“Don’t,” I pleaded. “Today is hard enough.”
“Is that why you drank? Because you’re a shitty liar, whether or not you’ve been drinking.” Shit. What I had told him wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the whole truth.
“Sorry. I just… all the feels after all the years and they are jumbled and confused and on top of it that, the first time I see you is as my world is falling apart, and now I’m not even… never mind. Can we just go?”
I was babbling like a fool and oversharing thanks to my hungover, dumbass decision making, but Parker just nodded and held his arm out for me. I took it because I’m a masochist. As we made our way to his car, forgoing the taxi idea, this felt far more like the real deal than simply a way to get my parents off my back for a little while.
31
Parker
As I drove, Miles dozed in the seat next to me, still recovering, I supposed. What kind of crappy situation had life put him in that I was the only one he could turn to, the person who clearly stressed him out so much he needed to be liquored up to be able to handle the situation? I wondered if he’d been drinking before each of our diner dates, but no, he’d been driving. It must have been because I’d asked him over to my condo. Shit, I hadn’t even been thinking… but other people would. Why else would an unattached alpha ask an omega over to his house alone? I was a blind idiot. I should have just agreed to Café Om. He clearly felt comfortable there. I should have put aside my own issues. Or taken the time to find somewhere else we could meet. Another Om, even. There were enough of them in the city. I didn’t need to avoid them all just because my brother worked at one.
Thankfully, Miles had entered his parents’ address into the GPS before falling back asleep. When we were just a few minutes away, I woke him gently, and he blinked awake like an owl, his eyes large, and unfocused. I tore my gaze from the entrancing sight and focused on the road. The last thing we needed was to get in an accident. Yeah, Parker, that would be real helpful.
“Just pull up to the curb here in case you need to make a quick escape,” Miles said. I laughed, but he didn’t join me. I shifted into park and then jumped out to run around and open Miles, door, but he was up and closing the door behind him before I was halfway.
“I would have gotten that for you.”
He gave me a half-smile. “Sorry, habit.”
I hesitated before offering him my arm again, but figured we were in full-couple mode now. Even if Miles didn’t want to be close to me, didn’t want to touch me, I would offer. Whatever I would have done if this were real, if we were two people in love, considering spending the rest of our lives together, that’s what I would do.
It was painfully easy to imagine that path before us; it was much more difficult to keep reality in mind.
I hesitated at the front door. “What did you tell your parents about us being late?”
Miles shrugged. “I just said that we would be, I didn’t explain it.”
“Let me take the blame, then,” I said. Marcus started to protest. “Please?” I couldn’t read his expression as he nodded, turning to open the door and taking the lead, his hand dropping from my elbow to wrap his fingers around mine, pulling me behind him. My eyes couldn’t look away from our intertwined fingers. I couldn’t stop memorizing the exact spread of his wide fingers between mine.
“Dad? Mom? Sorry we’re late; Parker had a last-minute work emergency.”
I dragged my eyes up to the hard, judging gazes of his parents and I felt exactly like the person I was pretending to be: the suitor of their only child, hoping to be found worthy in the eyes of the people who meant most to him. For the first time in years, I felt my confidence waiver. I took a slow breath before stepping forward to greet them, my left hand clenching tightly around Miles’s.
I offered my hand to the man who was clearly the alpha. He was a stocky man, his hair a steely grey except at his temples, where it faded into white. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. Parker Spears.” His dad looked at my hand and took a long, slow sip of his wine before setting it deliberately down on the side table, standing slowly, and taking my hand in a crushing grip. This was a situation I was more than familiar with, and I met his grip and his eyes with equal strength. We were about the same height, so neither of us was able to press that advantage, and after a too-long moment, our test of wills ended and he relaxed his hand. I had been squeezing as hard as I could, and I’d only just matched his strength. His eyes didn’t change though, and I was sure whether or not I had passed the silent test.
“We’re happy you’ve finally found time to introduce yourself,” he said, reaching for his glass of wine. I darted a glance at Miles, but he had retreated behind an impassive mask and I found no support there. But I wasn’t the one who needed the support, I reminded myself. I was Miles’s support here. I pressed my mouth into my most winning smile and turned to Miles’s mother, turning my charm up to max. “And I can see where Miles gets his good looks.”
Miles certainly did take after his mother, slender, with an olive complexion and wide eyes. Where Miles’s dad hair was natural gray, though, his mother’s was dyed black, and her gaze was as flinty as her husband’s. “Those looks won’t last long if he doesn’t start attempting to take care of himself.” I caught the flash of disgust on her face as her eyes raked up and down Miles’s body.
An ember of anger burned within my chest. Miles had always defended his parents, always tried to match up to their expectations, and for his sake, I’d always tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but that look, let alone the words, broke that. If Miles had actually been mine, we would have been leaving right that moment. But he wasn’t, and I was here to make things better, not worse. My smile thinned, and I responded, “But with a natural beauty such as Miles, I find little care is needed. Anything additional is simply… artificial.”
