Page 42 of His Innocent Omega
“I’m not here to give you the best friend speech,” Jamie finally said, and I snorted.
“Good, because I don’t think I want to hear ‘you hurt my friend, I’ll hurt you’, if it’s all the same.”
Jamie laughed loudly, then laughed some more, finally wiping tears from his eyes. “Oh my Goddess, that’s funny. You’re funny, Wyatt. Yeah, noooo,” he drawled, “I’m here to say my best friend’s been acting like an idiot, and it’s not like him at all. I just thought you should know that.”
Chewing on my bottom lip, I finally asked, “Why?”
“Why is he acting like an idiot?”
I shook my head. “Why is it important for me to know?”
Jamie put his hand on a stack of boxes, testing their stability, before he leaned his bulk into them. “Because Becks is one of the best men I’ve ever known. I trust him with my life. Ihavetrusted him with my life, and I don’t trust easily. I’m not going to make excuses for his behavior, and I’ve told him how I feel about what he did last night. It was wrong on so many levels, I don’t even know where to begin with it.”
Clasping my fingers together tightly, my jaw clenched, “It wasterrifying.”
“I know.”
“First, I had all these horrible things I imagined had happened when I realized she hadn’t woken me up crying all night. Then when I found her crib empty…” A shiver ran through me at the memory.
Had it just been that morning? This day felt like it had gone on forever. I wanted food, to cuddle my baby, quiet, and a nap. Not that I wasn’t appreciative of all the help, but all the strange people moving around in my space was overwhelming. People who seemed intent on helping me, even though I had never met them before today. With the exception of Finn, but that had been a purely professional relationship before this morning.
I had colleagues in my life, students, people who wanted something from me, because I could do something for them. Not me, but my brain. But I didn’t have anyone I would call an actual friend.
Maybe you should put that on your list,my giraffe suggested. Maybe they were right. Mentally, my mind pulled up my ‘things I want to do’ list and added make a friend. Shaking my head, I crossed it off and changed it to make friends.
Jamie watched me, his ice blue eyes like cold fire. I probably had spaced out for a few seconds. I tended to do that when I was mentally rearranging my lists, at least that’s what people told me.
“What he did was unequivocally wrong, but I know he meant it from a good place.” Jamie rubbed a hand through his dark hair.
Was he kidding me?
“Food’s here!” Someone shouted up the stairs, and I winced, hoping all the noise going on didn’t wake up the baby.
Like he could read my mind, Jamie remarked, “You want to getthe baby used to noise, trust me. If not, you’ll never get anything done.”
“The books say–”
“Toss the books, Wyatt. You want to know something, ask anyone downstairs. Between us, we have eight kids, I think.” He counted quietly, his mouth moving, “Yep, eight. Plus, Gabe and Asher have two, so there’s always kids everywhere. Various ages, and tons of personalities.”
Frowning, I stared down at my hands. They were trembling. I really needed to eat. The smell of the tangy sauce and cheese was drifting upstairs, and my stomach clenched.
“Can we go eat?” Whatever he wanted to say in his friend’s defense could wait.
“I’ll make this quick,” he folded his arms over his chest, his black T-shirt stretching across his muscles. He pulled out a hard candy from his pants pocket, holding it out in offering. I shook my head, giving him a small smile of thanks. Sugar was the last thing I needed.
“Becks is acting nuts because you’re fated mates,” Jamie held up a hand, silencing whatever I was going to say. “I get that you don’t believe in them, and that’s fine. I think most people don’t. But everyone in your house downstairs is fated, so it kind of made believers of us all. Becks is the most reliable, rational, calm person I have ever met. Believe me when I say the way he’s been acting around you, is not normal for him. His alpha pheromones are going a bit nuts having his mate and pup so close. We’re hardwired to protect our omegas, to see that they are cared for. I think–I know–that’s what he’s been trying to do. I know, I know, his delivery was a huge fail. We’ve had words about it. Just…he’s a good guy. A really good guy.”
Not knowing how I should respond, I sorted and analyzedwhat Jamie had told me.
“Try not to be too hard on him, is all I’m saying. He means well, he’s just being ruled by his pheromones.”
Both of us looked up when we heard footsteps, and then Bash poked his head in the room. He gave us a questioning look, before asking, “All right?”
Jamie shoved off from the boxes, smiling warmly at his husband, “Just telling Wyatt that Becks isn’t usually such an idiot.”
Bash rolled his eyes, “It is very out of character of him. Let’s eat, and you can decide if you want any of the furniture moved into different spots.”
Smiling wanly, I followed them downstairs where the food waited. I had a lot to think through.
