Page 22 of Alpha & Omega (Alpha's Rejects #4)

I hadn’t seen Alpha since that night a week ago. I’d been having to deal with the aftermath of Hudson and his mother.

My son had been surprisingly strong and determined, yet he was upset that he finally got the apology and closure he deserved. After all that, she would soon be gone again. There would be no fixing that, and it was something Hudson would have to come to grips with. Hell, so did I, but on my son’s behalf. Once again, I was left alone to pick up the pieces of his broken heart, but I would do it every single time for him. Regardless, Hudson was strong. He was hurting, but he was no longer confused and left wondering.

Kingston planned to come over tonight, and I fucking missed him, even if it had only been a week. I pulled food out of the fridge to get dinner started, making plans for the evening. We’d eat, fuck, watch movies while making out like a couple of stupid teens.

“Dad! Dad!” Hudson yelled, rushing down the stairs.

My heart hammered, suddenly in a panic. Did she die? Was this the moment I had to hold him all over again? I rushed out of the kitchen where I’d been getting dinner ready.

“What’s happened?”

Instead of the expected tears, Hudson was smiling broadly.

“Guess what?”

“You solved world hunger?”

He rolled his eyes so hard that I worried they would get stuck in his head. “ Noooo . I finally got the ba… I mean, guts to tell Oliver how I felt.”

“And he said he liked you back,” I said, grinning.

“Yes! I can’t believe it! He was as scared as I was, Dad. We just talked about it on the phone because I didn’t have the guts to do it in person. He said he discovered he’s bisexual like you and that he’s been into me for a while, but he’d been afraid… just like me!”

I held open my arms, and he fell into my embrace. “I’m so happy for both, Hud. Can I gloat and tell you, ‘ I told you so ?’”

He snorted a laugh and pulled away. “Don’t you dare.”

Hudson walked over to the fridge, pulled out the pitcher of filtered water, and poured a glass. “Can I… borrow the car tonight? We want to go see a movie and hang out.”

“Ugh, I guess so. I hate that you can drive alone now.”

“You’ve got to let me grow up.”

“I know, but I want to pretend a little longer that you’re still my little boy. But yes, you can borrow the car. You have to let me know when you get to Oliver’s house, when you get to the movie theater, and when you’re on your way home.”

“ Fine . Ugh! I hope I get my first kiss. I’m so nervous now.”

“You’ll be fine. I’m so happy for you, Hud. ”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll probably crash over at Oliver’s place and let you and Kingston have your alone time.” He waggled his brows, snatched the car keys sitting on the sideboard, and ran off cackling.

“Those thoughts should make you feel gross!” I yelled after him. God, at least he was feeling good. I couldn’t have been happier for him.

Kingston and I sat on the kitchen floor, still naked, after having some heavy sex. We were sweating and out of breath when I reached for a spoon out of the drawer above my head and then yanked the freezer drawer open to pull out some ice cream.

We sat facing each other, my legs resting over his hips and his resting on mine.

“Do you like strawberries?” I asked.

“I love them.”

“This is homemade strawberry ice cream. Hudson loves it, so I make it often.”

“Is there anything you don’t make yourself?”

I chuckled. “If I’m really tired, yeah, sometimes, but rarely. Usually, when I don’t feel like cooking, I have prepared meals in the freezer I can pull out and heat up. Cooking is a stress relief for me, even if I do it for a living.”

“That’s how skateboarding is for me, and I wish I got to skate more often.”

I dragged sweaty blond bangs from his face before pressing a kiss to his forehead. “I get that, but look at the great things you do for your family and crew. They worship you; I can tell.”

“That part is definitely worth it. If my life hadn’t gone the way it had when I was younger, they wouldn’t be in it… and you probably wouldn’t either. It’s hard to regret a difficult life when I have so much now to be thankful for.”

“You never stop amazing me, Skaterboy.”

I scooped out some ice cream with a glob of strawberry and brought the cold treat to his mouth. He took a bite, savoring the flavor.

“Wow, this is really good. You can definitely tell the difference between homemade and store-bought. ”

I took a bite and smirked. “I try my best.”

I fed Kingston another bite as he traced my shoulder and pecs with his fingertips. “What’s your favorite memory?” he asked out of the blue.

