Page 4 of How to Lose an Omega in Twelve Days
He wasn’t going to change his mind. Instead of arguing, I nodded meekly.
“Do we have a deal?” he asked.
“Yes, Father.”
“Good. Now, you have some packing to do.”
I stood and hurried toward the door. Just before I got there, he called after me.
“And Shaun?”
“Yes?”
He smiled another grinch-like smile. “I’ll be watching. No Christmas.”
“Don’t worry, I hate Christmas.” The words tasted foul in my mouth, but the satisfied expression that crossed his face was even worse.
I stomped down the hall toward my room. He wanted a grinch did he? Fine. I’d play the part. This year. I’d be the grinchiest Scrooge at the entire resort. And next year, when it wasmine, I’d deck the freaking halls so much that…
I reached my room, sagged against my door, and sighed. I knew my father was just trying to protect the integrity of our resort chain. A lot of people had suffered after my great-uncle fucked it all up. My father had seen it firsthand, as dozens of suddenly destitute shifters had come to the other family resorts. It had been years before we were able to expand and support them all.
And he was afraid I’d turn out like my omega father. I was sure that was who he had almost told me I was too much like. My omega father loved Christmas too; while my alpha one had never celebrated it, growing up. His childhood was all business. It was, I was told, what worked in their relationship in the beginning. An alpha who was all business and an omega who loved to have fun…
But it ended up being too much fun. A collections agency showed up one day and we discovered my omega father had over a dozen credit cards and was over three-hundred-thousanddollars in debt. All of it long overdue. We nearly lost a resort over it. As it was, my alpha father had to dip deep into the resort coffers to come up with the money. It took years to rebound. After the debt was paid, they divorced and now he loathed anything that remotely reminded him of his omega ex, including Christmas.
When last I heard, my omega father had a new family and was probably secretly racking up more debt. We kept in touch for a while, but then he asked me for money and when I said no he ghosted me for three years. Only to call me from out of the blue asking for money again. I washed my hands of him too, but I couldn’t shake my love of Christmas.
I couldn’t blame my father for worrying. I did sometimes go a little overboard… But I was under control. And I was going to prove it.
~~~***~~~
I ordered a DriveMe at the airport for a ride to the resort. I could sense the driver was human, so I made a mental note to keep anything shifter related out of the conversation.
“So, what brings you up here?” he asked, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.
“Just visiting,”
“For the holidays? There’s a great Christmas market here!”
I sighed. “Just… for business,” I said honestly.
“Well, you should check out the market if you get a chance. I know how much you love Christmas!”
“Yeah, I…” I trailed off and frowned at the back of his head. What the hell did that mean?! My father’s words echoed in my head:I’ll be watching.Did he mean he had people spying on me?! Had he told this guy what was happening and was trying to lure me into talking about Christmas? I bit back a growl. Well,two could play at that game. “You must have heard wrong, I hate Christmas,” I retorted. Choke on that, Dad.
“What?” he cried. “I can’t imagine. I love it. I play Santa, when I’m not busy being a driver. I don’t even need a fake beard!” He turned slightly and stroked his white beard for emphasis.
I grunted for a response, hoping he’d take the hint. And, for a few minutes, he was quiet. But as we pulled up to the resort, he started up again.
“This place is beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, I love it,” I said, glad I could answer that honestly.
“It reminds me of Frostbourg. You ever been?”
“No.” I resisted the urge to say I’d love to go.”
“I stop by every year!” he laughed. “Well, here we are.”
