10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Lachlan

I sipped my whiskey, my eyes roaming over my brother's kink club, Sinful Playgrounds, from the VIP section he had marked off for us. I always liked to people watch a little, whenever I was inside Jamie's club.

BDSM wasn't my thing, but the people were…interesting. There seemed to be a lot of different kinks the club catered to, that I hadn't even been aware existed. I was a little curious. Was there something out there I was missing?

Our mom had been a bit horrified when Jamie had returned to town, stating he had "retired" from whatever super secretive job he had held for the government, and opened a kink club. His job had always been a bit murky. He never quite gave us any answers, when we had pushed to understand what exactly he did for a living.

We'd learned not to ask and had just been happy the times he had shown up for any holiday or family event. All I knew was that he'd been retired for about four years, and the haunted shadows that had graced his face had finally disappeared. I was secretly glad he was home. I liked having all my brothers near, even if we tended to get on each other's nerves .

Playgrounds, as the club was called by most people who held the rather pricey memberships, was exclusive. The fee was high, and the security checks long, before you were allowed past the lobby. If you made it into the inner belly that made up the club, the list of rules had been staggering to my rather sheltered mind. My brother took his business seriously, as well as the confidentiality and safety of all the members.

He'd gifted all of us with memberships when he'd first opened the doors. I didn't come here often, if at all; only when he wanted to have a "family meeting" away from our mom's prying ears.

I glanced up, and watched my brother, Brendan, coming towards me. It still amazed me a little, that we were all so alike in looks, yet so completely different in our personalities.

Where my dark hair was streaked with silver here and there, Brendan's was tipping more to the salt and pepper side, heavy on the salt. He was the second oldest, and we all teased him about his hair having more gray than all of us combined. He wore silver-framed glasses that did nothing to detract from his features.

Brendan ran Sinclair's, our family's top of the line department store. It reminded me of the classy stores from the fifties – five floors, and a cafeteria-type restaurant that served above decent food. The prices for merchandise ranged from extremely expensive to affordable, and he did his best to stock items that were a step above the local box stores, but within most people's budget.

The store had been started by our great-grandfather and passed down to our grandfather, and father.

Before his death, our dad had expanded the vast family fortune into stocks and investments. He'd then developed a program where we offered start-up loans for local businesses, at rock bottom interest. That had been the stepping-stone of the foundation I now ran. I'd wanted to go a step beyond loans and help out struggling or new businesses with grants. I'd also wanted to start making charitable contributions to deserving sources that may have otherwise been overlooked.

I observed Brendan glancing around, his eyes locked on the line of Daddies with their boys, standing in line to meet Santa. The event Jamie had warned us about appeared to be a meet and greet with Santa.

I'd never understood the dynamic of a Daddy/boy relationship. It wasn't my thing, but it was Brendan's. We all knew he'd had a few boys over the years, but nobody that he had seemed very serious about, or at least no one he had brought to a family dinner. Looking at the line, I saw plenty of boys dressed on the younger side of things. More than a few had diapers poking out of their shorts, and pacifiers in their mouths.

Brendan had stopped, turning, his body going completely still. I tried to see what, or who, had caught his attention. I couldn't see anything through the crowd before he headed to our table. He sat down, running a hand over his tired face, and into his thick hair, disheveling it.

"Rough day?" I asked, sliding my drink over to him. He looked like he needed it more than I did.

He sighed, taking a big gulp, and raising the glass to me in thanks. "My fucking toy manager quit!"

"That's a problem." I winced in sympathy. With Christmas just around the corner, the toy department was vital this time of year.

"No notice, nothing." Brendan grumbled, his identical blue eyes straying back to the Santa line, before turning back to me. "Any idea what this little meeting is about?"

I shrugged, thanking the waiter when he brought me a new drink, without me signaling for one.

"Nope. You know Jamie, he can be as over the top as Mom sometimes. And as tight lipped as a damn spy. "

"Because I was a damn spy, dear older siblings." Jamie appeared from nowhere, like a ghost in the darkened shadows of the club. Silent as a cat, he plopped down in the booth, sliding over so his back wasn't facing the crowd. He was the youngest of the four of us, and his hair was still pure black, not a touch of gray anywhere. A fact that annoyed Brendan to no end.

