Page 92 of Alpha & Omega

He waved his hand at his family. “None of you are smoking. You all are always smoking. You’re fucking chimneys.”

They all looked at each other and shrugged.

“We’ve quit smoking in solidarity,” Stix said.

“It’s been a fucking bitch,” Aiden groused.

“A nightmare,” Jazz agreed.

“You quit… for me?” he asked in awe.

Ajax scowled. “Yep. And we’re suffering over here, so you better get healed and come back to work soon.”

Pippin and Nacho shrugged. “We didn’t smoke all that much, anyway,” Pippin said.

“You all are amazing. Thank you, but you didn’t have to.”

“Don’t discourage them, Skaterboy. Quitting is the best thing for them, not just for you. Smoking kills,” I said.

“Thanks,” he said to them. “Now stop hanging around. I want to watch you all skate.”

They grabbed their boards and showed off to Kingston, who clapped proudly. The only ones to sit out were Aiden, Cueball, and Storm.

“They’re fucking amazing,” he said again.

“They really are.”

“Thanks for talking me into coming today.”

“It wasn’t that hard. I can tell you miss them.”

Kingston craned his head back toward me, and I leaned forward to kiss him.

“I love you,” he said when we parted.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

It was mid-September, and Hudson had already started school. He’d missed the first few days so he could spend time with his mother, who had been in hospice care. I needed to leave Kingston during those times to take care of myson. Hudson handled things relatively well in retrospect. That bond he once had for her was severed the first time she left, and they never restored it with her return. But that he sat by her side when she died, holding her hand, showed his inner strength. It gave me hope for the future.

I recently bought him a car so he could drive back and forth without me worrying about carting him around, which also gave him independence. The car wasn’t new or expensive, but it allowed him to get from point A to point B.

Saturday was a special day, and I’d put my son, Oliver, and Alpha’s family to work to make it happen.

I went about my morning routine, making sure Kingston was fed and bathed, which was easier since his sutures had been removed and he was healing beautifully. He did much better with showering on his own, but I still loved bathing with him and washing his hair, which was finally growing out.

His stump was still really swollen, so he had a compression shrinker to help with it. Once the swelling was mostly gone, the prosthetist would fit him with a custom-made prosthetic. Insurance wouldn’t cover all of it, so the cost would take another bite financially, leaving Kingston more stressed. If that drunk driver’s insurance would hurry up and get Kingston’s claim done, that would be really helpful, but there had been other drivers involved in the accident, too.

Kingston had tried to kick me away a few more times during his lower moments, but then things would pick up for him when he felt better. Those days were happening more and more. He hadn’t started therapy yet, but he’d scheduled an appointment, thank god.

We sat on his couch, with him curled into me, watching a romance movie. I couldn’t focus on it because my eyes kept pinging on my phone to check the time.

When it turned noon, I said, “Let’s go for a walk. It’s a nice day. Tomorrow, we can head over to the farmers’ market and pick out our dinner.”

He stood on his crutches, made his way to the front door, and sat on a stool we’d placed there to help him put on his shoes. “That sounds good. Are we back to comparing gourd sizes?”

I chuckled, grateful his humor was slowly returning. “Definitely.”

He stood on one leg and grabbed his crutches, and then we walked down the stairs. Kingston had been practicing with his crutches daily now, and he wasgetting really good at it. His upper body also grew stronger, even more so than it already was.

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