Page 51 of Jake and Conner
"Okay." My paps smiled.
"What?" I asked.
"Just remembered when you were a child and I had to teach you not to punch anyone who insulted your daddy."
"I'm not like that anymore," I claimed. "I know violence isn't the answer." Although if someone tried to hurt Conner, I might forget about that.
"Constant check-ups aren't the answer either."
"I'm not constantly checking up on him." I'd only called three times so far. Well, four times, to be precise, but one of those didn't count because Conner hadn't answered.
"I know it's hard," my paps said as if I hadn't said anything at all. "You've always wanted to protect the people you love. It's part of what makes youyou, but I think you're ready to learn that you have to let people make their own choices. It's the same reason Eli told you not to disturb Livvy."
I looked at my paps. "How do you deal with knowing that loser she's dating is up there with her and probably has his dirty paws all over her?"
My paps chuckled. "I deal with it by knowing that both my mate and my daughter would have my ass if I tried to do anything about it."
"But you're not a fan of the guy either."
"I don't have to be." He took another potato but paused for a moment before peeling it. "My parents chose a fiancée for me when I was Livvy's age and it ended in disaster. I'm not going to do that to my own child. You can have the best intentions for someone and still screw up massively."
I nodded, mulling his words over in my head. "I get that. It's just rough when you feel like the most important person in your life is unnecessarily putting himself in danger."
"Would he agree with you that it's unnecessary?"
"He would not." I sighed, realizing that I was probably being unfair. These demos mattered to Conner, so how could I tell him not to go? The risks I perceived weren't at all unnecessaryto him.
"You need to find a way to care about the things he cares about," my dad advised. "Don't belittle his passions."
He was probably right about that. "I'll try to remember that."
I finished peeling my potato and took another one. For a couple of minutes, my paps and I worked in silence. Then, when we were almost done, there was a knock at the front door.
"Did Eli forget his keys?" Paps mused.
"I'll get it," I volunteered, putting the knife down.
When I opened the door, I expected to see my dad, but that wasn't who greeted me. Instead, I was faced with my cousin, Bastian. "What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised.
Normally, he would push past me into the house, grab a coke from the fridge and say something like, "I thought I'd drop by, got a problem with that?"
That day, though, he did none of that. In fact, he didn't speak at all for several seconds, and when he did, he sounded uncertain. "I was looking for you."
"For me?"
"You weren't at your place." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought Conner would be with you."
"He's not in town right now."
"Oh." Bastian looked at his feet, his fists bunched. What was his problem?
"Do you wanna come in?" I asked. Bastian was an alpha too, and normally, my protective instincts didn't extend to other alphas except for my little sister, but Bastian was younger than me, and he was family, so when I saw him in distress, I felt an urge to help that couldn't be denied.
"I, um..." Bastian looked past me into the house, but didn't move. "I need to tell you something."
I had no idea what that 'something' was, but it obviously wasn't meant for anyone else's ears so I took my cousin by the arm and steered him through the house and into the backyard. "We can talk here," I said. My paps was still in the kitchen and my sister was busy making mistakes in her room. No one would hear us.
"I did something really stupid," Bastian confessed, digging his thumbs into his pockets.