His mother’s eyes narrowed as she processed my words and she snatched her hand away. “Dinner has been ready for nearly an hour. It’s probably gone cold, but it won’t do to waste it.”
She spun on her heel and her husband and son stepped in line to follow, but I pulled Miles back to whisper, “What am I supposed to call your parents? They didn’t bother to let me know.”
Miles’s blank façade dropped for a moment, and I could see a weariness that must have been years in the making. “Your best bet is to address my dad as Mr. Schofield and my mom as Mrs. Schofield-Witt.”
As we made our way to dinner, I realized I had completely forgotten the Bordeaux, and I was glad. Nothing I did would have improved this introduction, and it would have been a sin to waste good wine.
32
Miles
Dinner was, in fact, cold. That was an intentional move on Mom’s part to teach me a lesson, I was sure. When Parker told me to let him shoulder the blame for our tardiness, I had agreed too quickly. Had I thought it out, that explanation never would’ve escaped my lips. It had only set the tension in the room twenty times higher their already awful levels.
We ate in silence for a solid five minutes, which was unlike my folks. They had something up their sleeves and I was not ready to discover what.
“Mother, this is delicious.” It wasn’t a lie. Even cold, my mother made the best meatloaf in the state.
“I just feel awful that you couldn’t enjoy it the way it was meant to be eaten. You truly need to consider taking Andrew up on his offer. He would never treat you in such a manner.” Mother took another bite, her eyes daring me to press it further. Like a glutton for punishment, I did just that.
“Parker is owner of (insert name), and as such, it is reasonable for me to accommodate when work emergencies should arise.” I was pissed at myself for not denying Parker’s offer to shoulder my parents’ wrath. At least I had learned a long time ago how to handle it. Or at least, how not let it destroy me from the inside out. It wasn’t my fault that my personality didn’t coincide with my designation. Had I been more omega-like, my parents would’ve been prepared, an
d things would be better now.
“And sometimes alphas need to make tough choices. When was the last time you sacrificed for Miles, Parker? Ever?” My dad’s tone was venomous. Could things get any worse?
“I lost approximately a quarter of a million dollars when I rearranged my meeting with my Japanese team so that I could make Miles happy by attending your Sunday night dinner, which, I might add, is delicious.”
Yes. Yes, they could get worse. Had Parker actually done that? Thrown away all that money for my dumb ass?
“I didn’t realize.” I turned to him, my parents all but forgotten in that moment. I squeezed his hand and as our eyes met, something changed… or possibly, changed back. I couldn’t process shit, waiting for his answer. I needed to know.
“You needed me.” he said, but his eyes told a deeper story. Had he been pushing back all of the emotions from our past, the way I had been? Shit, we needed to be alone. There were too many questions, and none of them were for my parent’s ears.
I stood. “Dad, I apologize, but we need to go now.” I was so going to hear about this later but screw it, I was a man, not a child. I had enough money set aside to rent one of those by the week places while I found a better position, meaning any other position. “Dinner was wonderful, Mother.”
My parents sat dumbstruck for a moment, I stepped away from the table, not letting Parker’s hand go, inadvertently forcing him up as well. I cursed myself for bringing him into this mess, at a huge fiscal cost, no less. I was never going to be able to make it up to him.
We made it almost to the door before Dad found his voice, and it was ugly. “I arranged for you and Andrew to have a place at the inn for your heat next week.”
I stopped in my tracks, spinning to face him with a ferocity that felt as if it were from an entirely different person. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t whore me out, and that this evening never happened. What is wrong with you? I’m your son.”
Parker held my hand a bit tighter, urging me gently to the door and the get-away car. I had only been half joking about that earlier.
“You will not talk to your dad that way.” Of course, it was Mother defending Dad, like always. I closed my eyes, shaking my head, willing this all to be a dream.
“I suggest you rethink how you treat Miles. He is an amazing man and more than his omega status. His intelligence far exceeds any of ours; he’s a brilliant litigator, and he’s far more forgiving than any of us deserve.” With that, Parker marched us out, never giving me the option to do anything but follow.
Holy shit. I had just walked out on my parents. With an alpha who wasn’t even mine.
Parker opened the passenger door, kissing me gently on the cheek as he guided me in. It was a comforting touch, but that message was interpreted a little differently by my lower region. Between the adrenaline of what just went down and the intense joy Parker’s words swirled in me, I was feeling everything I had been blocking for years. I was in trouble.
Parker strode to his side of the car as my parents pretended not to peek out the front window. I double checked that my phone was off. I wouldn’t be in any shape to handle anything they had to say. Not yet anyway.
Parker climbed in, started the car, and drove off in silence. His anger pounded from him like a second heartbeat.
“I’m sorry. You can take me to the City Center Motel, if that’s alright?” My meekness surprised me. I was a man who knew what he wanted, but it was emotional flagellation to admit that the cheap, grimy motel where it was rumored you could rent by the hour was the best I could afford, especially to a man who’d just given up a quarter of a million dollars to fulfil a favor I’d asked.
“If that’s alright?” His question was rhetorical. I was making him angrier. “Are you still fucking drunk? No, that’s not alright. You are mine, and we are going home. This is not a conversation to be had behind the wheel.”
