Page 48 of His Gift
“Dad? What the hell?” he snapped, sitting straighter. “What are you doing in Barrington?”
“You know. This and that,” Mr. O’Neill answered. “I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing all the way over on this side of the mountains when our good friend Rick has been looking high and low for you in Norwalk this past week?”
Without a bond, the emotions I sensed in Enzo were vague at best, but they were enough to put me on high alert.
“I don’t owe Rick anything,” Enzo said, standing and starting to walk away.
“You certainly owe me something,” Mr. O’Neill said, moving to block Enzo’s path.
There was no way any of that would fly with me. I got up, working to show authority, and maybe even ownership, by stepping slowly in front of Enzo instead of rushing to protect my omega in a way that would make me look panicked and reactionary.
“Enzo, do you have anything to say or discuss with your father?” I asked as calmly as if I owned the market and could snap my fingers for elves to appear to escort Mr. O’Neill out.
“Not really, no,” Enzo said, but without the sort of confidence I had hoped to see from him.
“I’ve got something to discuss with him,” Mr. O’Neill said. “Sonny boy here made a deal with a friend of mine, and it’s about time he made good on it.”
“I didn’t make any deals with anyone,” Enzo said. “It was only a discussion. I had questions.”
Mr. O’Neill snorted out a laugh. I thought he would say something, but he tilted his head to the side and studied me instead. “Hold on a second,” he said. “This is the same alpha you were with at Evelyn’s. The fancy one.”
“We need to go home and change out of these wet clothes, then go back to work,” Enzo said, starting off to the side, even though that wasn’t the direction of any of the market’s exits.
O’Neill stepped into his path again, which had me surging forward to stand by Enzo’s side with my hand on the small of his back.
“Oh, I see how it is,” O’Neill said, his expression popping with understanding. “You’ve gone and found yourself an alpha. A rich one, too, by the looks of it. No wonder you aren’t interested in the guy Rick found for you.”
Had Enzo consulted some sort of matchmaking service? Something told me that wasn’t what it was. Either way, O’Neill was the threat right in front of us.
“Yes, Enzo and I are together now,” I said in my most possessive, protective voice. “That means no one, and I meanno one, is going to hurt or upset him in any way. That includes you.”
O’Neill didn’t take my claim well. “I’m his father, you know,” he said. “There used to be a time when that meant I was entitled to a certain amount of respect from the alpha I allowed to take my omega son away from me.”
“Good thing those days are long gone,” I said, inching even closer to Enzo.
“Gone, but not forgotten,” O’Neill said. “Of course, I’d be willing to go away entirely for a certain, shall we say, Christmas stocking stuffer.” He rubbed his fingers together and winked.
“Shawn isn’t giving you anything, Dad,” Enzo said, though his voice wasn’t as strong as it might have been if he was feeling completely confident. “Go home.”
“Is that any way to treat your father?” O’Neill asked, frowning at Enzo.
“You heard him,” I said. “Now, if you will excuse us, my omega is cold. I need to take him home to warm him up.”
“I’ll just bet you do,” O’Neill said with a smirk.
I didn’t want anything more to do with the man. More than that, I didn’t want Enzo to have anything more to do with him. Jamie O’Neill was a menace, and the sooner I could get him out of my omega’s life for good, the better.
“Come on,” I said, taking Enzo’s free hand and leading him around O’Neill and toward the nearest exit.
“I’ll tell Rick you say hi,” O’Neill called after us. “I’m sure he’ll want to know all about your new alpha.”
Enzo nearly missed a step. Then he doubled his pace, practically running to get away from his dad.
“Is something wrong?” I asked once we made it out of the market. Fortunately, my building wasn’t that far. We would be able to walk there in about five minutes. “Is this Rick guy a threat to you?”
“No,” Enzo answered slowly and entirely unconvincingly. “Not really.”
I frowned. “Want to tell me about him?”
