Hearts of Deceit (ManxMan)

Ch 13: Bastard

Life is surreal. One could suppose that's one way of saying that life is an all together awful experience. Or one could argue that as painful as the experience is, in between are the flashes of joy and excitement that bring down the opinion of life being completely awful to it being only mildly awful. If you want to be especially pretentious, desperate, naive, unbearably optimistic, or all four, you could say there's light at the end of the tunnel. All the pain is the plan of some cosmic being or the Laws of Physics coming together to bring about the perfect happy ending to it all, no, but really, truly, all the pain will pass. 

Well, to said cosmic being or to the Laws of Physics, I say, fuck off. Take your destiny or fate and kindly shove it up your ass (preferably) or a black hole so dense one can't see it before being sucked into the void and stretching to impossible proportions. 

That bastard. I couldn't seem to get him out of my life. Whether it was through driving Vinnie out of business, moving to New York and setting up ventures rivaling Seraz, or fucking my ex during our relationship, Ross Edwards just couldn't leave me the fuck alone and part of me was starting to think that some sadistic Divine Intervention was at play. We hadn't even met. I barely said a word to him. And I wanted to punch his face. 

"You're sure that was Ross Edwards...?" Hans asked slowly. I couldn't tell if he was being patronizing or if running away from your mobster father somehow correlated with an increase in emphasizing each word of a sentence. I raised an eyebrow.

"Jet black hair, gray eyes, nice, angular cheekbones, a punchable face? That was the same bastard. I knew it when I saw it. S'not like Mish-Mikhail contradicted me when I pointed out that he was fucking the richest man in New York." 

There was a silence from the other seat as we drove. I glanced over. I saw pity in his eyes. I grit my teeth. It didn't hurt as much as it used to. Relationships just weren't for me. That's all. The only possible way anyone would date a poor delta like me was if they were a secret agent. Or if it was a fling. That's all. No need to cry over it anymore. Relationships were something I had to stay out of. I had to make my own money, support myself. I had my friends and I had some family. Now I had an omega to take care of. I didn't need relationships. I just didn't. That's all.

I drove on, and there wasn't much we talked about. The Upper East side. That's where we were going. It was for the richest in Manhattan, arguably the richest in New York. Business tycoons and celebrities. The Ross Edwards of the world probably congregated here. Good old gentrification ensured that I hardly considered this part of Manhattan as an ideal place to live. Never-mind that the personalities weren't the types I'd find myself around willingly. Until now. 

"We don't have to do this." Startled, I looked over at Hans. His soft voice was still enough to cut through the pin-drop silence. The omega looked small in the passenger seat. He was leaning on the window and disappearing into his trench coat. I gave him a tired half-smile.

"Hey, it's either asking for help from a rich asshole alpha who my ex cheated on me with or probably, literally dying. Now, those options both sound like shit but I happen to value your life just a little bit more than my dignity."

Hans turned to me, and I swore I could see the signs of a small smile, the first smile he'd have given me. "What if it was just your life?"

I shrugged. "Then it's a bit debatable."

I smiled a little more when I heard a quick chuckle. It'd only been a night and another day but I could already feel myself growing fond. 

-8-

I whistled when we pulled up. It was a fancy hotel, too fancy for my tastes which really meant it was too expensive for my bank account but that was beside the point. I looked over to Hans as I parked between two cars on the street further down. There were cars all along the street, expensive cars. The parking garage was full, apparently.