Chapter 18 - Craig #2
She studied me for several seconds before nodding. “Thanks.” Then her eyes narrowed. “Put on some clothes, though.”
I looked down and chuckled. “Sure thing.”
I took the stairs two at a time as I rushed up. I dressed, then made my way back down.
She nodded once she saw that I was decent, rose from the table, and crossed to the front door. The kids and Russy ran back in, the little girl carrying a basket of eggs.
“No broodies today, Tio Randy!” she declared as she carried the basket to the kitchen. She set it on the table, then seemed to see me for the first time.
She blinked.
The little boy stopped behind her, with an equally confused expression. “Who are you?”
Jessie seemed momentarily unsure how to proceed. So before she had a chance, I strode over and crouched so I’d be at their eye level.
“Hi,” I started. “I’m Craig. I’m a friend of your uncle Randy.”
“Tio Randy’s friend?” the boy asked.
I nodded. “That’s right.”
“Why are you here so early?” the girl asked. “Did you have a slumber party?”
Jessie made a shocked, choking noise.
I chuckled. “Something like that.” I put on a more serious face. “Now you know my name, but I’m still a stranger. So ask your mom if it’s ok if you tell me yours.”
Both kids blinked at me, and Jessie let out an exasperated sigh. “Go ahead.”
“I’m Michelle,” the girl said.
I smiled and turned to the boy.
“Marco,” he said, a bit more shyly.
“It’s nice to meet you both. I hope you’re hungry, cause breakfast is almost ready.”
“Pancakes?” Marco asked, bouncing on his toes slightly.
“No. Biscuits and gravy, and scrambled eggs.”
“Oh.” He pouted.
“You like eggs, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Do you like biscuits and gravy?”
“Yeah…”
“So are you sad because you don’t like the food, or because you wanted something sweet?”
“Wanted something sweet,” he admitted, fidgeting and turning his toes inward.
I laughed. “That’s what I thought. But eating good food will help you grow up big and strong like your mom.”
“Ok…”
I stood and noticed Jessie staring at me. The venom in her gaze had lessened.
“Let’s wash our hands while Craig finishes breakfast,” she declared.
I nodded and added the eggs to the pan.
The scrape of chairs told me the kids were seated right about the same time I turned off the stove and declared the eggs done.
“You handled that well,” Jessie stated with begrudging acknowledgement as she started plating for the kids.
“One of my cousins has kids about their age,” I replied.
“Hmph,” she replied, then scooped eggs onto the plates.
I split the rest of the food between three plates while she got the kids settled and carried them to the table.
It took everything in me to not kiss Randy’s cheek as I set his plate in front of him, but I didn’t want the kids asking questions that their mom clearly wasn’t ready to handle yet.
Still, I squeezed his shoulder as I sat beside him.
Breakfast chatter was mostly handled by the kids, who excitedly told Randy all about how their abuela and abuelo had come up from Mexico to find out if they were going to have a little brother or sister.
Randy responded with requests for them to tell him more or agreeing that something was exciting.
Jessie… well… she kept studying me—evaluating whether I was worthy of her brother.
I gathered the dishes as everybody finished and carried them to the sink. I was reaching for the water when Jessie spoke to me.
“Hold off on that, Craig.”
I turned and blinked at her. “Um… ok.”
She gave Randy a pointed look, then turned to the kids. “You two help Uncle Randy with the eggs and go down to the stand with him. I need to talk to Craig.”
“Ok!” the kids agreed.
I swallowed.
She turned to me, then motioned at the kitchen door with her head.
I nodded and followed her out to the side porch.
“Walk with me,” she demanded.
I fell in step beside her as we headed toward the workshop, and probably the woods behind.
She paused beside my truck. “This yours?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.”
I didn’t know what to make of her response, but decided not to question it.
She was silent as we passed the workshop and made our way into the thinner section of trees behind the cabin.
“What are your intentions for my brother?” she finally asked.
I smiled as I thought of him. “I hope one day he’ll agree to be my mate.”
“Do you mean that?”
I turned and met her eyes. “I do.”
She studied me for several seconds before nodding, then she turned and started walking again. “Randy likes you.”
“That’s good. I don’t want him to feel pressured if he doesn’t want me.”
She snorted. “If he didn’t want you, you wouldn’t be here.”
I chuckled. “I was warned that he’d probably ignore my flirting.”
“Who told you that?”
