Chapter 17 #2
I’m saved from having to nod and smile politely by the server coming over. Leo orders his wine, and I get a water and an iced tea.
“I’ll give you some time to look over the menu and come back,” the server says, going to put the drink orders in.
Leo immediately starts talking again. “I think you should try the ribeye,” he says. “I know women always go for the chicken or the fish, but if you come to a steakhouse and don’t try the steak, you’re not getting the whole experience, you know?”
“Sure,” I say. “I hadn’t made up my mind yet. I was thinking maybe the spinach artichoke dip to start?”
He shakes his head. “Don’t waste your time with that. You’ll get too full and then won’t have room for the rest of the meal. That’s why I never get appetizers or eat the bread. If I come to a steakhouse, I’m here for the meat.”
“Right… okay.” I take a roll from the bread basket anyway, buttering it before taking a bite. Leo smiles, but there’s something patronizing about it that I don’t like.
“You like to rebel, don’t you?” he asks.
“What do you mean?”
“I just said the bread is a trap, and now you’re eating bread.”
“I just wanted to try it. I’ve never been here before, and I want to try a little of everything. If I get too full to finish my steak, I’ll take it home with me and warm up the rest later.”
The way he looks at that, you’d think I suggested something heinous. “Steak is only good when it’s first cooked,” he says. “You cook it, you let it rest, and then you eat it. Reheating it ruins whatever temperature it was cooked to, and now you’ve got shoe leather to gnaw on.”
“Is it that serious?” I ask mildly.
He nods. “It really is. Trust me, I know my steak.”
I consider getting the dip anyway, but honestly, I’m not up to getting another lecture. Easier to just eat my bread and wait for this dinner to be over at this point.
I do order the ribeye, and I don’t ask for input about the sides from Leo, who I’m sure has something to say about green beans and potatoes with steak.
Once the server disappears again, he looks at me, and I blink back, not sure what he’s looking so intently for.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he finally says.
“I don’t think you do.”
Leo smiles. “I do though. You’re thinking that since I’m not an Alpha, I can’t give you what you need. That’s why you’re doing your own thing here. Eating the bread, ordering green beans.”
“I like green beans,” I tell him. “There’s nothing else to it.”
“There is, even if you don’t know it. I know how Omegas work.”
Oh, here we go. There’s always an Alpha—and sometimes a few Betas—who think they understand Omegas better than Omegas themselves. They’ve watched movies and porn and think they know how to ‘handle’ an Omega. It’s always wrong and usually a little offensive.
“You want someone strong enough to take charge and show you the right way to do things,” Leo continues.
“And you think since I’m a Beta, I can’t do that.
But I just do things differently than Alphas do them.
I’m not going to demand that you listen to me.
I’m going to let you find things out for yourself.
Like, when you leave here with three quarters of your steak in a to go box, I’m not even going to say I told you so.
But tomorrow, you’re going to text me and you’ll be saying I was right about the steak not being as good reheated.
And then next time, you’ll listen to me right away. ”
He says it like he thinks Omegas are children, who have to be gentle parented into knowing what’s best for them. I grit my teeth, resisting the urge to walk out immediately. He’s not the first Alpha, or Beta for that matter, to be ignorant and rude about Omegas, and he won’t be the last.
“I don’t think it’s that serious,” I say, trying to stay measured and chill.
“I know you don’t,” he replies with a wink. “But we’ll get there. I’m definitely not going to call the date off because you don’t know how to eat steak yet.”
How magnanimous of him.
The food comes soon enough, and Leo goes into another spiel about how he never orders sauce with his meat because if the meat is good, it doesn’t need sauce.
“What if I just like sauce?” I want to know.
He gives me another of those looks, like he doesn’t think I know what’s good for me and pities me for it. “There’s no sauce out there that’s better than the taste of well-cooked meat.”
I put more sauce on my steak, just for the principle of it.
Leo watches with that amused little smirk, but doesn’t say anything about it. The food is good, at least, so if we manage to make it through this date without him saying anything else to piss me off, it won’t be the worst date I’ve ever been on.
We eat in silence for a good ten minutes before Leo opens his mouth again.
“So, where are you staying while you’re in town?” he asks.
Ordinarily, I’d never tell anyone where I live on a first date, but if Leo shows up at the Alphas’ house, he’s going to be in for a rude awakening.
“I’m staying with friends,” I tell him. “The ones who own the bar.”
He makes a face at that. “The Sheriff lives with the other two, doesn’t he?”
I nod. “Yeah. Why?”
“Just… be careful.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you know about the man who was sheriff before him, right? His father?”
“Yeah?”
He gives me a look like that explains everything, and I just stare blankly back. I’m starting to wish he’d go back to lecturing me about steak.
When I don’t react the way he seems to be expecting, he gives me a pitying look.
“His father was a piece of work,” he says.
“Corrupt as they come. He acted like having a sheriff’s badge gave him the right to do what he wanted with whoever he wanted with no consequences.
He basically ticked the boxes for every Alpha stereotype in the book. ”
“And you think Everett is like that too?”
“I think the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree sometimes,” he says.
“I don’t know the guy that well, but… he’s an Alpha, and he’s in the same position of power his father was.
What’s to stop him from turning out the same way?
And you’re an Omega, who’s relying on him for work and shelter.
It just seems like a prime opportunity for him to take advantage of you.
That’s all I’m saying. I just want you to look out for yourself. ”
There was a time when I would have agreed with him. When my inner voice was screaming at me that putting myself and Cora’s wellbeing in the hands of these men was a terrible idea. But now, I bristle at the idea that someone who doesn’t even know Everett is sitting here passing judgement.
“You don’t know him,” I say firmly. “So you probably shouldn’t be saying stuff like that.”
“Well—”
I cut him off before he can start up again. “Let’s change the subject. I don’t really want to hear you talking bad about someone who’s been so nice to me since I got here.”
Whatever Leo sees in my face must make him realize I’m serious, because he nods and goes back to talking about himself instead.
I basically tune him out for the rest of the date, flagging down a passing waitress as soon as his plate is empty to ask for a to-go box and the check.
Leo insists on paying, and I don’t argue about it. The least I deserve for putting up with this is a free steak. We walk out of the restaurant, and Leo moves in closer to me, his eyes hooded in the darkness.
“I had a nice time,” he says, licking his lips. “And I think aside from some differences in opinion, you did too.” He leans in, like he’s going to kiss me, but I step back, putting distance between us.
“Thanks for dinner,” I tell him. “I need to get going. I have to pick up my niece before it gets too late.” I leave him standing in front of the restaurant and hurry to my car. Once I’m strapped in and the doors are locked, I let out a long sigh.
Cora’s half asleep when I pick her up from Lainey’s, and I manage to avoid talking about the date by getting Cora buckled in and saying I want to get her home so she can sleep. The whole drive home, I can only think about one thing.
This date has made it more clear than ever that what I really want is completely off limits. Or maybe it just doesn’t actually even exist at all.