by Aiden Bates
“You’ve been in his house?” Kirby froze in place as all color drained from his face. “What right do you have to go into my omega’s house?”
“He’s not your omega!” Cody shot to his feet. “He’s not your omega, he’s not Adrian’s goddamn property, and he’s not my omega! He’s his own person, and he’s going to stay that way if the sheriff has to haul each and every one of you down to Jamesville.”
“He belongs to me!” Kirby advanced on Cody, pointing a shaking finger at him. “You have no right to touch him!”
“The only person who gets to decide who touches Austin is Austin! Now, I’m not going to claim him, because he doesn’t want me to. But he doesn’t want you, either, and I will defend to the death his right to say no to you. You get the hell out of my office, Texas boy, before I get the police down here and we see just how far a harassment charge will stretch.”
Kirby snarled, but he left the office. Cody winced as he slammed the door behind him, worried for the glass, but everything held. His hands shook as the adrenaline left him. He’d wanted to reach out and deck Kirby, or worse.
He picked up the phone and called Austin. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to be that clingy guy that got uptight and needy just because they’d had sex once, for crying out loud. Still, he had to say something. The guy had an order of protection out on Kirby, and Kirby’s visit to Cody might effect Austin’s safety.
Austin picked up the phone. “Hello?” His voice radiated tension, the kind that would need lots of wine and a five-hour backrub to erase. Cody could offer that.
He didn’t. “Austin, it’s me, Cody. Calling you from the landline. I just got a visit from Kirby Freaking Lloyd.”
Austin spat out an epithet that Cody hadn’t realized he knew. “Did he hurt you?”
Cody laughed out loud, grinning in spite of himself. “You’re kidding, right? I’m a big, New York alpha. I can take care of myself, and besides. I fight dirty. I just thought you should know because of the whole protection order thing.”
“Ugh.” Austin took a deep breath, audible through the phone system. “Man, I’m sorry he did that. It’s completely inappropriate. I’m going to call my lawyer right away—I was going to do that anyway, Adrian sent his omega over—but that’s not your problem.”
Cody’s hands balled into fists. “Actually Kirby told me they were sending Adrian’s omega over. I warned him just how effective that would be, but you know alphas. We don’t listen well.”
Austin’s return laugh was only a little hysterical. “Well, I’m just glad you’re okay. If you get a call from Larry Wilde, that’s my attorney. He might involve the sheriff, and that’s okay with me. If you’d rather not be involved that’s also okay, you don’t owe me anything.”
“It’s fine, Austin.” Cody wanted to offer to come by after the wedding, just to be on the safe side. He hadn’t liked the look on Kirby’s face. Instead, he just sighed. “Stay safe, okay?”
Chapter Seven – Contents
Austin hired two omegas through the Omega Shelter. One was a shy young guy named Jimmy who was originally from Liverpool. He’d wound up in the Omega Shelter after he’d gotten pregnant without a claim. He’d given the baby up for adoption, but his parents had wanted nothing to do with him after that. The other was an older omega by the name of Dan. He’d never settled down with an alpha, the burn scar on his face possibly scaring them off, and had found himself homeless after his brother suddenly died. Both men were eager to learn, and Austin was pretty sure that they would be a good fit for him and for Jamie.
They started on Tuesday with just Austin to train them. Between the Omega Shelter’s housing assistance program and a little help from Austin, they were able to rent a place that was only a fifteen-minute walk from the shop, and that they could move into right away. Austin knew the landlord; he’d been a regular customer for years. Dan and Jimmy were both ecstatic to have rooms to themselves and have jobs. They would work hard for Austin, and Austin looked forward to a long relationship with both of them.
On Wednesday, his lawyer came in for a meeting. They met in the tasting room, because Larry liked to have a little bit of wine to help soften any difficult discussions. This, both Austin and Larry knew, was going to be a difficult discussion. “So,” Larry said, once Austin had filled their glasses with a delicious Grenache. “Let’s talk about your family situation. I’ll be very honest. This whole thing where Adrian is threatening to have you declared incompetent and institutionalize you is so very nineteenth century. I don’t think it’s got a snowball’s chance in hell of happening.”
