CHAPTER 20
––––––––
My palms were sweatywith nerves as we all sat down around the table for dinner. Cobb and Matteo had helped me set the table earlier, and I had just put the soup tureen on the table when Theo and Aria came downstairs, Theo looking fresher and happier now. It had scared me earlier when I brought sandwiches upstairs for Theo and Cobb to eat and the alpha had answered the door looking like Casper the Friendly Ghost.
I had always been able to easily pick up on other people’s emotions. Part of it was because I was an omega and, as a whole, we tended to be overly empathetic to others. The other part was because I had spent my childhood tiptoeing around a man who was unpredictable at the best of times. I learned quickly how to read the slightest change in Hezekiah Jordan’s expressions and make myself scarce when I needed to.
When Theo had opened the door earlier, the number one emotion that I could see on his face, clear as day, was desperation. I had wanted to reach out and stroke his face and ask what was wrong, but it was like there was still some kind of an invisible wall between the two of us. I had the feeling that he would have definitely brushed me off if I had tried. So, instead, I handed him the plate of sandwiches and told him I’d come back for the plate in an hour...thankfully, the plate had been empty when I returned.
Everything about Theo confused me. He had firmly put us into the protector/protected category in his head. It was a boundary that I know I should respect, but why did he keep looking at me like he wanted to devour me? I had caught him more than once staring at me with hot eyes that were liable to burn me alive if I wasn’t careful. Not only that, there had been multiple times when he reached out for me, like he was going to touch me, before he pulled his hand back like he had done something wrong. Because of all of the above, I was constantly stuck between pushing Theo, and letting him take his time to work through his own emotions.
It also didn’t help that I wanted to climb Theo Nilsson likeYggdrasil, the Norse god-tree(get it... cause he’s Nordic? I crack myself up). Even looking like a rumpled ghost, like he had earlier, my inner omega was telling me to throw caution to the wind and jump him.
I swear, if my plan didn’t work tonight, then I was going to lose my damn mind. Matteo and Aria completely pumping the brakes was driving me completely batty. You shouldn’t give a horse a sugar cube, and then go back to only giving them hay. It isn’t fair. If you weren’t sure, I’m the horse in this metaphor.
“Can you pass the bread?” Cobb’s question cut through my slightly unhinged inner monologue, and I jumped to grab the breadbasket. Cobb was sitting across from me, and next to Aria. Matteo and Theo sat next to me at the table and apparently they had been having a whole conversation while I was dancing with my mind bunnies.
“Sorry,” I muttered, and scooped up a spoonful of steaming soup and put it in my mouth. This was immediately followed by having to breathe around the soup that was still the temperature of the sun, I definitely should have blown on it first. Regardless, it was damn good soup. I gave myself a mental pat on the back, the recipe was definitely going to go in my little black recipe book that I kept in the kitchen.
“Tibbamatata,” Matteo frowned at me from across the table, his concern clear in his brown eyes. “Your head is in the clouds tonight, is everything alright?” Despite his easy-going attitude and impish ways, Matteo was one of the most observant people that I’d ever met. It was what probably made him such a great doctor.
I gestured to my head and replied drily, “Oh you know, mind bunnies.”
Cue changing the subject, “Aria, how was your day?”
I’d finally come to the conclusion that, whatever Aria was doing during the day, probably had to do with the upcoming trial. It didn’t really take a rocket scientist to figure that out. I had overheard her and Theo discussing something that had to do with the SF Prosecutor’s office and how frustrated she was with it. That, along with the fact that when she returned she was wearing her lawyer armor (or at least that’s what I called it).
Aira, who had also been lost in her own thoughts, turned her attention to me with a guilty start. “Oh, you know, fine.”
Aria was a terrible liar. Whenever she lied, the tone of her voice sharpened much higher than its usual cadence. That was, as I had learned over the past week, her tell. I didn’t know why she felt the need to lie to me, and one glance around the table made my stomach drop. Everyone around the table was studiously avoiding my eyes, which told me that they all knew exactly what she was lying about. Which meant that it was about me.
“Just, fine?” My words were sharper than I meant them to be, and I took a few quick breaths to calm myself. Something was up, and I wanted to know exactly what that was. I decided on a different tactic.
“I know that you are going to the San Francisco prosecutor’s office every day. Is it safe to assume it has something to do with me?” My question was innocuous enough and I watched their faces carefully, looking for any change in their expressions. Theo and Cobb’s faces were neutral and I was pretty sure that they would be great poker players, Matteo was looking anywhere but at me, but Aria’s face told me everything I needed to know.
Aria dabbed at her mouth with her napkin before placing it in her lap before answering my question with a sigh, “Yes, it is safe to assume that.”
“Aria.” Theo cautioned, narrowing his eyes at the female alpha.
“She should know the full story,” Aria reasoned. “She’s an adult, and I think that she can handle it.”
Damn straight, I’m grown as hell, you tell him Aria. I cheered in my head but remained silent, waiting for Aria to spill the beans.
Aria put her spoon down and her amber eyes met mine. “Tibby, I’ve been assisting the SF prosecutor’s office with your case. They asked me to help prep the lawyer who is handling your trial and get him ready.”
Oh. Yeah, that made total and complete sense. Aria was one of the smartest people I’d ever met. In fact, all four of the people around me were, like, Mensa level smart, so it didn’t surprise me that she had been asked to help.
Being asked to help with a high profile trial should have been a good thing, so why did Aria look like she was about to give me some seriously bad news?
“You heard about the reason behind the retrial, right?” She asked and I nodded, it was because the original prosecutor hadn’t been able to keep it in his pants. My memory of the man was faded and blurry now, but I do remember that he spent most of his time with me before trial flirting with my social worker, Emily. So it definitely tracked that he would have trouble separating his work and personal lives.
“Well, because of his actions, the Governor’s office chose a lawyer that would be above reproach meaning that he’s ah....” Aria seemed to search for the word for a minute before continuing, “Inexperienced. He’s a smart lawyer but he’s only been practicing law for six months.”
Oh shit. That was definitely bad news, but I had confidence that Aria would be able to whip this lawyer into shape in time for the trial. “I think that you’ll manage it just fine. See? Was being honest so hard?” I felt better now and I was just spooning another bite of soup into my mouth when I noticed that the table was still silent.
“...Let me guess. That isn’t the only bad news you have for me.”Sigh. I feel like there should be a limit on how much bad news you can get in a day.
“Well, sweetheart,” Aria looked to Theo for help, but he was too busy frowning, “We are going to be going to the prison where they are keeping Hezekiah Jordan tomorrow. It’s to bring him a set of plea deals....”
