Chapter 15
15
BENJAMIN
We made up time on the road, which meant my dad waited less than a half-hour for us to pull into the bus terminal at Macarthur Campus. I'd told him via text messages I would be bringing an alpha home with me, but this was a first.
If Dad was surprised to see Connor, he didn't show it. Instead, he treated Connor like he was one of the family, offering him the front seat and a piece of gum for the ride back to Laguna Niguel.
"Dad, we need to stop at the airport for Connor's bags." I'd forgotten to mention that part in my texts.
"Oh, thank goodness. I was going to beg you to stop for food or ice cream on the way. This party." He rolled his eyes. "Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, thanks to the weather, the holiday, and everything else."
I stayed in the car with my dad while Connor ran inside to get his bags. The blustery wind gusts shook the car. While we waited, Dad told me all about Jeffrey's temper tantrum before a captive audience of nine-year-olds. My brother Jake was pissed because their parents had dropped them off and left them.
"Jake thought the party would be a networking opportunity while the kids played. I had to remind him. We dropped you kids off at parties all the time when you were kids."
"Except me," I said. "I hated those things."
"You went to a few omega sleepovers," he said. "Remember when Casper Fuente fell out of that tree and broke his arm?"
Poor Casper. "That was my fault," I said. "How was I supposed to know he didn't know how to hang upside down?"
"What?" My dad turned to look at me, his eyes wide. "That's the first I've heard of this. You told him to hang upside down?"
I nodded. "I thought you knew."
He laughed. "No wonder his parents wanted us to pay his medical bills. Insurance ended up covering it." He wiped figurative sweat from his brow and shook his head. "You never told us that."
Maybe my nephew wasn't the only brat in the family.
Connor returned with his bag and a huge grin on his face. "I can pay for ice cream, if you're still interested. I had a twenty tucked in my spare pants pocket."
"That sounds like a plan," Dad said.
Southern California was nicer than Las Vegas this time of year, but it was still too chilly, not to mention windy, to sit outside at the walk-up ice cream stand. We sat in the car, instead, and Connor saved the day with his wet wipes when our cones started to drip.
"You're ready for anything," Dad quipped as he wiped his hands and face. Both he and Connor finished their cones before I did. Connor spent half of the drive to my brother's house holding a napkin beneath my dripping cone while I leaned forward over the center console. The whole time, my dad laughed at me in the rear-view mirror.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Connor," Dad said as we pulled up to my brother's house.
"Why does that sound like goodbye?" Connor's shoulders slumped.
"If this party doesn't scare you away from our family, nothing will," Dad said. At the door, he pulled Connor in for a side hug and grabbed me with his other arm. Together, we rang the doorbell.
Jake's husband Matt answered the door for us. "Finally! Jake's been worried sick."
Jake didn't give two shits about me most of the time, so that was strange.
"Did you get it?" My brother asked as we walked into the living room.
"Get …" Shit. Jeffrey's present. The Wonderdog 3000 I'd forgotten all about. I bet I could have found one in Vegas, if I'd hit up the high-end shopping on the strip, but it had completely slipped my mind.
"Right." Connor slipped out from under my dad's arm. "Your present for Jeffrey is still in my bag. Let me go grab it."
Well, here it came. My whole family was about to make fun of me for giving my nephew a toy my boyfriend had gotten for free with the purchase of a pair of pants.
"Who was that dashing alpha?" Matt asked. "Benjamin, have you been holding out on us?"
"He's my boyfriend," I stammered.
"They just met this weekend," Dad shared while I tried not to melt into a puddle of anxiety.
"This weekend!" Jake and Matt shared a secret smile.
"When you know, you know," Matt whispered.
"Come on, fam!" Jake called. "Everyone get in here to meet Benjamin's new boyfriend!"
"Where's my present?" Jeffrey demanded as he blindsided me with a hug.
"Connor—"
"Hey!" Connor pulled the alpha brat from my side and held out his hand. "Jeff?"
