Page 11 of Single Omega Dad
I quickly tried to find some middle ground. Obviously, neither of us wanted to be at this meeting. “Look, this is wasting your time and mine. Do we at least agree on that one thing?”
“Agreed.” Saber’s voice was curt. Harsh.
I glanced again at my screen. He really was in decent financial shape.
“There’s a home inspection required, but I’ll waive that, too. Even though it’s for your own protection, to make sure you are allotted sufficient funds, if you have them, to maintain your assets, but no problem.” I flicked a button on my keyboard. “It’s waived.”
“You make it sound like I’m trying to hide something,” Saber said.
“What? No. I’m merely trying to meet you on middle ground here.”
“Well, I don’t have anything to hide. I just want to raise my children in peace and in the lifestyle Drayden set up for us.”
“I understand that.” I spoke slowly, wondering why he was arguing. I had just given in to him on, well, everything. It wasn’t like me, but I wanted this done and out of my hair.
“But you said my house was too expensive.”
Yeah, and I had suggested he let go of one of his sons, too. Backtracking, I said, “For now, you are solid. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“It’s not about what Iwantto hear. If you’re the financial guardian, then it’s your job to tell me if I can’t afford something. Do I or do I not have enough?”
“You have enough.”
“For now, you said.”
This Omega was tough. “Yes, I said that. That’s because I don’t know what your expenditures will be down the line. And do you want your Alpha children to go to college? Do you enjoy wearing designer suits? It’s simply what we put into the equation, nothing personal.”
“But everything about this is personal.”
I shook my head. I wanted this done and him gone.
Saber sat forward now, his elbows on his knees. “Tell me,” he said, “that you wouldn’t feel it was personal if someone came along and froze your access to your accounts and decided to count out every penny to you for every expenditure. Tell me the truth.” Then he added, with a little hiss. “Alpha.”
The boys on the couch both opened their mouths in shock, as if they’d been taught the word was a curse or something. I heard one whisper to the other, “Daddy called him that word.”
I kept my eyes steady on Saber.
“You have no idea, do you?” Saber continued. “What it’s like to be a non-Alpha in an Alpha run world. Nor do you probably care, but if you have an ounce of heart, you would see that if your bank really wants to help, if they want to help me, a lowly Omega--”
The boys gasped again.
“You might do it with at least a tiny bit of compassion for how that might feel to me.”
Lilacs and fresh summer rivers. My brothers and I used to go to camp every summer, our only time away from Father’s authority and piercing gazes and his strict teachings of how to be a proper Alpha. Trigg, Kris and I looked forward to it every year. Freedom from a kind of tyranny my mind still wrapped me up with. Father’s voice always in my ear. Never good enough. Never as golden and strong as Kris. Never book-smart and artistic like Trigg.
I did know what it was like not to be free. Even as an adult Alpha, Father’s strong ties still bound me.
Compassion? Where did that get me?
Saber was watching me as if trying to read me. I’d lost my train of thought. I couldn’t even remember what we’d just been talking about. Something about this being personal?
My skin was hot all of a sudden. And Saber, a mere Omega, looked more put-together than I felt—than I had felt in a long time. He looked trim and fit and contained, his pale, slicked-back hair flashing in the light, his chin up, his posture ramrod straight, and his kids sucking on their candies and as still and quiet as timid little birds.
He was nothing like my own father. He probably hugged his kids for fun. He probably laughed at their stupid jokes and didn’t correct them with a hand or a switch.
My breath caught as resentment snarled through me.
“Well,” I said, trying to distract myself from uncomfortable thoughts. “Where were we? Oh yes, the house inspection. Did I not say it’s fine? It’s waived.”
