Knight Life In Vegas (Sin City Omegas #3)

Chapter 13

“ I don’t know what to do.”

Bryce sighed, sitting across from me. “There’s nothing you can do. Charlotte’s been through a lot, and she’s not going to respond well to you trying to force anything. She only went on her first date since the divorce last week, she?—”

“I don’t want to date her,” I added, probably a bit too sharply, and my son narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, I’m just…on edge. I haven’t slept properly since meeting her.”

“I get that, but you’re going to have to navigate this with more finesse regardless. A scent match isn’t a business deal.”

I let out a frustrated breath. “I know that. I’ve dealt with it all before and I can’t do it again.”

Bryce’s face softened. “You really don’t want something like what you had with Mom again? Like what I have with Ava?”

I swallowed hard, emotion clogging my throat. “Too dangerous. I’m not fit to be anyone’s partner. Besides, she has other matches. She doesn’t need me.”

My son watched me for a few long moments, his assessing gaze making me nervous. “I want to believe that you can be better. A better parent, grandparent, and partner if you want to pursue that. Giving up before you’ve even begun is making me doubt that you’re capable of it.”

His words cut to the quick. “That’s not fair.”

“Feelings don’t have to be fair. I know what I felt when I met Ava for the first time. I don’t understand how you could willingly walk away from that.”

“Be glad you haven’t felt enough pain to understand why I would. Think for just a single moment how you would feel if you lost your omega, and then understand the reality is a thousand times worse.”

His cheeks paled, and his voice caught. “But don’t you think Mom would be glad you had this chance? She wouldn’t want you to be miserable forever.”

My instinct was to bolt away from the table and end the conversation to go lick my wounds, but Bryce deserved better than that. I squeezed my hands into fists, working myself through one of my therapeutic breathing exercises until I felt able to speak. “I don’t know what she would want, but Charlotte has made her feelings on the matter very clear.”

“She’s scared.” We both turned to see Ava with Lucy in her arms.

“Scared of what?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“She and I were tricked by the same person, but she had a whole lifetime with him. I don’t think she trusts herself to know if someone is a good person, or if she would be walking into another trap where she would lose herself.” Ava passed Lucy to me, and I held the baby, her warm weight an anchor against my rising anxiety. “You’re both terrified, and I get it, but I don’t think either of you deserve anyone walking away because of that.”

I hadn’t taken the time to consider the depth of what might have been driving Charlotte’s reaction. I had lost the right person and she had been trapped with the wrong one. I couldn’t begin to fathom the damage that might’ve done. My pain and fear were familiar companions, but Ava was right. “We both need patience neither is in a place to provide for the other.”

“ Yet ,” Ava added. “It’s not magic, but the alpha and omega bond helps. The base nature of a scent match means you can help each other more than just a regular alpha and omega pair. I only survived my ordeal because of my mates, but you and Charlotte both faced your losses alone. Who else would be better to face the future with than someone who might actually understand how much pain you’ve been carrying?”

I stared down at my granddaughter, the biological child of the same man who had fathered Charlotte’s children. Thank god he was rotting in prison right now for all the bullshit he had put these omegas through.

“I’m too reactionary to help her. I can’t even help myself.”

“I think Ava’s right that you and Charlotte are in a unique position,” said Bryce. “If you were around each other without scent blockers, it could help regulate the two of you, temper a lot of the anxiety driving you both and let things come up in a safer way. I’m not suggesting this gets pushed on either of you, but isn’t it worth a try?”

I closed my eyes, working through another of my breathing exercises. Would Emily want me to pursue things with Charlotte? She had always been so bright and full of love. I wished I could ask her. Maybe I would have to settle for our son’s blessing. “If you can get Charlotte to speak to me again, I would be willing to entertain the possibility, but I’ve had the great love of my life, and I’m content not to have another. I just need to feel human again.”

Ava and Bryce exchanged a look.

“If you’re suffering from the separation, then chances are she is too,” Ava pointed out.

“She doesn’t know the way that I know. She knows because I told her, not because she scented me.”

“Still,” Ava said softly, “once she does, you’ll be able to comfort each other. She doesn’t know how to get in contact with the other ones, so you’re all she has.”

Fuck me. These two were entirely too good at pointing out logic that drove to the heart of the matter.

“If you haven’t been able to work properly, maybe you should consider spending some time here,” suggested Bryce. “It’s not ideal, but you could do a lot of things remotely.”

“Do you want me to talk to Charlotte?” Ava asked.

“I can manage my own affairs, thank you. I just need her to be willing to speak to me.”

“Let me have a chat with her and I’ll see if she’s okay with you going to see her. No guarantees considering she didn’t want to see you here, but maybe she’s feeling calmer back at home.”

