Page 42 of Bubblegum Pop

“Right, fine.” Benny blew out another breath. “Christ.” He rolled his eyes. “You guys have a choice to make, okay? You either A: wax fucking lyrical about your love, try to break your contract with Michael and/or run away, and end up in a fucking ditch with your faces mangled. Or B: you listen to me.” He shook his head. “You really want to stay together? You three honestly want to remain here while Candy fulfills her contract?”

“Yeah, anything. Absolutely anything,” Zeus said.

“Just tell us what you need from us,” Apollo followed. There was no reply from Odin, but the leather of the chair I sat on creaked as his fingers dug into it, his furious aura pulsing away.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.” Benny sighed heavily again. “You,” he pointed his unlit cigarette straight at me, “are going to say absolutely nothing about this to anyone. Ever. Not even to them.” He threw a look at my alphas, narrowing his eyes.

My mouth dropped open. “What?” We’d openly acknowledged we were scent matches, at least to each other. I didn’t think I could be quiet about it when my heart was always singing.

“No.” He sliced me off with one word as he banged his hand on the desk. “Not a word. I don’t want to hear a single whisper from any other hosts about some secret relationship or special alphas or whatever the fuck you lot are calling it these days. It literally said it right there on the contract. No. Fucking. Around.”

He grit his teeth, rubbing the thin salt and pepper stubble that scattered his jowls. “And you three, you are coming with me to Michael right fucking now, and we are getting you on long-term employee contracts. He let you off last time you spoke about Candy, so he’s definitely gonna know that something’s up, but just go with it, okay? I’m not even going to suggest host contracts because you’ll just end up buying each other and fucking around, anyway. I know what you lot are like.”

Shock bit me as I quickly spun around to look up at the three of them. Stoney-faced, gazes hard, bodies stiff, they glanced down at me briefly before their attention returned to Benny, and each of them nodded.

“You… You don’t have contracts?” I asked in a hushed tone, and pain creased Zeus’s face. I thought everyone at Knottinghill at contracts, like it was a universal rule.

“Well, nah, not the long ones. But it’s fine, isn’t it?” Zeus said. “You’ve got ten years; we’ll take ten years.”

I bit my tongue, holding back my frustration even though I wanted to hit myself for being such an idiot. I was so self-righteous about us being together, assuming we were fighting under the same circumstances, but I didn’t know anything. With tingles of post-heat still floating around my body, I was more emotional than usual, and I wanted to shout, or cry, or do something to release my stupid feelings.

I was already shaking. I curled my toes, letting the numb buzz distract me as I tried not to whimper at the ache burning in my heart. Now they wouldn’t be free, even if we did end up rejecting each other.

If they rejected me—properly rejected me—our connection would break. The potential of the scent match would remain, but we wouldn’t be so desperate to mate, and the pain would stop. After a rejection, I could end up scent matching with another pack. I was sure we wouldn’t do that. On paper, rejecting each other was the smartest thing to do, but I’d never felt safer with anyone than I had with them.

I was always scared I might scent match with alphas who would treat me like those fuckboys did, stuck forever with a pack who only used me, like it would be if I hadn’t run from my foster home. Meeting them made me believe that maybe my dream really could come true. And I didn’t want to give it up so easily.

We weren’t going to reject each other. I trusted them. It was fine.

“Do they have to sign a contract?” I asked quietly.

Benny assessed me for a second, eyebrows raised, before he barked out a laugh. “You’ve barely been here eight months, Candy. You don’t know shit.” He grit his jaw. “This is me doing you a favour.”

Benny puffed out another sigh, running a hand through his hair again. “If I was a smart man, I’d send you three off to the club in Tokyo so you couldn’t see her anymore. Good thing for you I’m more of an idiot than I thought.” He scoffed as he grabbed a red plastic lighter from inside the pouch.

I opened my mouth to thank him, but he cut me off. “Don’t you dare say anything. I’m not doing this because I’m one of the good guys. I’m doing this so Michael doesn’t fucking kill you, do you get me? He’s invested too much money in you to just let you walk out of here, and, if you try, your boys will end up in body bags by the end of the week.”

I peered up at Apollo, Zeus, and Odin, hoping they would say something, anything to help, but they were staring at Benny, not giving me a single glance. A sudden emptiness blanketed me as they drew in their auras, keeping themselves tightly bound. An undercurrent of fear swirled around the room, trembling underneath the surface of the pure ache beating between us.

“And you three…” Benny glared at my mates. “If you want pussy, you stay the fuck away from my hosts, even if you pay for it. You can go to any fucking bar or club or whatever in the city, but you keep your dicks down when you’re on these premises. Is that clear?”

Another slice of pain dashed through me at the thought that they’d fuck someone else. My jealous, possessive omega instincts told me to rip apart anyone who might even look at them. Because they were my alphas. They belonged to me, always. And, if I felt like this, how did they feel knowing they couldn’t stop me fucking for a living?

Benny had the lighter halfway to his mouth when he caught my expression.

“Candy, I’m not fucking around here.” He paused before lifting his eyes to my alphas. “You know what Michael is like,” he said to them, sparking up and taking a deep drag.

He pulled himself from his chair and walked over to the window on our right, slipping his fingers under the gap and yanking the lower pane upwards, holding it as he blew out the smoke.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” He shook his head again. His wrist rested on the sill, keeping the cigarette held outside as he turned back to us, scowling. “You lot are so fucked, you know that, right?”

Candy

Ifluffed my hair in the full-length mirror, making sure I was absolutely perfect for tonight’s performance. I had a fresh beauty spot on the left side of my lip, heavy mascara, rouge on my cheeks. I was going to go for a fascinator, but the beads bounced off my cheeks when I danced, and I spent half the show annoyed.

I loved the 1920s theme. Two weeks ago, it was ‘Egyptian,’ and I had to paint my body in gold every night. It was exhausting.

This week was just a short dress, a fluffy feather boa, and fantastic heels.