Making a Family [Full Collection]

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

CLAY

I’m not sure if the look he’s giving me is good.

I know it’s a ridiculous proposal, especially since I barely know him. But it is true. I do have a wedding to attend, and I would like to not attend it on my own, for a change. Having an Omega, and especially an Omega with a baby, at my side may improve this wedding over all the others.

I’m the oldest of four kids. I have one Alpha sister and an Omega brother and sister. We were all kind of perfectly balanced in the family. Only, this wedding is my youngest sister’s wedding, the Alpha sister, and now I’m the only one unwed.

Alpha, twenty-eight, and without an Omega or a kid… Weddings and those looks of pity are no fun.

A little white lie doesn’t hurt anyone, right?

“What would I get in return?” Aiden looks at me curiously, but at least he hasn’t turned me down immediately.

“I’ll take care of Seb for the morning. That allows you to get some work done and have him out of your hair for a few hours.” I reach for the kid and Aiden hands him to me carefully, still thinking this over.

“And what will I have to do? Show up in a suit? Say that I’m your boyfriend? Your husband?” He looks me over.

“Potentially, yes. I will, of course, provide a suit for you and Seb, and I will make all the arrangements. But you will get to spend a day eating cake, be at a beautiful location, and not worry about much else.” To me it sounded like a good plan when I came up with it, but maybe just for me.

“So, I have to pretend to be your husband, listen to people ask me questions I won’t know how to answer and have to walk around in a suit, all while handling a baby… In exchange for you holding Seb for a few hours?”

Hmm, he doesn’t sound fully convinced. And if you put it that way…

“I can add a lovely dinner to the deal?” Hey, sweetening the deal is what I do for a job.

But Aiden laughs, it makes him look a lot better than when he came in just now, then he calms down a little. “Three dinners.”

“Three dinners?”

“And I get to choose the places where we eat and when to use them.”

“Deal.” Three dinners I can do. Well, three dinners and looking after this little man.

“Deal.” He looks at the cup of tea in front of him sceptically.

“If you don’t like it, you can just leave it and ask Zeke to get you something new.” I shrug. It seemed like a good idea and I think he’ll like it, but there are bigger fights to fight.

“I’ll try it first.” He lifts the cup, putting it to his lips, blowing on it for a moment before he takes a sip. Then he takes another sip, looking up at me, his eyes shining. “This is good.”

“Glad to know you’ve got good taste.” I take a few sips of the coffee. “Well, I guess I should leave you alone then, so you can get actual work done.” I stand up, holding Seb against me.

The little man has been quiet for a while now, but I’m pretty sure that if I put him down, he’ll start crying again.

Aiden looks at me, then nods. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” I slowly walk to the back, where Zeke looks at me amusedly.

“How did you end up like that?” He grins.

“I made a deal. I now have a date for the wedding.”

Zeke scoffs, then he shakes his head. “In exchange for what?”

“Looking after Seb for the morning and three dinners of his choice.”

“Well, at least he’s making you work for it.” Zeke laughs.

“Do you still have the baby wraps in the back?” I don’t want to actually have to carry Seb all morning, but there are more comfortable ways to do this.

“I think so. Want me to grab you one?”

“Thanks.”

Aiden carried Seb here in a more structural version, an actual baby carrier, which is a little clunky and impractical if you’re sitting down and all. But I know that we can make a very comfortable similar kind of thing with a wrap.

I think, even though I didn’t dare to ask Aiden, that Seb may be missing his mum, or at least realises she’s not there and now he wants to stay as close to other people as he can. I’m just really glad that he accepts me as a replacement for the time being, because babies can be very picky about the people they’ll allow near them.

Zeke comes back with one of the wraps. “You want me to help you?” He unfolds the wrap.

“Yeah, it’s been a while.” I actually did this for my friends a lot when their kid was still really small. But when the company grew, I just wasn’t as involved in the day-to-day stuff and started looking after fewer kids as a result.

Zeke helps me as we position the wrap around me and cradle Seb inside it, keeping him comfortable.

“So, you’re actually going to do it?” Zeke looks at the final result and then nods, before he looks up at me.

“What?”

“Take Aiden to the wedding? With Seb? Pretending that they’re your family?”

“I think so.” It could still change in the next couple of days, but it seems to be the plan.

“You’re an ass. You know that, right?” He shakes his head and walks off, obviously not as okay with this as he was with me trying to cheer Aiden up.

I know he doesn’t approve, even less than he approves of me having an interest in a mated Omega.

But I don’t know. It’s not that I see Aiden as just an easy way to get away from the questions, I actually wish he was mine.

I wish Aiden was mine.

Which is insane.

He has a mate.

So I can only get so close to him before I need to back off again.

But taking him with me and having a few dinners with him, that’s innocent enough. Right?

I look at Aiden as he stands in front of the mirror.

His eyes meet mine in the reflection. “Are you sure? It looks a little flashy.”

“It looks good.” It’s a simple suit, but the button up that he wears with it is beautiful and looks great on him.

He shakes his head. “Well, fine then. You’re the one who’s taking me, you will probably know best.” He smiles. “But can I now get back into my own clothes?”

“Sure.” I wish he wouldn’t, the suit looks very good on him, enhancing his best features, mainly his ass, but I know that a suit is probably not the most comfortable thing in the world to wear, especially when you’re not used to it.

Aiden walks back into the changing room and I look down at Seb. I’m carrying him again, he was very good this morning, but now we’re out and about, he’s a little unhappy again. But I’m mostly carrying him because you can’t really take a baby with you into the changing rooms.

