Page 5 of Omega's Pretend Mate
I’ve reviewed your request for a discretionary disbursement for property taxes, as well as the included bill, and have paid them per usual. Let me know if there were any problems.
-Martin Everest
Grandfather’s email was what I’d expected. A bit of chit-chat, then directly to the point. No mention of any problems.
Unfortunately, aunt Evelyn’s email had arrived only minutes later.
Gabe,
As mentioned in our December family meeting, I am reviewing and providing my own assessment of how I would handle discretionary funds requests for trusts that I will be named a trustee on.
Unfortunately, your grandfather and I are at odds on this disbursement. While I understand that you need a place to live, your property taxes are inordinately high for an omega without an alpha or family. It seems fiscally irresponsible for so much to be paid yearly, when that sum could be saved and applied to future family costs.
My suggestion is for you to reconsider your living arrangements and find a home more suitable to your lifestyle.
-Evelyn Everest
I wanted to throw my tablet. How were property taxes irresponsible? The taxes and recurring payments combined barely put a dent in the annual interest. My married cousins, especially Ivy, would be in charge of their own money to spend however they wanted, but I was the irresponsible one for wanting to pay a common biannual bill with mine?
I tossed my tablet on the couch before I acted on the impulse to hurl it across the room and watch it shatter.
All of this was simply because of some stupid archaic mindsets about omegas. I’d worked hard, gotten a law degree and a job that made me happy. I wasn’t out there like Ivy throwing tantrums, or like some of my alpha cousins who got in trouble for being caught publicly with a different omega every week. I didn’t ask for a new luxury car every year, because the existing one was the previous year’s model.
All I wanted was a quiet life in my beach house, and even that seemed to be too much to ask.
I stormed into my bedroom, flopped on my bed, and screamed into my pillow.
Chapter 2 - Christian
~April~
My brother-in-law Alex passed me a cold beer, then collapsed onto the beach chair next to mine.
“How do you manage all the fun in the sun?” he griped. “I’m exhausted.”
I opened the beer and took a drink. “I do work, you know. I just took the week off to spend with you all.”
“I don’t know what’s worse,” he said. “Living in a place like this and having to work, or dealing with this sun.”
I laughed. “Believe me, come summer I’m ready to stay holed up in my air conditioned office and away from all the tourists. You all made the right choice to come during spring break and not for summer. Besides, it’s not even all that hot right now.”
“The heat isn’t the problem,” he sighed. “It’s the dang sun.”
I turned to him. It seemed early in the year for sunstroke, but there were cases reported every summer.
“What?” Alex asked after I studied him for a minute.
“Making sure you’re ok.”
He laughed. “I’m fine, or did you forget that I’ve been chasing kids around for an hour?”
“Don’t you mean chasing your husband around while he chased the kids?” my brother Liam asked, walking up with a passed-out two-year-old slumped against his shoulder.
I held my arms open, and Liam deposited my sleeping nephew, Trent, into them with a relieved sigh. He then plopped onto a beach towel.
“You look good with him,” he said after a minute. “Ever think about getting some of your own?”
I chuckled. “I’d want myself a handsome omega to go with the kids, and I keep striking out.”