“Coworkers at the mill.”
“Hmm,” she replied with a nod. “And you still went after him?”
“How could I not? He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met.”
“He’s a good man,” she agreed. There was a beat of silence, then, “You’re really serious about him?”
“I am.”
She was silent again, and I followed her deeper into the forest.
“What do you know about my brother’s dating history?” she finally asked.
“Not much,” I admitted. “I know he’s been single for a long time, but he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. I try not to push, because I can see it hurts him. He’s said things that tell me it’s not happy.”
“Like what?”
I took a breath. “He once told me he’s not the kind of man alphas keep around.”
Another beat of silence. “He probably believes that more than you realize.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed. “Randy is a deeply loving man. Once he gives his heart to somebody, it’s theirs. But others have taken that gift and trampled on it.”
A stone formed in the pit of my stomach. “How so?”
She paused and looked around, then started walking again. “Randy hasn’t been in a lot of relationships, but each one has scarred him deeply, and all in the same way.”
She pointed to a couple of boulders. “Let’s sit over there.”
I followed her and perched on one of the boulders.
“Randy is three years older than me,” she started.
“Which meant that he was a senior in high school when I was a freshman. I was a bit young to care about his dating life, but my locker was in the senior class wing. You know how high schools assign lockers in the most random places. So I got used to seeing him around lunchtime.”
She paused. “One day, I noticed Randy pacing, waiting for the alpha he was dating. Something felt off, so I hung around. A few minutes later, the douchebag comes around the corner with another omega clinging to his arm—fawning over him.
“The other omega was traditionally pretty. Slender, masculine but delicate. I’d never seen him around, so I was pretty sure he was a transfer student.”
She let out a long breath. “I wasn’t close enough to hear what Randy asked, but everybody heard the response. The alpha laughed—actually laughed—then loudly asked ‘You thought we were serious?’”
My fingernails curled into my palms.
“Then the asshole smirked,” she continued, “and said, ‘Thanks for keeping me company though.’”
My blood started to boil.
She leaned back and stared at the sky. “I couldn’t let that slide.” She chuckled. “I was smaller and younger, but it didn’t matter. I walked straight up to that asshole and decked him. I got two good hits in before his brain caught up to the fact that he’d been attacked.”
She chuckled. “He fought back and got some good hits in himself. But he was used to fighting with boys. Girl fights are a completely different beast, and I was scrappy. He’d be looking to deflect a punch, and didn’t know how to counter me going for his ears and hair.
I didn’t walk away unscathed, but he sported a black eye and lost a few chunks of hair. Plus other bruises.”
She grinned and turned to me. “Even better, the omega he’d dumped Randy for saw what a worthless piece of shit he was, and dumped him.”
She turned back to the sky. “It took the gym teachers coming in to pull us apart. I was still trying to fight, kicking and clawing the air, as the biggest alpha teacher at the school lifted me off my feet.” She chuckled. “I spent a week suspended for that, but it was worth it.”
Her gaze flicked back to me—pointed and demanding.
I swallowed, understanding the implied message: Hurt my brother, and it’ll be you this time.
I nodded.
She studied me for several seconds, then returned the nod.
Her gaze shifted back to the forest. “That was probably the shortest of Randy’s relationships.
He met his next alpha once he’d started college.
He’d enrolled at Mount Sable College to get his degree with a woodworking specialty.
The alpha was in the ceramics program if I recall, and two years ahead of Randy. ”
She sighed. “They spent two years together. Randy thought they were going to get mated, have kids, the works. Then the alpha graduated. That was when Randy learned that the other man had a long-term long-distance partner from his hometown. Randy had expected to be asked to move in or given some indication that their relationship was going to move to the next level. But that’s not what happened.
Excuses about why he’d never met the alpha’s family suddenly made sense.
Every time he went home, he doted on the omega patiently waiting for him there. ”
“What did the other omega say when he found out?”
She growled. “He didn’t believe him. The piece of trash told him that Randy was somebody who’d been obsessed after being rejected—that he was trying to ruin their relationship because he couldn’t have him.”
I fought the urge to run to my omega—to pull him into my arms and promise that I would always be his.
She sighed, then continued. “It was more than a year before he was ready to date again. He was cautious, and he had plenty of first dates that went nowhere. That was the first time I saw him cynical about alphas. He saw red flags that were there, but also probably some that weren’t.”