Reclaiming His Omega Page 16
Lisa went to work. I nearly called Miles to seek his legal advice, and, if I was honest with myself, for his comfort. But I knew he was spending the morning getting his own legal ducks in a row, and it would probably be a conflict of interest if he did attempt to help me, anyway. Within minutes, I had someone drafting a severance letter, another researching state and local regulations, and three others at the bidding of the other two. By nine am, she reported that Timothy had arrived, and I had everything in place, as well as the authorities waiting for my call.
“Let him know I’d like to see him, and notify the investigation team that they can access his office.”
While I was waiting, I straightened my shirt sleeves, popping the cuff links back in, and put my jacket back on like a medieval knight donning his armor. My legal team stood silently to the side, waiting.
“Parker!” Timothy exclaimed as he walked in, his smile wide and his voice boisterous, not noticing the men standing to the far left of the room at first. “Have you finally decided to take me up on that offer to teach you golf?”
I smiled thinly, ignoring his outstretched hand. Timothy had been with me since nearly the very beginning. From when we were a company of only twenty people to now. His betrayal weighed all the more heavily from our history.
“Timothy. I was hoping you could explain this report.” I handed him the same report Lisa had handed me that morning.
Timothy’s eyes began to dart nervously, and he seemed to finally notice the lawyers standing to the side. He skimmed the first page of the report in confusion, but by the time he reached the second page, he dropped the papers and bolted toward the door, but he was too late. Two uniformed police officers blocked his exit, and I could tell the moment he accepted his defeat. They quickly read him his rights and cuffed him, leading him silently from my office. All in all, it was a much less dramatic event than I had been expecting. I’d expected Timothy to yell, to protest his innocence, but the moment he realized he was caught, he clammed up. A smart move. Probably the only smart move he’d made in this whole mess.
What had possessed him?
I’d have my answers later, I hoped, after the investigation team was done with him. I had no interest in interviewing him myself. I couldn’t spare the time or energy, not with a company to run, to recover, and an omega to tend to.
Most of my morning was taken up with assisting the police, until Lisa finally sat me down and pushed a fast food hamburger into my hands. I only ate it because she wouldn’t stop looming over me with a glare until I finished it. Then she left me alone, the cops left, the lawyers left, and it was just me and my thoughts.
My phone dinged.
My reciprocity went through! Tonight we celebrate ;)
The cold burn that had settled into the bottom of my heart when Lisa explained Timothy’s betrayal eased away as I began typing back with Miles. I gave him a brief rundown of my morning, but the anger and rage I’d felt faded. Every negative thing in my life paled in the knowledge that he was mine once more and forever.
48
Miles
“It’s so good to see you again.” I pulled Jace into a half hug—his pregnant belly preventing me from anything more. He looked so radiant.
“You too, my friend.”
We took our seats in the new bakery one of his friends from Omega House had started. Everything smelled and looked delicious, as anyone seeing my plate could attest to. A muffin, croissant, and éclair were a well-rounded breakfast... or so I tried unsuccessfully to convince myself.
“I…” Jace began reluctantly as I took a sip of my tea, the coffee snob in me unable to accept their drip coffee as a decent choice of beverage. “I wanted to apologize for disappearing all those years ago. I handled things poorly.”
I thought back to that day, the day our tests came in. I had never believed I’d be an alpha upon maturity, it just wasn’t who I was, but I held out hope I’d be a beta and have an easier path in my chosen field. But I had showed everyone who thought omegas couldn’t make good lawyers, at least briefly, as I graduated top in my class and poised for partner.
Jace, on the other hand, had been banking on being an alpha. He had scholarships lined up, his entire future planned out and everything had been yanked out from under him with that one little test result. We both dealt with the same thing differently, but lost contact along the way.
“You reacted the only way you could. Everyone knew you were an alpha.”
“Except I wasn’t.” He rubbed his belly as if to amplify his point.
“Exactly. No one could’ve handled it any better than you did.”
“You became a lawyer.”
“Not the same thing. I hoped I was an alpha, but was sure I was a beta. Big difference. Speaking of which—guess who got his reciprocity?” I’d gotten the email verification only an hour earlier and was about to explode if I didn’t tell someone, anyone. I wanted Parker to be the first, but I didn’t want to interrupt his work, so I was waiting until lunch time. Not that I didn’t have the text ready to send as soon as the clock struck noon.
“That’s amazing.” He popped the last of his muffin into his mouth, brushing the crumbs off of his growing belly. “And part of why I asked you here.”
“So not for my dashing good looks?” I laughed as I polished off the éclair.
“More to ask you to consider coming down to Omega House.”
Omega House was for omegas in need. That wasn’t me. Was he worried that Parker wasn’t a good match for me? He knew Parker outside of his relationship with me, so that made no sense.
“I’m happy with Parker.” I didn’t know what else to say. “Thanks” felt wrong. And “okay” even worse.
“No. Not that, dumbasss,” He threw his hands up in exasperation. “I mean to look around and see if you might consider applying for a new grant position we have.”
Grant positions, where salaries go to die and long hours are only matched by lack of respect in your professional community.
