Page 11 of Unforgettable Omega

“But I got my perfect baby boy out of it, so don’t feel bad for me.”

“I don’t,” Jai shook his head, “ I’m just… arghhh, what a jerk.”

“You can say that again. And it's okay, I pitied myself for a while there, but then… well, I had to grow up and figure out a way to take care of my kid, after having to drop out of college.”

“Well, you did it,” Jai said, “Me and the guys think you’re awesome doing the whole daddy thing alone, and we just thought, you know, maybe you lost your alpha or something. Not that we were talking about you, but you know we were wondering. And then Max and Andy hit it off, and…”

Shay realized if he let Jai, he would carry on rambling, so he helped the guy out.

“I would talk about me too if I was you. Don’t worry… but you guys have been so nice welcoming me. I wasn’t sure I would make friends. My job doesn’t exactly lend itself to real life interactions.”

“Oh really, what do you do?” Jai asked.

Shay debated telling Jai. He wasn’t ashamed of his job, but some people looked down on him when he told them he was a romance writer. However, he figured if these guys were his friends then he needed to at least share with them.

“I write romance books… I’m self-published,” Shay told Jai, making sure to watch his reaction for any condescension.

“Oh my gods,” Jai squealed, “I love those, I read a lot, always have… Ooooh, tell me one, have I read one of yours? This is so exciting.”

Shay smiled, guessing he’d picked the right friends. Or his kid had… either way, it looked like being in this town would be fun. And since one of his goals this year was being more sociable, this was a good start for him.

Shay mentioned the name of a couple of his books and Jai looked like he was going to burst with excitement.

He grabbed Shay’s arm and pulled him out of the bathroom and back in the direction of the garden if you could call the huge backyard a garden, “I have to tell the guys, they’ll die, like actually die, you’re Shayla Prentis? Oh my gods, I love your books.”

When they stepped into the garden, Shay immediately noted that there were a few more people out there. He lifted his hand to his eyes since the sun seemed to be obscuring his view.

As they walked closer and the faces of the men who’d joined them came into focus, Shay froze, planted his feet where he stood making Jai stumble, but thankfully not fall.

He would recognize that face, that body, that build, those eyes anywhere, especially since Shay had visions of it in his dreams most nights, and he saw it every time he looked at his son.

Broad shoulders, still as fit as ever, Andrew… Drew. Shay couldn’t believe his own eyes. All he could do was stare completely frozen in shock. A literal ghost from his past, here… now... what were the odds?

Drew.

Andy.

Shay had to get his son and get out there, and he needed to do it fast before… before his carefully created life crashed and burned before his eyes.

Right then, Shay realized that even though he had it at the back of his mind to maybe seek Drew out, he wasn’t ready for what that would mean. He wasn’t ready for what came next.

5

Drew

In the past few years, Drew had attended more children birthdays than he’d ever thought possible. Like seriously if someone had told him that Nickolas and Lincoln would be married with omegas they were stupid about, and had kids they adored, he would have told them they were dreaming.

Or maybe talking about other people, and not his friends.

But, somehow here they were.

Then there was Grayson whose kid’s birthday he was attending today, Drew would have bet his company that his friend would never be caught in the holy matrimony trap again— Drew would have lost his company for sure.

Grayson was not only married again, and since Drew had been one of his groomsmen—seeing being believing and all that—but his friend was also very happy.

And Drew was happy for them. For all of them... but he was also envious. Envious enough that it made him feel small and maybe a little bitter... he hated both feelings.

For the life of him Drew couldn’t get over the one man who had made it clear he didn’t want Drew, who had run away from him without saying goodbye, who had taken his heart all those years ago, in one night, and made it impossible for Drew to commit to anyone else.