Page 15 of Alpha & Omega (Alpha's Rejects #4)

I walked into my house with a sense of defeat. Even if I hadn’t been sure he would be at the skatepark, I’d taken a risk to corner Kingston. I recalled him talking about that particular skatepark. In fact, I hadn’t even thought about what I’d say to him. But seeing his anger and being surrounded by his family, I quickly realized my mistake. If the roles were reversed and I’d been with my son, I would’ve been pissed, too.

Still, I wanted to continue with this thing we had going on and see where it took us. Clearly, he could be a stubborn man, taking on everything and everyone. While that was a good quality, I needed to find a way to make headway with him. If we just talked about everything, he would calm down and realize I didn’t want to hurt him or take anything away.

It wasn’t like me to chase, but I knew a good catch when I saw one. Kingston was worth it. I wasn’t ready to give up on him… on us.

After catching up on some paperwork, I headed to the kitchen to start dinner. Hudson hadn’t come home yet from hanging out with Oliver, but he would be here soon.

I pulled out some grass-fed ground hamburger meat and set it on the counter to warm up to room temperature. Then I grabbed a tomato from the windowsill and thinly sliced it.

Hudson was going to be happy that I planned to make him regular hamburgers tonight.

Next, I grated an onion and mixed it with mayonnaise, hot sauce, yellow mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. I sprinkled in salt and pepper, stirred the mixture, and set it aside.

“I’m home!” Hudson yelled as he slammed the front door.

“In the kitchen.”

He plopped down at the kitchen table to watch me cook. “Need help?”

I smiled at him and worked on mixing up the ground beef with some salt and pepper with my hands. “Thanks, but I’ve got it. How’s Oliver? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Good.”

I glanced at my son, whose tone of voice contradicted his words. He was looking down at his hands, picking at his fingernails.

“What’s going on, Hud? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

With a big sigh, he said, “I’m not sure how much longer I can take being his friend.”

“Wait, what? Have you two had a falling out? You both have been attached at the hip since middle school.”

He shook his head, dark tendrils of hair falling in his face. He tucked them away and looked at me.

“No, we’re good… It’s just…”

I waited him out, letting him process how much he wanted to tell me as I rolled the meat into balls, resting each one on some parchment paper .

He sighed again. I watched Hudson carefully as he fidgeted, glancing away from me again.

“I like him, Dad… I like , like him.”

“Ooh… well, yes, I can see how much of a struggle that would be, crushing on your best friend. Why the sudden change?”

Hudson huffed at me. “It’s not a crush. It’s love.”

“I stand corrected. Have you told him yet?”

His body sagged, and he shook his head.

“Perhaps it’s time you told him your feelings?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t want to lose our friendship.”

“Yet you wanted to ditch your friendship because you can’t take him not knowing,” I reminded.

“Ugh, you’re right.”

“Sounds like either way, you lose him, but if you’re honest, you stand a better chance at keeping the friendship. If he doesn’t like you back, well, it’ll be awkward, but I doubt he’ll stop liking you.”

He stared up at me with his dark chocolate eyes under thick lashes that matched mine. “It’s scary, especially because he’s straight.”

“I know it is. If it makes you feel better, I’m struggling with Kingston, too. We… parted ways, which was entirely my fault. It’s hard for me to step out of my comfort zone and fight for him, but I’ve been trying.”

“What happened? I thought you two were getting along.”

I flattened one meatball between two pieces of parchment paper until it was thin and set it aside to do another. “We were, but I did something stupid.”

“What’d you do?”

I smirked at him. “Not your business, but let’s say I’m trying to remedy it, but he won’t talk to me right now.”

“So, you’re not ready to give up on him?”

“Nope. Eventually, I’ll have to, or else I’ll look like a damn stalker.”

Hudson chuckled, clearly feeling better at my expense, but that was the point in telling him my story.

Once the patties were ready, I dropped them into a hot skillet with melted butter and smashed them further. When they were cooked on one side, I flipped them and added a dollop of special sauce on top .

“While scary, we all have to step out of our comfort zones if we want something bad enough,” I explained. “It’s what I’m doing, and I think you should, too. Oliver may surprise you.”

“You think?”

I nodded and removed the patties from the pan when they were ready. In another pan, I quickly seared the open side of the hamburger buns.

“I do.”

“And you keep trying, too, Dad.”

I chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”

When everything was ready, I placed the meat on the buns on plates and gave one to Hudson. “There, Your Royal Highness. Regular hamburgers, grease, and all… A heart attack on a plate. You can dress it how you want.”

“I knew you loved me. Thanks, Dad.”

On Thursday night, I pulled up in front of Alpha’s Rejects. I took the evening off work to deal with Kingston and get him back. If that didn’t work, nothing would. I wouldn’t pursue him again. It was my last chance.

I generally gave off a vibe of confidence, but I was nervous as hell. I hadn’t been kidding when I told Hudson this was out of my comfort zone. Joining a dating app had been bad enough, and I definitely didn’t want to do it all over again. Kingston was the only man I wanted.

I’d fucked up royally, and I just needed him to give me a chance to apologize and fix things.