We were all the same height and width, but Jamie had always been silent on his feet. His face gave nothing away if he didn't want it to, and he could go from serious to happy-go-lucky, in a blink of an eye. When I'd once broached the subject of his previous job, he'd joked, "I could tell you, Lach, but then I'd have to kill you. And I like you. Most of the time." I still wasn't one hundred percent sure if he'd been joking or not.

"Where's Finn?" Jamie asked, looking around.

I shrugged. "Probably stuck with a patient."

Finn was number three of the Sinclair quads. His hair was a shade lighter than the rest of us, not quite black, but a darker sable brown. He was a doctor, specializing in omega pregnancy and reproduction issues, and shared a practice with another beta doctor. Finn was the most serious of the three of us. He seldom smiled and was wound tighter than a rubber band. I thought this might be the reason he and Wade got along like oil and water.

"Why didn't you tell me what the event was tonight?" Brendan asked Jamie, his eyes straying again to the line for Santa. Something, or someone, had definitely caught his attention.

Jamie took a slow drink, taking his time swallowing what looked like vodka, but I knew was probably water. Jamie made a point of not drinking during club hours. Even though the club had security, he liked to keep his own eyes on things. He had told me he couldn't do that if he was drinking .

"It's for littles, Bren," Jamie finally answered. "Not just Daddies and their boys. Didn't think that was your thing."

Brendan stared at our brother a minute, not saying a word, and some weird silent communication passed between them. I left them to it. My gaze darted between the two, feeling completely out of my depth. I had no idea what a little was, but I had an idea, based on how some of the boys were dressed. I'd google it later, once I was home. It's what I usually did after spending time in Jamie's club. I sometimes felt extremely unworldly, and na?ve, after spending any time inside Playgrounds.

"You don't know everything about me, Jameson," Brendan ground out.

I winced. Shots fired. Jamie hated when someone called him by his given name, and we all knew it. It was the first thing we threw out, whenever we were annoyed with him.

Jamie waved a hand in the air and glared at Brendan. "I'll make sure to add you to the mailing list, next time we have a littles event. My bad. Feel free to go hang out in the nursery when we're done here. It's quite spectacular."

I had a lot of questions, but I bit my tongue. I knew Brendan and Finn used their memberships often. I didn't really want to have the images of whatever kinks my brothers were into, ingrained in my brain. Nope, no thanks. Not enough bleach in the world for that. Some things we did not need to share.

An image of Quinn popped into my head from the night before. Bent over the table, my cock rammed into him as far as it could go, my knot binding us together. I shifted a little in my seat, as my dick filled with blood. I didn't need to be thinking about him right now, and I did not want my brothers calling me out for sporting wood at the table .

I saw Finn making his way through the crowd, which was never hard for any of us. With his size, and the carved-in-stone frown that always graced his face, people tended to just naturally move out of his way. It always amazed me that he had as many patients as he did. He always looked so grumpy, but he was sought after and even had a waiting list. Clearly, he had a better bedside manner than his bitchy resting face let on.

"Finn's here," I announced, hoping Brendan and Jamie would each go back to their respective corners. We loved each other fiercely, but we just as easily annoyed one another. We knew exactly which buttons to push to be the most irritating. Finn plopped down next to Brendan and ordered a water when the waiter appeared seconds later.

Jamie raised a brow at him. "You on call?"

"No, but I've got three omegas ready to go into labor any minute, so basically," he told us.

"What's this meeting you demanded about, Jameson?" Brendan questioned, and I saw Finn frown into his drink.

He shot me a questioning look, sensing the tension between the two. "What did I miss?"

I shrugged. "Usual brother bullshit."

"Stop calling me that, Brendan," Jamie ground out.

"Enough," I growled, using my alpha voice. Being the oldest did come in handy sometimes. "Jamie, you called this meeting, let's get on with it."

Brendan and Jamie glared at each other for another minute, before coming to some kind of silent truce.

"Mom is planning to ambush Lach during Christmas Eve dinner," Jamie declared.

I choked on the swallow of whiskey I had in my mouth. "Excuse me?"

"Elaborate," Finn ordered, in his no-nonsense way .

Jamie smiled, a big toothy grin that never made anyone feel at ease. He was like a shark circling the bloody water when he bared his teeth.

