"Father is going to drink and make threats and try to contact board members despite the order. None of it will matter." I turn for the door. "Let's go home."
Home is the apartment now.
The apartment is quiet when we arrive at noon. Mattaniah is asleep on the couch with his laptop open on the coffee table and a half-eaten bowl of cereal beside it. He didn't make it to the bedroom. His cheek is pressed into the cushion, his legs curled up, one hand hanging over the edge with his phone loosely gripped in his fingers. The bond marks on his neck have faded from red to deep purple.
He's been working. The laptop screen shows the Meridian Holdings spreadsheet with three new tabs open, annotations in the cells that weren't there when I left this morning. He's been building the case while we presented it.
I pull the blanket from the back of the couch and drape it over him without touching his skin. His body shifts toward the warmth and his fingers tighten on his phone but he doesn't wake. Through the bond his sleep reads shallow and restless.
Amos goes to the kitchen and starts making something that involves a cutting board and vegetables. I sit in the chair across from the couch.
He hasn't let me touch him in three days. Since the blowout he has maintained a distance that the bond protests constantly. I can feel his anger through the marks, pulsing alongside the love and the hurt. Words didn't work. The only thing that's working is showing up.
Mattaniah stirs around one. His eyes open and find me in the chair. Something moves across his face that the bond echoes but I can't name.
"How did it go?" His voice is rough with sleep.
"The evidence is in front of the board. Garrett tabled the vote for forty-eight hours pending legal review."
"Forty-eight hours." He pushes himself upright and the blanket falls to his waist. His eyes flick to the blanket. "You put the blanket on me."
"You looked cold."
"You could have woken me up."
"You needed the sleep more than you needed the information." I stay in the chair. "Amos is making lunch."
He's quiet for a moment, his fingers tracing the edge of the blanket. Through the bond something shifts. My bond mark pulses.
"Your father." He pulls the blanket around his shoulders. "How did he take it?"
"He called it fabricated. Then he called it retaliation. Then he lost his composure in front of fourteen board members, which did more damage to his credibility than anything in our presentation."
"He's going to come after you."
"He's been coming after me since I was twelve. The difference now is that I have the evidence and a bonded Omega who foundthe thread that unraveled his operation." I lean forward in the chair. "You built three new tabs on the Meridian spreadsheet while we were gone."
His cheeks flush. "I couldn't sleep. Working helped."
"You're angry at us and you're still building the case that protects us." I keep my hands on my knees. "I notice that."
"Don't read into it." He stands and wraps the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "I'm building the case because it's the right thing to do, not because I've forgiven you."
"I know."
Amos appears in the doorway with three plates balanced on his arms. He sets them on the coffee table without ceremony and sits on the floor beside the couch.
"I made stir fry." Amos hands Mattaniah a fork. "You don't have to talk. I just want to be near you if that's okay."
Mattaniah looks at Amos on the floor, then at me in the chair. Through the bond his defenses waver. The anger is still there and the hurt hasn't healed.
"It's okay." He takes a bite of the stir fry and his eyes close. "It's more than okay. This is really good."
"I know." Amos' mouth curves.
We eat in the living room. Mattaniah finishes his plate and sets it on the coffee table, pulling the blanket to his chin.
"Come sit with me." He says it quietly. "Not touching, just sitting."
