by Aiden Bates
“An order of protection?” Cody stopped in the middle of the aisle. “That’s wild. I had no idea things had gotten that bad. Are you joking with me right now?” His hands clenched into fists at his side.
“No, dude.” Jamie toyed with the hem of his shirt. “The lawyer guy has been here about it and everything. They were over here, and they threatened him with all sorts of stuff. They said they’d force a claim on him and everything.”
All sorts of different emotions ran through Cody then, all at the speed of sound. The first was relief, because Austin had come out of the ordeal safe. He’d retained his fierce independence. At the same time, someone had dared to threaten his omega. He wanted to find that Kirby guy and rip his head from his body with his bare hands.
At the same time, he wanted to shrivel up and die. Kirby and Adrian had threatened his omega, and Cody had been somewhere else. He hadn’t been there to help. He hadn’t been there to defend his omega. He’d been pouting like an infant. What kind of alpha was he, anyway?
Then again, he scolded himself Austin wasn’t really his omega.
He followed Jamie numbly and loaded the cases onto the handcarts. They got the wine loaded into Cody’s SUV. When they brought the hand trucks back inside, Cody walked up to Austin. His resolve to keep things strictly professional between them hadn’t wavered. If anything, the knowledge strengthened his decision. Austin wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him after what had happened.
That didn’t change the fact that Cody wanted to support Austin. There weren’t a lot of alphas or omegas in Onondaga County. They needed to be supportive of one another.
He cleared his throat. “Look, Austin, I’m sorry about what happened. With them, I mean. That really sucks and you shouldn’t have to go through that.”
Austin looked at Cody for a long time. He seemed to be searching Cody’s face for something, Cody couldn’t be sure what he was looking for. Then he gave another of those little, formal smiles. “Thanks. Not your fault, though. Or your problem, right?” He huffed out a little laugh. “I’ll send my bill.”
Cody nodded and lurched out of the showroom. Yeah, he’d burned all of his bridges with Austin before Adrian and Kirby had acted up. He needed to cut his losses and move on.
He made an appointment in his calendar to go out to one of the local vineyards that Austin had recommended. Their website said they were having some kind of special tasting event. If none of the other local wine shops had what he wanted, he’d have to go directly to the source. All that he knew was that for both of their sakes, it was best if they met up as rarely as possible.
A few flakes of snow danced down from the clouds.
Chapter Five – Contents
Austin shook hands with Brian O’Rourke, the owner of Otisco Winery. It was Friday, Veteran’s Day. The shop was closed. Jamie was off smoking all the dope he could get his hands on—and getting paid to do it since Austin paid him for holidays—and Austin had the day off, free and clear, with no worries whatsoever. He could sit back and shoot the breeze and dip into Brian’s secret stash. He had even gone the extra mile and arranged for car service to bring him out and back, so he wouldn’t have to worry about anything afterward. He’d earned it, damn it.
Maybe his brother was the devil incarnate. Maybe the alpha who had been chasing him only wanted him for his money. Maybe the alpha he wanted thought he was a defective waste of space, or whatever, but Austin was going to enjoy his life. If he was having a little bit of a low spell, he was going to remind himself of all of the reasons that his life was actually pretty darned good.
“Austin! Buddy! I’m positive that you’re single-handedly responsible for the 10 percent increase in my sales last quarter.” Brian clapped him on the arm. “Come on in, that seat marked ‘reserved’ is yours for the duration. The formal tasting doesn’t start for about an hour, but let me grab you a pizza and we’ll get started.”
Austin could feel the tension seeping out of his body like it had a physical presence of its own. Like if he looked down he’d see it, a puddle on the wide plank floors. He didn’t look down. “Thanks, Brian. It’s great to see you too.”
“You’d see a lot more of me if you weren’t cooped up in that shop all the live-long. I mean seriously, man. You need to hire some more help. They don’t even have to be full-time help. You need to be able to take a day off here and there, man. What happens if you get sick?”