Austin felt the first flutter of hope in his chest, but he quelled it. Larry knew the law, but he didn’t know Adrian. “Okay. It’s a remote possibility, but Adrian’s a pretty determined guy. I’m pretty sure, at this point, that he doesn’t give even half a crap about me. All this nonsense about duty and family and all of that crap, it’s just to get at my money. Is there any way that we can get a look at his financial statements or his records or anything like that?”
Larry twirled his glass between his fingers, staring at the dark red liquid inside. “I can’t legally get access to his bank balances, no. Not without actually filing suit against him for some cause that would require looking at his assets. That is one avenue that we could investigate—publicly accusing him of showing up now specifically to get access to your assets. I’m not sure that’s the track we want to try, though. Not yet. We can go that route if we have to.”
“Why wouldn’t we want to do it yet? It seems like a good way to chase his sorry ass back to Texas.” Austin bit down on the inside of his cheek.
“Because, Austin. That’s public information—once you go that route—and you don’t want to drag your business into disrepute. It doesn’t matter that you’re the victim here. All that people are going to see is that Austin Baines, who has a liquor license that yes, needs to be renewed, has gotten into a huge legal battle with a family member. That doesn’t look good. The protection orders are bad enough, my friend. They were absolutely necessary, don’t get me wrong, but as your attorney I think it’s best if we avoid courtroom proceedings if at all possible.” Larry reached into his briefcase and pulled out a file folder. “Instead, I’ve created a poison pill.”
Austin swallowed his disappointment. “Well now, that sounds ominous.”
“You were concerned, and rightly so I think, about the possibility that your brother’s friend would try to force a claim on you. I told you that I would look into ways to protect your assets.” Larry thumped a hand onto the folder. “Inside are very detailed documents that will create a living trust in the event that you are incapacitated, declared incompetent, or claimed by an alpha.”
Cody’s face flashed before Austin’s eyes. He forced it away. Cody wasn’t going to claim him. Besides, he didn’t want to be claimed, not even by the only alpha who had ever made him feel safe. “It sounds good.”
“Do you even know what that is?”
“Sort of.” Austin glanced over at Larry. “I guess you’re going to tell me.”
“I kind of have to, buddy. It means that in the event that you are declared to be incompetent or incapacitated, your assets are immediately transferred over to a trust. I am a trustee, as are Brian O’Rourke and a couple of other people I know you’re close with. We protect your assets and make sure that you’re taken care of. In the event of your death, we ensure that your estate is distributed according to the plan you wanted. That’s a simplistic explanation, of course, but there you have it. In essence, these documents take away any incentive that Adrian might have for trying to force you to get together with Kirby.”
Austin reached for a pen. “Let me read those puppies over and I’ll sign right now. They don’t take effect until I am declared incompetent, correct?”
“That’s right.” Larry cleared his throat. “If you were to have an alpha who you wanted to be with, who you wanted to be claimed by, of course you could file the paperwork to revoke th
e trust before it went into effect.”
“Not going to happen, Larry.” Austin ignored the reproachful look that Cody’s pretend face gave him in the back of his mind. “I’m mated to the wine shop. This doesn’t change my will, does it? Half of the cash value goes to Jamie, and the other half goes to the Omega Shelter.”
“That’s still the case, yes.” Larry passed him the pen. “I think this is a good way to protect yourself and your assets from your brother.”
Austin read through the documents. His head throbbed from all of the legalese, but he forced himself to at least scan every page until the end. “Looks good.” He signed everywhere that he was supposed to sign and sat back. Only then did he sip from his glass. “I’ve got to say, Larry, that’s a huge load off my mind.”
“I can only imagine. Your brother’s opening himself up for a serious harassment charge, sending his omega to try to argue with you when he himself has been banned from your property. I take it that the discussion went poorly?”
