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It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. The rules that dictated how the family operated couldn’t be bent so easily. But what I saw when I looked into Louie’s eyes was full of longing, trust, and perhaps even love. There was no malice, no intent to harm.
My alpha had come for me.
“Yes.”
13
LOUIE
Connor remained tense, even as I held his hand and assured him that I meant him no harm. He refused to unwrap his arm from around his middle. His shoulders held so tightly I worried he’d pull a muscle. I could understand his trepidation, but I had never lied to him before and I wasn't now.
I knew it would take time for my omega to trust me, but it hurt all the same.
I held his hand as we walked from the store to the car. Connor told his coworker that he was heading home early. The guy didn’t even bat an eye at Connor being led away by three random guys, which made me question just how safe Connor would have been here by himself. The town looked nice enough, but if his own coworkers didn’t have his back then he was a sitting duck. Mennetti and his men could have taken him weeks ago. If they had found him before I had, Connor would have been in serious trouble.
Davy monitored the area as we walked to the car. His eyes scanned the parking lot and street for any threat. Not that I expected there to be one.
"How many of you are here?" Connor asked quietly.
"Just me, Davy, and Trev."
He nodded.
"Are you weighing your options on whether you can run?" I was only half teasing. I needed to know just how much convincing was ahead of me before my omega trusted me.
His eyes went wide as he looked at me, and he shook his head. "No. But we'll have to explain to Miss Marley why you're here. There isn’t a whole lot of room for people in my apartment. I don't even know what the guest policy is since I haven’t had anyone over."
It was a short drive to the boarding house where I knew my omega had been staying. We parked in the little driveway.
"You walk to work each day?" I asked.
Connor nodded. “It’s short, and the weather has been nice enough that I haven’t had any issues.”
Never mind that he didn’t need to be on his feet that much while he was pregnant. Walking to and from work, plus working on his feet all day? No wonder it looked like my omega was about to pass out. Had he been sleeping? Eating enough? From the looks of him, he had not.
“What were you gonna do when the baby arrived?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. There's a daycare not far from the house, but I haven’t thought that far ahead yet."
His baby bump was small, smaller than Joey's had been at the same amount of gestation, which had me worried. "Have you been to a doctor? Do you know how far along you are or what your due date is?"
He shook his head again.
There was so much we needed to talk about.
We exited the car and went into the office. The lady at the front desk raised an eyebrow. She shot Connor a look. "Do you want them here?" she asked, leaving no doubt that if he told her no, he didn't want us here, that she would make us leave.
"It's fine," he said. "Can the other two hang out in here for a while or maybe one of the empty rooms? They can pay. I need to talk with Louie."
She nodded, then pulled out a deck of cards. “Hunker down, boys, and be prepared to lose some money.”
Connor led me to his room. It was a cute little place that he’d set up to suit his needs. On the windowsill was a tiny little pot with a plant in it. "It’s your pothos plant. I thought you left it behind."
"I did." He shrugged and glanced at me. "But I took a clipping. It's not doing the greatest, but I wanted to have some of it with me. I was surprised it survived the trip in my backpack. What did the household staff do with all my stuff that I left?"
"It's exactly where you left it."
He sat down on the bed and chewed on his bottom lip, wringing his hands in his lap.
