Page 19 of Alpha & Omega (Alpha's Rejects #4)

I woke up to the filtering light of the late morning, stretching and smiling, seeing Kingston’s sleeping face, his body curled, facing me.

One of my favorite parts of being in a relationship was waking up next to my person, snuggling in bed before we got up to have coffee together. I loved the smell of sleep on him and the feel of his hard body pressed up against me. It was so different from a woman, reminding me of my preference for men and making me grateful I found him.

Now that Kingston and Hudson knew each other and had gotten along really well, I felt comfortable with him sleeping over more, which allowed us to see each other often and worked well with our busy schedules.

Ever since we got back together, our relationship couldn’t have been more perfect .

I stretched again as my morning wood grew.

“Stop squirming,” he said sleepily.

I pressed my body against him, slipping my thigh between his legs so he could feel my hard-on. “But I’m needy. Give us a hand. Pretty please.”

He raised a blond brow but didn’t open his eyes. “ Us ?”

“We all know cocks have their own brains.”

“Is that a scientific fact?”

“It is, indeed.”

As Kingston woke up more, he also stretched, and his swelling dick pressed against mine, making me harder.

“Take a shower with me, and we can rub one out together.”

He breathed heavily, and his eyes slid closed again as he nodded. “Give me five… I’m not much of a morning person.”

I leaned forward and kissed his full lips. “Maybe after coffee and breakfast, we can be lazy before work and watch some romantic comedies while snuggled in bed.”

“Sounds fun. Being lazy is a rare luxury, and I wish I could take it, but I’ve got to see Tony today.”

“I understand. We have plenty of time and other days.”

I eventually climbed out of bed and padded to the bathroom to take a piss and start the shower. Then I pulled up my hair into a messy bun to keep it from getting wet.

As soon as the water was hot, Kingston stumbled into the bathroom, sleepy-eyed and yawning. His cock was still erect with morning wood, so I cupped him and kissed him, morning breath and all. I didn’t care.

After he pissed, I took his hand and led him under the hot spray of water. He leaned forward, his hand resting on the stone tiles as the water sluiced down his tanned skin.

I turned him around and kissed him for a moment before I grabbed some shower gel, poured it into my hands, then fisted our cocks together.

Kingston leaned against the wall, his eyes closed to the sensation of me stroking us in languid movements, building up the arousal rather than rushing to the finish line .

Frotting was probably my second favorite thing sexually, next to sex. Feeling our lengths rub against each other took hand jobs to the next fucking level. The heat, hardness, and smooth glide, feeling him pulse against me, thrusting in my tight fist… fuck.

I glided my thumb over the sensitive heads, pulling a groan out of both of us.

I leaned forward, rested my forearm on the tile next to Kingston’s head, and pressed our foreheads together, breathing heavily as the hot water cascaded over us, quickly washing away the soap from my hand and our dicks. The muscles in his abs were tight and rippling as his chest rose and fell with gasping breaths.

He reached for my lips and kissed me as his hand slid into my hair, tugging on my bun. Our tongues fought each other, and we thrust for more friction in my hand. His hand landed on mine, squeezing it to squeeze us tighter.

“Harley…” he breathed on my lips. “I…”

He didn’t finish as we consumed each other’s mouths again.

I was close. So close. The pressure pulsed around me, but I needed him to be close, too.

“Come for me, King… I’m almost there.”

His hands gripped the back of my neck as he thrust in my fist and along my length, and I thrust, too—harder and faster.

Suddenly his body froze, and hot cum shot out of him. Just watching him come forced me over the edge, and I came, too. It wasn’t always easy to orgasm at the same time, but I’d already been holding back as much as possible.

“God, Chef… so fucking sexy.”

Kingston lifted my cum-covered hand and licked it clean, never taking his gorgeous eyes off me.

“Jesus, you’re going to give me a chubby already.”

Kingston grinned and leaned back on the tile, his head looking upward as he ran long fingers through his hair. Fuck, he looked sexy as hell, his undulating muscles more pronounced while wet.

