Page 33 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
“How can he do that?” Nick asked. “I don't get it.” He looked at me as if I had the answer to that question, but I was drawing a blank. I couldn't think of anything to say that would make my friend feel better. “We weren't raised like that,” Nick continued. “Our parents weren't like that. I've never once felt like I had to fill some sort of traditional omega role, so why does he? We'retwins!” With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair. “How can we be so different?”
“These people have ways of getting to you.” I licked my lips, remembering my own upbringing. “When you're surrounded by them it's like... your idea of what's normal shifts. It becomes easy to accept things that you shouldn't.”
To an outsider looking in, the ways omegas lived in Vinist communities could look incredibly restraining and suffocating, but I knew for the omegas living there, the structured life could feel...safe.Easy. Aside from bearing children, nothing much was expected from you. And if you stuck to the rules you weren't mistreated, either. On the contrary, many alphas prided themselves on pampering their omegas.
But I had a feeling that was not what Nick wanted to hear right now. He wanted his brother back, and I couldn't give him much hope there. Vinist omegas weren't supposed to have contact with non-believers. Even if those non-believers were family. It was why I had never met my aunt and uncle before my parents' death.
“This is why he didn't come to Dean's wedding,” Nick said, looking lost. “If that's not a big enough event for him to attend...”
I rubbed Nick's back. “I'm sorry.” Both for the choices his brother had made, and for the fact that I hadn't noticed Rhys' absence from the wedding until he mentioned it. I'd been too self-absorbed. That needed to stop. “I'm sure he'll wake up someday soon.”
Nick shook his head. “You think they're gonna let him go after he'smarriedone of them? You know Vinist marriages are forever! You of all people know!” Nick damn-near hissed at me. I took my hand off him. He sucked his teeth. “Sorry for lashing out. It's not your fault.”
“I get it. It's frustrating.” And because Nick was friends with me, he knew exactly what awaited his brother. That must be hard. “I'm not going to blame you for losing your composure for a second.”
What he'd said was true; Vinist weddings were forever, with a very few exceptions. They didn't recognize divorces. The only thing you could do to free yourself was to disgrace yourself so hard they had no choice but to excommunicate you. That wasn't easily done. For most offenses, they would rather lock you up and force you to pray for your salvation.
I was pretty sure that if I ever returned to Goldstone, that's exactly what would happen to me. It would probably take weeks to pray all my sins away, but they would return me to my husband eventually. They weren'tmonsters, you know?
“I'm not even invited to the wedding,” Nick said, looking nothing but tired.
“Hey.” I put an arm around his shoulders. “I managed to break out of there. Your brother can too.”
“You still get scared every time the doorbell rings and we're not expecting visitors.”
I grimaced. “True, but nothing's happened to me, has it?”
“No, I guess not. I can't get rid of you. It's really annoying.”
“Yup, you're stuck with me.” I gave him a smile, glad that he was back to joking.
He stood and stretched. “I think I'm gonna go lie down.”
“All right. I'll put my guitar away.”
“Nah, it's fine. I don't mind. You do your thing. I need your YouTube thing to make money so we can pay rent on this place.”
“Doing my best.”
“I know you do.” And with that, he left the room.
For a minute or two, I sat on the couch lost in thought. Nick's brother was marrying into the community I'd tried so hard to leave behind. It sure was a small world. Over the years, I'd received a stack of letters ordering me home. They all collected dust in one of my dresser drawers. At first I'd only gotten one or two letters every few months, then there'd been an onslaught after the sex tape scandal. They didn't likethatat all. Then I'd changed my address, moving in with Nick. The letters had stopped, and I thought they'd lost me.
Until last week.
Last week I found one of those damn Goldstone yellow envelopes sitting in the mailbox. I'd stashed it away before Nick could see it. Now it turned out that was a good thing. I didn't need him even more worried about his brother than he already was.
Trying to distract myself, I reached for my laptop. Time to check on myYouTube thing, as Nick called it. A few days ago I uploaded a new song I wrote to my personal channel. The recording wasn't as great as it could have been if done in a professional studio, but it still sounded okay. Good enough to renew some people's interest in me, I hoped.
After everything, I really didn't want to go back to street music. Especially considering it would be a lot harder now, with people recognizing me for who I was and what I'd done.
Smiling, I saw my number of subscribers tick up. People were watching the video, listening to my music.Leave it All, I'd titled the song. It was about my desire to break free. People seemed to be able to relate to that, even if they didn't know my backstory.
A few new comments had been added to the video. Most were nice, but the mean ones... the mean ones werevicious.
Go die in the hole you crawled out of, slut.
Fucking filthy omega whore.
