Page 42 of Alpha & Omega

“Enough about me. How are you and your guy?”

There was silence on the other end before he finally spoke up. “Uhm, fine. We’re good.”

I narrowed my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “Areyou doing good? You don’t sound so sure.”

“No, no… we’re good. Really good.”

“You’d tell me otherwise, right?”

“Yeah… of course.”

“Tony…”

“Kingston, please. It’s fine. We’re good. We’ve just hit some… snags, is all. Don’t worry.”

“Okay. Okay. I’ll stay out of it, but if you need me, call me, and I’ll be there in a flash.”

“Thanks, King. I know you will, but you worry about you now.”

“Okay. Talk to you later.”

“Night, King.”

A few days later, I gathered the Rejects, which included Cueball, because he’d been involved in helping to save Ajax. We headed to snag Ajax at his apartment and drag him to the skatepark for fresh air and to be smothered by family love.

Sundays had always been reserved for skating together. But as my business grew busier, so did I. It was hard for me to get out, but I made time today for Ajax.

I had gotten lost in finding ways to improve my business and make more money, but I hadn’t found a way yet. All that time, I tried not to get distracted by missing Harley. We hadn’t been together that long, but he’d made a big impact on my life, and I missed him despite still being mad.

He’d stopped reaching out to me, and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed. God, I felt like an idiot with my flip-flopping emotions. I shouldn’t care because we wouldn’t be a thing again. It was over.

When we reached Ajax’s apartment, he opened the door to a swarm of family members hugging him and berating him. All of them had been so worried when they learned he’d nearly killed himself.

Blaze stood in the background and watched, hugging himself, looking lost, lonely, and uncertain. Then Ajax informed everyone that we would be callinghis boyfriend Aiden instead of Blaze from now on. It was Pippin, of all people, who first went to Aiden and hugged him. Aiden was one of us now. He was a Reject.

Since only I had a car, we met at the Skatepark of Baltimore at Roosevelt Park. The day was absolutely perfect, with not a cloud in the sky and no humidity. It made me itch to skate. I was so out of practice, but skating in a competition again may have been my only choice to get out of my financial mess. That meant practicing… a lot.

Since my family was perfectly content sitting together, enjoying Ajax back with us, and alive, I headed off to skate.

The park was crowded, being such a nice day and on the weekend, but the skating bowl could accommodate most of us. It was gorgeous, covered in graffiti art, and I enjoyed skating in it. I would’ve rather used a half-pipe, but the relatively new park didn’t have one.

I stood on my board, on the edge, waiting for the area to be clear, then I dropped down, winding around the curvature of the bowl, pumping my foot to pick up speed before reaching the lip and catching air, practicing my tricks.

I’d fallen a couple of times, pissed at myself for being so fucking careless. I would never be able to compete in my current state, so with a deep breath, I picked myself up again and tried harder.

Soon, the warm day grew hotter, and I started sweating, but I kept pushing myself. Eventually, I had to take a breather because my leg muscles burned, which was another reminder of how out of shape I was, at least for skating.

I hopped out of the bowl, grabbed my board, and headed back to my family. Pippin and Nacho went off skating, but everyone else hung out on the blankets. As I headed closer to them, I lit up a smoke when I suddenly stopped in my tracks.

Walking in the distance toward me was none other than Harley-fucking-Creed. I thought he’d finally given up. Instead, he took a different path and came to meet me head-on.

It wasmyfucking day—a rare day off—and it was about Ajax getting out and feeling good. The last thing any of us needed was more stress.

I walked over to where my Rejects sat together as Harley drew closer. My heart started to beat a little faster, and… it ached. He looked so damn good.

I quicklyput up my walls and scowled at him. The crew noticed my changing mood and watched Harley like death was walking toward us.

“Who’s that, Alpha?” Ajax asked.

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