Ava disappeared to do that while I sat with Lucy and Bryce.

“It’s important to me that you know I’m not visiting more often because of her,” I said eventually, breaking the silence that had descended. “I’m grateful you’re giving me another chance and I want to be clear I’m here to see you and your family, today notwithstanding. I’ve been working with Autumn to make sure I have plenty more time in my schedule to make trips out here.”

Bryce looked at me curiously. “Thank you for clarifying because it definitely seemed like you were only here for Charlotte.”

I grimaced. “I know it doesn’t seem like I’ve been trying, and probably doesn’t seem like I ever have, but I swear I have been. I know I wasn’t good enough to you, and I’m determined to do better.”

Bryce nodded stiffly. “Let’s save that conversation for when you’re in a better space.”

“Fair enough.” Guilt and relief settled over me in equal measure. Coming to terms with my faults as a person—and a parent—were never easy, but I no longer had the luxury of avoiding that. If I was going to be in my son’s life and engage with his family and his children, he had to be aware of certain things. I would tell him all of it when we were both ready.

Ava returned not too long later. “She agreed to talk to you, but you have to let her lead things.”

“I expected nothing else. I don’t want her to be uncomfortable if it can be helped.”

“Be careful with her,” Ava said quietly. “I know you’re hurting too, but Charlotte is really special to me.”

“I promise I’ll be as delicate as I can.”

That wasn’t any guarantee no one would get hurt. We had so many complications with our situation that I wasn’t sure it was even possible for any of it to go smoothly, but I would try.

My phone beeped.

“I sent you her number and her address. She’s meal prepping right now and said she would have time to talk. Both of you should be able to scent each other so she can confirm the match.”

“She wants me to go over now ?”

“That’s what she said, yeah.”

Fuck me. I wasn’t truly prepared to face her again, but if this was my only opportunity, I had to take it. I returned Lucy to Ava and stood, collecting myself as best I could.

“Are you all right to drive?” Bryce asked. “One of us could take you over.”

“I can manage, but thank you.”

“If you want to go over with a peace offering,” said Ava, “she loves peanut butter cups and purple roses. The boys will eat their weight in jelly beans if you get them some too.”

“Good to know.”

My son’s other packmates watched me curiously as I departed, having kept their distance for our conversations. I plugged in Charlotte’s address and set off, stopping briefly at the nearest grocery store. It felt a bit cheap considering how much money I had, but I had to work with what Ava gave me and finding appropriate boutique options would waste time I didn’t have.

When I arrived, I circled the lot, finding no visitor parking and having to settle for the street. Charlotte answered only a few seconds after I buzzed, letting me into the building and greeting me at her apartment door with a somber expression on her face.

Her sweet lemon meringue scent struck me like a brick to the face, all my instincts roaring to life. My knees nearly buckled beneath me.

“For you.” I held out the flowers and treats awkwardly, her eyes widening. “And these for your children.”

Sammy was on her heels, snatching up the container of jelly beans and racing away.

Charlotte sighed and went after him. “Sammy, those are for treats. Let me portion them out or you’ll have them everywhere!”

Charlotte’s youngest stared at me with a discerning eye.

“Hello, Oliver.” Bless Ava for reminding me of their full names.

Charlotte came back down the hall with Sammy under one arm and the jelly beans in the other, her son laughing the whole way until she deposited him on the couch. She side-eyed me. “We’re not providing A/C to the hallway. Get in here.”

I snapped to attention and stepped inside the apartment, closing the door behind me. Chaos was a good word to describe her home. I wasn’t certain how she managed to navigate without tripping. Toys littered the floor, baskets of unfolded laundry sat lined up on the coffee table, and a sink full of dishes waited to be done. She poured a serving of jelly beans into two small plastic bowls and passed them to each of her sons before finally returning her attention to me, moving just out of arm’s reach.

Her pupils dilated, her lips softly parting. “I hate that you’re right.”

“I wish I weren’t.”

“Thank you for the sweets and flowers.” She finally took the flowers from me and set them on the small square of space still available on her counter, then returned for the peanut butter cups that she stashed in the back of the freezer. “If I don’t hide them, I don’t get them,” she explained when she caught me staring.

“Do you… need help?” I asked, my gaze helplessly drawn to the mess I was entirely unused to. I had forgotten that living with small children was like having a bomb go off every day.

“You came over to talk, right? Not to do chores.”

Help her. Help our omega.

I shoved the thought ruthlessly down. I might offer my assistance, but Charlotte was far from mine. “Please. I know it’s a lot of work being a parent. I’m sure we could both use a distraction while getting through this conversation.”

Charlotte sighed again. “You’re damn right about that. Are you any good at folding laundry?”