"I heard her on the phone when I stopped over there the other day. So I asked her outright." Jamie had always been the one to call our mom out on any schemes she had in the works. He said he could get away with anything since he technically was the baby. He wasn't wrong.

"She's planning on having some omega there, specifically to meet Lachlan, in hopes of a love match. Some society daughter of a friend of a friend." Jamie fluttered his ridiculously long and curly lashes. The same ones we all had been graced with. "Maybe not a love match. More of an ‘our bank accounts match up, and we know which fork to use, and we like each other well enough' match."

I gulped and took a big swig of my drink. "Uh…"

"She said it's time one of us settled down and gave her grandbabies," he continued, still smiling that grin of his, and fluttering his lashes. "And you, oldest brother of ours, are the chosen one. Plus, you don't seem to be doing great on your own." He raised his glass to me. "Congratulations."

"Uh…" I choked on air. It wasn't like mom hadn't been making these noises for a while, and she'd not even tried to sugar coat it at Thanksgiving. Especially after ending my relationship with Lisette. Even for her, though, ambushing me at Christmas Eve dinner was a bit much.

"He's been using an omega matchmaker since Lisette dumped him," Finn informed the table. "Why does Mother feel this will be any better?" We only ever used the word ‘Mother' when any of us was annoyed with her, and her scheming ways.

"How do you know that?" I asked, incredulously. I'd only told Wade I had signed up with the matchmaking site. I'd only had the one date so far, disastrous as it had been. "Besides, Lisette didn't dump me. We were taking a break, that just turned into a permanent one. By mutual agreement. "

Finn shrugged. "I know lots of things. People love to gossip about you, though I'm never sure why. You're so boring."

Of course, they did. I glared at him, my mind still reeling. Had my brother just called me boring?

What the actual fuck?

"Mom is just trying to move things along faster." Jamie continued. "I would like it noted I told her this was a horrible idea, and she shouldn't meddle. And, that I'd bring the popcorn. I want to sit back and watch this shit show unfold."

Finn snickered, and Brendan nodded in agreement. I blinked owlishly, staring at my glass.

"I…I met someone." I finally found some actual words. "Jamie, you need to get her to call it off."

Jamie shrugged. "You know how she is."

Brendan put a hand up. "Wait? You met someone? From the matchmaking agency?"

I glanced up, and all my brother's eyes were on me. I felt my face heat up. "No, someone else."

"Is it serious?" Finn asked.

"Uh…" There was that word again. I ran a hand through my hair. I wasn't about to tell them I had possibly met my fated mate, especially when said mate didn't even want to discuss that possibility. Or that we hadn't even been on a date yet. Or, that we'd had fantastic sex, and I'd knotted him. Some things you just didn't tell your brothers, no matter how close you all were.

"The potential is there." I shrugged, trying to play it cool. "I like him. He makes me laugh."

"You laugh?" Jamie snarked, and I shot my middle finger up at him in response .

Then because they were my brothers, and I felt incredibly out of my depth with all the things that had happened in a few days that had completely rocked my world, I added, "Do you guys believe in fated mates?

They were all silent, just staring at me, then each other. Finn finally said, "As long as you don't claim them, you can walk away."

Wait. What? I gave Finn a look, one that said explain yourself. "How do you know that?"

He shrugged like he was talking about the weather. "Because I've met my fated mate. He was completely not right for me, so that was the end of that." He made a motion with his hands like he'd washed it all away. Easy peasy, just like that.

I glanced over at Brendan, who was staring at Finn, his mouth open. Brendan muttered, "Don't look at me. I've definitely not met my fated mate. Or any mate for that matter. I've never really thought it was a real thing."

I turned my attention back to Finn. "I have questions."

"Google it." He took another sip of his water, cool as a cucumber.

Bastard. "Who is this person you speak of that is your true love?"

He returned my middle finger. "It doesn't matter. What does matter is as long as you don't claim them, you can each go your separate ways. If you choose. Believe me, he dislikes me as much as I dislike him."

"Do you ever run into him?" I questioned, because how did that work? Wouldn't that be awkward as hell? Our town wasn't that big.

"We try to keep contact to a minimum. As I said, we don't like each other."

I glanced at Jamie, who was staring intently into his glass, turning it around and around on the table. "You're being very quiet on the subject, Jamie. "

He shrugged. "Sometimes Fate gets it wrong. I agree with Finn. If you don't claim them, no harm, no foul."