“I already have a job offer at Fisher & Finkel pending my reciprocity which is in. Partnership track.” It hadn’t been my first choice of firms, but given my connection to my father’s firm I was left with less choices than I would’ve liked. No one wanted to hire from their competition. That said, it was a solid offer in a place I could thrive. I hadn’t given them the definitive yes, but I was going to take it. I’d be a fool not to.
“Which is amazing, but please consider at least checking it out.”
A pleading pregnant childhood friend seemed to be my kryptonite.
“Tell me more.” I sighed as I dug into my muffin. Darn, I was hungry.
He preceded to tell me all about the new position. Its focus was on helping omegas at their facility. Many of them needed to get proper identification, to sever their legal ties to abusive alphas, to apply for emancipation, etc. All easy things any lawyer could do. As Jace explained it, the problem was not that there were no lawyers who could handle it, but that many of the omegas froze when an alpha probono lawyer strutted in. Jace’s hope was that having an omega would open the door so they could utilize the legal system to make their lives better.
I couldn’t find fault in his logic and found myself agreeing to meet with them the next day. It couldn’t hurt to check it out.
“I can’t even tell you how happy that makes me. And we even have a nursery for when the baby comes.”
“That’s not in our immediate plans.” I didn’t go into our past, it wasn’t the time nor the place.
“Oh,” Jace drank his tea down. “Sorry, I assumed with the tea and all the food and the glowing.”
“You’re fine,” I reassured. “It’s actually a good thing you brought it up. We need to pick a better date for the interview. I nearly forgot about my heat.”
“And when does it start?”Jace was looking far too smug for my liking.
“Personal much?” I sassed as he quirked his eyebrow. He wasn’t letting it go. “Fine. Tomorrow.”
He was right. Crap. I felt normal. Hungry, a bit tired from all my Parker time, but not at all the neediness that usually came right before my heat. Either something was wrong with me… or I was pregnant. Dare I allow myself to hope?
“I can’t be pregnant.” But even as I said it, I began to believe it was a lie. A baby. Was this my second chance with Parker?
“Did you have sex?”
“Yes. But not during my heat.” That hadn’t prevented my first pregnancy. Shit, that time I had never even had a heat.
“Then let me tell you a story.” And Jace went on to tell me all about his pregnancy as my mind wandered to how I might tell Parker.
The first time, I had come to him in tears, panicked about the future. This time would be different. This time we would celebrate and the tears would be happy, not fearful.
As my alarm went off at noon, I hugged Jace good-bye, promising to be at the meeting the next day and shot Parker my original text. I didn’t want to tell him until I was sure.
Off to the drug store I went.
I was going to be a dad. I could feel it.
49
Parker
I went home early for the first time in… Well never mind how long. My entire day had been lost to the embezzlement issue, and as much as I wanted to let it go and move on, I knew it wasn’t over. Something at the back of my mind was niggling, like there was a piece I’d missed, but right now, I just wanted to relax with Miles, maybe order dinner in. Tomorrow, I had to go through the whole mess of setting up my new CFO. Lisa didn’t know it yet, but she was getting a big promotion. And I was going to have to train a new assistant, damn it.
I didn’t call or text, figuring I’d surprise him, get a big kiss and maybe sneak away to bed with him. His look of dismay when I came in ruined that idea.
“You’re not supposed to be home for another two hours!” he said, dismayed.
I tried to keep my disappointment from showing on my face, but my ability to wear my masks completely failed with Miles now. Immediately, he was at my side. “I’m sorry, that sounded awful.” He kissed me, wiping away some of my weariness. “I actually expected you might be working late with all the upset at the office, and I was planning on making dinner.”
I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck, taking comfort in his nearness. “Why don’t we just order in tonight? I want to be lazy.”
“I… well… I suppose…”
“We can save dinner for another night, if you haven’t done too much work on it yet.”
Miles pulled away, but grabbed my hand to pull me after him. “Well, the surprise is partially ruined, but let’s see if you can figure the last part out.”
I looked at what he had laid on the counter as he waited expectantly. A jar of those tiny corns. A bag of carrots. A package of ribs. Some potatoes.
“You were… going to make some Korean ribs?”
Miles rolled his eyes. “First of all, that is way too fancy for me. Second of all, no. Look: baby corn, baby carrots, baby back ribs, new potatoes…”
His emphasis was too pointed to ignore. “You’re not…”
He handed me a flat box, like something a piece of jewelry might come in, but when I opened it, there was a pregnancy test. One of those fancy digital ones, and it screamed PREGNANT.
My eyes burned and I couldn’t speak. “But we didn’t… you’re not…” Something tickled my cheeks and I wiped at it, smearing wetness across my face. “I’m crying,” I said dumbly.
Miles was crying too, a giant smile on his face. “We’re going to be dads. Again.”
Again. Dads. Baby. On top of the seriously terrible day I’d just had, I went into emotional overload and blanked out, the tears still leaking form the corners of my eyes, my nose filling up with snot.
“Are you happy?” Miles asked.
“I’m—I’m—” Terrified. Frozen. “Ecstatic. I love you.”
Miles seemed to understand, and he slowly pulled me back to the bedroom and helped me slide out of my work clothes. We crawled in bed, but simply cuddled. Soon enough, my tears gave way to giddy laughter. I was still absolutely terrified, but with Miles here, safe in my bed, I was able to set that terror to the side for the moment, and thank whatever powers that be for this second chance at everything.
50
Miles
I had to give it to Omega House. They were impressive, and the work they were doing blew my mind. They housed, educated, and helped begin the emotional healing of omegas from all walks of life and situations—from kids whose parents discovered their status before they were legally allowed to test to omegas saved from human trafficking, to omegas who were just down on their luck and everything in between.
“Mr. Johnson, I have to admit, I came here as a favor for a friend, but I am beyond impressed.”
Sitting in the grant coordinator’s office, I was unsure for the first time. The offer from Fisher & Finkel was everything I ever wanted, yet my gut was telling me I belonged here.
“The pay is dismal and may eventually run out. We are on a three year grant right now, so there’s no guarantee.” Mr. Johnson slid a pile of papers my way. “Working here is a calling—for all of us. As far as career moves go, it’s not wise.”
“It sounds like you’re trying to talk me out of it,” I scoffed. He was right on all accounts. Jace had already prepared me for the harsh reality of working for a non-profit.
“I’m not telling you anything you probably didn’t know.” He chuckled. “Those are the contracts. We need you here, which is a very unprofessional way of offering you a job, but so be it.”
“Don’t you need to run me by a board or something?”
“Is that a no?” Mr. Johnson challenged, standing up and heading to the door without me. “Well, come on then. I need to show you something.”
I understood Mr. Johnson not at all, but I liked him. He was there as a calling, as he put it. His heart belonged to this place and I could see why. I jumped out of my chair, scampering after him as he took me into a room we hadn’t been before. It turned out to be no more than a closet with a window looking into the daycare. An observation room.
“This, Miles, is why we are here.” He pointed to the window. “These kids are here because they have been let down by society in one way or another. Some are omegas, whose parents tested and rejected them, some have parents who were part of an omega ring, some were homeless all their life. But do you know what they all have?”
I looked at him, unsure where he was going with this. My hand rested on my belly, happy that I could offer my child so much more than these children had. A wave of guilt swelled in my gut over having thought, even briefly, that I could turn down this job.
“These children all have hope because people like you answered their call and came here. Some for a season, some for the long haul. We aren’t asking for you to offer your entire career to Omega House, but please consider giving us some of it.” Mr. Johnson’s passion was like an arrow to my emotional Achilles Heel, I found myself tearing up.
“I need to talk to my alpha. He was a little weird about me coming here,” I confessed. He’d gone all cave-man since he found out we were expecting. Not that I could blame him, not after last time.
“I understand.” His shoulders slumped. The man was not one to hide emotions well. “He probably wants you accepting a job more befitting your success.”
“Hardly.” It was a challenge not to laugh. “He wants me to stay home ensconced in bubble wrap until our baby is born.”
“I didn’t realize. Congratulations.” Mr. Johnson’s smile brightened the dark room. “You do know that the nursery is open to omegas on staff and that baby wearing during non-court appearances would be perfectly acceptable.”
“We hadn’t gotten much further than yay baby, but those things are good to know. My brain is telling me to take the partnership track at Fi
sher & Finkel, but my gut tells me this is where I belong. I do need to talk to Parker before I commit, but my heart is here.”
Mr. Johnson enveloped me in a hug, thanking me, all professionalism out the door. This was so not like my last job, which probably made it perfect.
51
Parker
Why did Omega House want Miles to come in on a Saturday? My logical brain knew they weren’t trying to push my buttons, but without the routines of the office to distract me, I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things that could go wrong while Miles was out in the world without me.
When Miles had told me about his plan to go tour Omega House today, I’d thought it was a matter of course that I would go with him. Miles gently shut that idea down, though. I didn’t handle it well. He was right, though. Just because he was pregnant didn’t mean he was an invalid. And I didn’t think that, and he knew that. We both knew that my issues were entirely related to our past trauma. But this is one of those ways where Miles was so much stronger than I was. He had dealt with so much of this years ago, while I had shoved it in a box that had burst open when he announced we were pregnant again.
He hadn’t said anything, but I was seriously considering talking to a therapist. Something Miles had said to me, that it wasn’t fair to either of us to let the past define us, kept ringing in my head. Miles had enough going on right now with the new job situation and being pregnant. It wasn’t fair of me to burden him with all my angst, especially when he had handled his on his own.
All that said, I was still practically shredding my hands by clenching my hands so tightly that the nails were starting to cut and bruise my palms.
I needed something to do. I glanced around the room, suddenly realizing how lived-in my once-pristine apartment was. I liked it. But… it had been a while since we had picked things up. I’d rushed out and bought a bunch of baby things before Miles called a halt to that too. He wanted the whole nine yards, baby shower, couple shopping, whatever else it would take to prepare for the baby. I was just frantic to get everything ready now, so that I knew it was ready, even though we had months to go yet.