Page 44 of Free Me

Peyton was a different story. As soon as Miko slid into the passenger seat of the car he shared with Layne, Peyton asked, “So why exactly did you sleep at the Beta House last night?”

Miko groaned. “Let me guess? Symon let it slip to Hyatt, who asked you?”

“Yep.”

Symon Lee’s adoptive brother Hyatt was also biologically Peyton’s uncle, despite all three men being roughly the same age. Long story was long, but ever since discovering each other, Peyton and his Uncle Hyatt had developed their own sibling-like relationship, so it didn’t surprise him that if Hyatt got gossip from Symon, he’d pass it along to Peyton. Especially gossip about Peyton’s own half-brother Miko.

Sometimes their familial connections made Miko’s head spin.

“I had a fight with Omi and Dad,” Miko said. “After everything with Linus, I needed space to just be mad, you know? To feel what I was feeling without anyone trying to make me feel better or force me to talk.”

“I get that, believe me.” Peyton eased to a stop at a red light. “Back when I first woke up from my coma, you were one of my favorite people to talk to, Miko. You just let me exist without trying to force me to remember my life. You even re-taught me how to play video games, and you never put pressure on me. I could be me, whoever that guy was.”

“That’s what I needed last night. Granted, Jaxson thought it would be a good idea to give me tequila shots, but that didn’t lastlong.” It hadn’t lasted long because Linus had called looking for Miko, and he’d told them to cease and desist. Miko was grateful for the interference, or he’d have probably been nursing a gnarly hangover today.

Linus knows me so well. Better than anyone.

“So what did you guys fight about?” Peyton asked as he got them on a main highway toward Miko’s neighborhood.

“You, actually.”

“Me?” Peyton squawked indignantly. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. It wasn’t really about you, it was about me and stuff that I’ve let fester for a long time.” Yesterday’s conversation with Linus came rushing back. “Do you want Perks?”

“Um, like right this minute? They’re closed.”

“No, I mean in the future. Do you want to run it?”

Peyton’s profile was utterly confused for a long moment, as he tried to both understand the question and observe the traffic around him. “What do you mean by run Perks? Did Omi or Dad say something to you? Is one of them sick?”

“No! Goddess, no, nothing like that. I was talking to Linus about my frustration with my university courses and my lack of choices as an omega, and he asked me if I’d ever thought of running Perks when our parents retire, and I’d honestly not given it any thought. I guess I always assumed, abstractly, that they’d leave it to you and me one day to split, but I never gave any real thought to, like, being the boss or whatever. Actually running the place.”Maybe with my mate by my side, our kids growing up behind the counter like we did.

He kept that thought to himself.

Peyton was silent for several miles. “Then I guess no, I haven’t given any serious thought to managing Perks on a day-to-day level like our parents do. I like my job, and I do think I’d like to manage a business one day, I’m just not sure I want it to be a food service business. It’s so different from retail.”

“That’s true.” Miko only vaguely understood the differences between retail and food service, since he’d never worked in retail. Only waited tables and worked the counter at Perks part-time, once he was old enough to legally handle the food.

“Why? Do you think you’d want to take over running Perks when our parents retire? Actually manage it instead of just owning it and hiring someone else to manage?”

“I’m not sure. Like I said, I never really gave it any thought until yesterday. Now, it’s all I can think about when I’m not thinking about Linus. I like being around people. I love the stuff we sell, and I want it to stay a family business.”

Peyton grinned at him. “It sounds like you want to do it. Not saying you have to know right this second. You’re only twenty, dude. Plus, you haven’t met your bondmate yet. What if he turns out to be some rich business mogul who lives in a mansion and who’ll make sure you never have to work again?”

Miko belted laughter that choked off with a hint of grief. “Considering the tiny number of wealthy alpha heirs out there, compared to the number of unmated omegas, those chances are slim to none. We can’t all be as lucky as Hyatt.”

Hyatt’s own bondmate, Dorian Fowler Lee, had inherited a huge sum from his late sire, and while he’d kept enough so he and Hyatt would never have to struggle, he’d turned the rest into a charity foundation that had worked with Light House Resource Center to build accessible, walk-in medical clinics around the province.

And Sansbury itself had seen a big shift in wealth over the last twenty years or so, as more of the uber-wealthy were discovered to have criminal connections. Their hoarded wealth had slowly worked its way back into the economy, with new investments in manufacturing and affordable housing, as well as investments in the neighborhoods with the worst infrastructure, in order to revitalize struggling communities.

While Sansbury still had a small population that struggled with food scarcity and safe housing, that number was shrinking every single year, thanks in no small part to Mayor Bloom’s progressive policies.

“My point,” Peyton said, “is that you don’t have to make any decisions about Perks right now, or even in the next few years, unless you really, really want to manage the place one day. Then yeah, I’d talk to our parents about you working there full-time. Being part of big decisions going forward, all that stuff.”

Miko studied his big brother as Peyton navigated the quiet streets. “So you’d really be okay with one day being a silent partner if I decided I wanted to manage Perks?”

“Probably. You’re smart and completely capable. And who knows where I’ll be in five or ten years? Maybe I’ll be so busy running my own advertising company that I won’t have time for Perks? Or maybe I’ll sell my share and you’ll be full owner? Or maybe there will be some massive recession or city-wide plague that forces a lot of restaurants to close, and Perks will be a casualty. Point is, we don’t know. But I like that you’re thinking about the future, bro, I really do. You’re so different now than the bratty little brother who always used to kick my ass at CityRacer Extreme.”

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