Page 10 of Alpha & Omega

“Yep, you brought all of us strays under your wing and took care of us. No doubt you’ll do the same with his son.”

I raised a hand to stop him. “We’re gettingwayahead of ourselves. First, his son is hardly a stray. Second, we haven’t even had a date yet, and you all are already ringing the wedding bells. Let me survive this first. Then we can go from there.”

“It’s fate. I can feel it in my bones,” Jazz said.

“It’s not fate. There’s no such thing, but Iamlooking forward to the date.”

NeitherKingstonnorIcould take time off from work on the weekends. It was way too busy for us, so we chose to go on our date on Wednesday night, his day off. I usually worked Wednesday nights, but I had some flexibility because I had enough staff for it.

Hudson insisted on staying the night at Oliver’s place, his best friend. They would go to school together in the morning, which was fine, since his last day of school was on Friday. My son insisted I needed somealonetime if my date worked out. I wasn’t sure if I should’ve felt grateful or worried he knew way too much about the need for sex.

I picked out a popular gastropub near the waterfront at Harbor Place, sitting outside with a view of the water. I’d been there before, so I knew the place hadgood food.

My slightly trembling hands grew clammy, and I kept wiping them on my jeans while I waited for Kingston. I could be a confident man, but damn, it’d been so long since I’d done this with very little experience in dating men in general.

The restaurant brewed its own beer, so I sipped on one, being fifteen minutes too early for the date, hoping it would calm my nerves.

I had the perfect view at the front of the restaurant, so I kept checking to see if I recognized Kingston. The cool breeze coming off the harbor water ghosted over my skin, which carried a hint of fish in the air, which was typical Harbor Place. Baltimore wasn’t the most beautiful city, but it had its charm.

Ten minutes later, a man strolled casually toward the restaurant, his hands shoved into the pockets of his black cargo chinos. His black short-sleeved button-up shirt opened to a plain white T-shirt. Even from here, I could see the inked sleeves on his arms. He was nearly as tall as me. It was his blond hair, with long bangs falling in his face, that had me recognizing Kingston in the distance.

Damn, he oozed confidence, whereas my insides threatened to revolt.

He stepped inside the restaurant, not yet seeing me as my stomach fluttered nervously. Fuck, I hope I didn’t mess this up. Kingston looked promising and attractive. I hadn’t expected that.

Wiping my hands on my pants one more time, I stood and plastered a confident smile on my face as he headed outside toward my table.

Kingston smiled back, exposing slightly crooked, white teeth, showing he’d never worn braces. He held out his hand, which I gripped, and we shook.

“Hey, Harley. Nice to meet you.”

“You, too, Kingston.”

As soon as we sat down, our server came out to take our drink order. I ordered another one of their lagers, and Kingston ordered the same thing.

When she left, I leaned back in my chair and finished off the last sip of my beer. With a sigh, I tackled the most difficult part of the date first, so we didn’t waste our time. It was something I hadn’t wanted to discuss through text. “So, I guess I should tell you off the bat that I’m kind of inexperienced with men. Not that I haven’t been with any, but I was married to a woman for a long time and haven’t really dated all that much while I raised my son.”

Kingston smiled with ease and ran a hand through his bangs, pushing them away from his face. “That’s cool. We all gotta start somewhere, right? It doesn’t bother me. So, you just want to try your hand at dating men? Experimenting?”

My body started to relax, the muscles releasing their grip. “Not really to experiment, meaning I’m not looking to dip my toes or anything. I’ve always known I was bisexual, but I married my girlfriend when she got pregnant. I actually prefer men. It is what it is, but I never minded stepping up for my son.”

Our server came out and put our glasses on the table, then took our food order. I chose a steak salad, and Kingston chose the seafood gumbo.

“And that’s where I come in?” he winked, making me chuckle.

“I suppose so. My son, Hudson, is the one who talked me into dating again. Here’s another bit of honesty. I’m not looking for a quick lay, just to get that out there.”

Kingston raised his beer glass in cheers. “You’ll get no argument from me. Been there, done that.”

God, I liked him already. He was so easygoing and accepting. “So, tell me a bit about yourself besides being a bar owner, an amazing skateboarder, and a hoarder of kids in need,” I asked.

He laughed easily and shrugged. “Eh, my past is a little depressing. Too depressing for a date.”

“I don’t mind. I want to know you.”

His smile was crooked. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. So, my parents kicked me out of my house pretty young when I came out as gay. Gotta love those religious hypocrites. At least I had my grandmother, who took me in. She was sweet and didn’t talk to my parents much, but she loved me until she died a year later. With nowhere else to go, I put myself into the foster care system instead of choosing to live on the streets. Foster care is never easy, and I was stuck with some abandonment issues until I finally had the chance to get some much-needed therapy.”

“Wow, and I thought my past was rough. It pales in comparison.”

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