Hearts of Deceit (ManxMan)

Ch 11: Hans

"Damn it! Sanded it down too far..." I chucked the piece of wood that was supposed to look like it had a face but instead looked like an old man in the middle of a demonic possession having been run over by a car. It fell with a thump into the bin of sawdust and wood shavings causing a great cloud to puff out. Elise poked her head out from her little office and gave me a withering glare. She was coughing in a rather obscene manner. I smirked. 

"Declan called, asshole. Get a god damn phone and move that bin or I'm forcing you to go back working in your shitty apartment." 

I shrugged, tugging my bag up and throwing supplies in there. "What'd he say?" My voice came out a little low, small, and hesitant like it had been doing for a while now. It was raspy, if anything, from lack of use. 

"He was wondering if you could cover a shift." I rubbed my eyes as she said that. God dammit. Third time this week. I nodded to myself, though. The pay was good and Declan was a friend. He needed to get better at firing certain workers was all. 

I reflected on everything as I drove Elise's car over. 

Working for Declan. The bastard wouldn't let me live down my earlier comments for weeks. But there was something calming being around a place so familiar. One my dad took me to when my mom thought we were going to a baseball game. Working on my wooden carvings and furniture in the mechanic shop with Elise only a room over for me to annoy. Sitting on my porch with James. It didn't erase certain memories though. Not even after a year. I sucked in a breath. 

It was an early August morning. A gentle breeze was blowing. I could have walked the peaceful half hour from the mechanic shop to the pub but that meant an even longer stretch of time with thoughts I didn't want. Thoughts of them. Oh him. I flinched and sucked in another breath. Tears. God dammit, tears again. I bet he didn't even realize the effect he'd had on me. Or he didn't care. He was probably laughing.

What a stupid, naive, idiotic delta...

"Stoop-stop-stop it! Help-!" I jumped up from my daze and nearly slammed the breaks. The streets were quiet as they usually were this early in the morning in Tulach. While pulling over to the side of the road before a small intersection, I glanced around. There had been someone yelling. I knew I'd heard something. But nobody was around. All the small shops were still closed. Someone was walking up the street in the distance but I knew it hadn't been them. Then I heard it.

A small muffled noise while rolling down my window. I slowly got out of the car, taking my pepper spray with me. There it was again, in the small crevice of an alleyway between the deli and the pizza place. I creeped slowly and glanced around the corner. Shit.

There were two tall, beta men and a skinny alpha man cornering an omega male. The omega, wide-eyed and trembling, made some desperate whimpering noises under the hand of the beta male that was clamped tightly over his mouth, as the three leered down at him. I noticed another thing. The three looked like street thugs. I wasn't surprised when I caught sight of the blue dragon tattoos on their wrists. What did surprise me was that Dominic had supposedly sent his own men to harass an omega. That couldn't be right. Dominic wasn't one for something like that, especially not as an alpha who had instincts to be protective or gentle with omegas. He had no problem kicking out James, his own mate, because James was a delta. Joe had left me without a glance back.  But for an alpha to hurt an omega. Unusual and sickening unless it was a sex crime or the alpha was deranged. 

The thought made my stomach lurch as I watched the scrawny alpha get even closer to the poor omega. He pulled out a pocket knife. 

"Now, darling, you've been quite a hassle for us. But we'll take care of you now, sweetheart, so why don't you come quietly, hm? Tony is excited to see you."