Austin snorted. “Paul’s not very sympathetic. He’s completely under Adrian’s thumb, so much so that he actually believes that way is best. And I feel bad that Adrian did that to him. I do. But I don’t feel bad enough that I’m going to let someone do it to me.” He sipped again. “He tried to put himself above me too, you know? As my brother’s omega, that kind of thing.”
Larry wrinkled his nose. “Are alphas and omegas really that tribal?”
Austin shook his head. “Nah. I mean once upon a time, sure. I mean yeah, there are a lot of old-school traditional types, but you get that with betas too, right? You get modern, progressive betas who believe in equality. You get a spectrum of betas who think that women have more of a responsibility with the kids, or should be more dutiful toward their husbands, or whatever. And then you get a few, really old-school, fire-and-brimstone types who think women shouldn’t leave the house without their husband’s permission. You get that with alphas and omegas too.”
“Okay. So this isn’t culturally normal.” Larry nodded, seeming to relax a little.
“No.” Austin chuckled a little. “Around the time Adrian went off to prep school, he hooked up with some alpha supremacist group. Like a cult, but without the God or affection.” He put his glass down. “Now, our family had always been pretty traditional, right? There was no reason for an omega to go to prep school, because he was just going to stay home and make babies anyway. They treated me like a daughter. But Adrian came home with all of these wild ideas, and Mom and Dad, and our younger brothers, they bought right in. I was pretty much the only one standing back and saying, ‘Now hold on just a minute.’ And that was before he told his friend Kirby that he could ‘have’ me.”
“I see.” Larry squirmed. “Wow that’s repulsive.”
“Don’t go thinking that all Texans are like that. Like I said, it’s a cult. It could happen anywhere.” Austin shrugged. Their ideas are getting a lot more attention these days, which is disturbing, but they must strike a chord with some people.” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess it’s an uncertain world and there will always be some people who just want to be taken care of. I’m lucky. I’ve always been able to handle myself okay.”
Larry drummed his fingers on the table for a quick second. “Well, you sure have. Obviously the best way to keep you safe would be for you to get mated to a different alpha.” He held up his hand. “I get that’s kind of the opposite of what you want, but it has to be said. It sounds like these guys would at least respect another alpha’s claim.”
Austin’s skin crawled at the thought of anyone but Cody having that kind of control. “I can only think of one that I’d even be willing to hear that word from.” He looked down and away. “And I won’t.”
“Kirby showed up at his office for a reason, Austin.” Larry shifted in his seat, making it squeak.
Austin looked back up at him. “One night does not a relationship make. He hasn’t so much as emailed with a wine order. It’s a very subtle hint. And I can live with that. I don’t need some alpha. Besides.” He forced a grim smile, knowing that it was more like a grimace. “I don’t know that they would respect another alpha’s claim, at that. For all I know, they’d just try to override it.”
Larry’s jaw dropped. “That can happen?”
“Oh, sure.” Austin clutched at his stomach. “It can happen. It’s not pleasant and it’s not a sure thing. It all depends on which alpha is stronger. I honestly think I’d kill them all at that point, Larry.”
“I don’t think anyone would blame you.” He tugged at his collar. “So anyway. I spoke to the sheriff’s department about Kirby’s visit to Mr. Howell, and here I think it does behoove you to press forward with a claim of harassment. Your name has already been associated with legal action in this matter, so trying to hide it does you no good, and it demonstrates a continued effort to protect yourself and your associates from Mr. Lloyd’s behavior.”
Austin waved a hand. “Let’s do that, then. If you think it’s going to help, let’s do that. Can we press charges against Adrian for sending Paul in?”
“I think we can, actually. I’m still trying to poke at the existing law about alphas and omegas, but assuming that the law holds I think that it’s a good idea.”
Austin nodded. “Then let’s do that. I don’t want to give them the impression that they have any encouragement to be hanging around and pestering me.”
