Page 36 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
“Take a seat, Jake,” Griff said. “Dinner's about to be served.”
“But, Uncle—“
“No buts, my man worked hard on this dinner. You can talk to your friend when you're done eating.”
“Fine.” Jake huffed, but went back to the table.
I gave Griff a small smile. He was always the first to defuse a situation. Dean had picked his partner well. Part of me wanted Jake to keep talking and get to the bottom of this, yeah, but Conner was never going to say anything in front of this many people.
So we sat, and for the duration of the dinner, no one brought the topic up again. Dean had outdone himself preparing this meal. Seriously, best chicken I’d ever had. It was almost enough to take my mind off everything else. Not quite enough, but almost. I told Dean as much when we sat on his porch after dinner, watching Conner and Jake kick a ball back and forth.
“Everything all right with you?” Dean asked. “Aside from what happened to Conner earlier.”
“Yeah, I'm fine, I guess.”
Dean lowered his voice a little so the kids wouldn't hear. “Still messaging Kade on YouTube?”
Damn, why had I ever told him I was doing that? “From time to time.”
“How often is that?”
“Oh, only about twice a day,” I admitted.
Dean looked like he had a hard time not laughing. “All friendly conversation?”
“All rated PG,” I promised.
“After you already had sex?” Dean raised an eyebrow at me. “I find that hard to believe, cousin.”
Why had I told him about the sex?
Because you thought it was a one-time thing and you weren't going to hear from Kade again. You wanted him to see that you're moving on and he can stop worrying.And that was working out just great, wasn't it? “I know we had sex, but now we're just... friends, I guess. I tell him what's going on in my life, he tells me what's going on in his. The YouTube thing seems to be going all right for him.” A smile formed on my lips. I couldn't do anything about that. Talking about Kade made me smile.
And now Dean was smiling like that meant something. Freaking annoying.
“Look,” I said. “I'm not going to start something with an omega who lives that far away.” And knowing Kade, he was happy to be free. Even if he lived closer, why would he want to bind himself to an alpha with two small children, an overly friendly dog and an evil cat-overlord?
Dean elbowed me. “Sounds to me like you already started something the night of my wedding.”
I shook my head. “It didn't mean anything,” I said, even though I couldn't get the memory of that night out of my head. Truth be told, I didn't want to. Kade had been amazing. The way he smelled. The way his skin felt underneath my fingertips. The way he melted into me like we were lost together in a storm and I was his sanctuary.
“You say that, but I know it's not true.”
I arched an eyebrow in question.
“It's all over your face, cousin. Every time you think of that night. Every time you speak of Kade. You like that omega. I don't know why you keep denying it.”
“Because we're never going to be together.” And I couldn't afford any more heartbreak. I looked away from Dean and let my eyes wander to the kids, searching for something to distract myself with. I knew Dean's next question was going to be 'Then why do you keep messaging him?' and I didn't know how to respond to that, so I had to stop him before he could ask. Foolproof plan, but what to say?
“At what age did you know you were an alpha?” I asked Dean, going back to something I was wondering about earlier that evening.
The question seemed to take him by surprise. “I'm not sure...” he said. “People suspected even when I was a small child, I guess? But I didn't start really feeling it until puberty hit.”
“Same,” I said, remembering the first time I'd felt my hormones go out of whack in response to an omega's smell.
“Why are you asking?”
I kept looking at the children instead of him. “Conner's going to be ten next month.”
