CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Katy
My life was so perfect. There was no way that it could get better. The soft sheets caressed my tender flesh as I rolled over in the big bed with my eyes closed. Sticky thighs brushed together. Thick juice dripped from between them in a lazy rush. My sore asshole clenched up and I groaned, filled from head to toe with pleasure.
Alpha Prime’s New York concert was over and we didn't leave the city until the next day. Maybe we all could go for a walk around New York. The band and I would eat hotdogs and gaze at clouds. It was cold but the sun was bright in Central Park.
The four of us all together.
A sigh escaped my chest as I breathed in the smell of our sex still heavy in the air. Being close to my men was like heaven, sheer pleasure personified.
Because Mason, Trent, and Nick came to my rescue when I needed them the most. The way they touched me had to mean they had feelings for me. Otherwise, why would they bother?
Tender yet powerful emotions rushed through me.
For Nick, my gloomy rock god with a soft side very few people saw.
For Mason, fun, reliable, and sexy as hell.
For Trent, the one who loved the spotlight and interviews, and the frenzy of nightclub VIP rooms. Still, he gave all that up night after night to be with us in the hotel room.
Whether we were making love, talking, or just quietly enjoying each other's company, I wanted to be with them.
Electric realization tingled through my fingers, up into my arms, and settled like a warm blanket on my chest.
Love. I'm in love with Alpha Prime. It can't be anything else.
My eyes flew open and I sat up in the bed to tell them.
But the oversized bed was empty. In fact, they weren’t anywhere in the room.
My brows lowered in disappointment.
What in the world? Where could they be?
All three of them were gone. Anxiety replaced the excitement of moments before. Fear trickled down my spine. I twisted around, checking the three other pillows a note, some sign that they would be returning soon.
There was nothing there.
Frantic, I dug under the pillows, threw the sheets aside, looked over the side of the bed in case the paper was blown away when they closed the door behind them. My breasts heaved with exertion.
Still nothing.
Before long, I was almost hyperventiliating with anxiety. Panic attacks were something that affected me in high school. Suddenly, they were back. Red-faced, I crawled on my hands and knees all over the gigantic bed searching for something that I knew wasn't there.
Calm down. You're going crazy for no reason!
Yet, the desperation wasn't going anywhere. Practically wheezing now, I stumbled out of the bed and fell with a loud thud to the carpet. My tits bounced everywhere and my hair fell into my eyes. I was sure that I looked crazy—like an insane woman even. Only the thought of Mason, Nick and Trent walking in to find me looking this ridiculous got me to my feet.
“Mace!” I went from bedroom to bedroom in the three-room suite but I didn’t find anybody. “Trent? Nicky?”
And the strangest thing greeted me then. Because their closets were empty. No clothes. No guitars. No Alpha Prime. Completely gone, as if the men had never been in the suite.
The trickle of nervousness down my spine was turning into an overwhelming flood. Trembling with cold fear, I paced around the room, my knees trembling. Bats instead of butterflies battled in my stomach. Grabbing a robe, I ran through the suite one last time in case I missed something. My fears were confirmed. And faced with nothing but more emptiness, I dashed through the connecting door to my own room.
Everything was where I left it.
My clothes, the clipboard with notes for the rest of Alpha Prime's schedule, and the official things my men needed help with.
My alphas. They’re still mine. Right?
Nausea rose up in my throat. Right then and there I thought I was going to be sick. My suspicions had rung true. They had found a new girl, and wanted to leave me with my parents in Brooklyn.
No. Keep it together, Katy. Just chill.
Suddenly, I had a realization. There was someone that could help me: Helena.
She would know what was going on.
In the rock stars’ main bedroom, I grabbed my phone and stumbled to the bed where I'd happily and freely given myself to them. The sheets still smelled like us, the incandescent pleasure mixed with true emotion. So what was going on?
With quivering fingers, I dialed Helena on FaceTime.
Come on, come on! Answer me!
