Page 38 of Knight With Benefits

Eyes that matched mine raked over the building behind me, contempt written plain on his face. I might have called him handsome if he hadn’t looked so much like his father and the memories of Anthony hadn’t soured my past, but his expression would ruin it for even unprejudiced onlookers.

“What are you doing here?”

Our fight had been over the fact that I refused to tell him where I was moving, insisting I could come visit him and there was no need for him to know. I knew it was messed up, but I didn’t want anything to do with my past, and I hadn’t wanted it following me into the future I was trying to build. I loved my sons, both of them, but Adam was entangled with his father’s cronies, and there was a part of me that didn’t trust him not to bring those other alphas around. If he’d known I was trying to open a business he’d have acted just like his father, insisting his way was right and that I had no idea what I was doing. He’d also think he was entitled to anything he wanted, and I couldn’t have him lingering in the café and driving away the customers I hoped to serve.

“I’m coming to check on my mom and her… project. Like a good son. Can’t I do that?”

His eyes met mine again, the look in them sending shivers down my spine. I’d done my best to protect my boys from their father and the things he was involved in, but Anthony had pulled Adam into his mess despite my protests.

“How did you find me?”

His expression hardened, the smile looking more like a feral snarl as I pushed myself off the wall I’d leaned against to place the order for the counters. My heart had gone from barely beating, to fluttering behind my ribs as if a bird was trapped in there and trying to escape.

“It wasn’t hard. Mark knows how to find people.”

My grimace only made his smile widen. I’d never wanted to believe Adam was as cruel as his father, but he had the same views of omegas, and he’d decided it was his place tocare for meonce it was obvious I wasn’t going to succumb to the broken bond. He wouldn’t accept that I wanted to be on my own and was perfectly capable of living without an alpha. Only the fact that I hadn’t had a heat in so long had saved me from him insisting I let one of the other Purists claim me.

“Oh. So, how are things?”

It broke my heart that our relationship was so strained that I couldn’t think of anything else to say to him. I had missed him, but I’d missed the version of him he’d been before the last few years, not the young alpha staring at me with hard eyes.

“Oh, you know. I had to find someone else to take over the duties you should have been doing once you abandoned me. Her food sucks, but she doesn’t mope around like you always did. She’s not an omega, but I’ll find one of those soon enough and replace her.”

Nails biting into my palms, I had to look away. I didn’t need more guilt piled on my shoulders, but the knowledge that he was so callous about another woman made my chest feel like it was being ripped open.

“I didn’t abandon you. I told you this was what was best. I needed to find myself again, and you need a life without having your mother hovering around all the time.”

I spoke to the ground between us. His scoff was another stab to my heart. He didn’t care that the house held too many memories for me to bear, he just hadn’t wanted the responsibility of taking care of himself. It was too much work to clean up the messes he made, do his own laundry, and cook for himself. If Logan had been home I was sure Adam would have forced him into it, but with Logan away at college, there had been no one left to bully into it.

Except now, there was apparently another woman, trapped in my old shoes.

“So, what is this trash heap behind you? Aren’t you going to show me around?”

I swallowed hard, the fight going on inside leaving me trembling. The omega side wanted to cave. He was an alpha, even if he was my son. But I had no desire to tell him my plans, or show him anything, especially not when he spoke to me the way he had.

I peeled my gaze off the pavement, bringing it back up to his face. My nails dug into my palms so hard it felt like they were cutting into me, and I practically vibrated with tension, but I wasn’t going to be walked on anymore.

“No.”

“Really?”

His arched brow and the smirk on his lips only firmed my resolve. His father had taught him to treat me like this, but I was sick of it. I’d left for a reason, and I wasn’t going to let my own child come and treat me like crap.

“I have no desire to show you anything if you’re going to speak to me like that. There is no reason for you to be here.”

Adam moved closer. With the building behind me, I had nowhere to go despite the urge to back away. Adam had never been violent towards me, but something in his stance set off alarms that had sweat breaking out all over even as my mouth went dry.

“Sure there is. The money that rightfully should have gone to me was wasted on this place, so that makes it mine. Omegas shouldn’t even be able to purchase property. It was a joke that they sold it to you at all.”

Fury poured through me so fast my vision blurred. I was snarling before I knew what I was doing.

“This place ismine! That money wasmine!Iwas the beneficiary. The purpose of it was to provide for us if he died, and we all got something. You got the house and car, your brother got to go to college, and the rest is for me to start a new life, without him, or you, oranyalpha dictating what I can or can’t do.”

Adam glared down at me, his lip curling as if he was going to growl back. The disgust on his face shredded me, and the guilt that I’d done something wrong for my son to turn out the way he had churned in my stomach, making me want to vomit.

“Omegas can’t be without an alpha. You’re useless. You do dumb shit like buying broken down buildings for no damn reason instead of letting an alpha handle the money like they should. Dad is probably rolling in his grave.”

His quiet tone hurt worse than if he’d screamed at me. He believed what he was saying, and I had to fight back the urge to sob.

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