Page 39 of Bully for Sale
Chapter Thirteen
“Lidell is waitingfor you,” Earl said when Ned arrived back from his meal with Heath. “In his office. Hurry on now.”
Ned rolled his eyes. If his father was waiting for him, then there was more scheming about money afoot, and he’d already been warned by his uncle to stay out of it. And he would. There was no way his father was going to convince him to stay friends with Braden and Finch or coerce him into befriending any other jerks for his contracts, either.
Ned was pleasantly stuffed full of dessert and loose with wine, but he was determined, too. Nothing Lidell said or did could get under his skin or make him waver. He had Heath’s backing and promise of help, and he wasn’t going to lose it for anything.
“This is it, Ned! This is what we’ve been waiting for!” Lidell shouted, waving a glass of bourbon around, and already flushed with it. “Sign here.” His finger came down on a piece of paper on his desk. “That’s all you need to do, and, boom, we’re set for life.”
“What in the hell are you are you talking about?” Ned didn’t bother curbing his language. Not today when he had Heath’s permission to do what he wanted and be free. “Sign here for what?”
“For your rich omega,” Lidell said with a smirk. “He’s already signed, and, according to Fersee, he’s eager. Hot for it.”
Ned blinked, trying to parse what his father was going on about. He’d had a whole bottle of wine on his own, yes, but was he so intoxicated he was passed out and dreaming? He must be misunderstanding something important.
Ezer hadn’t even texted him a thank you after last night. There was no way he’d signed a heat and breeding agreement. Had he?
Ned strode across the room and grabbed the papers from his father’s desk and read the entire contract all the way through. At each important juncture, there it was—Ezer’s scrawled signature. He recognized it from the group projects they’d worked on together in class.
“What the hell?”
“George had already told me not to worry about it. He always said Ezer was up for this—or would be after some persuading—and it seems the boy is. Can you believe our good luck? Between this income and the contracts with Maddox and Tenmeter, we’ll finally be able to start fresh and put our bad financial luck behind us. The tides have turned! And with no help from my asshole brother for him to hold over our heads.”
“But…” Ned’s head swam. If Ezer had signed, and if he signed in return, then they’d…
During heat…
And it’d be amazing, he had no doubt, but also…
They might make a baby.
A baby.
He’d be a father.
He was only nineteen!
“Father,” he said, swallowing hard. “I’m not sure I understand. You really want me to breed Ezer Fersee? We’re too young for children, aren’t we?”
Lidell waved his hand. “Oh, you’re overthinking it. You won’t be raising the child. Read the contract. You’ll have plenty of money, and you can hire a nurse, like Earl’s been to you. I never had to put myself out to be your father. It’s nothing in the end. A bit of pain for the omega, sure, but assuming he’s healthy and lives through it—” Lidell did blanch a little at that, which was the only thing that spoke to him having any conscience at all, as far as Ned could tell. “Well, if he lives through the births, then you’ll get even more money. There’ll be nothing at all to worry about. Leave the raising of the babes to the omega and whatever legion of nurses you hire. That’s what makes omegas happy, you know. Raising babies. They all live for that.” He huffed a laugh. “Actuallythey live for heats and the sexual attention from their alphas they require to sustain a healthy pregnancy.That’sthe thing that keeps them happy and content. It’s what drives them. You’ll see. This Ezer may be a devil at school now, but he’ll be an angel when he’s full of your child.”
Ned scratched at his sweaty head. He didn’t want Ezer to be an angel—and he didn’t agree that Ezer was a devil. If anyone was a devil between the two of them, it’d have to be Ned. But if Ezer became placid and sweet when pregnant, like so many omegas tended to be? Ned didn’t think he’d like that at all.
He liked how Ezer fought back like a kitten with sharp claws—going for the eyes and the soft bits. He liked how Ezer challenged the world around him when it came at him the wrong way. He just wanted Ezer to let Ned stand by his side while he did it. To help protect Ezer from the world’s blades and bites.
He snorted. Like he’d done very well at that so far.
He’d been the worst.
As for being a father, well…
Ned had never imagined himself as the kind of man to leave all the childcare to his omega and a nurse. Sure, that was howhe’dbeen raised, but it wasn’t as though Lidell was a very admirable man, or an aspirational figure in his life. Ned wanted to be more like his Uncle Heath—who, as he’d witnessed last summer, adored his son, and played with him, and cared for him.
“Sign it,” Lidell said, pulling a pen out of his desk drawer and foisting it on Ned.
He took it. “I…I need to think this over.”
“You can’t mean to say no to this? It’s the chance of a lifetime. Rich men don’t ever pay to have their omega sons taken off their hands—especially not omegas you already have a thing for.” Lidell tilted his head. “Or did you lose your taste for the boy already?”