“Good plan.” Larry finished his wine. “Well, it’s been good talking to you. If there’s anything else that I can do for you, let me know.”
“You know I will, Larry. Thanks for all your help.” Austin shook his lawyer’s hand and walked him out.
Once Larry was gone, he gave the rest of the staff some instructions and then escaped back to his office. He had orders to process, and some appointments to schedule now that he could. Before he could get to that, though, he wanted to check up on something first.
He’d asked Larry to check into Adrian’s finances, and Larry’s explanation as to why he couldn’t had made perfect sense. There was no reason that Austin couldn’t do a simple records search, though, right?
It didn’t take that long. Seconds, really. Did Adrian take him for a fool? Did he think a decade and a half of fraternal feeling would somehow drown out self-preservation and common sense? It was all right there, in black and white.
Adrian really was an investment banker. He really was making good money with his firm. He’d bought more houses than he could afford, but who hadn’t during those halcyon days of the real estate boom? Paul’s father was sick, though, and Paul’s family had burned through their family fortune caring for him already. It looked like he’d taken over payments for the in-laws’ home as well. There had also been a few lawsuits filed against him as one of several partners in a real estate development scheme that had gone belly-up and not paid their obligations to their workers.
Austin recoiled from his screen in disgust. Once, Adrian had been a good guy. He’d been a fun brother, someone good to run and play with. They’d come up with a thousand madcap schemes in the privacy of their rooms, innocent fun that hurt no one and only rarely destroyed property. Now he was the kind of dirtbag real estate investor who didn’t pay the craftsmen who worked on his properties and oh yeah, he’d forced himself on his own omega.
Did Adrian even remember those long-ago days? If he did, he probably hated the thought. It was pretty clear what he thought of Adrian, of all omegas. They were just stepping-stones on the path to gratification for alphas. He’d been saying exactly that ever since he’d gone off to prep school.
Back then, Austin had been devastated that he hadn’t been allowed to go to school alongside his brother. He’d resented going to public school. Adrian had fought the choice right up until he’d gotten to prep school. Austin hadn’t heard from him after that, not until he came home for Thanksgiving break as a completely new person.
He rubbed at his face, burying it in his hands. It was who his brother had beco
me, and now he had to deal with it. Maybe the “poison pill” living trust would be enough to turn Adrian away. Maybe he’d seek a source of funds someplace else. Maybe he’d liquidate one of his investment accounts, or sell his house and move into something cheaper. Maybe he would give up on chasing the brother who’d outsmarted him and go back to Texas, saving money on the bed and breakfast.
If he’d just called, Austin would have given him a loan.
He hadn’t, and now they were in a mess. Alphas. They always had to complicate things.
***
Cody went home on Wednesday night after a very long day. He’d all but lost it with one of his “preferred” florists, Tornincasa Floral, when Vinny Tornincasa called to tell him that Bridezilla Number Three, whose wedding was three weeks away, wasn’t going to be able to get the Fair Trade Certified white roses for the pew decorations that she’d adamantly insisted were vital for the future solidity and even legitimacy of her marriage. Vinny told him that Bridezilla Three could have conventional white roses, or Fair Trade Certified roses in a different color, but that a rose blight in Costa Rica had wiped out the white roses that he could get.
There had been tears. When that wouldn’t work, there had been a tantrum. There had been cursing, and begging, and finally death threats. That had been the line that Cody would not allow to be crossed, no matter how pressured his client was about the wedding. “Miss Reeve, I will not tolerate treatment like that. You’ll receive my final bill in the mail, along with all of the contracts and a statement of progress for your wedding. I wish you and your fiancé the best of luck in your future life together.” And then he’d hung up the phone.
The woman’s father, who was in fact footing the bill for the whole shindig, came down to the office to bluster at him. When Cody clarified his daughter’s words for Reeve, the older man calmed down, but he still tried to convince Cody to stay on the project, which Cody wasn’t willing to do. He did take the time to sit down with the father, show him the timeline, and explain to him what needed to be done.