Page 45 of Choosing Their Omega

“Guys?” I yell, hurrying out of my bedroom.

“Yes, I know, we need to find a new nanny,” Cruz says, running a hand through his damp hair as he steps into the hall. “I’ll look into it, and we can set up interviews in the next few days.”

Lawson and Knox exit their rooms, and Lawson folds his arms as he hears Cruz’s words, looking pissed. Yeah, he doesn’t want a new nanny any more than I do. He wants Lily back.

I hold up my phone. “No, this isn’t about a nanny. Lily’s presentation is tonight.”

Knox and Cruz immediately look away, guilty looks in their eyes, and I realize they’ve looked her up too. They know.

Lawson mutters something under his breath and heads downstairs. Cruz and Knox both stay silent.

I head downstairs too. There’s food in the fridge that I prepped before we left, and I warm it up so that we can all have dinner together. I love cooking and always have, but suddenly, it feels empty without Lily by my side, helping me out.

Once the food is ready, everyone comes down, Knox with Ben in his arms. Ben looks around. “Where’s Lily?”

I nearly drop the food as I put it down on the table. “Lily? What do you mean?”

Ben’s little forehead wrinkles. “You left. And now you’re back. She left too. When will she come back?”

There’s so much longing in his voice that I want to say anything to correct him. Goddammit.

“We’re idiots,” I mutter. The others all look at me, and I shake my head. “This kid is more in touch with his feelings than the four of us are, clearly. We can’t ignore what we feel. We were stupid to think that we could. I know it’s only been a few days, but guys, come on. You know. We all know. Let’s do it.”

Knox, Cruz, and Lawson all look at each other, and I hold my breath, my shoulders tense. It’s not the first time I’ve brought this up, but it’s the first time I’ve found the right words to truly express it. To express how fucking insane it would be to let the best thing that ever happened to us slip away.

We can’t do that. We can’t.

Not without fighting for her. Not without trying.

The silence stretches on for another long minute, but I don’t say anything else. I don’t think I need to. Because at the end of the day, they all know I’m right. We might have more baggage and complex feelings than Ben does, but we care about Lily just as much as him.

And it’s about damn time we admitted it and let her know.

My gaze locks with Cruz’s, and I lift one eyebrow, wordlessly daring him to disagree with me. His jaw tightens, a look of certainty passing over his expression.

Then he nods, one quick jerk of his chin. “You’re right.”

“Amen,” Lawson mutters as the tension in the room breaks.

“We should never have let her walk out that door,” Knox grunts, and the possessiveness in his voice makes me smile triumphantly.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Cruz shoves his chair back, standing up. “We’d better get moving. Now. Suits on, everyone. We need to look presentable, or we’ll never even get in the door.” He glances toward Ben, his determined expression softening a bit as he adds, “That includes you, little man.”

Ben can’t possibly know what this means, but he can tell that something is happening, something that’s filled the air with electric energy, so he smiles back, excited.

We all rush upstairs to get dressed in our nice suits, the ones we wear when heading to the arena before each game. We dress Ben up in the suit we got him in case he ever needed to look nice for special occasions, and because Knox refused to keep the suit that Ben had to wear for his mother’s funeral.

We all look damn good, but now my biggest concern is, will we make it in time?

Urgency builds in my chest as we pile into the car. Cruz is driving, because Lawson would do something reckless to get us there, and we’d either wreck the damn thing or get pulled over for a speeding ticket. My hands clench my knees, and I have to work hard not to tap my fingers anxiously.

I don’t know if we’re too late. We should’ve technically registered ahead of time to attend the event tonight, and the presentation might’ve already started. I don’t know if they’ll let us in. Our credentials are good. I know those will check out. But they might be sticklers for protocol.

None of us have ever done this before. I don’t know what to expect.

When we pull in, it’s clear that the presentations have already started. Lawson looks ready to run in there and start a fight, and Cruz puts his hand on Lawson’s elbow to subtly hold him back. We climb out of the car and hurry inside.

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