It took forever for her to pick up. Finally, the middle aged woman’s face popped up on the small screen, lips pursed in disapproval. Desperation killed all of the politeness that I usually had.
“Helena! They're gone! There isn’t another show scheduled. They didn’t wake me!” I squeaked in a panic. “Do you know where they went? I-I have to find them!”
A tear fell into my mouth, salty and sour. Impatiently, I wiped it away and waited for her to tell me what was going on.
“Yes, they are gone.” That was all she said.
Helena sat in some sort of office but not the one I interviewed in. A big painting in shades of white and grey took up the space behind her form. Her face was all made up, perfectly done as usual. Her lips gleamed ruby red like the Joker’s smile.
Shock shot through my heart, making me blink and stare. What was going on? The realization that Helena wasn’t surprised stole my ability to think clearly.
“What do you mean they're gone?” I croaked. “Th-they have a show I didn’t know about? Can I get a flight there?”
Hope made the words begin to tumble ceaselessly. But Helena’s reply was swift and cold.
“The three men known as Alpha Prime have left Manhattan, and they have left you. Your services are no longer needed.” Her voice was like ice. “You will receive your severance check via direct deposit.”
A shiver took over my whole body as quivering fingers almost dropped the phone.
“They left me?” I hated how pathetic I sounded but it was impossible to stop. “Why though? They don’t want to keep me around?”
“Apparently not.” A flash of something crossed her face, something that I couldn’t read. “I’m sorry, but your services are no longer needed. Again, a severance will be paid and I’m sure you’ll find it very generous.”
But I didn’t care about money anymore. I cared about my heart, and how it’d been stabbed through the center.
“Oh. I see.” I stared at the screen until my eyes blurred, unable to swallow past the lump in my throat.
And unbidden, the phone fell from my hands and hit the sheets. They were really gone. An icy wind blew through me. Suddenly, I felt like I was slipping and sliding on a desolate and abandoned sheet of ice. A place nobody wanted to make a home. A place everyone eventually left. A sob erupted from my raw throat.
Didn’t I mean anything at all to them? I thought they cared about me, at least a little bit. Maybe I wasn’t the hottest girl but surely, our shared experiences meant something.
And why would they leave me after the perfect night we had? It just didn't make any sense. Or maybe I was too stupid to get it.
Suddenly, realization hit. Alpha Prime used me. The way this was happening confirmed my darkest fears. Because they had Helena as their go-to, and they’d set this all up. No one moves out so fast and quiet without planning it out beforehand. No one has their closer ready with a check without having it all scheduled in preparation.
With trembling hands, I stared at my cell once more. But the screen was blank. Helena had hung up, wiping her hands of this mess.
Call them! Find out what's going on! a part of me commanded.
But my heart was numb, limbs unmoving. Hot tears rushed down my cold cheeks. The room blurred. Everything around me took on a nightmarish quality. That is, everything but the pain. It stabbed into me like a knife to the belly, painful and raw, my guts leaking out.
“Why?” came the shriek from my throat, belted into sheer emptiness. “Why?”
I screamed the question again and again until my vocal cords were scrubbed raw. But there was no one around to hear me much less answer. Sadness clawed at me from the inside out and a great shudder rocked through me very bones.
With their names on my lips, I collapsed in the bed and sobbed, my heart breaking. Everything that made me Katy Baxter seeped away, disappearing into the cracks of the floor. Because these men had transformed me. They’d made me into the woman I was today, sassy and confident, ready to take on the world. But without any warning, they’d ripped it all away in one fell swoop. That was the band’s power, the absolute command Alpha Prime had at their fingertips.
And what did it mean for me? I didn’t know, my heart breaking as hot tears poured. Certainly, it felt as if the world was collapsing because everything I’d learned had been based on our mutual love and adoration. Yet now, it was clear that my dreams had been nothing but myths. Our relationship had been a convenience for the band, something that they paid for. And now that the men were done … there was nothing left but ashes.