Jack sighed and closed his eyes, then covered them with his arm. His voice was harsh when he said, “Accident, vehicle versus pedestrian.” He laughed, but it held no amusement. “I’m sure you can guess who won. People keep telling me to thank god it was instant. Like that helps.”
“Mmmm.” Aiden wasn’t sure what to say to that. He refused to imagine a world without Rafe. He leaned towards Jack and squeezed his shoulder, but his brother didn’t respond. He sat back again, giving Jack a moment to pull himself together.
Aiden’s alpha father had met Jack’s mother just a few months after Aiden was born. By that time, he had already gotten two men pregnant. Jack’s mom was the last affair, so Jack was his youngest brother. They’d all been raised by their omega fathers—or mother in Jack’s case—and Jack was the only one to have lost them. Aiden knew how close that kind of upbringing made you to your other parent, and he couldn’t imagine Rafe just being ripped away from him so suddenly like that. That was why canceling on Quinn, no matter how difficult, felt like the right call. Jack was going through mental trauma and an adjustment period, and Aiden would be here to help him get through it.
“So, wanna tell me about the person you were on the phone with earlier?” Jack wiggled his eyebrows, clearly trying to lighten the moment or seeking a distraction. Either way, Aiden took his cue from him and laughed.
“An omega maybe?” Jack asked while leaning in closer.
Aiden arched an eyebrow. “How could you tell it was a he?”
Jack shrugged. “Just a guess I suppose, but I know now that I’m not wrong,” he teased. “Is he an omega?
Aiden nodded. “He is,” he said. “But I couldn’t possibly get into the logistics of it all. There’s way too much surrounding our friendship to map out all in one conversation.”
“But is it really just a friendship?” he asked.
Aiden groaned and then blew out a breath. “He works for me too. I hired him through his cleaning business.”
“Hiscleaning business? Like, he’s an entrepreneur and owns it? Nice,” Jack said. He understood his brother’s surprise, very few omegas owned their own businesses. Just another reason he was so impressed by Quinn.
“Yeah, he started it when he was pregnant.” The minute he said it, he wasn’t surprised by the look on Jack’s face. He arched an eyebrow, and that had Aiden chuckling.
“Again, it’s a long story.”
“Hmmm… must be,” Jack said. “And I’d really love to hear it, but why do I get the feeling that you’d rather be with him than me?”
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Because I would, but I also wanted to spend time with my brother.”
“Okay, so then tell me more about this omega that clearly has you smitten,” Jack requested.
Aiden could tell his brother needed the distraction, so he proceeded to tell him more. He laid it all out there from start to finish, and Jack hung on his every word.
When Aiden was finished, Jack released a breath. “So, in other words, I crashed your party.”
Aiden shrugged. “You didn’t know.”
“But I know now,” Jack said with a smile. “Look, why don’t you give him a call, tell him how sorry I am for showing up unannounced, and then tell him to get his butt over here and hang out with us.”
“I couldn’t do that,” Aiden responded.
“Of course you could. I want to meet the man that is tying you up in knots.” Jack’s grin turned devilish. “Call him, Aiden.”
Aiden sighed but couldn’t deny the thrill that ran through him as he picked up the phone and dialed Quinn’s number. When it kept ringing, he shrugged his shoulders in answer to the questioning look Jack gave him. It clicked over to voicemail.
“Hey, Quinn, it’s Aiden. Well, you know that from the caller ID. I wanted to see if you’d like to come over and meet my brother. He apologizes for ruining our date night and really wants to meet you. Call me back or text to let me know. Or, you know, just show up.”
He hung up the phone feeling disappointed, and he looked up when his brother started to speak.
“Give it about fifteen minutes and then try calling again.”
While he waited, they sat and chatted about their work, but Aiden was distracted and kept checking his phone for messages. When none had appeared, he dialed the omega again. Who cared that it had only been ten minutes?
This time, the phone didn’t even ring. It went straight to voicemail.
“He, uh… Quinn shut off his phone,” he said to Jack, his voice low.
“Well, he was probably disappointed about the night being canceled. Give him some time. Tomorrow morning, I’ll get out of your hair and you can go about romancing Quinn once he gets here for work. You really should have just told me, and I would have found somewhere else to go for the night.”
