Page 50 of Jake and Conner
"I'm still going to worry, though," I added.
"I get that." Conner rubbed my arm. "I promise I'm going to call as soon as it's over, okay?"
I nodded, and when Conner started walking again, I followed.
What else could I do?
21
Jake
As it turned out, I was not scheduled to work the day of the demonstration. I toyed with the thought of spending the day in the town where it was supposed to happen, but I knew that Conner would never forgive me if he caught me following him around like he was a preschooler. So I invited myself over to my parents' house for some much needed distraction.
To my dismay, I wasn't the only visitor.
Livvy had her boyfriend over.
I groaned as my paps told me this. "I don't understand why she hangs out with that loser," I said, taking a glass for myself out of the kitchen cabinet because I felt like having some water. My throat felt dry whenever my thoughts turned to Conner and I needed to combat that somehow.
"He's not a loser," my paps said, looking at me over the rim of the newspaper he was trying to read. "The only reason you don't like him is because he's with Livvy."
My other dad, the omega who had given birth to me, chose that moment to enter the kitchen. "Funny to hear you say that," he commented. "Isn't that what I said to you last night?"
I watched my alpha father lower his gaze so his face was obscured by the newspaper. "Well, maybe you were right."
"I know I'm right." My dad turned to me. "I didn't know you were coming to visit, Jake. If you'd said I could have picked up a couple of pastries or something in town."
"It's fine," I said, filling my glass with water. "I just needed some distraction."
"And here I thought you were visiting because you missed your family," my dad said in mock offense.
"I don't miss you guys, I see you all the time." Seriously, we were living in a small-town, and not far apart.
"You hurt me," Dad said. "What do you need distraction from? Here," he motioned at a bowl of raw potatoes that sat on the kitchen counter. "You can peel those. That should distract you."
"Maybe Livvy would like to help with that," I said. "Do you even know what they're doing up there in her room? I could go get her."
"You will do no such thing. Your little sister is an adult and you're the one looking for a distraction. So there, potatoes." Dad handed me a knife. I took it from him grudgingly.
"Fine." I took the bowl of potatoes and sat at the kitchen island with them. "Paps could help," I pointed out.
In response, Paps lowered his newspaper and made a show of looking at the clock. "Oh, look at the time," he said. "I better take out the dog."
"I'll take out the dog," Dad said. "You help Jake, and then we can all have dinner together later." Dad didn't wait for Paps to respond. He simply took another peeling knife out of a drawer, demonstratively put it down on the kitchen island, and then left the room calling for the dog.
"Looks like we're stuck doing this," I said to my paps.
"Your daddy has a way of getting what he wants," my paps said easily as he joined me by the bowl of potatoes and started on the first one. "Why is it that you're here looking for distraction?" he asked then, almost casually.
I shrugged. "Conner is at a demo today," I said as if it was no big deal, but my paps was an alpha too, and if anyone could understand what I was going through, it was probably him.
"Conner's going to be fine," he said.
"I know that." I grabbed a potato out of a bowl and started cutting its skin off.
"You'll drive him away if you worry about him too much."
"I know that too. That's why I'm here." I took off a little too much potato with my next cut.