Maybe it was the sexual high, but I was falling hard for him. Kingston wasn’t only sexy, but he was kind, empathetic, giving, and a wonderful father figure… or was it a brother figure for his crew? Even better, Hudson liked him .

I caged him in with my arms and kissed him again, slowly, exploring instead of filled with the usual hunger, nipping his ears and moving down his throat.

“How’d I get so lucky to find my match? I hadn’t expected it so quickly when we first met. You’ve become so important to me, King,” I said when we pulled away.

“I know.”

I raised a brow and snorted a laugh. “Oh?”

“Yep, you wouldn’t have introduced me to Hudson had I not been.”

I chuckled. “Well, you caught me, I guess.”

“Yep.” Kingston reached for my face and cupped my cheek. “You’ve become important to me, too, Chef.”

I couldn’t stop the smile on my face. “Good.”

We finished washing and drying off. I put on underwear and shorts and headed downstairs while Kingston got dressed. It was early yet, so Hudson was still sleeping.

I ground some coffee beans, filled the coffeemaker’s tank, and set it to brew. As the coffee got ready, I dug in my refrigerator, pulled out some plain yogurt, washed assorted berries, and dug in the pantry for the container of homemade granola.

Before I could get breakfast ready, a knock sounded on my front door. Who could that be? It was too early for visitors, and I wasn’t expecting anyone.

I opened the app on my phone and checked the camera instead of answering the door.

I nearly dropped my phone when I saw the woman standing there, wringing her hands together, staring at my door.

A swirl of emotions consumed me, and I struggled to pinpoint and focus on one… anger, frustration, fear, grief, sadness, confusion… everything negative owned me at that moment. My heart beat so fast and hard I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I simply stood there, indecisive, not knowing what to do.

With a few more breaths, anger won out.

How fucking dare she! She couldn’t just show up here out of the blue after eight fucking years.

“Calm down, Harley. Calm the fuck down. Let’s see what she wants first before you rip her a new one,” I said to no one .

Thank fuck, Hudson was still sleeping.

I walked to the front door right when she started pounding on it again. I opened it so abruptly that she squeaked and took a step back.

“Oh!”

“It’s been eight fucking years, Ava. What the hell are you doing here?”

Her gray-blue eyes darted left and right down the street before she looked forward, staring at her feet.

Ava had aged a bit, but she was still recognizable. She kept her light-brown hair longer than before and pulled into a ponytail, and she stood half a foot shorter than me. She also appeared much thinner than she used to be.

Despite the years, she looked good, which only pissed me off more. I always imagined the worst, like she fell into drugs and died or got into a car accident… something, anything to explain her actions away. But no, she looked perfectly good and normal.

“What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

“C-can I come… in?”

“No.”

She nodded and wrung her hands again. “I came here to… fix things.”

“After eight fucking years?”

She glanced around at her surroundings again before looking at me with pleading eyes. “Please, can we talk inside?”

“You have ten minutes. My boyfriend is here, and Hudson is sleeping.”

“Thank you.”

I stepped aside and led her into the kitchen. “Nice place.”

“I’m not going to ask how you found me. Out with it. Why are you here?”

Ava took a shuttered breath and nodded, sitting down at the table. I poured myself a cup of coffee, adding some sugar and creamer to it. I didn’t offer her any.

“H-how is he? H-hudson?”

“None of your fucking business. Spill it.”

“I… I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but—”

“No, Ava. I’m not only angry. I’m baffled, frustrated, and hurt. And right now, I’m in protective mode over Hudson. ”

“We’d been so young, Harley, and we really struggled and… I didn’t feel like I was cut out to be a mama. You knew I never wanted kids…”

“We were fucking eighteen. You chose to keep Hudson.”

“Exactly. We were so young. Just that night… Hudson had been so sick, and I was so tired. You were in school and… I couldn’t breathe, filled with so much despair, frustration, and… I’m not trying to make excuses… just telling you where my head was at.”

