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Chapter Eight
Chrissy rushed Devin across the dance floor to a hidden flight of stairs, hurrying Devin ahead of her with not-so-subtle poking and prodding. Panting from the fading adrenaline and the exertion, Devin wasn’t at all prepared when Chrissy swung her around by the elbow into yet another room.
Crashing to a stop against a wide desk, Devin’s palms stuttered over the gleaming wood before she caught herself. The door clicking shut brought her head around, but it was too late. Great weight crushing her against the worn wood, Beau gave a muted growl and shoved her closer to the desk. Devin had no choice but to finish falling forward.
“Damn, but you look good,” he said through a deep resonance, his large hand slipping up the center of Devin’s spine to splay over her shoulders. A shove sent her flat, her cheek mashed against scattered papers and the rough velvet of a desk blotter.
The dry click of her throat loud in her ears, Devin stayed quiet and still. This couldn’t be happening. She should have known it wouldn’t stop at last night’s horror, not after what she’d done to the other Alpha to secure the job. Having proven she would debase herself, there was nothing to stop either of them from continuing. A single, bitter tear slipped over her pallid cheek before Devin could tamp down the reaction. It was a job. This would see food to her belly, a roof over her head, and in time, she’d get the hell out of this epic failure.
“Damn it, Beau, let her up.” Rey stormed in from another door, the entire place seeming a crooked network of hallways and rooms so she never knew where one might appear from.
The massive leather chair groaned under Rey’s weight as he settled into it, the thick fringe of lashes almost obscuring his near black gaze as he centered it on Beau. As the two waged a silent battle, Devin found herself stuck between them. A place she’d long ago sworn never to get herself into. Alphas were just as likely to kill her in the middle of a fight.
“Fine.” Beau relented, but he didn’t give in. Hand shifting to grip Devin’s shoulder, he jerked her upright and kept her back pressed against him. “Now sign the papers so Rey gets the stick out of his ass, baby.”
“She has to do actual work, Beau. I’m not hiring you a personal whore, you got me?” Rey’s lip curled in a brief snarl as he shoved the disarray of papers into a stack. Tapping the bundle against the desk with a choppy swing of his wrists brought them into some order, but his lips remained taut as he moved that rich russet gaze to take Devin in with a single glance.
“I get it, man. Quit repeating yourself, okay?”
“Then let her go.”
“She can sign—”
“I said let her go!”
Devin’s inhale seared through the sudden silence, the brittle tension crackling through the air to pummel that precious breath out of her lungs on a trembling sigh. Try as she might to remain lax and still in Beau’s hold, his hand kept tightening. The plaintive whine tumbled free, shoulder jerking up to her ear as his fingers dug deep into bruised muscle. She would have dropped then and there, cowering at their feet if Rey hadn’t fallen back into the chair with a ragged sigh.
“Fuck, man, let’s just get this shit over with.” He raked a hand through his hair, the soft waves falling into tousled perfection. “I’ve got too much to do to be dealing with your new toy.”
“Doesn’t have to be just mine,” Beau said with a shrug, relinquishing his crushing hold on Devin’s shoulder. Letting her sag over the desk, he ambled to the far wall where a small cabinet held glasses and bottles of liquor.
“What… You know what? Never mind.” Rey jerked a drawer open on a worn metal filing cabinet, shuffling through various folders until he found what he needed. Slapping the papers down before Devin, he slid a pen towards her trembling fingers.
“M-May I read it?”
“Would you look at that? She’s got fucking manners and shit.”
“Yes, you can read it.” Rey leaned back again, fingers steepled in front of the dusty rose of full lips as he watched Devin with something more than mild curiosity.
Devin didn’t even bother lifting the folder to read it. Her hands were shaking far too much. Hunched to bring her face closer without bending over, she squinted at the fine print until it congealed into actual words and began to make some sense. The pay wasn’t even a quarter of what she’d been hoping for, and she’d even begun managing her expectations down from what she’d thought she might bring in as a waitress. No insurance, no bonuses, nothing to make this worth the hell she knew she’d be agreeing to the moment she put pen to paper.
It was still more than she had now. That would have to be enough.
Proud of herself for managing to pick up the pen and sign her name, despite the shiver slithering down her back, Devin slid both back over the desk to Rey.
“That’s it?”
Devin swung her head up to blink at Rey before she remembered herself and lowered her gaze to his chest. It wouldn’t do to piss him off before she’d even gotten used to the place. “I’m sorry?”
“You’re not even going to negotiate that pay?” Rey snorted, snapping and pointing at the liquor Beau continued to feign intense interest in.
Devin was already moving, bare feet shuffling across the smooth wood towards the cabinet before she realized what Rey had said. Also, that Rey hadn’t been ordering her to get him a drink, but not until Beau’s dark chuckle prowled its way across her nape when he leaned over her shoulder to hand her the glass of whiskey.
“She’s prime, Rey.”
“And?” Rey shook his head, this time snapping impatient fingers at Devin when she swayed to a stop with the shimmering liquor clutched to her chest.
“And if you think that sweet little mouth of hers was good, you need to try that pussy.” Beau gave Devin a nudge, sending her back into motion.