When I got out of my car, I patted the front pocket of my short-sleeved button-up to make sure my gift was still there. Hey, a little bribery wouldn’t hurt, right?

The evening was still early enough that the bar wouldn’t be too crowded, allowing me to talk to Kingston. I hated cornering him like this again, but I knew he wouldn’t have let me into his apartment had I met him there.

Regardless, with a deep breath, I prepared for his stubborn anger .

With clammy hands, I walked into Alpha’s and found that big guy with cropped dark brown hair and hazel eyes at the front, checking IDs. He let me through without a word, but that didn’t stop him from sneering at me.

I looked around for Kingston when my eyes landed on the other dark-haired guy. He was equally huge, but he looked sick with dark circles under his eyes. I recalled he was the one who told me to leave the skatepark. He gave me the bird and walked off.

Jesus, did Kingston tell them all what I’d done? If I could repair my relationship with Kingston, I’d have to work things out with his family, too, which wouldn’t be easy.

I found Kingston behind the bar, wiping down the counters, glaring at me. My stomach fluttered at seeing him. Even through his anger, he was gorgeous. The diamond studs in his ears were new and looked good on him.

“I’m busy,” he snapped when I sat in front of him.

“No, you’re not.” I sighed and summoned all the courage I had. “Kingston, will you please stop being stubborn for one damn second and talk to me?”

He tossed the rag behind him. “Fine. You have five minutes.”

He stepped out from behind the bar, and I followed him back toward his office, where he shut the door behind him. Kingston leaned against his desk with folded, tattooed arms. “Well?”

Here we go .

“I am sorry for what I did. Truly. I never meant to upset you.”

“Noted. Accepted. Now, if you’ll let me get back to work?”

He tried to walk by me, but I pressed my hand to his chest to stop him, suddenly getting angry at his attitude. I know I hurt him, but dammit, he still wasn’t listening.

“Enough, Kingston. Stop being a stubborn ass and grow up.”

His brows slammed down as he glared at me with hard turquoise eyes. “Grow up? Speak for yourself.”

“I am . I’ve been trying to apologize to you for over a week now, and I’m getting tired of you not listening. We’re goddamn adults. Can we not behave like them for five minutes? Look, communication is very important to me, and I hate that we aren’t talking because I truly feel this can be fixed between us, and you’re worth it. ”

His face softened for a moment before he nodded and waved his hand at a chair in front of his desk as he sat behind it.

“Fine. Let’s hear it then.”

I could do this. I knew once Kingston stopped to listen for a second, I could convince him we’d be good together.

“I never intended to take your bar, Kingston. I just had a random idea. I simply thought it was cool. The idea had been so fleeting that I hadn’t thought about it again. But when we talked that night, I wanted to put the idea out to you. I would never take your bar from you. When you told me you were struggling, I stupidly assumed that you might like the idea. But you were right. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back to check your credit reports. Granted, they’re public information, but it wasn’t my business. That’s on me. I’d been more business-oriented than relationship-oriented. This is all new to me, and I’ve blown things between us. But I want to fix this. If you want help, you have it. If you don’t, I won’t get involved. You’re all that matters.”

He stewed on my words, looking anywhere but at me. “It hurt, you know. I trusted you and really liked you.”

My body unwound, filled with even more guilt. “I realize that, and again, I’m so sorry.”

“After I stopped being angry for five minutes, I realized you weren’t trying to hurt me.”

“If so, why wouldn’t you talk to me?”

He finally looked at me with those pretty blue eyes filled with hurt. “Because you went behind my back. Because you barely knew me and still looked into my business. I lost a bit of trust, Harley. Maybe if you’d been anyone else, it wouldn’t have mattered as much, but I really liked you. I thought I finally found that one person for me. And honestly…”

“What? Tell me.”

“I… get these fears that if I fall for someone, they’ll leave or stop wanting me. This whole thing kind of kicked up those fears a notch.”

It was my turn to be unable to look at him. “I’m… so fucking sorry about everything. I understand now that Alpha’s isn’t only a business for you. It’s home.”

“Then you get it. ”

“Can you ever forgive me?”

Kingston sat in silence for so long that I figured it was over. I almost stood to leave before he spoke.

“Yeah, I can forgive.”

I looked up at him with a tinge of hope. “But will you?”

“Yeah, I will. Let’s start fresh. Just no more messing with my business.”

“You got it.”

I stood, pulled out the tickets from my pocket, and waved them in the air.

Kingston raised a brow. “What are those?”

“You’ll have to come over here to find out.”

He smirked, stood, and walked around his desk to stand in front of me, where I handed him the tickets. He read them and smiled with bright eyes. “José González?”

I shrugged. “A little bird told me he was coming to town at the end of August and that you might like him since you played his music when I was at your place.”

“Bribing me, are we?”

“Think of it as ‘Plan B.’”

“Consider me bribed. I love him.”

When he wrapped his arms around me, I held him back and rested my head on his shoulder, completely melting into him and inhaling his intoxicating scent. I instantly felt at home again. God , I’d missed him, and it hadn’t even been that long.

“Thank you, King.”

His response was to hold me tighter, and I took it.