11. Ethan

Chapter 11

Ethan

I was living on cloud nine. It had been four weeks since I moved in with Orsino, since he had bought me. Early on, I had been plagued with questions about the future, but now I was simply living in the moment.

After much discussion and contemplation, I decided not to return to work, though I really should have. When I wasn't following Orsino around like a puppy, I spent my time with the other omegas and their kids or simply enjoying time to myself in Orsino's suite.

I had never experienced life with so little stress—it was distressing.

"I really should be doing more," I said to Jeremiah, Joey, and Connor. They each had roles within the family business while I mostly sat around and did a whole lot of nothing. I still wasn't 100% sure what the family business entailed, but I knew much of it wasn’t legal.

The businesses that were legal were just a front for the less-than-legal endeavors.

Joey did some kind of magic with the financials, making sure everybody was being honest as far as the business went, or at least being honest with the family. As far as us being honest with the government, I couldn't speak to that.

Jeremiah and Felik worked closely with whatever partnership they had with Felik's family. I didn't know a whole lot of details about what the two of them did, but Jeremiah was some sort of lawyer, and Connor managed a bunch of stuff with the household staff.

Meanwhile, I did a whole lot of nothing.

"Don't feel guilty about that," Joey said. "You’re not here to work. If Orsino needs something from you, he’ll tell you."

"I feel like I am mooching off the family."

"Never feel that way." Joey squeezed my hand and looked me right in the eyes. "You're part of this family."

I wanted to believe that. I wished it were true, but in reality, I was property of the family. These omegas might have felt like my brothers, and I was closer to them than I had ever been with anyone else, but I was still an asset that had been purchased. The minute Orsino got tired of me, he could simply make me disappear.

He still hadn't said anything about this being a permanent arrangement.

Joey made an executive decision. "Okay, we’re dropping the children off with the alphas. Andro has no meetings today. Louie and Felik don’t either, I double-checked. Then, we're going out."

"Alone?" I wasn’t sure that was even allowed. It was rare that we were ever out on our own. In fact, I couldn't remember a single time we went out without our alphas.

Connor waved a hand in the air. "I mean, our bodyguards will be there."

"I wish Trev was back," Jeremiah said.

Joey sighed and nodded in agreement. "Andro spoke with him yesterday. Still no change."

"That sucks." I hadn't heard a whole lot about Trev. I just knew that he had been injured but that he would be returning to work soon.

"Davy and Nil will come. Let's go." Connor hopped to his feet and pulled me up too.

Within a few minutes of us dropping the kids off in Andro’s office with basic instructions on how to care for them while we were gone, we were walking out of the house.

I wasn't sure where Orsino was, and I didn't know if I had the right to ask. So, I sent him a text, making sure it was okay for me to leave the house.

He had replied with a simple okay.

We climbed into a sleek black sports car that Joey drove.

"I never get to drive this." Joey caressed the leather steering wheel. "Andro bought it for me for our anniversary, but I hardly leave the house without the kids anymore. And when I do, it’s with Andro, and he always wants to drive."

"No, I suppose it's not exactly kid-friendly." Hell, it barely fit the four of us, but it was still fun.

We made our way to a spa where we had all the treatments. We laughed our way through a mud bath with cucumbers on our eyes and towels in our hair. Later, we were waxed and bleached in places I didn't know could be waxed and bleached.

"It's not an everyday thing, at least not now that I'm not in the harem. When I was in the harem, it was definitely an everyday thing." Connor laughed as he shared such a personal story. "But it's a special treat every now and again. Trust me, it’ll blow Orsino's mind."

"Right." The fact that I was getting this sort of treatment at a high-end spa was definitely blowing my mind.

Once we were done at the spa, we were off to lunch. "Let's go to the sushi place. There's a conveyor belt that goes throughout the restaurant, and you can pick whatever sushi you'd like off the belt. The color of the plates tells you what you owe. It's a great way to try out new flavors without really committing to a whole roll. Plus, honestly, you can eat a whole lot more."

It sounded amazing to me. I’d only ever had cheap grocery-store sushi. I liked that so the real stuff had to be even better.

We were halfway through dinner when a topic I had not anticipated came up.

"So, Ethan, how are you feeling?" Jeremiah looked at me with a twinkle in his eye.

"Fine." I shrugged, looking at each of the guys.

Connor cocked his head and seemed to scrutinize that single word. "What does that mean?"

"It's been a while since any of us had a heat, and we’re just wondering if you and Orsino had any news to share." Jeremiah leaned forward with his elbows propped on the table and his chin resting in his palms.

Pregnancy. That's what they were talking about. I would have thought we'd have news to share too, but I had taken a test a week ago, and it was negative. "Oh, no news for now." My voice was steady, but I bit my lip and swallowed.

"Hey, what is it?" Joey put a hand on my arm and glared at Jeremiah. "Sorry, that was an invasive line of questioning and totally not fair."

Jeremiah stuck out his tongue. “Sorry, but an uncle needs to know.”

"It's fine. I just keep thinking this is all so perfect. I mean, when I sold myself to Orsino, I didn't think it would be even slightly okay. I thought I’d be, well, a piece of property. And if this is what being a piece of property is like, I love it."

They chuckled at my silly rant.

Joey nodded his head. "Our men are definitely interesting. Scary to everyone else, but absolute puppy dogs to us."

"Puppy dogs." That made me think of the vet’s office and what I was missing by not going to work every day. "I’m still thinking maybe I should go back to work or try to get a hold of my dad. I haven't heard anything from him."

"Well, we don't know a whole lot about your life, Ethan." Joey took a big drink of his water and then looked back at me. "I'm just making some assumptions, but it sounds like you didn't really have it so easy growing up."

I scoffed at that simple summary of my childhood. "No, I didn’t. My father was a gambler. Obviously, we didn't have a whole lot of money, and anything we did have didn't last long. When his luck was up and he was winning, we would stay at luxury hotels and have room service, but then the next day, he'd lose it all and we’d be back out on the streets. It was a constant roller coaster."

"My home life wasn't the greatest, either. My brothers were very cruel." Joey was rarely sad, but his demeanor definitely dropped several notches. "And when I met Andro, I thought that would be my life forever. It took me a while to let myself relax and enjoy what I had with him. This new life and new family isn't going to go away. It's not gonna slip through your fingers, Ethan. Let yourself enjoy your time with Orsino, okay?"

I smiled and felt quite a bit lighter. "Thanks, Joey. I appreciate that."