Brendan and I glanced at each other, unspoken questions bouncing between us. "Have you met your fated mate, Jamie?"

He sighed, his gaze roaming back over the club, not missing any detail of anything, I was sure.

"Yes, I've met my fated mate. No, there was no claiming done."

"Where is this person?" Brendan asked before I could.

"I have no idea where he is." Jamie finally said. "My guess is, either dead or doesn't want to be found. Since I've tried to find him, with no luck, my guess is he is dead. If I can't find him, no one can. It's been five years, and no trace of him."

I squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Like I said, sometimes Fate gets it wrong. Now tell us about this person you met." He was changing the subject, avoiding the topic, but I let him. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about this. Given the time frame, he possibly couldn't talk about it, with his previous work.

"I…" I was back to not being sure what I wanted to share with them about Quinn. "I think he's my fated mate. I'm about ninety percent sure. I haven't claimed him. It's very early yet. We are getting to know each other."

"Well…I'll try to get Mom to call this thing off," Jamie drawled, switching back to our earlier conversation, and the reason we were meeting tonight. "I may need to divulge this news to her. Are you prepared for that fallout?"

I wasn't sure I was ready for anything yet. I wanted to see how things progressed between Quinn and me first. Christmas was still a few weeks away. What if Jamie told our mom I was seeing someone, and then Quinn and I weren't a good match? That Quinn decided he really didn't want a mate. He didn't want me. Our mom would be even more out of control than she already was.

I hoped that wouldn't happen. I needed time to sort out all the feelings I had for Quinn. It was all happening quickly, and I felt like I was on a runaway train, barreling towards a massive crash. Quinn was prickly and independent, sassy as hell, and he'd made it clear he did not need an alpha. But, damn, the chemistry between us was off the charts amazing, if the events of last night were any indication.

"I'll talk to her."

This was my life, my possible mate, and I'd take care of dealing with our mom. I was a thirty-eight-year-old alpha, after all. I ran a multi-billion-dollar foundation and handled hundreds of employees. Wade handled them, we all knew that, but I was still the top alpha in charge.

I could handle our omega mother. Forget the fact that she was a small, terrifying woman.

Brendan was glancing at the Santa line again, clearly done with our conversation, and pushing Finn to move so he could exit the booth.

"What the hell?" Finn grumped when his drink splashed his hand. He got up, shaking the water off himself.

"Good seeing you guys." Brendan called over his shoulder. "Good luck, Lach. Gotta go."

"And he's off," Jamie muttered.

Finn's eyes followed Brendan in the crowd before he sat down again. "I ask again, what did I miss?"

I shrugged, not having an answer.

Jamie grinned. "He saw a boy."

Finn nodded as if he completely understood. "Got it."

Jamie turned his attention back to me. "Now, tell us about this someone you met. "

I opened my mouth, ready to gush about Quinn, then snapped my jaws shut.

"It's really new," I repeated. I didn't know why I hesitated to share my feelings with my brothers, but I did. It was new, and I had no idea where it was headed. Quinn and I were so different, and a part of me wasn't sure we would be good for each other. That small part terrified me. The part where he, like anyone I'd ever slightly cared about before, decided I was too much, or not enough, and walked out the door.

Finn sipped his water, glancing at his phone. "How new?"

"We are going on our first date tomorrow."

Jamie stared me down, and Finn frowned. "Wait, I thought you had already met?

"We did," I said. "I told you, I didn't meet him through the matchmaking agency. We met and I asked him out. That's how things usually work in the dating world." Not exactly how things had gone down, but I wasn't filling in the blanks for them.

Jamie's head swiveled to the bar, and his body instantly tensed. I glanced that way but didn't see anything that would suggest Jamie's change in body language. Jamie always saw things none of the rest of us did.

He stood up, his eyes never leaving the bar. "Gotta go take out some trash," he muttered. "Good luck on your date. And with Mom. You're going to need it." He strode towards the bar, his long legs eating up the distance, as people parted like the Red Sea for him.

"That's two down," Finn muttered, his phone lighting up. "Make that three. Patient in labor. Gotta go."

He was answering before I could even say anything, leaving me sitting there alone.