Broken Dreams (Unhingedverse)
Broken Dreams: Chapter 5

LINUS

I’m angry with Makayla, but I’m unsure why. I know Bret was in a bad mood a few days ago, but the way she silently accepted it made me incensed. She could have said something, asked him not to hurt her, yet she refused.

I’ve done things while here that make me hate myself in the name of survival, though I’ve never hurt anyone else to be petty. I’m pretty sure Alisa pointed Bret in Makayla’s direction in an attempt to get a break from him.

While I appreciate her plight, she fucked over my girl. It’s why as I’m cleaning the club on one of our last nights here, I wrap my hand around her throat and shove her against the wall.

“Alisa,” I growl disappointedly. It doesn’t have the same power as an alpha, but the little whore perfumes anyway. “No, no. Settle down. I really don’t want to fuck you, but I will fuck you over if you ever pull that shit with Makayla again.”

Her nails claw at my hand even as I tighten it to the point of pain without leaving a single mark.

“She did nothing to deserve that little display you perpetrated, Alisa,” I remind her patiently.

The omega is in her early twenties, and there are shadows in her gaze that tells me she’s had a rough life even before coming here. Well, suck it up, buttercup. No one’s had it easy if they’re at Slick Dreams.

“I’m sorry,” she croaks out. “I was tired of being his plaything.”

Lips pursed, I lift her up the wall, even as she fights me, her dark hair flying everywhere.

“Your misfortune isn’t an excuse to fuck with someone else,” I state. “Don’t do it again. Is that understood?”

When she nods furiously, I drop her like a sack of potatoes and leave her to finish cleaning. I’m still pissed off. It feels as if I have angry red ants under my skin as they bite me. Rolling my neck from side to side to help release some of the anxious and angry energy inside of me, I stride through the hallways in search of Makayla.

I’ve been avoiding talking about my feelings with her so I’m barely speaking to my best friend at all. I can tell it’s upsetting her, but I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. Now it’s been four days since the caning and punishment, and my thoughts are clawing the walls.

I need to see her.

We’re in a large warehouse, the club section of the building in front. There’s plenty of running water and several bathrooms, which is why it was ridiculous for Bret to lose his shit on Makayla at all.

Stalking through the halls, my eyes narrow as I see her walking around a corner. Moving faster, I grab her around the waist once we’re away from prying eyes. Her intake of breath is sharp and brief before she smells me and relaxes.

“I’m really fucking pissed at you,” I grumble into her ear.

Makayla remains silent and relaxed in my arms, a sign of trust. Fuck, this girl trusts me. She’s beautiful, stubborn, and essentially mute by choice. I shouldn’t be this drawn to her because of where we are and what our life is like, but you can’t choose who you love.

I told her for the first time ever that I love her the day of the punishments. I wasn’t expecting an acknowledgement, but I can tell that she feels the same. I hate that such a big moment happened right before she was beaten with a cane in front of an audience.

This place ruins everything.

Turning her head, she gazes up at me with her baby blue eyes, her scent sad.

“You know he could have hurt you,” I rage on, moving us through the hallway to a storage closet I know is there.

Everyone is busy elsewhere, so no one will come looking for us here.

“I need you to stay in one piece. For some reason he protects you until you piss him off,” I say.

We can still see each other despite the darkness in the closet, which means I can see her pressed lips as she crosses her arms over her chest. She’s wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and a crop top, which means that I can also see the bottoms of her breasts.

It’s a very tiny shirt, meant for someone with a smaller bust. Everyone shares clothing here, and not much belongs to any one person. Makayla is waiting for me to get to the point, and I sigh.

Fuck, what is my point? Just being in her orbit sometimes makes the thoughts fly out of my head. I have zero game when it comes to her, not when I’m this angry.

“I don’t want to say the wrong thing,” I finally say with a groan. “I can’t save you, baby. When he’s riled up like that, seeing red, I’m a prisoner of this place. All I can do is watch it happen and die inside.”

Makayla blows out a breath, taking a step toward me to put her hand on my chest. I’m wearing a pair of jeans, flip flops, and little else since clothes are in short supply here. It makes me long for the days where my closet was my typical guy uniform of Henley shirts and jeans.

It was boring, but it was mine.

Her hand feels cool on my overheated skin, and I feel a bit overdramatic, even though I know I’m not. When she was on the stage being caned, I was with a client sucking dick. I couldn’t even see most of it because my nose was pressed against his pelvic bone as he gagged me.

I could hear every time Saxon hit her though. I fucking counted, and then wanted to kill him when he went beyond the required ten. My girl had to be banking on holding out until the tenth.

The fact that the asshole didn’t follow that makes me even angrier all over again.

“Stop,” she whispers, sighing.

Dropping to my knees, I ignore the dust on the ground as I wrap my arms around her waist to pull her closer to me.

“I can’t. Please stay safe for me,” I insist. “This can’t be our lives forever, Makayla. One day, things will change. I can feel it. The first time I told you that I loved you was during an awful time. I don’t want the last time I say it to you to be here. I know you and Bret butt heads, and that you avoid him at all costs.”

Makayla opens her mouth, brows drawn down as if she’d reprimand me if she could, but I shake my head. It’s amazing how expressive her face is, I could almost argue with her just from what her facial expressions are.

“Wait,” I say, “I’m not saying that’s your fault, just that I see it. Alisa took advantage of an opportunity and threw you to him, which was why he was on the warpath. She opened her fat mouth and I overheard her. I taught her the error of her ways just now.”

Makayla looks amused, her eyes sparkling.

“Hope is dangerous here, but you’ve been mine since I was brought here and first saw you,” I murmur. “Stay mine, Makayla, okay? Don’t leave me because Bret lost his temper.”

“Okay,” she whispers, nodding.

Leaning down, I brush my lips over hers, breathing in deeply. I would never be able to live without smelling her sweet scent again. I know omegas can’t scent match, but she’s mine regardless. I want to stay with her forever, even if it means being here.

Hope against hope, I’ll continue to wish for an alternative.

Two weeks later

July 15

QUINN

I’m beginning to feel cramps today, my body slicking for absolutely no reason. Nesting isn’t something I’m allowed to do, so I rub my clothing all over Linus, all while making sure no one else sees my insanity. I want our scents to mix, I need it.

Linus lets me do whatever I need, his fingers rubbing over my hair for a little longer while he helps me with it to ensure his scent is there as well.

No one says a word, because it’s obvious by my aversion to sounds and how jumpy I am that I’m nearing my heat. Everyone knows that Bret sold out the day because he expects it to excite alphas as if it was an amusement attraction. God, he’s such a bastard.

“You don’t have a fever yet,” Linus murmurs, touching my flushed skin. He’s been here for a lot of my heats, so he knows what to look for. “What are you craving?”

Ice cream and movies. I’m trying to give this man more than my silence, so I grab a small chalkboard and chalk piece that I found and write those two things out before showing it to him.

“Hmm,” he says, lips twitching as he continues to twist my hair into a braid. It’s going to be a ballerina bun. Linus is making sure nothing is too tight, because it’ll bother my scalp.

He knows so much about me even with how little I speak. It just goes to show that if someone wants to understand you, they’ll move heaven and earth to do it.

“I bet soft blankets and a sweatshirt would hit the spot too, huh?” he asks softly. Linus enjoys playing “pretend” because it helps to pass the time.

It doesn’t hurt anything except my heart, because it all sounds so normal. I want the achingly routine things all omegas want during their impending heat. Cuddles, love, a perfect nest, and lots of blankets.

The promise of a knot or two would be nice, but I’d like to think that a knotted cock ring may work just as well if Linus was fucking me with it. Alphas are a little overrated in my opinion.

Wincing as a cramp calls me a damn liar, I shift uncomfortably as my pussy reminds me of how empty it is. Fuck. Being on the edge of heat, I don’t know if Bret will let me work on the main floor.

Maybe a regular will come and put me out of my misery? I can only hope.

Based on how banked my heat is and the fact that I’m not mindless yet, I think I may be a day out.

We just got to this new location, and it reminds me of a past tutoring center or something since I was able to replace a chalkboard. Either way, it’s now set up to be a den of iniquity with the front room the main area for dancers or cozying up to marks.

Bret travels with the club’s props and dance poles so he can transform any building into a sex club. The fact that he’s only renting for a week max means that he controls what people pay for services.

The other bonus to this being our first night here is that Bret is taking into account the four days I’ll be in heat. While he’s able to control how long it is and can cut it short if needed, I doubt he will when he’s sold my heat to five alphas.

There are big repercussions for scamming alphas of wealth. Some aren’t necessarily on the right side of the law, either. All this to say, Bret will make sure that these alphas get their money’s worth.

“Makayla,” Bret booms, walking into the dressing room as Linus finishes his work and I grab my makeup pallet to appear busier than I was while lost in thought . “You’re looking a bit flushed.”

“She’s not in heat yet,” Linus murmurs under his breath. Pushing the chalkboard under the table that I’m sitting at, I effectively hide my method of communication from earlier.

“Good, the alphas aren’t coming until tomorrow,” he says, confirming my suspicions. “I think you should dance today, Makayla. You’re throwing off fuck me, breed me, knot me vibes right now.”

I want to cry, because those are all things my body wants, even if I think everyone with a knot can take a flying leap. Maybe not Alpha Sanchez, but everyone else.

Liar, whispers a voice, but I refuse to think about the Kelly brothers with my emotions already on edge. Crying hysterically won’t do a lick of good. Maybe dancing is the best option because I’m a mess.

So instead I nod, which is as good of an answer as any for Bret. He merely rolls his eyes and walks out of the room, and everyone else gets moving as well so they don’t fall on the wrong side of his wrath.

Thankfully, I’m no longer sore from the caning, spanking, and fucking from earlier this month. I healed fairly rapidly, but Linus’ words still ring in my ears.

It isn’t fair that the first time he told me he loved me was in this hell hole… It’s one of the reasons I haven’t said it back. I should say it because no one is guaranteed a tomorrow or even a next moment, and an alpha could accidentally snap my neck during my heat.

Some men have a kink for feeling the way a body changes as they die while they have their dick inside of a slick cunt. I don’t want to end up another statistic, another dead omega on Bret’s watch. It’s surprising to me that an omega has never died during her heat at Slick Dreams. You’d think it would happen more often as alphas slip into their ruts and fucking hazes.

Standing, I take a breath in my two piece lingerie set. It’s white today, giving the illusion of a virginity that I haven’t had since I was fifteen. My eyes appear wide and doe-like with the dark eye makeup, my pouty lips begging to be fucked. It’ll set up the fantasy as I turn to walk out of the dressing room.

“Let’s go, people,” Bret calls out from the hallway. “It’s a full house today, make your rounds unless I pull you for a private room. We’ll start with lap dances first, let Makayla do the work of getting everyone riled up. Get ready to be fucked hard. They’ll all want her instead.”

This is why everyone hates me. He says shit like this that makes people jealous. I promise it’s not an enviable place to be as several of the girls glare at me. Alisa studiously ignores me, reminding me of how she made sure Bret noticed me the night I was caned.

I’m not typically the magnanimous or forgiving type, but I know Bret hasn’t been making her life easy. Desperation has a way of twisting the goodness inside of you until there’s nothing left. I can understand the desire to hurt others.

I simply won’t give into it.

The only good thing about tonight is that the air won’t be laced with Bret’s cocktail of lust and desire. I’m a walking, slicking, desire laden omega. I’m enough of a sweet treat for the alphas here tonight to get high on.

Cocks will be hard, knots thick and heavy with cum.

Climbing the stairs to dance on the pole, my hips are already swaying to the music, and I can hear the groans of the alphas in the room tonight.

Eat your hearts out, guys. Enjoy the show.