“Did he get an eyeful?”
“Yes, of my dick!” He was outraged, but I was laughing so hard I was almost peeing in my pants.
“That’s…” I had to take a few deep breaths. “That’s awesome. You realize he’s not normal, right? Like, there’s no way he’s vanilla. He’s at least some kind of peeper at this point.”
And he’d been watching Tanner and Shane a little too closely at the barbecue when Shane had first introduced Tanner. I hadn’t known the details enough at the time to get why, but it was starting to make sense. “He’s suspicious of something. I don’t know what, but he finds you guys too interesting.”
I was just glad he’d never aimed that insanity in my direction.
Being the boring member of the family had its perks.
Shane groaned. “Don’t tell me that.”
“Oh yeah, I’d be prepared for questions sooner rather than later, because you guys aren’t as subtle as you think. Tanner watches you too closely to see what you want and you make too many decisions for him.” I was honestly surprised his mother hadn’t said something yet.
“Last week my mom was trying to decide how to tell yours that you were bossy with Tanner.” I snickered when Shane sighed. “That’s going to be a fun lecture.”
“I hate your family.”
“They’re yours too, genius.” My dad’s side of the family was boring and completely uninterested in what anyone else was doing. It was great.
“I’m trying to forget that.” He let out a long breath. “Okay, that explains some of the insistence that they come to see his house. They’re probably trying to find a way to approach him and make sure I’m not being controlling or something.”
“Your mother knows you better than that.” She was insane, but she loved her kids.
“My mother is so focused on omega rights she’s forgotten they’re people, so I’m not sure she’s seeing anything. It used to be something she casually talked about when politics or history came up, but now it’s the center of every conversation.” He was so frustrated that I felt bad for him.
“What did she say when she talked to Tanner about omega rights?”
“She hasn’t. She just lectures and judges. Asking what he wants would be counterproductive to her.” Shane was unfortunately just reinforcing every fear that I’d already had.
“They’re going to go insane once they realize how serious it is with Jonah.” They meant well, but it was going to be one drama after another, even if they didn’t know all the details.
“Oh yeah, you living in sin with him and having another alpha in the house where he might feel attacked or pushed into servitude? They’re going to lose their shit. Why do you think Tanner and I haven’t moved in together yet? It’s not because I want to take things slow.” He might not have thought he was funny, but his drama made me laugh.
Setting down my briefcase on the table, I started to look around for what to make for dinner. “You know they’re probably counting down the days to when they think it’s an acceptable time to push for you to get married. The only thing that’s holding them back is worrying if marriage is a way to suppress an omega’s rights.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
He wished.
“Nope, that was one of our previous conversations. Once the moms decide that marriage is still the best course of action to protect them from whatever the hell they’re worried about at the moment, they’re going to descend like rats.” Then I was going to be next.
Shane just groaned. “This is getting out of hand.”
“Any suggestions on how to fix it?” They were steamrollers…well-intentioned steamrollers.
“The dads?” It came out more hopeful than confident, so I just snorted.
“Really?”
“Maybe if they really understood how miserable the moms are making everyone? Your dad stood up and stopped her from keeping you from spending the summers with Russ’s family.” Shane had a point with that one, but I still wasn’t sure about it.
“Maybe.” I pulled out the chicken that needed to be used and sighed. “I guess if it all comes out then we sit down and talk to the dads first. Then they can deal with the fallout.”
“I think that’s the best plan and gets us out of the firing line until the moms have calmed down.” Shane seemed relieved at that option.
“Do you really think she’s going to figure out your relationship with Tanner or are you just planning for the apocalypse?” With him, it could go either way.