I took a sip of coffee and sighed. “You’ve got seven more minutes.”

She quickly nodded. “Right. So that night after you got home, I just ran. I had everything packed up already. I… needed to breathe. The walls felt like they were closing in, and…”

I set my mug too hard on the table, sloshing the coffee. “Dammit!” I hissed as I stood to grab some paper towels to clean up my mess. “ You needed to breathe? You left me alone with a hurt child, crying for his mother for fucking months!” I was being too loud, so I toned down my voice. “Do you have any idea of what we went through, you selfish piece of…”

Tears sprung in her eyes, making the blue stand out more.

“I know… I don’t have any excuse.”

“Why are you here now, after all this time? Why do you suddenly care now?” I asked, feeling exhausted.

Her lip trembled, and some tears slipped. “I’m dying… like, really soon. I’ve been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. It’s… advanced.”

“So, you just what… came here to make yourself feel better before you die? To bring Hudson into your life only for you to permanently leave?!”

With a deep and shuddered breath, I tried to calm down. “That was… cruel. I’m sorry. But I’m not wrong. Do you have any idea of what Hudson went through after you left? You abandoned him! You abandoned me. We spent years in therapy, trying to move past the fact you didn’t want him. He blamed himself for so long. And now you come here and stay in his life until you die? You couldn’t show him just a little bit of mercy after everything you put him through? You came here for you, not for him.”

She sobbed and choked it back, covering her mouth. “No, not for me. To tell him how sorry I am. I wanted to come back sooner, but every time I tried, I stopped, talking myself out of it, knowing you wouldn’t want to see me because you hated me. I hated me, too.”

I deflated on the chair and rubbed my face, not knowing what to do. “How long do you have?”

Ava shrugged. “Six weeks? Maybe more. Maybe less. It’s advanced. It kills quickly and without remorse.”

“Let go!” Hudson suddenly said on the other side of the wall. I sighed, assuming Hudson and Kingston had heard the whole exchange. How could they not? I’d been fucking yelling.

My son came barreling into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks, taking in his mother for the first time in eight years.

She cried even harder. “Oh god, you look… so much like your father. So… handsome.”

“You left me,” he said.

When Hudson’s eyes watered, so did mine.

Kingston finally came around the corner and stood behind me, placing protective hands on my bare shoulders. I fell harder for him at that moment, reminding me I was no longer alone. I had someone I could lean on if I needed them.

“I know I did,” she said to my son, not hers. Not anymore.

“I heard everything. Your reason for leaving was stupid.” The tears slid down his face, looking younger than sixteen, like he’d regressed to that eight-year-old boy so long ago.

Ava nodded. Unlike with me, she never took her eyes off him. “You’re right. It was stupid. I regret every moment.”

Hudson inched his way closer to her. “You’re… dying?”

Her lip trembled again, and she nodded. “Not much longer now. I’ll die never really knowing you and the man you’ll become… the man you are.”

“That was your fault,” he said so bravely. I was so fucking proud of him.

“You’re right. It was. I have no good excuses, and I won’t make any. I just… needed to see you… before I go, and to tell you I’m so sorry, and to… say goodby e this time.”

I had to look away, unable to take my son’s tears, choking back my own. Flashbacks hit me of him crying at night, holding him, grades slipping, and reassuring him it was never his fault.

As if sensing my growing despair, Kingston gripped me tighter without saying a word or getting involved. Then he let go, grabbed my cup off the table, and poured us fresh coffee. He handed me my mug and sat next to me, holding my thigh under the table.

“This is… Kingston, my boyfriend,” I finally said. The word felt so inadequate, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say at the moment. “Kingston, this is, as you’ve probably gathered, Hudson’s mother, Ava.”

They both said quiet hellos.

“So, you’ve seen me, now what?” Hudson said, bringing our attention back to him.

“Can I spend some time with you… just for a little while, then I’ll go.”

“Okay,” he said with surprisingly little resistance.

I abruptly stood. There was no way I’d let him go with her. “No!”