Appetite for an Alpha (Omega Quadrant #4)

Chapter 12

12

T he little step back into the past was hard to walk back from. Guilt had speared him in the chest at the mention of Simon. It had felt disrespectful to Brett to mention his first omega—just as it felt disrespectful to Simon for having claimed another. He’d promised Simon his undying love. How did he offer it to another? He feared the love he had left in him was torn and battered after his loss. Brett deserved better.

Pierce raced down the steps and opened his apartment door. T-Bone stood on the other side with a plate full of eggs and toast—and a couple of slices of bacon on top.

“Last time Brett wanted eggs, he had bacon, too—so I added some just in case.”

Pierce stiffened. “Who said this was for Brett?”

T-Bone froze, his eyes widening as his lips opened soundlessly. “I, ah…”

Pierce’s face burned, eyes narrowing. He’d texted Max the morning after his and Brett’s first night together, claiming he was ill and might be out a few days. After that, he’d checked in when he could to make sure the tills were secured every night. When he’d finally appeared downstairs the day before, he’d noticed a few odd stares and glances, but assumed it was because he never took time off. He rarely got ill and even if he did, he still came down for an hour or two to ensure operations went as well as they could in his absence.

He'd been gone five days without coming down a single time, so of course they’d be concerned and curious if he was okay. Or so he’d thought.

Clearly some of them suspected more.

He looked past T-Bone’s shoulder and noticed the sly looks and peeks from the rest of the prep staff. Pierce took the plate and utensils from T-Bone. “Thanks for the food.”

“Ah, yeah,” T-Bone said. “Get him his eggs while they’re still hot.”

Pierce’s jaw clenched that the assumption still remained. He shut the door and eyed the top of the stairs and the open half wall. He’d never noticed sounds carrying from the apartment into the kitchen before, but then, he was never in two places at once, either. Had the entire kitchen heard them share Brett’s heat? He marched upstairs, not sure what to tell Brett—or if he even should. He was embarrassed enough for the both of them.

He snatched a tray from the kitchen, added a glass of orange juice, and laid the plate in the center. Brett came shuffling out, wearing one of his t-shirts that was many sizes too big. It still brought a smile to his face. “Get back in bed.”

“I’ve been in bed for days,” Brett argued.

Pierce lifted the tray. “I was giving you breakfast in bed.”

“I appreciate the special attention.” Brett pointed to the rarely used dining room table. “But can we just sit here?”

Pierce smiled. He’d wanted to dote on his mate, but that wasn’t working out so well. Brett had slept through aftercare, which considering how exhausted he’d been, wasn’t unexpected. But those quiet moments after a heat were sacred… and the time for their bond to strengthen. He sighed. There would be other heats to come. “Whatever you want.”

Brett pulled out a chair at the head of the table, where his grandfather had always sat when they’d visited for family meals. As Brett curled one leg under his bottom, Pierce slid the tray onto the table and moved the plate off.

“Ohhh, bacon, too?” Brett grinned. “This looks like the same plate T-Bone brought me a few days ago.”

As Brett plopped half a slice between his lips, Pierce chuckled.

“You’re right. T-Bone made this one, too.”

“You’re not eating?” Brett asked before shoving a forkful of eggs between his lips. He moaned, cutting off Pierce’s reply.

That moan caused Pierce’s cock to perk up and take notice, as if they hadn’t just overused one another for days. “I’ve already eaten breakfast. And lunch, for that matter.”

Brett sighed. “I suppose after I eat, I should get dressed and head down to the office. There’s three or four days of deposits that need to get to the bank as soon as possible. And payroll’s around the corner.”

“I’ve already handled the deposits yesterday,” Pierce replied. “And started payroll. I think I’ve got it all right.”

Brett lowered his fork. “I told you not to mess with my system.”

“You were fast asleep and needed the rest,” Pierce argued. “It’s been a week. It couldn’t wait any longer.”

“A week?” Brett’s face was almost comical in his shock.

“I told you that you were extra. Three or four days wasn’t good enough for you.” Pierce smiled. “Your heat was five days and then you slept for a day and a half.”

“I lost an entire week?” Brett sat back in the chair. “And I made you lose an entire week, too.” He shook his head. “How bad was it when you went down yesterday?”

