The second Brad collected his phone, he groaned at the five missed calls reinforcing his concerns about Lionel. He hadn’t been joking when he said he was going to cut all ties with Pennington, heck no. The man had hurt his mate, and that had resulted in turning Brad’s rushing and forgetfulness into a pile of rejection his mate wore like a lead overcoat.
Brad wasn’t going to stand for that.He was a man of action, it was how he achieved so much. So he made a list of priorities as he dialed Dad.
“This is unexpected. Is there a problem?” Dad answered in the way of a greeting.
“Sorry for the early call, but I needed to pass something by you.”
“That sounds ominous.”
Brad heard his mom’s voice in the background asking what was up.
“Shush, woman, and give Brad a chance to speak. Go on, what happened?”
Brad gave Dad the very short version of last night's events, keeping Lionel’s upset to himself. “So, Pennington, because Lionel mated to me, has cut him out of the pride. I got the feeling this could affect Lionel’s business.”
“Why, that jumped-up little prick thinking my son’s not good enough for their pride!”
“Dad… Dad, I don’t think I factored in there more than I have a penis rather than lady bits.” Brad couldn’t help but chuckle at Dad continuing to rant over him.
“That insufferable ass, rejecting a man like Lionel, who must be amazing because he’s mated to my son…”
Brad decided it was best to let Dad get it all out when Mom started chirping in too.
He went upstairs, putting the call on speaker while he packed some of his clothes. Brad loved his home, he did. Except that wasn’t where Lionel was, so he was happy to take some things to Lionel’s, demonstrating this was what he wanted. He half-listened as the rant reached a new level of pissed off.
He loved Dad, and Lionel, he hoped, wouldn’t get overwhelmed with just how welcoming his parents were going to be when they met him after this.
Down the stairs, he left his bag by the door for later as he’d be running short of time with the need to shower and change for their date. He would not be late. Lionel had so much going oninside his head, and what Brad got was all about the expectations of others. No one had ever put Lionel first in his entire life. As an alpha, there were expectations from Mom, from the pride. No one had bothered to take the time to nurture him.
Brad’s dad had expectations of him. Despite that, Brad had known he was loved. Known he could rely on his family for support. Known with complete certainty, they would never reject or ridicule him.
None of that was his mate's experience. Roles became defined for Lionel by assholes and a self-centered mother who didn’t seem to understand emotions were not weakness but strength, regardless of whether they came from an alpha, beta, or omega.
Defined roles were for fools. Brad being an omega didn’t make him weak. It was just what he was; it didn’t define him.
He considered interrupting Dad, then changed his mind, when in all likelihood he wouldn’t hear Brad right then, with how he was into his speech about teaching Pennington a valuable lesson.
So, flicking up the phone screen, he opened the internet to search for a restaurant to book.
Lionel said he wasn’t picky about food. Brad liked Thai food, and he had a favorite place he went to when he was in the mood to treat himself. He thought it was kismet when they had a free table at Bonzi for seven in the conservatory part that overlooked the flower garden, which had a romantic water feature that Brad loved to listen to.
With that thought roaming through his mind, he came out of the screen after seeing the confirmation email ping and looked for florists that deliver in the neighborhood.
A wide grin spread over his face at the first display that popped up. It was a flower arrangement that wasn’t traditional. Hell no. This was a sweet bouquet, and it tickled Brad, so he clicked intothe link and ordered the biggest one they had with thoughts of sharing some of the Swiss chocolates,off Lionel.
It isn’t all about sex, remember.
I know,he agreed quickly.But you have to understand the mating pull is there and is dominant. I want to do fun stuff with my mate too. This will be fun and sexy.Or so Brad thought, second-guessing himself, before he hit purchase after putting in the address for Lionel and his card details.I’ve booked a table for dinner first.
You don’t need to get antsy with me.
I’m not.Was he?
He shook off the thought when his animal snorted, heading out the front door, happy to have ticked off some of his list. In the truck, he placed his phone in the holder he’d bought and connected it to Bluetooth, seeing that Dad was showing no signs of slowing down.
He was about a mile from Morty’s café when Dad finally asked questions Brad could answer. “How many jobs do we have connected to Pennington right now? And is he using any of the subcontractors we use?”
“We have two of his projects, the first connected to the new shopping mall he’s building. The building construction is with Heinz and his crew. They don’t have the tradespeople to do the outfitting of the stores, which is what we bid for. The other is a house he bought for a song and wants us to rip apart and renovate for him and his wife.”
