“What’s going on?”
“Just forgot this thing I’m supposed to do with my mother. You know how she is.”
He grimaces. “Right. Why don’t you finish breakfast, and then I’ll drive you home?”
“No need,” the pretty omega says apologetically just before there’s a knock on the door. “Nigel’s here.”
Sawyer sighs, then presses his forehead to hers. “Okay, baby. I’ll talk to you later. Don’t let her push you around, okay?”
“Okay.”
She grabs her purse, phone still in hand, and after pressing a kiss to Sawyer’s jaw, slips through the front door, leavingconfusion and the sweet scent of honey and vanilla in her wake.
“What in the hell just happened?” Hayes asks me quietly.
“I have no idea. But I suspect things will never be the same.”
Chapter Ten
LIAM
I may be the only person in the world who hates going on tropical yacht excursions. There is staff to wait on me at every turn. Every type of water sport I could ever want. Great food. Beds that are to die for. Sun and water for days.
“Would it kill you to smile?” George, an alpha asshole of epic proportions and also my father, demands. “You’re not the one paying for the trip.”
Muscles tensing, I sip my coffee, watching the ocean and horizon. He’s going to lament my life choices. The only power I hold over the situation is my complete and utter lack of reaction.
“Not that you could with that finance job. Where is it you are working again?”
I take another drink, eyeing the horizon and imagining someone punting him into the sun. A smile tugs at my lips.
George slaps the table. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
He infuses the command with his alpha bark, and once again, I find myself resenting my beta designation. It doesn’tcompel me as strongly as it would my sister, who is an omega, but it locks my muscles and it’s a battle not to let him win. Bastard.
“What’s going on here?” Mom asks, voice too sugary sweet. Soothing. Smoothing over the rough edges to pretend everything is perfect.
It’s not. Nothing has been with my family for five years. These yachting trips remind me of the day George finally ran my other dads off. I didn’t realize how much Josh and Lalo were holding things together until they broke the pack bond. Everything fell apart after that.
Or I finally got to see how bad my parents' relationship really was. No one was getting along.
“Your son is being a little shit.”
Momtsks. “Liam, what’s with the attitude?”
I do look at her. I give her one, hard, pistol-loaded look. She’s as much to blame as George is. She had a choice, and she chose money. My mom stayed with George, and me and my younger sister Cici had to stay too because George is our biological father. It didn’t matter that Lalo would read with Cici every night or chase away her nightmares, or that Josh was the one who introduced me to video games or that he and Lalo were the only ones who gave a shit when all the bullshit in high society became too much.
Theoretically, the bond breaking should have made Mom and George miserable. Since they’re still bonded, though, I think that’s helped both of them through the worst of the side effects. Though they still had some. Sadness. Lack of interest in anything. Sometimes anger. Broken bonds hit some omegas so hard they turn feral. I guess Mom got lucky. She recovered within a year.
Moving on so fast, when my sister and I were still struggling. In a way, the pack breakup was my fault. It was my other dads suggesting I go to public school that sent George on athree-day rampage and rant. I saw it in their eyes, the door closing, and when they offered to take me and Cici, George lost it. Apparently we were his pride and joy.
That was news to me.
“Liam,” Mom says in a warning tone that almost makes me snort laugh. Much to her dismay, I’m an adult and no longer have to play along with their delusions.
“Mother,” I warn back.
George snarls. “Ungrateful shit, your trust?—”
