Page 68 of Galaxy Between Us

“Knox,” I whisper through gritted teeth. “Did you know Chet and Jaimie were going to be here?”

“That’s part of the surprise! It’s a double date,” he confirms naively. “I thought it would be fun since we don’t get to see our work friends for a while and I know you miss them.”

If he’s trying to make me stop being mad as fuck at him, he’s doing a terrible job.

“Jaimie and I aren’t exactly friends, Knox. He fucking hates me, and I certainly didn’t miss him.”

My oblivious mate blinks down at me like he truly had no clue.

“Hey, guys!” Chet smiles wide as we approach, “Glad you could make it!”

Pulling my politest fake smile, I slide into the booth while Knox shakes his hand and the two of them catch up.

“Hi, Jaimie. How are you?” I try to be social and make the best of this.

The Omega smiles lightly at me, a little less snotty than I expected, but it drops when his eyes land on my sleeve. There’s a hole in my sweater. Great. Of course, the universe would never let me look like I have my shit together in front of him, but for once, he doesn’t comment on it.

“I’m well, thank you, Arius,” he mutters into a glass of water.

I guess he’s in a good mood today. Avoiding conversation, I study the menu while the Alphas gush about baby talk. Knox is very proud of being correct about the gender reveal. Eventually, our waitress arrives, ready to collect our orders without a pen and paper it seems. Very classy, though I find myself hiding the hole in my sleeve out of shame.

“I’ll have the ribeye cooked medium-well, please. Garlic sauce on the side,” I order.

“Oh, that sounds good,” Jaimie’s voice has my eyes snapping to him with surprise. “I’ll have that, too,” he says while handing off his menu.

I’m not sure why, but this feels like a truce of sorts. Is it just because I’m a new parent that he’s being nice?

“Okay,” Knox blows out a breath after our orders are in. “Now that we’re here, a few of us have some exciting news, and we wanted to wait until this dinner to share it.”

Both Chet and I share a look of confusion.

“I’ll go first,” Knox continues, turning to face me beside him. “Baby, I know I fucked up, but I told you I would fix it. And I did.”

“Knox,” my shoulders sag with depletion, tired of this argument, but he has the audacity to bring his finger to my lips to silence me. My eyes become as dangerous as an owl spotting a mouse while I listen to what he thinks he can possibly say to fix what he did.

“I spoke with my colleagues, and they not only agreed to keep your Omegas, but we’re going to train them on the new production software instead of hiring Alphas.”

My jaw drops fast and my back straightens as he finally spills the news. The information is like a bucket of cold water falling on my head, washing away my sizzling anger at him.

“But how would they… It’s only for Alphas, right?”

“Not anymore. I told them they’re going to give you guys a chance to prove yourselves first. But only under the condition that they start with one Omega, someone very smart, and intelligent to learn the new software fast and then teach the others if they succeed.”

I stare into Knox’s deep, genuine eyes, sharp enough to cut through steak. Biting my lip, I think hard about it. I haven’t seen my operators in a while to know who the best choice for this would be.

“Maybe Mateo? He’s caught on pretty fast, but also Mai might have the same potential even though she’s just a cleaner.”

Knox tilts my chin up with his finger while shaking his head.

“No, I’m talking about you, Ari. They’re going to train you on the new system and you’re going to show them that Omegas can do anything.”

A slow smile spreads across my lips. I doubted him heavily, not trusting that he’d come up with a legitimate solution, but this sounds amazing.

“I’m basically getting a promotion,” I whisper with amazement, tongue tingling on the words.

Knox convinced Comet XI to hire Omegas to do an Alpha’s job?!

Check-fucking-mate!