“Then I have Jamie work the register full time and I try to avoid contact with other humans.” He laughed at himself and accepted the glass of red wine that Brian poured for him. He could tell just by scent that it was one of the vineyard’s own, a cabernet franc grown right there on the shores of Otisco Lake. “I get what you’re saying, and you’re not the first one to say it. I just… I mean I trust Jamie. I don’t know if I can trust someone else not to try to assert control once they figure out I’m an omega. I’m not exactly hiding it, you know?” He wrinkled his nose. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to, now. Not with Adrian and Kirby running around and making trouble.”
Brian giggled. He tried to hide his giggles behind his hand, but it didn’t work. “Kirby? Your brother tried to get you mated against your will to a guy named Kirby?”
Austin straightened his back. He knew the situation wasn’t funny, but when Brian put it in quite that way he couldn’t help but catch his friend’s giggles. “I’ll have you know, Mr. O’Rourke, that Mr. Kirby Lloyd is the fifth in his line to go by that name.”
“Were they all Volkswagen Beetles?” Brian asked him, and they both dissolved into helpless laughter.
The atmosphere thus lightened, Brian turned to pull a personal-sized pizza out of the brick oven. He let it rest for a moment and then deposited it onto Austin’s plate. “Three cheeses, just the way you like it.”
Austin gave a happy little sigh and sipped from his wine. This was bliss. It was people who knew his name. It was people who knew his preferences, and who would do little things to try to cater to them. He didn’t need big sweeping gestures. All that he wanted were the little things, like a warm fire in a brick oven, a glass of his favorite wine, and a personal pizza made just for him.
“Maybe you could hire someone from one of the shelters,” Brian offered. “One of the omega shelters. You’re a donor to them anyway, right? They’d be young, most likely, but you could train them. And you’d be giving a leg up to someone who’s not all that different from you, just without the rich uncle.” He set three empty wine glasses down at each seat, all along the rustic wooden bar.
Austin checked his pizza. It was still too hot to eat. “That’s actually a fantastic idea. I’ll call down to the one in Marcellus tomorrow. I’m not sure what I would do with all that free time, but the shop is doing well enough that I could definitely afford it.” He lifted his glass toward his friend. “Thanks.”
The door to the outside swung open. “I cannot believe that it’s already snowing up here!” Heavy boots stomped against the wooden floor, but Austin didn’t need to look up to find out who had spoken. He would have recognized Kirby’s voice anywhere.
Brian favored both newcomers with cool looks. “I’m afraid the tasting room is closed today for a private event.”
Austin typed out the words “restraining order” on his phone and showed it to Brian.
“Oh, it’s okay.” The words came from Adrian that time, and they moved closer to Austin’s side of the bar. “We’re here with him.”
“No, you’re not.” Brian grabbed the phone off the wall. “He’s got an order of protection against both of you. You need to leave, before I call the police.”
“That restraining order isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.” Adrian snorted. “I’m his brother, and an alpha. I have the right to drag his ass out of here. Omegas shouldn’t be drinking anyway, just in case.” He smacked his right hand down hard, exactly between Austin’s shoulder blades.
Brian dialed nine-one-one. “Hello, Sheriff? There are two men harassing one of my
customers out here at Otisco Winery. I understand that he’s already taken out an order of protection against them both.” He paused, meeting someone’s eyes over Austin’s head. Austin suspected he knew whose. “Yes, that’s correct. The restraining orders would be against Adrian Baines and Kirby Lloyd the Fifth. The first one already threatened to ‘drag his ass out of here,’ so I’d hurry if I were you. Someone could get hurt.”
Adrian moved out from his position behind and a little to the side of Austin and slammed his hands on the bar. “Did you just threaten me?” His nostrils flared with rage.
“Get out of my tasting room. I’m not going to tell you again.” Brian didn’t flinch, even though Adrian had a good eight inches on him.
Adrian snarled, but then he forced his face into a calmer expression. “No. You’re going to have to make me. And so far, it looks like it’s two against one, chum.”