Aiden comes out of the changing rooms again, the suit and button up in his hand. “So, I guess that’s done?”

“We still need something for Seb.” I still want to spend more time with you.

“I have nice clothes I can put him in. We don’t need to buy something for him.”

“He’ll need to match.” I stand up and guide Aiden to the front of the store, where I pay for his suit.

The guy behind the counter looks at us and then at Seb, a smile around his lips. “You have such a lovely kid, but that’s to be expected with such handsome parents.” He puts the items in the big suit bags and hands it to me. “Have a good day.”

I steer Aiden out of the store before he comes back to his senses because he looks a little shell shocked by the comment. “Aiden?”

He looks at me, then at Seb, then back at me. “Hmm.”

“What’s going through your mind?” Because something is happening and I don’t know if the end result will be good.

He shakes his head for a moment, then meets my eyes. “I guess that people really do just assume…” He lets out a breath. “Just… Nothing. No worries.” He takes the bags with the suit. “Where to go next then?”

I don’t know what it is, but whatever went through his mind seemed to have settled him a little. “Wedding clothes for Seb.”

“Are you sure? The guy goes through a lot of clothes and such.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I can’t just take you and not hold up my end of the deal.” I start walking to a baby and kids’ clothing store that I know is a little more upscale.

When we step inside, a female Beta working there greets us immediately. “Welcome. What do you require today?”

“A suit or other more formal clothing for a baby that matches his suit.” I point to Aiden.

The Beta comes over and looks inside the bags. “Ah, beautiful colour. Eh, yeah, I think I have something that will match.” She starts walking to the back of the store and looks through a rack. “Three months?”

“Almost four,” Aiden answers as he follows her.

“Oh.” She takes another look in Seb’s direction. “Okay.” Then she picks out three outfits.

“The second one.” I reach out and take it, holding it next to Seb. “Yes. Definitely.”

Aiden looks at me and then nods, still obviously not sure about me spending money on Seb. “Yeah. That looks good.”

“Okay, well then. Anything else?” The Beta seems a little shocked at how quickly this went.

“Socks, booties?” I look at Aiden, who nods.

“And a second shirt.” Aiden starts wandering off into the direction of more shirts, simpler this time than the one I’m holding now.

“Socks and booties it is then.” I look around and from the shelf above the clothes the Beta just picked from she takes a pair of tiny booties and some socks.

“These will match.” She smiles politely.

“Thank you.” Then I go over to Aiden. “A second shirt?”

He holds up a shirt that matches close to the colour of the outfit I’m holding. “We’re not putting him into more expensive clothing if he pukes over his first set.” Aiden’s voice tells me that I won’t argue him out of this, but he’s also smiling a little.

“Well. You know best.” I step a little closer and I can see the way he responds to me being near. f**k.

I want to reach out, but I don’t. Don’t want to spook the man, especially if we’re going to be spending a good amount of hours together in the next few days.

Aiden nods, swallowing hard, then he turns away a little. “Seb and I should be heading home. He needs his bottle and then some sleep in his own bed.”

“No request for dinner?” I joke, but I know it’s just me being selfish, I don’t want to let them go yet.

“Maybe some other time. When I’ve had more than four hours of sleep.” Aiden looks at me, then he helps me out of the baby carrier and puts it on himself.

“Okay, but at least let me walk you home then. So I’ll know where to pick you up on Saturday.” It’s a good excuse, right?

“Okay.” He follows me to the front and I pay for the clothes.

Then I take all the bags and we start walking in the direction of the cafe, since Aiden said that he lived somewhere around there.

I feel a little weird, the more time I spend with Aiden, the more time I want to keep spending with him. I know that it’s not right, but that doesn’t stop my brain apparently.

“This way.” Aiden turns around a corner and we walk down one of the big streets, then he turns again and now we’re in one of the neighbourhoods.

It’s a very family-friendly neighbourhood with spaces for kids to play between the big buildings and it’s clean. It’s very different from the neighbourhood I live in, which is all old traditional buildings and such. This is very modern, probably built in the last forty years.

We keep walking in silence, but that’s okay, I don’t know if I have anything useful to say to him anyway, at least not things that won’t make him think I’m insane.

“We’re here.” He stops in front of a big building, looking up. “Just one little apartment in this big block.” He shrugs a little. “But it’s good.”

“Good,” I parrot. Then I hand him the bags, pulling out my phone. “I feel silly asking this, but can I get your details?”

Aiden laughs a little. “Sure.” He takes the phone from me and puts his name, number and even address into it. “There you go.” Then he hands me his phone and I put my details into his.

“See you tomorrow at the cafe?” I look at Aiden, I’m standing a lot closer to him than I expected, who looks at me, but then pulls his eyes away and nods.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” His voice is soft, then he looks at me again, his cheeks flushing a little. “And, thank you for everything.”

“My pleasure.” I reach out and touch Seb’s chubby cheek for a moment, the little man looking my way curiously, flashing me a smile. “See you tomorrow.” When I look up again, Aiden licks his lips and his eyes on mine are filled with something I don’t dare to put a name to.

It requires my full determination to step away now and not just put my lips to his, to try if they’re as soft and sweet as they look.

“Tomorrow.” My voice has lowered, gotten a little hoarse, before I turn around and start walking down the street.

When I’m halfway down the block I look back at him, Aiden is still staring at me, finally turning around and opening the door to the building.

I let out a groan.

Fuck.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea…