Middle Child Syndrome - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Ch 24: That playful chase
“Mark, talk to me. How about you tell me how Suzie is doing? Did she have any new attacks, and is her system all better now? Can you take me to meet her?”

Rocxx was only half-joking when he asked Mark to do this. He expected Mark to bite his head off for suggesting such a thing, but nothing like that happened.

Instead of taking offence to Rocxx’s words, Mark gulped down another glass of beer before taking his phone out and making a call.

The call connected and rang for a full minute before not getting picked. Rika had not picked up Mark’s call, and Mark was now visibly angry.

Rocxx was beginning to feel sorry for Rika, but it was her fault for not checking her phone.

“Fuck it! If Rika does not pick up her phone, I have no choice but to go and get her myself. She does not get to ignore me like this.”

Rocxx held himself back from pointing out that Mark behaved like a possessive girlfriend. But not only that! He was also acting like the exact type of person he hated.

Mark got up, but he was too drunk even to support his weight. Ultimately, he fell flat on his face before reaching the door.

“What a fucking nightmare of a day. I never thought I would see Mark getting this drunk and ignoring Suzie’s name when it was brought up. This is going to be a long night.”

On the bright side, Rocxx will see Suzie when he returns Mark home. That’s a good thing.

…

Rika’s first day working at the flower shop was enjoyable.

Since she could not smell much of the flowers, it was easy for her to stay calm by these smells.

It was also a slow day with little traffic, so Rika could relax and enjoy her alone time.

When it came time to close, Daniel took charge of it, and Rika was allowed to head back home soon enough.

The night was cold, but Rika shivered for no reason. She felt that something big was about to happen and she should avoid it.

But Rika’s feet took her to where she did not want to be. And before she knew it, she had entered a dark and offensive alley.

Her phone went off in her pocket, and Rika quickly glanced at it to see it was Mark.

Rika quickly turned her phone’s volume off and tried to take a peek inside.

The space looked empty at first, but Rika kept walking deeper inside. She was in the middle of that territory when she felt a hand warp around her arm and pull her back.

‘Fuck! Am I being held hostage again against my will? As if I will allow that to happen.’

Rika made a reckless move by trying to headbutt the person holding her tightly. But her holder needed to be longer for Rika to be successful.

The man let out a muffled laugh that sounded vaguely familiar, but Rika refused to believe where she had first heard that amused voice.

‘Looks like I have begun to hallucinate because of being tired. There is no reason for Damian to come here. I need more sleep.’

Rika stopped struggling and let herself be dragged away. If this man had gone through enough research to track her down and know who she was, he was serious about his threat.

Trying to escape from him might be bothersome when his guard is up.

“Are you not going to struggle?”

Damian’s familiar voice caused panic to drain out of Rika’s body.

She did not know why he was here or what he wanted. She was just relieved that the person holding her hostage was a familiar face.

The older alpha dragged Rika inside, where Emily was waiting. She seemed to be interrogating her family members, and they all seemed afraid.

Damian’s arrival turned the previously tense air into a deadly silent one. No one knew what to say anymore.

“You are all dismissed. Do not show your face in front of me for now.”

Emily dismissed everyone, and they quickly ran away with their tails between their legs.

That left Rika alone with the alpha pair, and she felt awkward.

She had so many questions to ask them, but Rika needed help figuring out where to start. She should have realised she did not have the upper hand here.

“I brought a lurker inside.”

Damian almost joked as he pushed Rika toward Emily. But his hand never left Rika’s back, even as he jerked Rika around.

That force made Rika’s mind go into places it was not supposed to.

‘Oh god! Someone, stop me and my mind from going down this route. I should not be thinking such thoughts about my friend who has already taken.’

When Damian moved his hand over her back, Rika wanted to stop feeling weird about her feelings.

It almost seemed he was feeling Rika out, but that was her wistful thinking. After all, Damian had always been like this with her.

“Hey, this is not fair! Why do you get to enjoy Rika all to yourself? Learn to share a little with your girlfriend—and you! Stop being this passive. You will be taken advantage of if you remain like this.”

Emily reached out around Rika’s middle to smack Damian’s hand off her body.

That made Emily’s hands roam around Rika, and her awkwardness worsened.

Rika was sure that her face could not go any redder than it was, but her body decided to prove her wrong by reacting to these touches.

‘Oh fuck! I need to get away now. Emily is too close to me right now. A little more and an incident might occur…’

Rika moved faster than she had in her life and somehow managed to retract herself from between the pair holding her tightly.

“Oh my! Would you look at the time? I should head back now. I will see you both around.”

Rika slowly backed away in an attempt to get away from her friends. She felt like prey in front of those two healthy alphas, and her heart skipped a few beats.

The atmosphere around her had also gotten dangerous, causing Rika’s breath to hitch in fright.

She was running away from the pair before she knew it, but it felt like a playful chase.

All three knew Rika could not escape even if the alpha pair got severe. It was their territory, after all.

But they were allowing Rika to run away from them.

If she did not know better, she would think this was like a traditional omega chase. But Rika did know better and knew she was not an omega.

Her friends were playing with Rika mainly because they did not have an omega to chase. One day, Rika would be replaced. So, she did not need to give too much meaning to this situation.

“Caught you!”

Emily stood in front of Rika, her arms wide, and waited for Rika to come to her.

Rika was not going to let the chase be this easy. At the last second, she changed her momentum and gave Emily a pass.

The stunned expression on Emily’s face was worth it every time that happened. There was a loud growl behind Rika, and she knew that Emily had taken off after her.

Rika grinned as she continued to avoid Rika’s stalking.

Traditionally, an alpha was supposed to stalk an omega and, using their pheromones, make them submit.

But that did not affect Rika due to her being a beta.

Emily understood that, but her instincts did not. That was why they tried to follow Rika and make her smell their pheromones.

‘Well, Emily is taken care of. Now I need to take care of Damian, and I can end this chase.’

The more dominant alpha was nowhere to be seen, which made Rika nervous. She could not figure out what Damian was going to do.

‘Where is he? I should keep my guard up!’

When Rika thought that, she felt someone jumping behind her and pushing her down.

That familiar weight on her back belonged to the alpha she had been thinking about.

That stumble gave Emily enough -time to catch up with the pair.

Rika struggled this time.

More accurately, she tried to struggle this time. But Damian refused to leave her alone.

His instincts thought of Rika as an omega he had caught; it would take some time before he returned to his senses.

This was not Rika’s first experience being in her ‘best friend’s’ arms, but it was embarrassing.

Emily stumbled at this scene, and one would expect her to be jealous or at least annoyed that her boyfriend was snuggling with another person.

But Emily only laughed and threw her body on top of Rika’s while Damian rolled on his back with Rika above him.

‘Fuckkkk. I was trying to avoid this dog pile! I should have expected this to happen. There is no winning against these two.’