Page 40 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
“I'll leave you to it.” Nick stood and returned to his room, probably to give me some privacy for this call. He was a good friend.
I hit the call button almost as soon as Nick was gone. I knew if I waited any longer, my nerves would get the better of me and I'd start overthinking the situation. I was calling a friend who sounded like he needed some advice. Nothing more, nothing less.
The phone rang for a good while before someone picked up.
“Hello?” Shane only said a word, but I recognized his voice at once, even after all these weeks. How could I not? I hadn't seen him in a while, no, but I'd had several dreams about him. And most of them had beenverypleasant.
“Hey, it's me,” I said into the phone. “Nick gave me your number.”
“Oh.”
“Is this a bad time?”
“No, no...” He laughed, although it sounded a bit forced. “I was in the middle of wrestling with my daughter, though. She's insisting on wearing her pants inside out.”
“Oh, is she? Is that what you needed help with?”
“Not exactly, no, unless you know a good way to get little girls to behave.”
“Not really my expertise, sorry. No children here.”
“What a shame.”
“What, you think I should have children?” I felt my heckles rise. I'd had enough people in my life trying to force that idea on me. I'd hoped Shane wasdifferentin his treatment of omegas, but maybe not.
Shane must have noticed my change in tone. “That's not what I was trying to imply,” he said. “If you don't want to have children, that's cool. I was only bemoaning the fact that you couldn't help me with my problem.”
“I see.” I bit my bottom lip. Had I overreacted? I was too damn sensitive about this topic. “It's not that I don't like children, you know? What I hate is people telling me that I have to have them because of what I am.” If I was going to have children, I'd have them on my own schedule. And if it never happened, that was no tragedy either.
“I get that. I'm sorry I upset you. I don't mean to sound like the alphas of Goldstone, Indiana.”
That last sentence put a small smile on my face. I couldn't help it. Shane might have spoken a bit carelessly, but he could never sound like the alphas I'd grown up with. “It's okay. You don't sound like them all. I wouldn't be talking to you anymore if you did.”
“Nowthatwould be a damn shame.”
He would miss talking to me!My smile grew wider and my heart beat a little bit faster. It was a little silly, yeah, but... damn it, it felt good. I had leagues of followers on YouTube and people stood in line to get my autograph, but it wasShane'sappreciation that made my heart leap. Because he saw me as a person and he liked what he saw. “Don't worry,” I said. “I have no plans of ditching you in the near future. Where would I get my cat updates?”
“Ah, yes, it's all about the cat of course.”
I chuckled. “Hey, I care about that cat a lot.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry I doubted you. Sauron is fine. He hasn't even scratched anyone in three days.”
“He hasn't scratched anyone in three days? Are yousurehe's fine?” That did not sound like the ungrateful bastard I rescued. “Also I still can't believe you actually named him Sauron.”
“Conner likes the name.” I heard Shane's shrug through the phone.
“I see.” And when he mentioned Conner, I remembered that Sauron wasn't the reason I was on the phone with Shane right now. Something else was going on, and I needed to figure out what. “Was there a reason you wanted to talk on the phone?” I asked. “I mean, if you only wanted to hear my voice, you can get that on YouTube. Or buy an album. Seriously, you should buy an album.”
“What makes you think I haven't yet?”
I had no idea why that made me blush, but it did.
“Anyway,” Shane continued when I remained quiet. “The real reason I wanted to talk to you is because... I need some advice.”
“Advice?” I was intrigued. “Does this have anything to do with you asking me how I feel about my omega status?”
“Yes. Was that too personal?”