Austin looked up at Brian. “‘Chum?’ Who talks like that?”
Kirby put a hand on Adrian’s shoulder. “Look, Adrian, this really isn’t the place. The cops are on their way, and we don’t need that kind of trouble again.”
“Oh, you’re already in trouble.” Brian pointed up, directly at the security camera. “Smile, buddy.”
Kirby pinched the bridge of his nose. “Adrian, can we please just go?”
Adrian turned to face his friend. “Are you not willing to stay and fight for what’s yours, Kirby? You have been after my brother for over a decade, ever since you met him! I told you that you could have him, that he belonged to you, and you’re just going to roll over and give up? Seriously? What the hell kind of alpha are you?”
“The kind who doesn’t want to go to jail.” Kirby grabbed Adrian’s arm and hauled him to his feet. “We can work on something else later. Now come on.” Kirby dragged Adrian out the front door.
Two sheriff’s deputies showed up ten minutes later. They took statements, and downloaded copies of the security footage. They said they would be in touch. “Why didn’t you run?” one of them asked Austin, scratching at his head. “I mean these are guys who’ve threatened you with awful things. They threatened to kidnap you today. Why didn’t you just run?”
Austin laughed. It sounded hollow to his own ears, but he still had to laugh. The concept the sheriff had just put forth was too absurd. “Sheriff, I’ll be honest. I was a lot safer staying here, with the camera on me, than I would’ve been if I’d run out into the woods. I am not some kind of woodland master. They’d have found me in two minutes flat, and it would have all been over.”
The deputy cringed. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
Brian patted Austin on the back. “Austin here’s one smart cookie. Always bet on him.”
The cops left just in time for the first guests to show up for the tasting. It couldn’t have been better timed.
Austin watched as they came in. Some were food and wine critics from the local media. Austin knew all of them. They greeted him by name, and swore they were coming to the next wine tasting at his place. Most of them even meant it. Some of them were culture editors. Others were wine critics from national publications, and Austin sat in his corner and was quietly proud of his friend. Brian deserved that kind of recognition.
A limited number of seats had been made available to the general public, and those people were pretty easy to pick out. They stuck out like sore thumbs. Some of them wore their outsider status like a badge, standing in the corner in flannel and denim with the tasting notes in their hands. Austin respected them. They were there to do something that they enjoyed, and screw the rest of the world. He’d been that guy once himself, able to lie about his age thanks to his height and determined to learn all that he could.
One of the last people to arrive before the doors were closed threw him for a loop. Cody Howell jogged through the doors, cheeks red and out of breath from the cold. Austin’s heart leaped. Had Cody come to join him? Had he decided that he could spend time with Austin after all? That he could love him, maybe, just a little?
Stop that. He stepped on his own ankle, braced against the chair’s stability bar, to stop that line of thought. There were about a thousand other reasons that Cody could be there. All of them were more likely than the allure of Austin himself, especially if the way Cody’s face drained of all color was any indication.
“I take it you know each other.” Brian’s voice rumbled in Austin’s ear.
“We have a business relationship. Nothing personal.” Austin couldn’t help the way that his mouth twisted at the word.
“Well he sure doesn’t look thrilled to see you.” Brian chuckled. “Sadly for him, the only seat left is the one next to you.”
Austin groaned. “I wonder if someone will switch with him.” He wrinkled his nose. “Do I stink, or did someone switch my cologne with eau de pariah when I wasn’t looking?”
Brian just shook his head and retreated behind the bar. He cleared Austin’s plate, getting the last touches ready for the tasting.
Austin swallowed past the pit in his stomach and put on a cool and collected mask for Cody. “Well,” he said, as Cody dragged himself over to the seat next to him. God, it was so obvious that Cody didn’t want to be near him. He clung to the side of the bar stool as far from Austin as he could get. “This is a surprise. I thought you weren’t a wine guy.”