“Honestly? Nowhere near as bad as I expected.”

“I told you the place wouldn’t fall apart without you,” Brett quipped.

“Yes, you did.” Pierce grinned. He tapped a finger beside Brett’s plate to urge his omega to eat more. He’d barely eaten in a week. Longer from the sounds of things and the pain he was in.

One of Brett’s brows rose in irritation at the silent insistence. He picked up his fork. “I’m only eating more because I’m starving. Not because you told me to.”

Pierce fought a smile. “You haven’t eaten in a week. That plate should already be gone.”

Brett dug back in, mumbling, “yeah, whatever,” between bites.

“I did walk Max through a few things via text between rounds, so that helped. He took care of the tills each night and locked them up in the safe. So, deposits are done, and payroll is over halfway done. There’s not much left for you to do. I haven’t touched the invoices, so we have to pay them as soon as possible, but it’s no rush. You can wait until tomorrow to go back to work.”

“I think I should go today,” Brett said. “A week, Pierce. And who knows what you messed up in my spreadsheets.”

“Are you stealing money from me?”

Brett’s head whipped up. “I wouldn’t live in that shitty apartment if I was stealing money from you.”

Pierce noted the anger in Brett’s eyes. “Well, you seem adamant I can’t look at my own accounting.”

“You can look all you want,” Brett said. “I’ll run off every report that system’s capable of and show you that it all matches the deposits, line by line and column by column, if that’ll give you peace of mind that I’m no thief.”

Pierce laid a hand on Brett’s. “I knew you weren’t. I was joking. You’re so territorial about my accounting, but I have every right to be in there, especially when my omega is sleeping off their first heat— a five-day heat, no less —and the exhaustion from the change that came before it. The money needed to go to the bank, and I sure as hell wasn’t waking you up and making you go down to do it.”

Brett relaxed a bit. “Don’t make a habit of it. I don’t have the time to clean up your messes on the two days I’m in the office.”

“Good thing you’re going to be there five days from now on.”

“From now on?” Brett asked, narrowing his eyes.

Pierce clenched his jaw. It was one thing to sit back and watch his customers flirt with Brett, the beta. If they went too far with his omega , things might get ugly. That wasn’t good for business. Brett wasn’t going to like that. Pierce needed to find a way to make it seem like it was Brett’s idea to stay in the office.

Somehow. “For the time being, I meant.”

“Uh-huh,” Brett grunted, rolling his eyes. He returned to his plate, scooping the last of the eggs.

Pierce sat back and watched Brett hungrily munch on the bacon. When he was done, Pierce decided it was time Brett knew what had been said, if only to steel himself to remarks that might be made. “T-Bone said he added the bacon to your order because you got it the last time you had eggs.”

Brett’s gaze flipped to Pierce’s. “You told them about us?”

“No,” Pierce murmured, his voice low. “I did not. I told Max I was ill. I said nothing yesterday, only that I was feeling much better and how pleased I was that they’d stepped up.”

Brett’s eyes widened. “You don’t think they… heard us…” His eyes grew as big as saucers. “Do you?”

Pierce shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I sense that half wall at the top of the stairs doesn’t hold all that much back—and the bedroom door was open most of the time. The sound might’ve carried.” He wasn’t going to mention how loud Brett was, either. He didn’t want to shame that behavior out of his omega. Pierce liked hearing Brett’s pleasure, but he’d have to find a way to ensure no one else did. If they had another heat to share, which he suspected they very much did.

Brett released a long exhale. “Did he say anything else?”

“No, but I saw looks from others after he mentioned you. My guess is everyone’s made assumptions. You came upstairs, and no one saw you leave. Perhaps they didn’t hear anything and it’s only because of that.”

“Lovely,” Brett muttered.

“They’re going to find out eventually, Brett.”

Brett eyed him, pushing his plate away from the edge. He leaned closer to Pierce. “I’ve barely had time to wrap my head around this. I don’t need their questions before we know what’s going on with me. Or their stares of disapproval.”

“Do you expect them to disapprove of us?” Pierce asked, curious.

“I doubt they’re going to want their beloved Pierce to be ruined by me.”

Pierce frowned. “Their beloved Pierce? It’s not like that.”

