Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Brooks
“Laz!” I call when I hear the front door open and shut.
He and Mrs. Richards have been out shopping all morning. I think they found something in each other that they both desperately needed. Sometimes I joke that Laz would pick her over me any day, and they laugh, but every now and then I think it might be true depending on the situation.
“Just a minute,” he yells back. “Be right there!”
I have exciting news this afternoon. Well, I think it will be exciting for Laz, which makes it exciting for me.
I put in a bid for a property on the outskirts of the city.
It's in a semi-run-down area, but it isn't too far gone.
I want him to help me with this project. I think it will be good for him.
“What's wrong?” he asks, coming into my office.
“Nothing,” I tell him. “Come look at this.”
He leans over my shoulder, brushing his cheek against my jaw, and looks down at the monitor. “What am I looking at?”
“The Williams-Richards Youth Recreation Center.”
“Where?” he asks flatly.
I chuckle. “Look at it with your eyes closed. See the potential.”
I feel him turn to look at me and back at the monitor. “Why there? That's not a great area.”
“That's exactly why. It isn't a great area, but it could be.”
“It will be vandalized and ruined within a month, Brooks.”
I shake my head. “If someone else built it, maybe. But if I build it, nobody will touch it. And other businesses will come to the area. Imagine a few little shops, maybe a cute mom-and-pop restaurant, planted trees along the sidewalk, and some shrubs and plants. Maybe a dog park a little ways down.”
“That would take a lot of work.”
I nod. “It would. But it's good work. I want you to help.”
He laughs. “I don't know anything about this kind of stuff, Brooks.”
“You can learn. I had to. I think you'll like it.”
“It's going to take a long time.”
I nod and reach back to wrap my hand around the back of his thigh. “Not as much as you think. It will take a while, but not an eternity. Things like this move quickly once they get moving.”
“I like you like this.” He turns and kisses my cheek.
I can count on one hand the number of times he's done that. My stomach does a little flip, making me feel like a moony teenager. “Like what?”
“Hopeful. Light. Happy and good.”
“I do feel those things. It took a while, but I do. I like improving things and helping people. To begin with, it was to make up for all the bad things I've done in the past, but now, since you, it's more.”
“It's wonderful.”
“So, you'll help with the project?”
He leans against my back, wrapping his arms around me. “I'll try.”
“Good. I'll start working on contact lists and contracts. I'll try to ease you into everything. If you ever feel like you're getting overwhelmed, all you have to do is tell me. These projects are supposed to be fun. I want you to enjoy it.”
“I've never done anything like this. I've never really done anything. Nothing that mattered, anyway. This will matter.”
I reach to lace my fingers with his, leaning into his body. “I can't wait to see what you do with it. It's going to be amazing.”
He thinks he's just going to be helping me work on this project, but that's not entirely accurate.
He's going to head it; he just doesn't know it yet.
I'm going to lead him through the entire process from the initial contracts to the necessary permits to the supplies.
We'll go slow and take it one step at a time, but he's going to make all the final decisions and sign off on everything.
I'm just going to lay everything out for him to make it easier.
I think giving him the opportunity to lose himself in something like this will give him the chance to find himself and to see himself as he should.
It takes me several weeks to get everything gathered and organized in a way that should be easy for Laz to navigate.
I didn't rush through anything. I wanted to make everything as uncomplicated and streamlined as possible for him.
I may have gone a little overboard with everything, but I want to set him up for as much success as possible for his first project because I intend for there to be many more projects.
They are not calm weeks, though. Laz's body has come back into its Omega glory.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think we needed to start preparing for him to go into a real heat.
We're not there yet. He hasn't done anything that resembles nesting.
I won't believe he's going into a true heat until he starts nesting.
I'm trying to keep my excitement and anticipation contained and at a minimum, but it's difficult not to watch everything he does and try to look for things I want to see.
I know there are still things for us to work on, separately and together.
He will have to deal with issues within himself for a long time; neither of us expects everything to be perfect or easy all the time.
Things will be hard. We both have intense trust and self-doubt issues; mine are likely significantly more intense than his.
I know, at some level, I will always be afraid that he will run again.
Maybe not always—I hope not, anyway. But the thought will be there that he could leave.
After all the healing and happiness we’ve had over the past little while, it would destroy me if I lost it—if I lost him again.
But for the first time in a long time I finally feel like everything is going to be okay.
I wake up every morning looking forward to the day, and it's almost jarring.
For so long, I've been moving through the motions of my life.
I want to live it now. I want to experience the rest of it.
I want to experience it with him. With my Omega.