Page 99 of Act Like You Don't Care
The stranger frowned at me. “Is that how a son treats his father?”
“It is when the father is a no-good useless wanna-be who only looks me up when the bailiffs are after him.” I started to reach for my juice but, to my horror, I realized my hand was shaking, so I quickly hid it in my lap under the table. How could he still have this effect on me? I’d thought I was past that the last time he’d called and I’d cursed at him until he hung up. “I have nothing to say to you. Go back to wherever you came from.” I turned back to Miles, searching desperately for something we could talk about until my family got bored and left.
“You will respect the alphas before you. This man is the Wellspring of the Garden and you will treat him with the deference he is due as the leader of our community,” my father spat at me. “You should be on your knees apologizing.”
I looked the stranger up and down and sniffed. “No thank you. Go away.”
The stranger smiled at me like I was a silly little thing that just needed to be steered in the right direction. “Now, Thomas, we only came here to talk. May I sit down?”
“No,” I said coldly. “Miles, sit. Our food should be here soon.”
He did, reluctantly, but I saw him move his chair so it would be easier to get out of.
I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe I should be a little politer. I turned back to the Wellspring and said, “I don’t want to waste your time, but I have absolutely no interest in joining your Garden. I’m assuming you’re here for Joshua?”
“I am,” he said, still in that kindly, avuncular voice. “Truly, he meant well but was misguided in his methods. Once he’s been released from the secular prison, our Warden will take him in hand and guide him to purge himself of his own weaknesses.”
I suppressed a shudder. I’d never dealt with a Warden of Eden before, but the little I had heard had scared the crap out of me and was half the reason why I’d finally broken up with Joseph. “I expect it’ll be a long time before they let him out of jail,” I pointed out. “You might as well go back home.”
“Not without you, Thomas,” my father said. “It’s time you gave up this fantasy and took on your proper role. The child needs a father and good soil in which to grow. The Wellspring has several alphas who would be willing to make an honest omega of you.”
“The child has a father,” Miles said, his voice deepening. “Tam’s told you to stop wasting your time. Now I’m going to as well.” He’d inched forward on his chair, his torso angled forward as if he was just waiting for an excuse to launch himself at the Vinists.
“This has nothing to do with you,” the Wellspring snapped at him. “A California degenerate willing to use his alphaness to defile an unwitting omega. You should fear for your soul for the damage you have done to this poor child.” He turned back to me, his voice rich with honeyed sweetness. “I know you haven’t always felt valued in your family. Your father and I have spoken of that, many times. He regrets that he failed in his teachings, that you should read them as dismissive instead of as guideposts on the path to a life of fulfillment as befits an omega. The Garden would offer you a chance to experience your true calling. Is the omega not made for peace? Are they not the healers and the binding of the community, the ones that care for those in need, and whose sacrifices make all things possible?”
Sacrifices? Then it hit me. I narrowed my eyes at my father and leaned thoughtfully back in my chair. “You mean like taking over my financial portfolios?” I caught Miles’s twitch of surprise out of the corner of my eye and turned casually toward him to explain, “Yeah, if I join their Garden, whoever takes guardianship of me also takes all my money and property. An omega can’t have their own money or own a house or a car.”
“You’re—” He paused and then continued, “—old enough to take care of your own affairs.” He raised one eyebrow at me and I couldn’t help a small twitch of my lips at his quick-thinking avoidance of putting my age out there.
“You can say it,” I told him. “I know I’ll be thirty this year.”
He grinned and shook his head. “Thirty is an adult who can handle his own money.”
“Damn right,” I replied and turned back to the Wellspring. “I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time here. If my father gave you the idea that I was in way willing or wanting to go with you, he’s wrong or lying and you can figure that out between you.” I looked past the Wellspring to my father. “Don’t ever contact me again. No emails, no phone calls, no letters, no texts, not even messages passed to me through someone else. Never. As far as I’m concerned, I have no father. You’ve had all the money out of me that you’re ever going to get.” I turned back to the table and started to reach for my orange juice.
Miles saw it coming before I did. His eyes widened and he was already halfway out of his chair when I felt my father’s hand close over my upper arm. I’d forgotten how strong his grip was and the present disappeared for a moment, buried under old memories of what that grip on my arm had meant when I was smaller and unable to defend myself.
With a gasp, I jerked my arm away and lurched to my feet, shoulder-to-shoulder with Miles while it seemed like every cell phone in the place came out and starting filming. “What the hell do you this you’re doing?” I hissed. “There is nothing between us anymore except a squirt of DNA. Now fuck off before I have to call the cops.” I kept a wary eye on Solomon as he sidled toward Miles, but most of my attention was on my father and the Wellspring. Miles was quite capable of looking after himself—I remembered the gun, and the day he’d dragged me out of the condo.
“That’s enough, Thomas. You’ve had your time out here and yes, you’ve done well. But it’s time you settled down and accepted your responsibilities. And made reparations for your sins.” My father glanced down at my stomach with disdain. “I wish I could say that this came as a surprise, but the only surprise was that it took so long.”
“None of your business,” I snarled. Over his shoulder I could see the waitress watching from the door and someone on the phone inside the restaurant. Looked like they were saving me the trouble of calling the police myself. “You need to go.”
He reached for me again but instinct kicked in and I twisted just enough that he missed his grab for my wrist.
“Thomas, this is enough. You have an alpha willing to take you, even with another alpha’s child inside you. Consider the family’s reputation and your responsibility. You need to come back and let him make an honest omega of you and undo the harm your behavior has done. A child needs a father.”
Miles twitched in my direction, but his attention was divided between my brother and my father and he didn’t have much left for me. That was okay. Now that I’d gotten over the initial shock of seeing him, I was ready to throw down. “Make up your mind. Do you mean some alpha back East, or Joshua? I hear they won’t let him out of jail because he can’t keep a civil tongue in his head. Is that who you want me to marry? Someone that stupid? If you want someone to control me, you better look higher than that moron. Not that it works with Miles either, and he’s got more brains in his little finger than you and Joshua and Solomon combined.” I lowered my chin and squared up to him, teeth bared in something only an idiot would take for a grin. “You’ll never see this baby, except in media pictures. And you’re not going to use me to find your way back into the Garden or to pamper your lazy ass with my hard work. Now, fuck off and never come back.” I waved a dismissive hand at him, every inch the young Hollywood asshole, and waited for him to throw a punch. Because he would. If not now, then soon. I could see his temper fraying around the edges—not that it had ever taken much.
Fifteen years ago I would have gone along with him to avoid the punishment I knew was coming. Even ten years ago I might have hesitated to provoke him. Not now. I wasn’t the scared omega kid he’d raised anymore. When he reached out for me, his other hand raised to smack me across the face, I grabbed his arm and twisted. His eyes widened and he started yelling at the top of his lungs.
“That doesn’t work anymore, old man,” I yelled back. “Go, before the cops get here.” I twisted harder then pushed him away from me like he wasn’t worth my time. Which he wasn’t.
My brother started for me, but that was as far as he got.
I finally got to see Miles do his bodyguard thing and, honestly, even if I’d been an alpha he would have made me weak in the knees. I wanted to drag him home and fuck him right there and then.
Miles took a step to the side, right into Solomon’s path, dodged the thrown fist like he was in a video game, and then between one blink and the next my brother was on the ground, kissing the stones at Miles’s feet. Miles held him in place with a knee in his back and my brother’s hand trapped between his shoulder blades.
