Chapter 52

Ollie’s POV

After that terrible meeting, the brothers leave me alone for the rest of the day. I hide in my room mostly, not wanting to see them at all. When I’m not even called to help with dinner, I assume perhaps they are letting this go, at least for now, and hope they won’t bother me with this again.

They said such terrible things to me and about me. I’m still trying to recover from heartache. Just when I think they’ve reached the maximum capacity for how much they can hurt me, my heart finds new room, new places to be cut.

Somedays it seems like my depths for hurt are limitless. My disappointment, too.

Gods, I can’t wait to leave the pack and put all of this behind me.

“We will never be over them…” Scarlet warns. “Not if we don’t reject them first…”

“If we reject them, then they will know we are their mate,” I reply. “They will hound us to the very edges of the continent. If they know the truth, we won’t even be safe in the tundra.”

No, the only way to be free is to sneak away without anyone being the wiser. Maybe, with the mate bond intact, I will never be able to find love with another, but I don’t care. I will have my freedom and that is enough.

Scarlet’s voice whispers in my mind, “…Is it?”

I ignore her doubts and my own, refusing to give them any attention and therefore validate them. Being free will be better than this. It has to be. And that’s all there is to it.

The next morning, as I dress for work, I receive a text message on my main phone from Conrad.

Come to my study before you leave.

My nerves prickle, but he does say before I leave. Likely that means he intends to still let me go to work. I’m not sure though, especially with how he and his brothers were acting yesterday.

I don’t have any choice but to listen though. If I go against his wishes, there will be hell to pay. Whatever he wants to say to me, I have to hear him out, even if I really, really don’t want to.

So after gathering my things, I head upstairs to his floor and find him sitting behind the desk in his study.

He doesn’t look up when I first enter. He makes me wait while he types away at his laptop. I stand there uncomfortably, unsure what to do. Should I wait out in the hall? Is it okay for me to stand so near his desk?

Yet, before I can decide to do anything, he finishes whatever he was doing and closes the top of his laptop. As he looks up at me, his gaze raking over my outfit, his lips twist downward with clear distaste.

“I will be speaking to the owner of the store today about changing these ‘official’ outfits,” he says.

I still think the outfit is cute more than sexy, but I’ve learned by now that my opinion doesn’t matter much around here and is better kept to myself.

“Regardless, I’ve outlined some rules for your behavior that you must obey if you are continue to work this job,” Conrad continues. From his desk drawer, he removes a sheet of paper that he then hands out to me.

I step forward and accept it, seeing his handwriting scribbled down the front.

The first rule alone already has me on guard.

Do not look or smile at any customer, even as you are serving them.

Looking and smiling at the customers is good customer service 101.

More on the list: Do not touch anyone. Do not turn your back to anyone. Do not be alone with anyone. Do not bend over or bend down. If you must sit, keep your legs closed but not crossed.

“I have to bend over to get the ice cream scoops out of the display case,” I say. All of the rules or ridiculous, but without being able to bend over, I can’t even do my job to begin with.

“Find another way,” Conrad says simply. “Or quit. Those are your only two options.”

“This really seems like too much…” I start to say, but stop as his hard stare becomes more of a glower.

“What right do you think you have to question the Alphas of your pack?” he asks. Softer, as if to himself, he mutters, “Perhaps Declan is right about that collar…”

“N-no,” I say quickly. Though the thought of the collar does trigger something trembling within me, I can’t imagine the humiliation I would have to endure by wearing such a thing in public. “That’s not necessary…”

“Then follow those rules,” Conrad says firmly, then waves me away like an errant child.

Arguing is futile, so I take my list and hurry from the room.

Later, at the ice cream shop, I’m still holding the list, looking it over and trying to figure out how I’m supposed to follow these rules.

Nancy glances over my shoulder. “What the hell is this?” she asks.

I try to hide it from her, folding it up and putting into my pocket, but it’s clear the damage is done and she’s seen. Perhaps I was a fool for looking at it here, but usually Nancy gives me a wide berth.

“Did one of the Alphas give you that?” she asks.

I look at her expecting some hostility, as she’s never really shown any interest in me in the past, but this time she seems curious and a bit sympathetic.

“They seem to think that I am purposefully seducing everyone,” I tell her. Maybe I’m being too open, but it’s been a while since Ella left. I miss having someone to talk to about everything.

“Not to say that you are, because you aren’t. Obviously,” Nancy says, “But so what if you were seducing everyone? Why would that matter to them?”

“I’m an Omega,” I say.

“So?” she asks. “My sister is an omega but the Alphas don’t bother her.”

I’m surprised. I didn’t know that about Nancy, and suddenly I see something of an ally in her. If she has a sister like me, she might be more likely to truly understand me, as well as be more sympathetic to Omegas overall.

“I live in their house,” I continue, hoping to show her that things aren’t so simple. “I eat the food they provide and use the stipend they give me to buy clothes and everything else. They say I’m a representative of them and their family.”

“So they won’t even let you smile at the customers?” Nancy asks with disbelief. “It’s like they want you to get fired.”

“They probably do,” I admit.

Nancy frowns then. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen on my watch. Let me see that list. We’ll figure out a way to make this work.”

I pass over the list and she skims through it. The further she gets the more her face scrunches with disgust.

“This is outrageous,” she says at the end.

“I know,” I say, feeling somewhat defeated.

“Don’t worry though,” she says. “I’ll help you. We’ll figure something out.”

For the first time in a while, at least since Ella left, I start to feel the hope that comes from having a supportive friend. I don’t know if Nancy is close enough to be a friend yet, but it feels as if she’s well on her way to being one.

I open my mouth to thank her, but at the same moment, the bell on the door chimes.

I break the first rule on instinct, looking over to see the new customer.

My heart sinks when I realize it’s Sylvia.