Page 60 of Austin


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I looked back over at Silas. “It was aquiet little case, but basically, the police are no longer allowed to assumeanyone’s primary or secondary gender status based on sight alone.” I made ashow of looking down at my dress shirt and slacks, patting myself down. Ilooked like any one of a million men who went into the office every day. “Did Iforget to take off my gender badge?”

Silas snickered. “No, you left thatupstairs, babe.”

Babe? I was not a babe.

But we could talk about that once thepolice were headed off to drive someone else nuts.

Glancing up at the cops who were startingto look nervous because they probably thought I was insane, I smiled sweetly.“You gentlemen didn’t mean to stomp all over my civil rights, did you?”

Sure, I could have played it very boringand gone into businessman mode, but this was more fun. I looked at Silas andfrowned. “Do you think they meant to discriminate against me for not lookingalpha enough?”

“Yes.” He shrugged, doing his best to looklike he was taking the whole thing very seriously too. “I’m sorry this ishappening to you.”

He was so much fun to play with.

“I just can’t believe this is happening.Whatever shall I do?” I reached over and tapped the screen on my phone and inseconds had it ringing.

As it connected, I gave a smile to theconfused cops who now weren’t sure what to do. “One sec, gentlemen, and I thinkwe can clear this up.”

A gruff, slightly sleepy voice barked out throughthe speaker. “What have you done?”

I grinned. He was so funny and he knew meso well. If he hadn’t always preferred female omegas, I’d have thought aboutdating the asshole before he got married. “Bertie? Darling, I know it’s late,but you said to call you if I was ever in trouble or if I might have donesomething that would draw attention to your cute little town.”

He barked out a laugh. “What have you doneand how many paparazzi are going to descend?”

“It's not me this time. I’m completelyinnocent, but if we can’t nip this in the bud, it’s going to get interesting.Like reporters camped out for weeks and lots of lawyers.”

He groaned. “Not another cause, Austin.”

I giggled and glanced up at the thoroughlyconfused cops. “He’s so funny.”

One shorter guy at the back started to getit, though, because his eyes widened and he was staring at the phone in horror.Smiling, I nodded, which only made him look like he was going to pee in hispants.

“But, Bertie, I already told you this isn’tmy fault. Some of your officers are a bit…overzealous. Did you realize theyhave no idea who I am? I clearly haven’t been on TV enough lately. I might haveto throw a party or something to fix that.” I smiled even wider as he groanedagain. “These nice gentlemen didn’t know me at all and they assumed I was anomega. Without even asking. It was shocking to see that kind ofdiscrimination.”

His voice was starting to grow frustrated.“That’s not all they did, is it?”

“No, Bertie. They stormed into this cutelittle shop I’m a part-owner of and didn’t even ask if I had the right to be init. They started to arrest my…business partner.” I gave Silas a dirty wink.“It’s very stressful. I hate getting lawyers involved, Bertie, it just getsmessy because then the reporters descend.”

“Let me guess. You bought somethingfabulously interesting that’s going to give me an ulcer.” His dry voice had megiggling.

“Yes, Bertie, I’m an owner in the cutestlittle adult novelty shop you’ve ever seen. My new…business partner, Silas, isa fascinating man.” Then I winked at the cops. “I’m sure Abbie would love tomeet him.”

More eyes started to widen and the angrycop sighed. “Fuck.”

“They’re even cursing, Bertie.” I made atsking sound. “You said last year at the fundraiser that your goal was forevery police officer to be a complete gentleman.”

It’d actually come across a bit sexist whenhe’d said it, but he’d meant well, so most people had ignored that part.

“If you get their names, Austin, I’ll havea nice long talk with them about how they conduct themselves in public.” Frustrationwas pouring through the phone and the cops were starting to get antsy.

“So I don’t have to call my lawyer andAbbie and explain that your men had me arrested?” I smirked at the cops andwhispered quietly.“His wife loves me. What can I say?”

She thought I was fabulously entertaining.Of course, she was a bit of a social climber, but I didn’t mind because it wasjust to help Bertie’s career and I actually liked him.

“No, Austin, you can’t get arrested forbeing in an establishment that you own. They should know that.” I heard himtake a long breath. “They didn’t even ask why you were in there?”

“No, darling, they just stormed in andstarted arresting my business partner. They didn’t even ask my name or to seeID. I don’t think it was very professional, Bertie.” I pushed a little bit of apout into my voice and frowned. “But I knew it didn’t have to get ugly and draglawyers and reporters into it. I told myself, I’ll call Bertie and he’ll knowwhat to do.”