Page 6 of Maple Sugar Mix-Up
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug.
“I don’t see why you’re so opposed to dating. You’re young, handsome, healthy… I hope you’re not still hung up over Buck.”
“I amnotstill hung up on Buck,” I spat. Even his name left a foul taste in my mouth. “Truthfully, I’mpissedat Buck.”
“It’s been over a year,” she pointed out.
“I’m never dating again,” I said flatly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I knew I was being rude, but I was not in the mood to discuss my failed dating life. Undaunted, Beth said goodnight, then muttered something – no doubt snarky – under her breath. Thankfully, she left the matter alone.
But as I started getting ready for bed, I couldn’t get Buck out of my head.
Asshole.
Buck was the last in a too-long line of terrible alphas I had tried to date in recent years. In most of the relationships their jealousy over my success had reared its ugly head quite quickly. They all assured me, in the beginning, that they had no problems with the fact that I made better money than them; usually by a lot. But invariably, one by one, they showed their true colors. Some of them only wanted me for my money and would start buying themselves increasingly extravagant things, while barely giving me the time of day. Others became threatened by it; they started acting super insecure, often becoming obsessed with getting promotions or trying to trackmyspending.
Worse were the ones who hid it long enough for me to risk introducing them to Vicki; she was always disappointed when they were out of the picture, but Buck…Damn him.
We were together for almost two years, and I thought I really had something with him. He didn't act insecure or become obsessed with how much money he was making. He didn't go out and needlessly spend money. Better yet, he was so great with Vicki, and she absolutely adored him.
All that changed when we decided to spend Christmas with his family. We were driving there after almost two years of ignorant bliss on my part, when he hit me with a bombshell: his family was under the impression that I was a stay-at-home omega, taking care of my child with absolutely zero income of my own to speak of.
As far as Buck’s family was concerned, Buck was the sole breadwinner and our extravagant lifestyle was due tohimpulling in a much bigger salary than he actually did.
It almost started a fight in the car, in front of Vicki, so I just grit my teeth the remaining three fucking hours to his parents’ house. As soon as the introductions were made, and Vicki was playing in the snow with a ton of children – who would have become her cousins if Buck and I had worked out – the asshole explained to me that I would have to lie to his entire family for the four days that we were staying with them.
When I asked him what he expected me to do in the future and when we were going to tell his family the truth, the answer wasnever.I was the only omega in the considerably large family who made more than the alpha. In fact, according to buck, I made more thananyof the alphas in his family – his father included.
Apparently, it was better for me to just be a liar, than to make his family uncomfortable by finding out the truth.
But the next day was Christmas and we had already convinced Vicki that Santa would come, even though she was in a different house, so I was forced to stay the night.
Christmas morning was a sort of chaotic, wonderful, huge family affair. The kind I always wanted, with tons of children around opening presents and everyone laughing… It would have been great, lies aside, if not for the fact that I discovered Buck had been spending some of my money.
He bought averynice gift for Vicki and every single niece and nephew. While I certainly wouldn't have balked about spending that much on the kids, if he had just asked, he made it abundantly clear to his family, as the gifts were opened, thathehad earned the money to pay for them.
Worse was whenweexchanged gifts. He had proposed a $50 gift limit for the two of us, which I agreed to, assuming it was in regards to his salary, and not wanting to cause friction. But when I opened the one from him, it was aridiculouslyexpensive, handmade sweater, with the $350 price tag still blatantly attached. Buck made a big show of ooing and ahhing over the meager by comparison gift from me.
While everyone was distracted, I packed up our things and snuck out with Vicki without saying goodbye. In the taxi, I started to second-guess myself and worried about what his family would think. I decided I didn’t give a rat’s ass; it wasn’t as if they knew a damn thing about me anyway.
Vicki and I took the first flight home and I fumed all the way, nearly shaking with anger and hurt over the worst Christmas ever. My sweet daughter, on the other hand, didn’t stop talking about the event for a month. It was such a great Christmas and she couldn’t wait to see her new friends again…
Then she started to wonder why Buck hadn’t come home yet.
She was crushed when I told her that he, and all the cousins, were out of our lives. Her tears hurt me more than anything Buck had done.
That was when I swore I was never going to put Vicki, or myself, through that again. Ever.
We werenotgoing to suffer for the sake of some alpha-hole who thought the size ofhisballs was proportional tomybank account. I would never again let Vicki think she was going to have another dad, only to have her heartbroken too.
It wasn’t as if I couldn’t afford to stay single.
Plus, I was young and healthy enough that if I wanted more kids, I wouldn’t need an alpha.
It was a restless night and I had a nightmare about Buck for the first time in ages. I woke up seething and distracted myself by showing Vicki a super fun day, to make up for the fact I’d be gone for the evening.
The time to get ready for the date came much, much faster than I would have liked.
