Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Linus
Who would have thought that participating in a spur-of-the-moment police sting and having your twin brother sent to prison as an accessory to drug and firearm trafficking would involve so much paperwork?
As soon as Saint and I were given a clean bill of health and a green light from the doctors to leave the hospital, we were whisked straight off to the police station so our statements could be taken.
I fell asleep in the back of the cop car on the way there, and even though he refused to admit to it later, I’m pretty sure Saint did, too.
It was afternoon by the time we were allowed to go, after shaking Zane’s hand and the hand of his supervisor, who had been trying to catch the Dumfries gang and the Westfield family for months.
“The arrests we’ve made from this operation and the information we found on the boat is already helping us to locate and arrest the remaining members of both gangs,” Zane’s supervisor said, so enthusiastic about shaking my hand that he wouldn’t let go, despite Saint glowering at him.
“I’ll make certain you both receive the highest civilian honors possible for your part in this whole thing. ”
Two weeks later, I was back at my teacher’s desk at the front of a colorful, innocent classroom, staring at the small plaque I’d received in the mail the day before, feeling like the whole thing had been a dream.
The plaque was really quite lovely. It had an embossed, silver plate thanking me for “special services” to Barrington set on a satisfyingly thick slab of polished mahogany.
I hadn’t been able to stop staring at it from time to time as I graded handwriting homework and jotted down plans for the little Teddy Bear’s Picnic play my students would perform for the school assembly at the end of the month.
Had all of that really happened? Did I really stand up to hardened criminals and end up in the middle of a gun fight at dawn?
Just to make sure it was real, I reached out along my bond with Saint, feeling for him.
Saint was definitely there. I could tell he was at work, and if I had to guess, he was with a client.
The emotions coming from him had that steady, compassionate feeling that I’d come to learn meant he was helping someone through a difficult time.
I smiled. My alpha was such a good man. We might have met under shocking circumstances and bonded just as extremely, but once we’d had a chance to go home, get into a real bed together while I wasn’t in heat, and just sleep together, which we did for a full ten hours, things had settled.
Saint, when he wasn’t dealing with criminals, anxiety attacks, and my brother, was a gentle giant and one of the most wonderful souls I’d ever met. I was so happy to be bonded with him that those good feelings had stopped me in my tracks several times so I could just smile and think of him.
My phone ringing in my desk snapped me out of that particular session of just sitting there, feeling my alpha, and loving it.
I used to keep my phone on silent through the school day, but it was after school now, and since the police had needed to contact me a few more times about Lucas and the house, I’d gotten into the habit of keeping it on, but quiet.
When I pulled it from the top desk drawer, I saw my papa’s name appear on the screen.
“Hi, Papa,” I answered gently.
“Hello, Linus,” Papa answered, his voice strained and sad, like it’d been since he and Dad had been told about everything and flown back up to Barrington to deal with it.
“You okay?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“As much as could be expected,” Papa sighed. “We’ve just been to see Lucas at the state penitentiary.”
My heart squeezed for my papa. Lucas had been sentenced two days ago after an expedited trial process.
He’d been difficult from the start and had been deemed a flight risk.
Since the evidence against him was clear, he’d been remanded into custody as soon as he got out of the hospital for his broken nose.
He’d now be spending the next five years at a medium-security prison for omegas that was part of the state penitentiary.
“How’s he doing?” I asked. My question was stiff, since I was still furious with Lucas, but it was genuine.
“He’s calmed down quite a bit,” Papa said. “He’s unhappy about the conditions of the prison, especially since he has a roommate.”
Something in me tweaked over the way Papa couldn’t say “cellmate”.
“Well, it is prison,” I said. “He’s lucky that things didn’t turn out worse for him.”
By which I meant that he was lucky he wasn’t dead. We were all lucky Zane and his men had handled the situation professionally and that there were no fatalities, even though several people on both sides had been injured.
“How’s everything going with cleaning up the beach house?” I asked, hoping to move on to happier things.
Papa sighed heavily. “There isn’t much to clean up, really,” he said. “The representatives from the police have been so helpful in removing evidence and giving advice about how to tidy up.” Papa paused, then said, “Your dad and I are thinking of selling the place.”
