, aware I was making a scene but unable to stop myself. I glanced around to see if anyone was noticing over the noise in the bar, but it appeared it was only Amanda and her posse. She shot me a knowing smirk before sauntering off, throwing her arms up and squealing when she found some people she knew. Still, I got my wish—Tobias stared at me and only me. “Who the hell is Chloe?”
Only I knew. On some level, I had to. There’d been veiled mentions of some other relationship, something that had caused issues for them, and that wasn’t Crystal. It was someone they’d thought was their mate.
So what did that make me?
“Actually, don’t worry about that. I’m going…”
Where was I going? To the hotel room booked in my name, but where was that? Fuck that. I’d go back to the house, retrieve my stuff, and—
“Chloe was a mistake,” Tobias said. “She was someone willing to pretend to be what I wanted because I needed it so much. We were riding high on the success of Dacian but being pulled apart by that very same success. Everyone was creating their own little fiefdoms, when we should’ve been creating a kingdom together. Chloe was the result of my determination, my hubris…” He swallowed hard and then shook his head. “She was nearly the thing that split us apart for good.”
He reached out for me, and I just stared at his hand.
“Come with me, back to the house. Come, and I’ll answer every and all questions you have. I’ll hold nothing back from you, Sage—nothing.”
It was that, not his proffered hand, which had me stepping closer. That vulnerability, that pain. Even if he was the one to cause it, we both felt it right now, and that created a bond.
“Everything?” My voice sounded thin and weak. “You won’t put me off. This isn’t something the lot of you can pet me through, bamboozling me with multiple orgasms.”
His smile was a grim one.
“I promise I won’t lay a hand on you, beside you taking my hand, not until you’re ready. Let me take you home, Sage.”
They were the magic words I needed to hear. This place, the laughter and noise and music, were all beginning to feel oppressive, my eyes darting wildly as Tobias escorted me back to the booth.
“Hey…” Beau said with a sloppy smile, but Max was leaning forward and searching my face as soon as we got close.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Amanda and her crew are here tonight, and they decided to sink their claws into Sage,” Tobias answered crisply before turning to Beau. “Did you know they’d be here tonight?”
“Amanda…?” Beau straightened up and then scanned the bar. “What did she—”
“She threw a spanner in the works, just like she always does,” Lucien said with a shake of his head. “I knew it wasn’t smart of us coming out here. These people you call friends are fucking vipers, Beau.”
“Those vipers are half the reason why people actually buy our fucking products, Lucien,” Beau retorted. “It’s not enough to have worthwhile products. People don’t buy things for practical reasons—”
“They make purchases based on emotion, as well we all know.” Tobias’ voice cut through the arguments, stopping everyone in their tracks. “The people here are very good at manipulating emotion. They use their influence to build up or tear down so many people, so many companies, and now they’ve torn down us. Beau, if you wish to stay—”
“I go where our omega goes,” Beau said, his eyes far wilder than normal.
His fingers tightened around his glass before he tossed his drink back and jumped to his feet, the others following hot on our heels. We stalked downstairs, Beau pausing to say goodbye to Michael and giving him our thanks, before we made a hasty exit. Tobias held open a door to the backseat, but I shook my head and opened the front door instead, the driver looking at me wide-eyed before shooting a wary look at the men in the back.
“Take us home, please,” Tobias told the man, and I couldn’t help but wish that was where we were actually going.
I lookedup when we reached the tall gates of the house, seeing the wall around the property with dull eyes, right up until we came to a stop at the top of the driveway. I was out of the car before they were, stalking around to the front door and punching in the access code, then walking into the house and pausing, when all I wanted to do was run upstairs and throw myself on that massive bed and curl up, away from them.
“Sage, let me explain,” Tobias said, his brothers coming to stand behind him, but I turned around and faced them all down.
“Let me.” He frowned at that response, puzzling out what I meant, so I helped him out. “Chloe’s an omega.”
“Yes, but—”
“A tiny little thing and glamorous with it, right?” I pulled out my phone. “What’s her last name?” I glared at the lot of them when the information wasn’t forthcoming.
“Griffith-Jones,” Max replied, taking a step forward. “With a hyphen between the words.”