Page 7 of Mating of Convenience
“Nope.” I grabbed the bag as soon as he set it down on my desk. “Tuna! I love you, man!”
Conner grinned. “No problem. I know it can be hard to catch a break.” He didn’t sound like he had a problem with that, though. I watched him take another sandwich out of the bag and tear the wrapping off before biting into it.
“You want to rent a movie tonight?” I asked. “I’ll swing by my dad’s place after work, but that shouldn’t take longer than an hour or so.”
“Sorry, I think I’m working late today.”
“Seriously? You’ve been working late all week. Actually, I’m not sure that you were home at all. Whenever I peek into your room in the morning to see if you want breakfast your bed looks unused and you’re nowhere to be found.”
“My bed only looks unused because I actually make it. You should try it some time.”
“Nah,” I waved him off. “What’s the point? It’ll just get messy again at night.”
Conner shook his head at me. “I’m not getting into this argument with you again.”
I had to laugh at the level of resignation in his voice. He was right, though. We’d argued about this sort of shit way too much back when we were sharing a room in college. I was surprised when he offered to let me stay with him despite all that. Conner really was a cool person.
Even if he was a little obsessed with his job.
“Actually I came to talk to you about something,” he said when he was nearly done with his sandwich.
“Yeah?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“Yes. We got this new client that I think you should work with.”
“Wait.” I sat up straight. “You mean work with as in... counseling? I’m not qualified for that.”
“That’s okay. I’d still be the main caretaker. You’d just be helping me out a little. I know you can do it, and we can’t spare the hands. You’d be doing me a huge favor.”
“I don’t know.” I did want to help Conner, but I didn’t like the thought that some poor dude was going to be depending on me for help.
“You’ll do fine,” Conner promised. “For the most part, he only needs someone to talk to, and someone who’ll help him find a place, file for welfare and all that.”
“I haven’t even found a place for myself!”
Conner laughed. “Only because you’re getting comfortable living with me. Besides, you’re not going to be staying in Oceanport long-term, are you? I know you want to get back to tattooing and there’s no tattoo studios here.”
He was right about that. There were no tattoo studios in Oceanport. This really wasn’t the kind of place people came to get inked. “I do want to get back to tattooing, but first I have to make sure things with my family are okay.”
“I get that, and until then, you’re welcome to stay with me.”
I smiled at my friend. “Thanks, man. It’d be cooler to stay with you if you were actually home sometimes, though.”
“Maybe I could clear up my schedule a bit if you helped me with this.”
He had me there. “Okay, okay, I’ll try.”
“Great. I knew I could count on you! Basically I only need you to be your badass self to show Laurence that omegas don’t have to be all timid.”
“Never thought anyone would ever consider me a role model,” I muttered, glancing at the dragon tattoo that adorned my arm. There was no particular reason behind the design, only that I thought dragons were almost as kick-ass as I wanted to be.
But I had other things to worry about now. Like finding out just how badly my father had fucked things up. He’d been dodging my questions every time I showed up and I never wanted to make a scene in front of my siblings.
Tonight, though, I was getting answers.
5
Raphael
