“You guessed it,” Dad says with a warm chuckle. He grabs my shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “If you’re not busy, do you wanna come down and give me a hand?”
“I can. Let me get dressed and I’ll be down.”
“I’ll have a coffee and a breakfast sandwich waiting for you.”
“Thanks,” I say before closing the door behind him. I was planning on spending all day just lounging around so this is much more productive.
My trio of dads own the building I live in. Downstairs is the location of their store which is a bakery and a coffee shop. My alpha dad mans the blender, my beta father takes care of the coffee, and my omega dad locks himself away in the kitchen. I take after my omega dad the most. We both hate people.
They also staff a handful of others, mostly college-aged kids who go to university and live in the nearby dorms. My dads are super flexible about hours, letting people work when it best suits their schedules. Plus, they get free coffee and any of the leftover baked goods at the end of the night, knowing sometimes you just need a free meal while you’re in college.
Whenever someone calls in sick or they just need an extra hand, they come up here and ask me to come down. So long as I don’t have anything going on, I never mind helping out. They’ve never pressured me to actually join the shop full-time. As much as I love them, I enjoy my free time. I like what I do now.
Which is fuck around mostly.
I have a handful of random ass jobs I do. Anywhere from refereeing, modeling gigs at the university, janitorial work, among other things. I don’t like adhering to a set schedule. I don’t like being tied down. I thrive off chaos. Or something.
Some people might think I have commitment issues and those people would be correct but also, they can fuck off.
After putting on a pair of jeans and a black polo, I dart down my stairs. At the bottom of the stairs are two doors. One goes tothe outside which is the back of the building. The other door goes straight into the kitchen.
“Good morning, Shiloh,” my omega dad says, stopping what he’s doing and giving me a little wave.
“Morning!” I say back, going around the counter towards him. My omega dad is the shortest of my dads and I tower over him. I wrap an arm around his throat, hugging him from behind, and pretend to choke him. He makes a gurgling noise, like he’s dying and I can’t help but chuckle.
“It’s nice to see you. How’d that charity stream go? I haven’t seen you since then.”
“Really good,” I tell him as I pick up an apron from the shelf, putting it around my neck and then tying it around my waist. “We ended up raising almost a million dollars this year.”
“Jesus,” my dad says. “That’s incredible! Congrats, Shi.”
“Thanks. It was amazing. I’m really lucky to be a part of it.”
I walk over to the sink, washing my hands. When I turn around, my dad is watching me instead of going back to rolling the dough he was working on.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing,” he finally says. “Nothing I haven’t said before,” he adds on with a little smile. “Sometimes I worry about you, that’s all.”
“What’s there to worry about?”
“The usual.”
“Stop. Just because you’re older and ready to have a midlife crisis doesn’t mean I’m unhappy.”
My dad huffs, narrowing his eyes at me. “Asshole.”
“Takes one to know one.”
I leave the kitchen, smiling slightly as I hear my dad chuckle behind me. He’s always like this. He worries I’m too much like him, prickly and unfriendly. Somehow, he’s found two mateswho adore him but he worries I won’t find the same, especially given my past. That’s fine. I don’t need anyone.
Hell, I don’twantanyone. Not for more than a night anyway.
“Hey,” I say, greeting my beta dad. “Busy this morning?”
“Hi, Shiloh. I’m glad you’re here,” he says, grabbing me and pulling me in so he can kiss my cheek. I pretend to grumble but he just smacks my shoulder. “It’s not too bad but I’m sure it’ll pick up soon. School just started so students will be here before class.”
“Do you want me on register or barista duty?”
