Page 28 of Vawn
I leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. “They’ll love you. Now, go do whatever racer stuff you have to do, and I’ll see you at dinner.”
As much as I hated to leave him, I was thankful we’d see each other again later in the day.
***
“Dad. Pop. I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Ojokun.”
My brothers’ heads whipped around as Ojo stepped forward to greet both my fathers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard about you both from all your sons.”
“And we’ve heard about you from all of them, too.” My omega father took both of Ojo’s hands in his. “But your biggest fan seems to be little Ennie.”
My daughter rushed out of her chair, bypassing my still-stunned brothers, to cling onto Ojo’s leg. “He’s my boyfwen, too.”
Ojo laughed and picked her up into his arms. “Yes, you’re a good friend of mine. We got our picture taken together yesterday and hung out on the beach when you were on vacation and your dad had to work.”
“You helped me swim.” Enif clapped her hands and wiggled as Ojo struggled to hang onto her.
“So….” Ret nudged my side. “When were you planning on telling us?”
“Now.” I shrugged. “It happened after I left this morning. This is the first time I’ve seen you since then.” I nodded toward Genj, who was focused on Utahn at the table. “You think anything is ever going to happen between them?”
Utahn had told me his fight with Wosh was about Genj. He wouldn’t tell me what the other racer had said, but it had pissed him off enough to tell Wosh off and make a scene.
“Nope.” Ret rolled his eyes. “They’re both stubborn.”
He was probably right, but I wasn’t ready to give up hope for them yet. We all took our seats and discussed what to order. In the end, we had several dishes brought to our table and shared them.
Dinner went well, and, after all of us traveled back to our respective planets, my parents said nothing but nice things about Ojo. They even asked to video chat with him whenever my brothers called them. I guess they’d already accepted him as part of the family. I simply hoped Ojokun wanted our relationship to work as much as I did. Because, if it didn’t, I wouldn’t be the only one with a broken heart.
Chapter Fourteen
Ojokun
Shit. Not again.I slammed my palms against the console of the simulator. Why couldn’t I get this maneuver right? I understood what I had to do, but every time I went to fly between my teammates, I wasn’t at the correct angle and ended up clipping one of them. If we’d been practicing in our actual jets, I’d be dead, along with at least one of my teammates. Why couldn’t I focus?
“Let’s go again,” Ret said over the comm system.
“No.” I sighed. “I need a break to clear my head before I try again.”
“Whatever,” Genj said. I heard the door of the other simulators open before I’d unbuckled my harness.Traitors!They wanted a break as much as I did. Or, they were sick of me screwing up. Though, they weren’t the ones trying to squeeze a big jet through a tiny space. I’d like to see how long it would take each of them to do it. And maybe one of them should. Because all the other teams expected me to do the stupid shit. It would surprise every one of them if another member performed the stunts for once.
I groaned before slipping out of my harness. I needed away from this place for a bit. I pressed the button to open the door, and, when I stepped out, everyone had already left. At least no one had hung around to give me grief.
I thought about visiting the steam room but headed to the gym instead. Working out would make me concentrate on something other than flying for a while.
I warmed up on the treadmill then moved to a horizontal bench for chest presses. Not caring that I didn’t have a spotter, I kept adding more and more weight until my arms shook from fatigue. Time to switch things up. After alternating between jump squats and jump lunges, I headed to the leg press machine. But nothing helped. When I wasn’t replaying every screwup from the last five hours in the simulator, I was thinking about Vawn and how much I wanted to see him again. Face-to-face. To hold him and breathe in his scent. Our video calls weren’t enough lately.
Shit!I got up and went to the ab bench, searching for something to help me clear my head for an hour. Or even a few minutes.
After two hundred sit-ups, I was ready to move to a new machine but in walked Ret. How was I supposed to forget now?
“Hey.” He nodded before stripping off his clothes and stepping into the muscle tube.
“Hey.” I nodded back, not wanting to talk. Instead, I remembered my early days as a space racer when Ret used to be right beside me, always trying to beat my reps. Now, he had the muscle and simply maintained it with the tube. I preferred the pain and sweat. It helped me to clear my mind. Though not today. Especially not now. “Why are you here?”
He raised an eyebrow as he tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean? I’m here to tone my muscles. Why else would I be in the gym?”
After grabbing some hand weights, I started alternating hammer curls. “You haven’t come in here at the same time as me since our win on Rotau, almost a year ago.”