A wealth of mixed feelings hit me with that statement. “Really?”
I’d spent childhood summers at the beach house and had so many memories of the place.
Some of those memories involved Lucas nearly drowning me or pushing me out of trees, but some were good.
The memory of Saint giving me a little taste of his kinky world in the garage put a smile on my face that I was glad no one else could see. That had been amazing.
“We’re thinking of selling and dividing the profit from the sale three ways for you, Lucas, and Eloise,” Papa went on.
Another jolt of mixed feelings hit me. “You know that if Lucas gets his hands on his share, he’ll squander it,” I said.
“Oh, I know,” Papa said in a wary voice. “That’s why your dad wants to put it into a trust with you as the trustee.”
My brow went up. “Um, wow. I don’t know anything about being a trustee.”
“But you’re clever with money, dear,” Papa said. “And I trust you to keep your brother from doing himself more harm once he’s free.”
I rubbed the prickles that broke out on the back of my neck.
If I was honest, I didn’t love the idea of being around Lucas much in the future, especially if I ended up having kids, which was almost a certainty at this point.
But it was early days still, things might change.
And I had Saint now to help me deal with him.
“Maybe you and that handsome alpha of yours could use your share of the proceeds from the sale for a wedding?” Papa suggested. I could hear the smile in his voice. “Or perhaps a house of your own?”
I smiled with him. “Yeah, maybe. We’re still talking about what we want to do.”
In fact, I’d already started packing up my apartment and moving things into Saint’s house.
It turned out that he lived surprisingly close to the school, and the practice where he did his counseling was in a building only about three blocks from me.
We couldn’t have planned it better if we’d tried.
But then again, that’s what fate was all about.
Considering my line of work and his, Saint and I might have met because of a troubled student if we hadn’t met at the omega auction.
“I’ll let you know what we decide,” Papa said, pulling my attention back to where it should be. “Are we still meeting for lunch tomorrow?”
“Yep,” I said. “Saint and I will see you and Dad then.”
Papa and I exchanged our goodbyes, and I ended the call and put my phone on the desk with a happy sigh. Papa had originally asked if Saint and I would be available for supper that night, but it was Friday, and I had a few other things in mind.
I tried not to think about those things as I went back to grading papers, but now that I had an amazing, sexy alpha, once my thoughts started down that path, it was hard to bring them back to where they belonged.
I’d heated up so much thinking about what I had ready for Saint that night that when Roger knocked on the open doorframe of my room, then walked right in, I jumped a little.
“Hey, Linus,” Roger said in that needling voice he had when he wanted something. He sidled up to my desk like he was about to make a deal. “So, what are you doing next Thursday?”
I worked to hide my grin, knowing exactly where the conversation was headed. It wasn’t leading toward an invitation to do something fun for me.
“I’m not sure,” I said honestly.
“Great,” Roger said. “That means you’ll be available to take my study hall shift. I’ve got my eye on a fantastic woman who I’m just dying to ask out, but she works every evening but Thursdays. Should I put your name on the schedule?”
“Actually, no,” I said, smiling serenely up at him.
Roger looked like he hadn’t heard me right. “But I need you to cover study hall.”
“I’ve covered study hall a lot for you already this year,” I said. “I can’t do it this time.”
Roger snorted and flailed slightly, like he didn’t know what to do with me setting boundaries. “You always cover for me.”
“Not this time,” I said, still smiling.
“But—”
“Hey, Linus.” We were interrupted as Tina marched through the door, her face lit up like she’d heard some particularly juicy gossip and was dying to share it. “What’s this I hear about you bonding with an alpha during your heat?”
My face went bright pink as I stood, but more with pleasure than embarrassment.
Roger glanced from Tina to me with a grimace. “Wait, you? Bonded? To an alpha?”
“That’s generally who omegas bond to,” I said in a deadpan.
“He’s been keeping it really quiet, but third-grade Emily, not fifth-grade Emily, said she saw you getting out of some alpha’s car and that she could see the aura around the two of you.”