Page 61 of His Surrogate Omega

“I don’t care what you think!” Lake spat. “This isn’t your house anyway. What are you even doing here?”

Gray swallowed back his rage at hearing those words. Mostly because it was true. The housewasn’this.

But he was family and he was doing his best to help hold them all together. “I’m here because we’re all we’ve got now. The four of us—that’s it.”

A look of pain flashed over Lake’s face, and then it was gone. The surly teenager was back so fast Gray wondered if he’d been mistaken. But he knew he hadn’t.

“I know you’re hurting. I know you miss your father and papa.”

Lake said nothing. He only angrily glared at Gray.

“Butyour brotherslost them, too. I lost the brother I loved dearly, and the brother-in-law who wassovery kind to me. I loved him, too.” Gray took a step closer. “We all lost people we loved. We’reallhurting. And you being snide and cruel doesn’t help that.”

“You’re only sad you lost your meal ticket,” Lake spat angrily.

Gray clenched his teeth. “You really think that of me?”

For just a moment, Lake looked a bit sad, but the anger came back in full force. “How would I know? You’re the uncle I barely ever saw, the one leeching off the money we need to survive now. You’re the reason Avery had to cut his hair… the reason he had to go get a job. Now we’re stuck with you all up in our shit and ruining everything!”

Gray eyed his nephew. “You’re right. You barely know me, because I can’t leave this quadrant. I’m trapped here. A virtual prisoner. I could only sit back and wait for your papa to bring you here to visit. Even when you did come, you raced outside to play and barely spent more than two minutes in my company once you were old enough.”

Lake didn’t respond.

“But when you were a baby? You’d sit in my lap for hours. I’d hold you close and cuddle you near me,” Gray sighed, his eyes shining. He’d held on to Lake… just as he had all the boys… imagining the day when he himself would be a father.

Now here he was going to be and he’d never have the chance to see the babe grow up.

“You need a scapegoat? Fine. You be as mad at me as you want to be. But you leave your brothers out of it. They lost their father and papa, too, just like you. And I won’t have you treating them like shit because you think your feelings are more important than theirs, you self-entitled, selfishbrat.”

Lake frowned. “Yeah? Well… well… you’re a spoiled little bitch!”

“That the best you got?” Gray roared.

“Fuck you!” the teen roared back.

“Fuck you, too, you little shit!”

Lake’s eyes fill with tears. He immediately felt like an asshole for yelling.

“Get out of my room!” Lake screamed as tears streamed down his face.

Gray stood there a moment, not sure if he should stay or go as the boy asked. Going with his gut, he walked across the room and forced the boy into his arms and held tight, even as Lake tried to push him away.

After a moment, Lake’s arms stopped pushing and his hands twisted in Gray’s shirt. He began to cry in earnest, huge sobs coming from him as Gray held on tight. Lake was nearly as tall as he was, so he had to widen his stance to hold the boy up.

As the crying slowed, he caressed the back of Lake’s head and tried to soothe his nephew. He sat them on the edge of Lake’s bed and just held on—for as long as the teenager needed it.

Soon, Lake grew quiet. “Why did this all happen to us?”

Gray ran a hand down the back of Lake’s head, choosing his words carefully. “Life is filled with beautiful, amazing things… but the other side of that coin is the bad. You can’t have one side without the other. While we’re here, we need to cherish all the good we can… and try to pick ourselves up after the bad and live on.”

“They can’t live on.”

There was no question whotheywere. “No, but they would want you and your brothers to. They gave you live… in the hopes you’d have great adventures. You still can.”

“I don’t feel like I want to do anything. It feels wrong to be happy when they’re not here to be happy, too.”

Gray caressed the back of Lake’s head. He understood how the boy felt. “Mourning those we love isn’t easy. But each day it will get a little easier.”

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