Every memory of the accident that had changed our lives and ended our relationship was burned into my brain. I had gathered up every tiny tidbit of information, as if I could somehow piece together an answer to any of my questions. Why me? Why us? The driver who hit me had been arguing with his ex on the phone. He was emotional; he ran a red light; he slammed into me and changed the entire trajectory of our lives.
I could barely answer a phone in a car now, or have a conversation. I definitely wasn’t going to initiate a fight.
We finished the drive in silence. Only when Parker pulled into his spot did he say anything, and it was only to tell me to stay put until he got my door. He was all alpha now, and for once, I needed that more than anything. When he opened the door, he pulled me to my feet, and within seconds I found myself standing, his lips slamming into mine, shock burning and quaking my entire body.
33
Parker
Protect. Love. Mine. Safe. Need. Home.
I realized after a moment, my emotions ripping through my logic and claiming Miles’s lips, that Miles wasn’t kissing me back, and I broke away, panting. His wide eyes followed my every move as I took another step back, running my hands through my hair, and then down my face. I needed to get him home. Safe. Behind a locked door. But I couldn’t force him.
“Come,” I said, the word more commanding than I wanted it, but Miles stepped toward me immediately, and I was relieved to see no fear or hesitancy in his expression. I lifted my arm as though to tuck it around him, but stopped myself, remembering how he had froze under my lips. But he stepped into the shelter of my arm and I let it drop across his shoulders. He slid an arm around my waist and shivered.
Miles was a bag of mixed signals, but I honestly couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t imagine how I would have react if my parents had tried to set me up to do the dirty with anyone, let alone set me up with an old alpha I had no interest in during an omega’s most vulnerable time.
We were quiet again as we rode the elevator up to my apartment. As I closed the door behind us and locked it, I banged my head against it. That bottle of wine was already open. Maybe I should just finish it tonight. No, the last thing I needed right now was to lose any control of myself, especially where Miles was concerned. Lost in my own thoughts, I jerked in surprise when Miles came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and pressing his body against my back.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
I turned to face him. “For what? I didn’t do much. You were the one who stood up to your parents. That was pretty amazing by the way.”
Miles blushed and looked down. “I’ve never stood up to them like that before, unless you count getting a job after school. But I do need to thank you about what you said back there. About…” Miles cleared his throat, choking, unable to repeat my words. “About being brilliant. And the rest of it. No one has ever said anything that nice about me.”
I tilted his chin up so that I could see his face. “Surely others must have seen how amazing you are. And I must have told you a thousand times… back then.”
“You did,” Miles agreed. “But you’re the only one.”
I closed my eyes in pain, but opened them in shock as Miles’s lips pressed softly against mine. My reservations from before faded, and I dived in, reveling in the remembered feel of Miles’s kisses as well as the reality. There was a confidence and a desperation that hadn’t been there before. I held back from letting my hands roam the way they wanted to, though. This was as far as I could go. I lost myself until Miles broke the kiss. “Why did you say yes to dinner with my parents?”
“I could never refuse you.”
He rested his forehead against mine, and said, “Thank you. It was hard to admit that I—I needed you.”
“You don’t need me. Look at you. You’re amazing. You’re doing so good without me.”
“Really? Jobless? Homeless? Kicked out of my parents?”
“You’re not homeless,” I growled. “I have a spare room, and it’s yours for as long as you need it.”
“Why are you being so good to me?”
> “You deserve it.”
Miles shook his head, tears brimming in his eyes. “I’m not. You’re the only one who has ever seen me that way.”
“Then the rest of the world is blind.” I leaned forward to kiss Miles again, but froze as Miles pressed a palm to my chest.
“How did this all happen?” His voice broke, and I wrapped my arms around him even tighter.
“The reason you were walking alone that night was because I was being an ass. The reason you were pregnant was because I was irresponsible. If I had been more understanding… been thinking clearly…”
“We might not be here.”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t you want to be here, Parker? With me?”
“Miles, there’s nothing I want more in the world, but there’s so much I can’t fix, so much I’ve fucked up—“
“Parker, do you still love me?”
I closed my eyes, my heart shredding as I admitted, “I’ve never stopped.”
“Then stop trying to send me away, at least for tonight?”
I nodded. “Okay.” Miles curled into my chest and I wrapped my arms around him. He felt so damn fragile, I was afraid I would crush him with a flick of my wrist, with an ill-considered word.
“Parker?”
“Yes, Miles.”
“I need…” He tensed under my hands, and I suddenly couldn’t swallow, a knot blocking my throat.
“Tell me, babe. Whatever it is, I’ll do it, just don’t keep it from me.”
“I just need you to be in charge right now. Take control. Make me feel everything is going to be all right.”
Miles was asking me for the very thing I was terrified to do. I was terrified to accept his trust, certain I’d do something to break it again. I was terrified to promise things would get better, certain I’d make them worse. I was terrified that once I had another taste of him, I wouldn’t be able to bear letting him go.
Reclaiming His Omega Page 11