Greg’s stomach had flipped at Dale’s name. Then it had begun to sink in slow-motion. He remembered Dale’s office, and Penny’s wide eyes last week. The way she’d looked at him and Dale, scandalized. “Penny? I know her. She’s okay.”
“So you’ll be agreeable to dinner with her, then. I’ve reached out to her for an introductory meeting next week.”
Sounds like a mess. “Finals are next week. Everyone’s gonna be busy.”
“Penny has agreed.” Bernard checked his phone. “And so has your professor. You owe it to them to be there.”
“Da—Kinney will be there?”
“Yes. He replied to me two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks ago?” Dale never said anything about the dinner. What the fuck? Two weeks was before the mishap with Penny, but surely Dale wouldn’t agree to this train wreck of a dinner. Why hadn’t he told Greg about it?
“Is something the matter?” Bernard raised an eyebrow.
“No,” Greg said. “Just seems redundant that you’ll ask my—my professor along.”
“He seemed interested in matching the two of you,” Bernard said. “So I’ll see you at The Apex this Wednesday, at 7:30 PM. Yes?”
For a heartbeat, Greg wanted to say no. He wanted to tell his father he already had an omega. He wanted to say, Screw that crap about my status, because he didn’t need his father paying anything for him. He didn’t need favors from his dad.
Except it would also involve telling his dad who his omega was, and Dale had been talking about tenure, had been bouncing on his feet when he said his lab had published eighty journal articles. Dale had talked about the newest students in his lab group, had beamed when a piece of equipment came in two weeks ago.
Greg couldn’t possibly take that away from his omega.
“Fine,” Greg said, his heart thumping loud in his chest. “I’ll go.”
Bernard Hastings nodded, satisfied. Then he turned and paused. “I hope you’ll make full use of your lodgings here. It’s a waste spending your time with an omega you won’t marry.”
Greg opened his mouth. He wanted to marry Dale, mark him. He wanted to tell his dad that. Instead, he watched as Bernard drove off, the rumble of the silver Rolls Royce fading into the background.
Greg stepped up to his own car, dropping the cards into the passenger’s bucket seat. The few times he’d asked Dale to marry him, Dale hadn’t given him an answer. He’d smiled and looked down, but there was always a shadow in his eyes.
And maybe Greg could understand why Dale had agreed to the dinner. Dale didn’t think he was good enough for Greg. And Greg couldn’t give him a positive answer on his future.
Greg shut the Porsche’s door, looking down at its sleek console. Everything else about his life—the luxury, the apartment, the paid tuition—he could do without. But he had a fondness for his car, and he hated that he liked it this much. Especially when his father had given it to him for his twenty-first birthday, and it screamed money.
He set the onesie down on his lap, pulling out of the parking lot. Did Dale think Greg was a spoiled rich kid who couldn’t support himself? That Greg had gone from one paid apartment to another, so he could leech off his professor?
Because Greg could damn well support himself, plus Dale and their baby. He didn’t need his father’s help doing it. And maybe that was the solution—moving to somewhere where they wouldn’t be judged. Except Dale’s job was in Meadowfall.
I’ll find a job for when semester ends. Save up some money. Buy Dale a ring. See if he says yes.
He needed to believe in his future. But he remembered the fire, remembered Tony’s pale face as he gasped for air, and his stomach shriveled.
How could he promise Dale anything, when life was so easily snatched away from them? When Greg had done everything he could to save his best friend, and he’d still failed? What if they moved out of Meadowfall, and Greg couldn’t support them somehow?
He still didn’t have an answer.
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up in front of Dale’s apartment. Greg breathed in, then out, counting to five.
Dale was still asleep. As far as he was concerned, Greg had just left the bed. And Greg wanted to present the rabbit outfit to his omega, watch his reaction to it.
Heart skipping, Greg headed through the apartment, stopping at their bedroom doorway. For a moment, he watched as Dale stirred, the sheets rustling off his back. This seemed so... normal. Peaceful.
Dale rubbed his eyes, peering at Greg’s half of the bed. Then he looked up. “Where’d you go?” he mumbled, his voice rough with sleep. “You weren’t here.”
“I was getting you something.” Heart thudding, Greg stepped over to the bed, holding out the onesie.
Dale squinted at it, then slipped his glasses on. His mouth fell open.
“Like it?” Greg murmured, crawling onto the bed. He lay the onesie on Dale’s chest. “It looks big on you.”
“I—” Dale blinked rapidly, pressing his hand over the outfit. “You bought this. It’s so soft. It even has the bunny tail.”
“Yeah, you laughed when I showed it to you.”
“I can’t believe you bought it for the baby. Our baby.” When Dale looked up, his eyes were damp with a sheen of tears. Greg swore.
“C’mon, I didn’t do that to make you cry.” He gathered Dale up in his arms, pulling him close, breathing in his hibiscus scent. “Thought you’d like it.”
“I love it. I—I wasn’t expecting this so soon. It’s just been seven weeks.”
“Long enough to me.”
Greg kissed him, and Dale wrapped his arms around Greg’s waist, lips parting for him. “I’m looking forward to our baby,” Greg said.
“Oh, gods, Greg. I love you.” Dale’s fingers pressed into his skin, and Greg straddled his omega, kissing his mouth, his nose, his cheeks. When he pulled away, he found
