Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(14)

They called him Leo.

“You’re safe,” he said immediately, rising up just slightly to hide the figures behind him. “They just got the elevator down to the first floor, and the doors are about to open.”

I leaned forward, thoughts foggy, and didn’t try to fight him as he helped me to stand. I wasn’t doing it on my own. Not after an attack like that, that was for sure.

I knew they were watching, the alphas. I swallowed my moan at the understanding. Cyrus Cohen and Matthieu Segal had watched me completely lose my shit. Or had heard it. I wasn’t sure if the blackness from the power outage had persisted or if that had been part of the panic attack.

“You’re safe,” Leo whispered again, a thick arm holding me close to his side.

I wasn’t wearing my heels, and my head drooped to glance down at the floor.

“I have them,” Leo said, showing me my shoes linked in his fingers. “I’m going to walk you out.”

“There’s a car waiting.” Matthieu’s voice, his accent sharper now, stopped abruptly as I flinched.

“I’m going to walk you to the car, and I’d like to make sure you get home safe,” Leo said. “That’s up to you, though. Is that all right?”

The doors opened, and to complete my humiliation, Rakim Oren and his massive security guard were there waiting in the lobby.

“I love this old building, but I hate this old build—Lola?” Rakim stepped forward, and Leo ushered me around him, my stocking feet sliding along the smooth floor.

“Rake, hold up,” Cyrus said, a firm and heavy weight in his voice I’d never heard before.

I could barely keep my head up, and it was easier to let it drop and avoid the throbbing, pulsing shine of the chandelier lights of the lobby.

“You want your shoes, or you want me to carry you?” Leo asked. There was something so sweet and careful in his tone that made me feel twice as vulnerable. I held out a weak hand, but instead he bent, those large familiar hands maneuvering me into my heels as I balanced against his shoulder.

“What happened? Is she okay? Are you okay?” Rakim whispered to the others. Suddenly, it clicked.

Leo’s bite. Rakim’s. These men were a pack. Not just a pack, but the kind of fairy tale arrangement of handsome and wealthy alphas I’d imagined as a little girl. Men in black limos who showered gifts over their omegas, who took trips around the world and drank champagne and dressed to impress. The kind of men I’d trimmed out of magazines and pasted into my school notebooks so I’d have something to distract me from my algebra.

Leo caught me against his side as I wavered, my embarrassment thick and thorough, shame rushing up my cheeks.

God, I hoped I was fired. Or maybe I would just ensure it, by never facing these men again.

“One more minute, Lola,” Leo coaxed, all but carrying me through the lobby and out the doors.

The car Matthieu promised was waiting, a sleek and simple town car—a bit longer and grander than the kind David used—and I fell into the back seat, sliding over to make room for Leo, who paused in the frame of the open door.

“You’ll let me come with you?” he asked.

My blink was slow and drowsy, my nod heavy, and he sighed and slid in after me. There was a patient pause before I realized I needed to give the driver my address, and I slurred it out.

“You’re okay,” Leo said, reaching slowly to me.

I was too tired, too defeated to move, and when his hand cupped my cheek, thumb brushing through a wet track of tears, I leaned into the touch instead of pulling away. He drew me into his chest and I collapsed with something that was too ashamed to be gratitude. More like acceptance. I needed to be held, whether I wanted it or not. Leo might’ve been claimed by an alpha, but at least he wasn’t an alpha.

“You’re okay. You’re safe,” he murmured.

I might’ve been safe. I definitely wasn’t okay.

I was ruined.





I woke in the night, head still aching but no longer foggy, and stared at the figure I was pressed flush against. I was vaguely aware of coming back to my apartment, of Leo carrying me up the three flights of stairs. I couldn’t remember if I asked him to come inside or if he’d offered.

He’d left the light in the hall on, the door to my bedroom partly open so the room wasn’t dark.

We were both still dressed. He hadn’t even touched my tights or the vest I wore buttoned over my blouse. His skin smelled like fresh laundry, but when I ducked my head I realized his shirt had that heavy, comforting smell. It was from his alpha, the blonde I hadn’t recognized. The one I was pretty sure had bundled me up just before I’d fallen unconscious, taking the painful edge off the panic attack.

I slid out from between Leo and the wall of my tiny bedroom and headed for the bathroom, washing my face and finding an abandoned t-shirt and sleep shorts to change into. When I returned to the bedroom, Leo was still there, eyes squinting and blinking slowly.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” I whispered.

“I’d like to stay, but it’s up to you,” he answered, pushing up on one elbow.

I hadn’t slept next to someone since…since I’d started up with Buzz and he’d still been pretending to be sweet. There was a big difference between hooking up with a nameless Leo in a club bathroom and lying next to him all night.