Cody turned bright red. “Yeah, well.” He looked down at the bar. “I was trying to spread things out a little.”
“So you wouldn’t be so reliant on me.” Austin snorted. “I get it.” He jerked his head toward the other end of the bar. “If you go over to the man in the pink dress shirt, and tell him that you and I had a professional falling-out, he’ll switch seats with you.”
Cody’s eyes widened. “What? Jesus, Austin, I’m not going to go to your colleagues and friends and ask to switch seats.”
“Go ahead.” Austin waved a hand. “It’s hardly a big deal. I’m not here for drama tonight, Cody. I’m here to catch up with an old friend and relax, away from all of the drama.”
“There was more drama?” Cody winced, and Austin could almost buy that he cared. “Same stuff?”
“It doesn’t matter, Cody.” He slumped, just a little. He wanted Cody to care. He wanted Cody to defend him from Adrian and from Kirby.
That wasn’t a realistic desire, and it wasn’t something Austin actually needed. Brian had defended him from Adrian and Kirby, and that had been just fine. He was safe for now, and while Brian might not kiss like Cody kissed he was someone who cared about Austin and took care of him in all of the ways that mattered. He didn’t need some alpha.
Cody pressed his lips together. He obviously felt that he had something to say on the subject, but he choked it back and turned his attention to Brian.
That night was a big night for Otisco. Tonight Brian was going to debut his newest wines of the year. A usual tasting at Otisco Winery might have six wines. That night everything that had matured during the past year would be sampled. There were dump buckets and water pitchers, of course, but everyone was going to be able to try everything. They would progress from the lightest of whites, through the two rosés, down to the heaviest reds and then through the dessert wines and the fortified wines.
Austin ignored Cody during the first couple of whites. Cody ignored him too, for the most part. Austin could feel his colleague’s eyes on him from time to time during the tasting, when Brian spoke about the different wines, but he didn’t say anything. Austin tried not to take it seriously. Cody was probably just trying to figure out why he was there.
After a couple of samples—not full glasses, of course, never full glasses—Austin loosened up a little. He shouldn’t punish himself for an accident of fate. Cody couldn’t have known that Austin was friends with Brian. As he relaxed, he noticed Cody loosening up too. By the time that they got to the rosé, they were speaking civilly and even cracking the occasional joke.
Austin relaxed as the evening went on. The evening had looked
pretty grim for a while, but he’d never been the kind of guy to just sit back and take a setback. He’d come to have a good time and relax, and he was going to do that no matter what.
***
When Cody first got to the wine tasting and saw Austin sitting there, he wanted to tear at his own hair. How dumb could his luck be? He had to pick the one event that Austin would be at. When he realized that the only available seat was right next to Austin, close enough to pick up his sweet scent, he despaired. How was he supposed to survive hours and hours in such close quarters?
His body, much to his chagrin, was a hundred percent on board with spending two hours in Austin’s personal space, breathing his scent and listening to his voice, more than on board, which only caused him more problems. There was no way on Earth that Austin was just not going to know.
Still, he’d paid for a ticket to the thing. He couldn’t turn around and leave now. If he did, it would be like spitting in Austin’s face. He was trying to keep things professional with the guy, not start up a long-term vendetta with him. He went and took his seat beside him.
Of course, then Austin figured out that Cody was there to try to cut him out of their deal, and then it turned out that there had been more trouble with his brother and the other alpha. Trouble, as it turned out, that Cody was once again not around to defend him from. Trouble that Austin neither expected nor apparently wanted Cody to defend him from, and that made all of Cody’s guts twist. No way he was going to move seats after that. What if the twin came back?
Austin ignored him for the first couple of wines, but after a little while he relaxed. Austin was too friendly, too open, for anything else. It was just the way that he was. By the time that the tasting drew to a close, the atmosphere had lightened considerably.
That wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Seeing Austin smile, and hearing him laugh, was doing things to Cody that he’d been trying to fight against. He was letting his guard down. He was getting comfortable, and that was the worst thing of all.