“That’s easy. My favorite memory was Hudson’s birth. Does it sound clichéd? Probably. Ava and I managed to graduate high school before he was born, and I found a job waiting tables at a restaurant that made decent tips. That’s when I started to fall in love with cooking. We didn’t have health insurance or anything, but my parents helped out with what they could. Still, I kind of freaked out, not ready to be a parent. I just knew I would fuck up somehow, you know? Children shouldn’t be having children. But Ava wanted to keep him, so I stuck it out to be responsible for our choices. So many young men abandon their girlfriends when a surprise pregnancy happens, and I didn’t want to be that man.”

Kingston’s fingers dragged across my cheeks and down my jaw, smiling softly at me. “Then you saw him born and fell in love at that moment.”

I huffed a laugh. “You got it. Everything changed right then when I held this tiny little bundle in my arms. He had thick, dark brown hair, and his face was scrunched and swollen from birth. Hudson was so beautiful and precious. The fear didn’t go away, but with it came the determination that I would do whatever I could to give him the best possible life. Ava and I weren’t entirely alone. My parents live in Massachusetts, but they helped when they could. Her parents weren’t as helpful, and they eventually died.”

I shrugged. “So, yeah… That’s my best memory because it fully changed my life, and no doubt for the better. At least I like to think so. How about you? What’s yours?”

He took another bite I offered as he thought about it. I scooped out more ice cream and fed myself as I waited.

“I don’t have a lot of good memories. I mean, I have a few that really hang on to me, but the most important one was my grandmother. After my parents abandoned me, she didn’t even question me. She simply told me to stay put at the bar where I called her from, and she would immediately come and get me. I had someone precious in my life who’d been in my corner. It fucking mattered… a lot. But she died a year later, and being on the street for even an hour had been enough to scare me, and was why I put myself in the system. Her kindness and ac ceptance… it was validating. That I wasn’t wrong for being me. She gave me the strength to love myself even when my parents didn’t.”

“That’s still insane to me. I came out as bisexual to my parents, and they didn’t even bat an eye. The cruelty… how scared you must have been.”

“It was scary. I was so young.”

We finished the ice cream, and I stood to put the container on the counter. I reached out a hand to Kingston, who took it as I helped him stand. We held each other for a bit, not wanting our moment to end—not that it would, but it was hard to let him go.

“Did they even try to find you?”

He huffed a laugh with his head resting on my shoulder as I trailed fingers along his back. “Yeah, they did. They tried to force her to return me to get ‘ treated ’ by the church, but my grandmother lied, saying she hadn’t seen me. She wasn’t about to give me back.”

“Did they want you back or just to un-gay you?”

“They wanted to un-gay me. They didn’t miss me or anything. I only wish I had more time with her.”

Kingston stood straight and ran his hands through my hair. “You and I will make plenty of happy memories together. I feel it.”

I nibbled his throat. “You think?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“God, I really hope so. I love you and don’t see myself ever stopping how I feel about you.”

He smiled and held me again. “I…”

“It’s okay, King. Take your time.”

He stood straight, reached over me to where the ice cream container rested, and swiped his finger through it, taking up a blob of melted ice cream and rubbing it over my nipple.

“Let’s make some more delicious memories,” he rasped before he bent down and licked up the sweetness from my skin.

We’d had sex earlier, but I was already turned on and hard for him.

“Sounds yummy.”

Before we could continue, his phone rang from up in my bedroom .

“I better get that. I rarely get calls this late, but when I do, it’s always fucking something.”

“Go for it.”

Kingston ran upstairs as I rinsed the ice cream container and spoon, then dropped them into the dishwasher. Suddenly, I heard yelling, so I rushed upstairs to find Kingston pacing and gripping his phone.

“Why didn’t you fucking tell me? Why the lies?” he asked.

His knuckles were white where he held the phone tightly in his hand.

“Where are you?” he yelled.

Though he didn’t relax, his tone softened. “I’m not yelling at you. I’m just…”

He nodded. “Okay, I’m coming down to see you, and we’re going to stay at my place.”

There was some yelling on the other end that I couldn’t understand.

“Dammit, Tony… Just let me get there, then we can decide, but he better not fucking be at your place. He’ll regret ever being born. No one lays a hand on my fucking brother!”

They hung up, and Kingston quickly got dressed. “I’ve got to go. Tony… Jesus… his boyfriend beat him up. Dammit! I knew something was off when I saw his bruises that one time. I swear to fucking god…”

“Fuck. Let me come with you.”

He softened and pulled me into a hug. “No, stay here. I’ll take care of this and finally convince Tony to stay with me. Hudson will be home in the morning, and I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“Okay. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“Thanks. I will.”

After he was fully dressed, he gave me a quick kiss and ran out of there.