Chapter 13
13
BENJAMIN
Before I fell asleep, I checked flights to Orange County again. None were available. We had years to wait if we wanted to take the bullet train, so it would be back on the bus for us. There was one leaving at six, so I set my alarm for four to give us time to shower, dress, and eat.
When my alarm blared, I regretted my life decisions. Sane people didn't wake that early, not even to be somewhat on time to a family gathering.
Not wanting to be alone in my misery, I shoved Connor's shoulder. "Wake up, sleepyhead."
"Huh, what?" He rolled out of bed, both hands up, eyes wide and unseeing for a moment until he blinked. "Ben?"
"It's Benjamin," I said automatically.
"Oh." He sank onto the bed, crestfallen.
My face burned. I'd called Connor "baby" several times last night, and he hadn't minded. "But I'm beginning to like it when you call me Ben," I admitted. "Just not Benji. Never Benji."
He frowned at me. "Benji's a dog's name. I would never call you that."
"Thank you." I cleared my throat. "What about you? I know you liked being called 'baby,' but do you have a nickname or anything?"
He grinned. "I'd appreciate it if you don't shorten my name to Con. It makes me feel like a criminal."
I could understand that.
"When I played with my pack's pups as a wolf," he continued, "they called me Connie. I kinda liked it."
"Connie," I said, trying it out on my tongue. "But only as a wolf, right? Seems weird to call you that now."
"Yeah." He stood and stretched, showing off every line of his muscular form. His gait hitched when he stepped toward the bathroom, and he grinned back at me. "I'm going to feel you all day."
"That's the hottest thing anyone's ever said to me."
I followed him to the bathroom and into the shower, where we repeated what I hoped would become our morning routine if everything continued to go well. Connor and I didn't know much about each other yet, but damn. He gave the best blowjobs.
Our lackluster room service breakfast arrived fifteen minutes later than they said it would. We sat at the two-seater bistro table in the corner with a spread of undercooked bacon, lukewarm eggs, and soggy toast.
Connor more than made up for it with his easy conversation. He'd been all over the world selling cryptocurrency, of all things. My family talked about blockchain like it was one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but Connor saw it as just another form of money.
"It's not real, though," I said during a lull in conversation.
"Unless it's backed with gold, no money is real." Connor shrugged.
I started to argue about the FDIC and insurance, but Connor held up his hand and bit his bottom lip. "It doesn't matter, anyway. My crypto wallet days are over. It was fun while it lasted."
I felt like an ass for making him sad, so I changed the subject. "Is there anywhere you want to go in Vegas before our bus leaves at six?" It was the city that never slept, after all.
He gave me a soft smile and scooped both of my hands from the tabletop, holding them with his. "Wherever you are."
My heart melted. I couldn't believe I was already falling for this sweet-talking alpha. Me. The guy who hated alphas on principle.
Connor didn't feel like an alpha to me. He felt like … mine.
On the bus, I couldn't believe how easily we fell into the same rhythm of conversation. I turned my body as far as the seatbelt would allow to watch Connor speak, and he regaled me with tales of Europe, the Middle East, and one bad night in Russia.
My dad texted in the middle of the Russia tale, probably responding to my text with my bus's arrival time and offering to catch a ride share to the party so he didn't have to pick us up.
Instead of continuing with his story, Connor gestured to my phone. "Something important?"
"If it is, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm on a bus for the next seven hours."
"True." He laughed and continued telling me about two streetwalkers, a pimp, and what he thought was a hostel but was a brothel.
Once we finished laughing at what must have been a terrifying experience, Connor nudged me again. "What did your dad say?"
I read the text and chuffed a laugh. "He's begging to pick us up, so he doesn't have to suffer through the party without us."
"Why? What's wrong with the party?"
"It's a kid's birthday party," I said. "My niblings are bad enough, but there will be other kids, too. If they're friends with Jeffrey, they're probably brats."
"Tell me about him, about all of them. I want to know the tea before I meet them."
In the past, I'd always avoided talking about my family with dates. Nine times out of ten, we'd been set up by some well-meaning family member, anyway, so they already knew part of the story. Connor was a blank slate, so I filled him in on my silver-spooned nephew, his quiet little brother, and Alex's sweet baby twins. Once I'd tackled the kids, I moved on to their parents, my sister and wife expecting their first child, and finally my parents.
The more I talked, the more interested Connor seemed. He laughed in all the right places and asked thought-provoking questions about aspects of my brothers' personalities that annoyed the shit out of me but seemed commonplace to him. He gave me a different perspective, one I both appreciated and kinda dreaded. I needed to have heart-to-heart conversations with my alpha brothers to clear the air, but it wouldn't be easy.
"Your family sounds really cool," Connor said once I'd exhausted my aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
"They're a lot," I said.
"Sounds like they care about you." Connor's wistful tone made me want to wrap him in a hug and hunt down whoever hurt him.
"They will love you." I grinned at him while my brain caught up to the words. My family would love Connor. They would meet him this afternoon, and I was not going to freak out about introducing an alpha I liked to my family.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"If they say anything out of line, come get me and I'll knock some sense into them. Unless it's my nephew. He can do no wrong in their eyes."
"Little alphas need to be disciplined," Connor said. "I might be able to help."
"If it's something that involves you shredding another pair of pants, you might want to wait until we pick up your luggage."
His gaze held pure sunshine as he leaned his head against the seat and stared at me. "I can't wait to meet him and the rest of your family."
The thought of introducing them excited me, too. It felt wrong, but so right.