11. Jeremiah

JEREMIAH

Once my brothers left us alone, Felik and I were able to get ourselves fully ready for the day.

My heat had been quick, but it had also been intense. And while Felik had cleaned me up after being together last night, we needed a shower.

Thankfully, like the rest of the suite, the shower was massive. It was also well stocked with a lilac-scented shampoo and rich conditioner. The two of us took our time under the hot spray, letting the suds slide down our bodies while we kissed.

I would never tire of Felik's kisses.

Eventually, we had to leave our little slice of paradise and return to the real world. The Ferrini version of it, anyway.

Of course, my brothers were all sitting at the breakfast table, glaring daggers at us when we arrived. Breakfast had been laid out with a feast fit for a king. Not that I expected anything less from my family.

I kissed my dad on the cheek and sat down to his right with Felik next to me. "Sorry for crashing your party yesterday, Dad."

"I do apologize about that, sir," Felik said. "I meant no disrespect."

"Trying to suck up to my dad?" I nudged Felik's shoulder. Being the baby of the family, and the only omega, had its perks. I could get away with anything. I knew my father would forgive me for interrupting his party.

But in my defense, I had no way of knowing that Felik's presence could cause such a stir.

My dad let out a laugh as he clapped my shoulder. "That"s quite alright. We don"t usually get so much drama around here. At least not since Connor ran off and had Louie pissin" his pants with worry."

"That"s not what happened…" Connor chimed in with a smirk, holding his son in his arms.

"It"s pretty close to what happened." I hadn't been here for it, but Andro and Orsino gave me the full rundown. Then I got the real story from Joey. Connor shared his side as well when I was finally able to meet him. I'd never really gotten to know the omegas in the harem before, so it was interesting to hear his stories.

It was so different to see my two alpha brothers with their mates and children. Now, they just had to get used to the idea of me with my mate, and eventually our children, even if Felik was from a rival family.

"The two of you should get married," Andro said.

Felik coughed, and a piece of muffin flew out of his mouth.

I patted him on the back. "Now is not the time, Andro." Apparently, Andro was getting used to that idea faster than I'd anticipated.

His own mate looked at him. "I literally just told you that we"re not going to discuss this matter at the table. Didn"t I just say that?" Joey shook his head and reached for his orange juice. "Seriously, I'm positive I just said that."

"The matter needs to be resolved, and I"m not waiting another moment," Andro insisted, crossing his arms over his chest.

As if that was going to work on me. It brought weaker men to their knees, but I was there when Andro crashed Dad's Rolls Royce into the fountain and Andro had cried for hours while we all tried to assure him that Dad wasn't going to kill him.

"Oh, is that the way it"s going to be?" I asked, slowly nodding my head.

"Love, it"s not–" Felik put his hand on my shoulder, but I wasn't gonna be deterred.

"Andro, you can"t force me and Felik to get married. That"s not happening." I met his gaze with my own determined stare.

Felik stiffened beside me, turning to catch my eyes. "You don"t want to get married, Jer?"

I heard the hurt in his voice and instantly regretted my word choice. "It"s not that. I just think it should be our decision, not forced upon us by my brother."

"I told you yesterday that this was real, me and you forever. I don"t want to lose you. If that means marrying you, then that"s what we"ll do."

I rolled my eyes as Louie let out a low whistle. "Even I know that was a terrible proposal, man."

"You're not helping my case with Andro." I put my hand over Felik"s. "You"re gonna have to try better than that if you want to win me over with a proposal." I turned to my brother, glaring at him. "And you are not going to meddle in my life right now. Felik and I are together. We will decide what our future looks like. If you want to meddle, then figure out how to deal with Vince."

"You"re vulnerable to his brother," Andro said, looking right at me.

His own mate had given up trying to help and was instead focused on feeding Theo his yogurt.

I reached for a piece of bacon and took a bite. "And marriage is going to fix that?"

Andro started to open his mouth, but then he jerked like someone had kicked him. Joey took an overly large bite of his toast, not looking at anyone.

"We need to figure out what we"re doing about that," Orsino said.

"I suppose that's true." Andro finally picked up his fork and focused on his food.

"But like your own mate said, perhaps not over the breakfast table. We"re celebrating Dad"s birthday." I turned my gaze to my dad and gave him a bright smile he wouldn't be able to resist.

"He"s right." Dad winked at me, always quick to take my side.

"You always take Jeremiah"s side when he"s home." Andro sounded a lot like a whiny child rather than the head of the family.

I grinned, loving that I could still get to him even when I wasn't trying. "Yeah, because they saved the best for last, and he likes me better. Try harder, big guy."

Felik snorted but covered it with a cough.

"How are your studies going, Son? And your art?" Dad changed the subject as if nothing else was being discussed.

"Good." I was happy to move on to something less stressful. "Now that I'm getting close to graduation, I"m more than ready to be done with school. I wish I could say I had more time to paint, but exams have been kicking my ass, so the time I do spend in the studio on campus helps keep me centered."

"We"ll have the studio cleaned and ready for you when you arrive home after graduation." Dad took a bite of his food, already moving on.

Right, because returning to my family home had always been my plan after I finished school. I wanted to help my family. But with Felik in my life, where did that leave us? Suddenly, my future felt all too uncertain.

Now that I knew the true circumstances of how we met, I found myself second-guessing all the things he had told me about himself. Did he really have a job waiting for him? Where was it? What had been a truth and what had been a lie? He'd been raised in a family not unlike mine, which simplified some things but complicated others.

Felik put a hand on my shoulder, threading his fingers over my neck. "We'll figure things out, love. Don"t borrow any trouble right now."

I met his gaze, and the acceptance I found in his eyes eased my concerns. We'd figure out what our future looked like together. We didn't have to have the answers right now. The important part was our commitment and love for each other. Just like Joey and Andro, and Connor and Louie had found their way, we would find ours too.

"You're right, and I trust that we will."