10. Chapter Ten

Jamie narrowed his eyes at me, then asked slowly, “What did you do, Becks?”

“I might have thought we both had decided to just ignore that we were fated mates. Like neither of us mentioned it, and it was supposed to be a nameless, no strings hookup.”

“But–” Jamie prodded, because he was the king of poking and prodding.

“But he was really innocent and a bit na?ve. And the more I thought about what had happened that night, the more I began to wonder if maybe he didn’t know that we were fated. Like he didn’t know what that electric shock was, and maybe he was so far…”

It was Jamie’s turn to groan. “Fucking hell, Becks.”

“He may have been so far in subspace it didn’t even really register with him what it was.” So much for not telling Jamie details of my sex life with Wyatt. It wasn’t a secret between us that I was a Dom, and the man did own a kink club. Still, I stumbled over the words, feeling my face heat up like I was a teenager. “But I didn’t want a mate so I didn’t give it more thought than that. It wasn’t like I even knew his name. And I figured we hadn’t started a bond or anything, so it didn’t really matter if he knew or not.”

Jamie’s mouth was practically hanging open as he stared at me.

“Don’t look at me like that, Jameson!”

He snapped his mouth closed audibly with a click of his teeth. “Dick moves, Becks! I can’t even comprehend that you were that stupid. I think my brain is melting from all your stupid. I’m always telling people, ‘Don’t be a dick’ and no one ever listens. Dick moves, dude. Big dick moves.”

“I know!” I cried, scrubbing my hands over my face. “You don’t need to rub it in. I came to you for advice!”

“On what exactly?” he asked slowly. “How not to be a dick?”

“It gets worse.”

“I’m not sure it can, but let’s hear it.” Even Ronen was staring at me, quietly judging with his adorable baby face.

“Well, obviously we recognized each other when I pulled him over. And then he’s giving birth in the car, and I’m holding this baby who looks so much like me he can’t deny that she’s mine, even though he tried to deny it. And I’m filled with all these possessive feelings I’ve never had before.”

Jamie nodded in understanding. “Alpha pheromones for your mate and pup. Been there.”

“Yeah that,” I leaned my elbows on my knees. “And so I show up at the hospital and I get all fucking possessive with him, like I’m a damn caveman or something. Totally not like me at all. And Wyatt’s not having any of it.”

“You do like to give orders and just expect people to follow them.”

When I glared at Jamie, he shrugged, “What, Becks? You know you like it when you intimidate the bad guys and they roll over and show you their bellies. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Hell, even when you were a handler, you just expected everyone to listen to you, without question, and do what you said. And you sure as shit love ordering subs around. It’s just who you are, you can’t help it.”

There was a lot to sort through in Jamie’s observation of my character, and I didn’t have the brain power to deal with it right then. I needed to know what to do about Wyatt. Because for the first time in a very, very long time I was feeling completely out of my depth and I didn’t like it.

“I might have admitted to Wyatt that we are fated mates.”

“Oh boy, how did that go over?” Jamie asked with a raised brow.

“Well, once he got past telling me how he doesn’t believe in fated mates, he then realized that I had known and hadn’t said anything and just left him in the hotel room. He truly doesn’t believe in fated mates, something about it not being a scientifically proven fact, but I’m pretty sure it was the me not telling him part that made him angry.” Which made absolutely no sense if Wyatt didn’t believe in fated mates to begin with. Maybe it was lingering pregnancy hormones that was making him so irrational.

“You think?” Jamie questioned, in a tone that said he couldn’t believe the words coming from my mouth either. Hearing it all out loud, I couldn’t say I blamed him. None of this was my finest hour. “What did he do then?”

“Told me to get out. Said he and Julianna didn’t need me and I could be on my way. The don’t let the door hit you in the ass was implied.”

Jamie smiled, “Julianna? Is that her name? Pretty.”

“Yeah, it is.” I couldn’t help the wistful smile at the mention of my daughter’s name. “But what do I do about Wyatt?” And what was that whiny tone in my voice?

Jamie sighed, “What is it you want to do here, Becks? Be honest with yourself. Do you want this omega? Do you want your pup? Or do you want to walk away?”

Silence hung between us for a full five minutes while I honestly thought about those questions. Jamie started gathering up Ronen’s things and shutting down his computer.

“I think…” taking a deep breath I let the air fill my lungs before releasing it slowly, “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Wyatt, after all these months.” Admitting that was hard. “There’s some kind of pull there that I’ve never felt for anyone else. And the baby. I never imagined I would ever want a pup, but when I saw her…something changed inside me, just in that instant. It was like I had been missing a part of myself that I hadn’t even known I was missing, and she was what it was.”

“Pups have a way of doing that.” Jamie adjusted Ronen on his hip, and it was amazing how natural he looked holding a baby. The man had been a stone cold, government paid assassin, yet he took to fatherhood like he’d been born for it.

“I want my daughter. I can’t imagine not being a part of her life. She needs me.”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “There’s that Becks ego we all know and love.”

“Fuck you.”

“Hey, little ears!” Jamie chided, “I don’t want my son’s first word to be a bad one.”

“You just used about a hundred and fifty swear words in the last twenty minutes.” And so had I. It wasn’t like any of us ever really watched our language around the pups. “That ship has sailed. But what do I do about Wyatt?”

Goddess, there was that whine in my voice again. That was an annoying habit that needed to go.

Jamie stared at me hard, then sighed loudly and unlocked the desk he had just locked. Pulling out a file folder, he held it out to me, shaking it slightly. Giving him a questioning look as I took it, I flipped it open, realizing it contained information about Wyatt. “What the fuck is this?”

“Everything you could want to know about your mate. You’re welcome.” He moved to the doorway, beckoning me with a tilt of his head that he expected me to follow. “Matty has a half-day at school today, so I gotta go.”

“Why do you have this, Jamie?” Demanding, my eyes scanned the first few items. Full name, date of birth, social security number, known addresses.

“He bought the Little Cub’s Daycare from Miss Rose.” He locked his office door, heading down the hallway and I followed, the information gripped tightly in my hands. “Miss Rose asked to see what I could find out about him before she would allow the sale. And seeing as I have family that uses that daycare, I felt the need to oblige her. Besides, she and Gigi cornered me in The Sweet Spot and I’m telling you those two old ladies are scary. You pretty much agree to anything they tell you to do.”

I couldn’t disagree with his logic. They were scary.

Following him out to our cars, I waited patiently for his advice on my predicament, clutching the file on Wyatt tightly in my hands. Jamie having already run a full background check on Wyatt would save me time back at my office from doing the same thing.

“Well?” I finally huffed, when he got Ronen settled into his car seat. I’d need to get one of those, plus about a hundred other things that babies seemed to need. For tiny creatures, they sure needed a ton of stuff.

“Well, what?” Jamie looked at me like I was stupid. Pretty much how he had been looking at me since I had started this conversation.

“Wyatt?” I prodded, exasperated. “What do I do?”

“You rejected him and pulled some dick moves, Becks.”

“Stop saying that!” Because I knew I had, and the more I thought about it, the shittier I felt about it. I didn’t need Jamie rubbing salt in the wound.

“I love you like a brother, but what you did was top level assholery.”

“Not another word about it, Jamie.” But he wasn’t wrong. I was so not proud of myself. My dads were probably spinning in their graves at my behavior.

“There’s only one thing you can do, Becks. And it’s something all alphas learn fairly quickly.”

“What?” Because if Jamie was about to lay some advice on how to win an omega over, I was listening.

“Grovel.”