My nephew frowned up at him but shook his hand with a nod.
"Hi Jeff. This is Wolfy." Connor shoved the stuffed animal in Jeff's face. "He'd love to be your friend."
"What is this?" Jeffrey asked. "Where's my Wonderdog 3000? Uncle Benjamin, you promised!"
"I said I would do my best." My voice was unheard as Jeffrey wailed loud enough to drown out the animated movie playing on the television.
"No! You said you would get it for me! You're the worst uncle ever!"
I accepted the title with my head bowed. Tears blurred my vision. I wanted to be anywhere but here, before my entire family, shrinking in on myself.
"That's no way to treat Wolfy," Connor said. He snatched the stuffed animal back from my nephew and tucked it beneath his chin with both arms wrapped around it. "I'll have you know, Benjamin searched high and low for your Wonderdog 3000. They've been sold out for almost a year now, but he checked at the airport, at the bed-and-breakfast, even at a roadside stand. We hit up game stores and checked souvenir kiosks, all looking for your dog."
"So?" Jeffrey was having none of it. "He promised!"
"Promises mean nothing when they're coerced," Connor said. "He told me how you got him to promise. He wanted to be your favorite uncle, and you played him against your alpha uncle and auntie."
I frowned at Connor. How was this helping?
"We survived a plane crash! The least you could do is show some appreciation for this little guy!" Connor hugged the stuffed toy tight, and the nose lit up.
"I'm Wolfy, the Wolf Brothers Wonderdog 3000!"
Connor was so surprised by the noise, he tossed the wolf at me. I grabbed Wolfy by the front paw, and he howled. "Helloooo! I'm delighted to meet you! We're going to have so much fun!"
I screamed and tossed the possessed toy on the couch, where it continued to talk.
"Oh, sweet!" One of Jeffrey's guests stepped closer to the couch and beckoned the other kids to join her. "This one's even more rare! Where did you get this, mister?"
"Wolf Brothers?" Connor said it like a question.
"That's not a real Wonderdog 3000," Jeffrey said. "That's crap!"
"If you don't want Wolfy, I'll take him," the little girl said. "Is that okay, mister?"
"You will NOT!" Jeffrey grabbed Wolfy by the same paw I'd touched, and he started talking again.
The little girl took a step back with both arms raised and an eyeroll that would rival my omega dad's. She'd had it with my nephew's shit.
"This is my gift." Jeffrey turned his stink eye on me again. "I suppose I forgive you, Uncle Benjamin."
Jake grabbed the toy and handed it to Matt, who flipped a switch on its back, making its light-up eyes go dark.
"That's not how you thank your uncle for the wonderful, impossible, present he brought you," Jake said.
"Wolfy's going to take a time-out up here." Matt placed the toy on the top shelf of their corner bookcase. "And so are you, Jeffrey. Let's go to your room."
"I'm nine! I don't take time-outs!"
"You do when you act like you're five," Jake called down the hallway after them. "I'm so sorry you had to see that." Jake shook Connor's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Hey, misters." The little girl pointed to the television, where the movie that had been playing now rolled credits over a forest scene. "What are we supposed to do now? Jeffrey said the clown canceled, and it's too windy for the bouncy castle."
"Those storms really messed up our plans." Jake rubbed the back of his neck.
"Do you have board games?" Connor asked.
"We have video games, but that got old fast with this many kids," Jake said.
Connor took a step toward the little girl and kneeled so he was at eye-level. "Do you like dogs?"
"I love dogs. Why do you think I wanted Wolfy?"
He laughed. "I suppose that was a silly question. Give me a few minutes, and we'll play a game." He turned to my brother. "Where's your restroom?"
"I'm allergic to dogs," a little boy said.
"This dog is hypoallergenic," Connor promised.
"Dog?" Jake mouthed at me. I shrugged and led Connor to the first-floor bathroom off the kitchen.