“Why do you think everything was in such good shape after you were gone for a week? The staff loves you, Pierce. You’re good to them, and they know it. You’re tough, but fair—not to me, because I’m a special little asshole—but to them, you can do no wrong. I’m the class clown who’s plucked more than one nerve over the years. Not everyone here loves me.”

“Well, you better work on that,” Pierce murmured.

Brett frowned. “Why’s that?”

“Once we—” Pierce paused, needing to reframe what he was going to say. Brett had been right that having been raised alpha, he readily accepted certain things were supposed to happen between them—even if he was still shocked by what was happening. It wasn’t if in his mind, but when . Brett didn’t have that. “If we get mated— or married —that means this restaurant becomes yours, too. That would make them your staff as much as mine.”

Brett’s eyes widened again. “Can we stop with the mating talk? I recognize— and appreciate— that you said ‘if,’ but… it’s overwhelming even with that ‘if,’ Pierce.”

Pierce clenched his jaw, trying not to let that comment sting. He was aware it hadn’t been said in an attempt to hurt him. “I’ll try to refrain.”

“I’m not saying no, it’s never going to happen—I’m saying I’m not ready to contemplate the possibility. Not yet.” Brett sighed. “Yes, I wanted to be an omega and to have an alpha mate and a family, but the fantasy of that is far different than the reality of it being sprung on me. My entire life changed overnight. It’s already overwhelming enough without planning what happens next. I just want to focus on the here and now.”

“I’m sorry,” Pierce murmured. “You’re absolutely right that you deserve a little time to digest what’s happened here.”

“I need to make an appointment with that doctor as soon as possible. I want answers before making major life decisions.”

“I hope you don’t mind. I called Dr. Benton’s office first thing yesterday. They’d just had an appointment cancelled, so I snagged it for us. I assumed that would be okay. It’s at nine, the day after tomorrow.”

Brett searched his face. “Snagged it for us?”

Did Brett not want him there? “I’d like to go,” Pierce said. “If you’ll allow me to be there with you. If you’d rather it be private, I understand.”

The hint of a smile on Brett’s lips made it a bit easier to breathe.

“I’d like to have you there,” Brett murmured. “As overwhelmed as I feel, four ears are better than two. And since what happened to me has impacted you and potentially changed your life as well, I’m sure you have questions of your own.”

Pierce nodded. “Mostly, I want to know that my omega will be okay and that there’s no issues that’ll arise in the future because of this condition.”

“Okay.” Tears shone in Brett’s eyes. He blinked them back and smiled. “I assumed I might be waiting weeks for an appointment.” He breathed out a long, slow breath. “Thank you for making the appointment.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Pierce said. “I told you that you’ll be my first priority for the rest of my days.”

Silence yawned between them. Pierce sensed Brett wanted to move closer, but there was also a feeling of hesitancy. The intimacy of the previous week should’ve been enough to overcome any timidity between them, or so he thought. Shaking his head, he refused to let Brett’s doubts and overthinking come between them. Pierce rose to his feet and dragged his omega into his arms.

“You mean the world to me,” Pierce murmured against his omega’s ear.

Brett snuggled close, remaining silent. Silence was fine as long as he didn’t push Pierce away. Eventually, he did step back, though. “We should get going. I want to go down and finish payroll.”

“You can take the rest of today off and start back tomorrow morning. Dinner service will start in a couple of hours. It’s going to be loud in there.”

Brett gazed around the apartment, as if he didn’t want to be there. “Okay, but I want to go see Avery. I owe him some apologies.” He tilted his head to the side. “Am I allowed to drive myself or do I need a big, bad alpha to take me?”

Pierce shook his head.

“Tell Avery I said hello,” Pierce said before leaning down and stealing a kiss. A good, solid one that Pierce hoped would ensure Brett returned home.

His home.

No. Their home.

Pierce lifted his lips from Brett’s, his gaze landing on a photo of Simon on the wall across from him. The apartment had been their home, but then wasn’t he the one who said it had never been his home? The closest he’d come had been when Simon was there.

“Keep kissing me like that and we’ll never make it downstairs,” Brett murmured.

“It’s way too tempting to drag you back to bed,” Pierce said, forcing a smile. He stepped back from Brett. “Drive safe.”