Page 36 of His Gentle Omega
As much as I hated Edward, he had given me Lucas. And I would do everything I had inside me to not bad mouth him in front of Lucas. Naïve? Yes, probably. Because Lucas had clearly heard and seen more than I had wanted him to, even with me trying my best to shield him from the ugliness that was Edward.
Someday, Lucas would be old enough to make his own decisions and conclusions where Edward was concerned. Until then, I would do my best to not badmouth his father in front of him.
“I’m more than happy to watch him,” Bennett offered. “He knows me, and I’m on vacation until after the fourth of July anyway.”
My eyes widened at that. “That’s weeks away.”
He nodded, looking sheepish. “It’s kind of mandatory. I haven’t really taken time off since I started working at the hospital, and my boss put the hammer down. I’m not to show myface for a month. My vacation technically started Saturday, so the night I was called in when you passed out doesn’t count.” Asher looked at him dubiously but didn’t contradict his logic.
“And I don’t want you to worry about a place to live,” my brother told me. “Gabe and I have talked about it and–”
“I’m sorry we have to impose on you,” I cut him off, but I needed him to know I understood what he was probably feeling. “I promise you won’t even know we’re there. And I’ll find a job, I swear I will, and we’ll find a place. You and I have a lot of stuff to work through, and me being there won’t be easy. I get it, if you don’t want us there.”
Asher frowned, his dark eyes troubled. “Shay, none of that stuff matters.” When I tilted my head at him, giving him a bullshit look, he nodded his blond head. “Okay, it does matter. And we do need to talk, yes. But that is minor. It’s nothing, a blip. You’re my brother. My family. You are not, and never will be, a burden, problem, or whatever other words you have running around that head of yours. I don’t know what has happened–I mean, I can piece together some things–and wewilltalk about the stuff with Dad and you cutting us out. But the rest–” he waved a hand over his soup bowl, “just know if, and when, you want to tell me, whatever you want to tell me, I’ll be here. And it won’t change how I feel about you. Am I angry about some stuff? Fuck, yes, I am. Does it mean I stopped loving you? Never. I would never, I could never, not love you.”
From my peripheral vision I saw Bennett rub at his eyes, and I doubled down my blinking because I did not want to cry again. Not in front of Bennett.
“What I was going to tell you,” Asher continued, “is that Gabe and I talked about it, and we want to offer you his house to stay in. Indefinitely. It’s right next door to Bennett’s, andacross the street from us. It’s a three-bedroom ranch, and it’s completely furnished. We haven’t gotten around to figuring out if we wanted to sell it or rent it out. Honestly, we’ve been using it when his family comes to town to see the grandbabies. He has two teenage twin sisters, and it’s a lot when they all descend. It’s nice not having to share space with them all, and they don’t have to get a hotel. We just need to get it cleaned and aired out for you. Stock it with some groceries. But you still have a few days of meds to get through, and your body still needs plenty of rest. You can do that here, with Bennett watching over Lucas. We figured we’d have the house ready for you by next weekend, if you want it. Rent free until you get things sorted, and then if you want to keep living there, we’ll work something out.”
Had I heard my brother correctly? He was offering me an entire house, for nothing, at least for a little while? Part of me, the part that had always balked at the way Asher had a tendency to just take over and tell someone what they were going to do, wanted to be irritated. I didn’t particularly like having people make decisions for me. It made me feel like I had no control over my life, a feeling I had lived with for way too long. But everything he had just laid out was for the benefit of Lucas and me. It would give us more of a start than I had planned on, and there was no way I could turn it down.
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
Asher shrugged, “Say yes, dork.”
Bennett laughed, but there was a slightly odd, strained sound to the high-pitched tone. Was it in response to Asher teasingly calling me a name from our childhood? Or because we would be leaving in less than a week’s time?
“Yes,” I whispered, “thank you. I don’t know what to say, honestly.”
It was a massive relief, and I felt it physically in my body, knowing we had a place to stay for the long-term. It was near Asher and his family, and Bennett. Though the thought of leaving him and his cozy little house in a few days made me feel…something.
Unsettled, maybe? At least he would be right next door. Even if I was nowhere in a place to do anything about our fated mate status, knowing he was that close did make me feel better.
Asher reached behind him and rested a folded envelope he had pulled from his back pocket, on the table. Pushing it towards me, he nodded his head at me to take it.
“What’s this?” I questioned, taking the envelope but not opening it.
“It’s your inheritance.”
My eyes flew to his face, searching.
“Take it, Shay,” he ordered, in his bossy, demanding way, that I had sorely missed. “It’s yours. Dad would want you to have it. He meant for us both to have it. I kept it for you in an account. I can give you the bank information if you want to put it in your own account. It took a few phone calls, and a friend sitting in the bank manager’s office yesterday. to get the check cut. But I wanted you to know you have a small nest egg for you and Lucas.”
With trembling fingers I tore open the envelope, peeling back the layers to look at the cashier’s check with my name on it. Inhaling sharply at the figure, I shook my head vehemently. “Asher, it’s…no, I don’t…you deserve this, not me.”
Sliding the envelope back across the table, I tried to get my brother to take it. Why, I didn’t know. I sure as shit needed the money that envelope held. It was a fresh start for Lucas and me, enough to get us back on our feet, with plenty to spare.
That envelope held our future, and security from Edward, but I couldn’t take it. That money was our dad’s hard work, and I didn’t deserve it. I had lost my right to it a long time ago.
“Take the fucking money, Shay,” Asher barked, shoving the paper back at me. “It’s your half of the sale of the shop and the house, minus the inheritance taxes and the funeral expenses. Don’t fucking argue with me, and don’t be a brat about it.”
“You’re not the boss of me, Asher,” I retorted automatically, and it was like I was sixteen again, and he was home for the summer from college. When he’d told me something I didn’t want to hear, or I had felt he had overstepped his older brother duties and gone into trying-to-parent-me territory. And it felt damn good.
He grinned at me, and I grinned back, and I was pretty sure I heard Bennett exhale a breath he had probably been holding for way too long.
“Am too,” Asher retorted smugly, “always will be, big little brother.”
Staring at the envelope, I held it lightly between my fingers. Two hundred thousand dollars was beyond me even comprehending. The relief I felt at knowing Lucas and I weren’t going to have to fight, grovel, beg, plead, and swallow every ounce of my pride to survive, was almost a physical thing.
