Making a Family [Full Collection]

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

CLAY

I stop the manager, Zeke, as he passes by my table, a cup of tea in one hand and a box with a pacifier in the other, looking at the young Omega at the front of the cafe. “What’s going on?”

“He seems to be having a bad day. Forgot his wallet and a pacifier for the kid.” Zeke shakes his head. “Poor guy.”

“Yeah.” I let him walk on and watch as the Omega is so grateful, taking both items. And as soon as he gives the pacifier to his baby, the kid calms down again, curling up against his father. It’s beautiful to watch, which I do… Every morning.

Since earlier this year, the Omega and his kid have been coming here every morning. The kid mostly quiet and asleep as the Omega works hard and then, around lunch, they leave again.

He caught my eye the moment he walked in here. I don’t know what it was, but something about him keeps pulling my eyes to him every morning, time and time again.

Everything seems to calm down for the Omega for a while, until, about an hour later, the Omega’s baby starts to get fussy again and starts crying and the Omega looks like he’s about to break down himself.

I motion for Zeke to come over. “Can you get me a mint tea. That’s what he likes, right?”

I don’t even need to mention who I mean. Zeke was the one who pointed out to me that my interest in the Omega may be a little more than I have in other Omegas that come in here. But even with all that, I’ve not had the guts to actually go over and talk to the Omega before.

“Yeah. But…” Zeke looks back at the Omega, his eyes sad. “I think…” He stops, licking his lips as he looks at his feet before he looks up. “I think his Alpha left him, like, this morning.”

The fury rushing through me at that comment surprises me and with the way Zeke looks at me, him too.

Of course, I know he has an Alpha, or he wouldn’t have a kid. But still, how can any Alpha leave their Omega, especially when they have a kid?

It makes no sense to me.

“I overheard him saying something to the little boy. Damn. An Omega like him and he just gets left alone…” Zeke shakes his head.

Zeke’s an Omega himself, still unmated, like me, but he’s got a passion for his work and I know that he fears that taking an Alpha may mean that he has to stop working. Which is not uncommon, sadly enough.

“Anyway, he may not be in the best mood for talking.”

I nod, frowning. “But he’s definitely in the mood for someone to help him out a little. I can’t just let this happen.” I put away my things as Zeke prepares the drink.

When he comes back over, the drink on a tray, he takes a hard look at me. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I can’t just let him be.” I really can’t.

Something in me wants to do nothing more than to protect the Omega. To take him with me and lock him up somewhere so he can’t be harmed.

Which, not sane and definitely not okay. Kidnapping people is not okay. But I guess it also means that I need to talk to this Omega at some point, find out why he makes me feel like this.

I take the drink and make my way over to the front of the cafe.

The Omega is still focused on the little boy, not looking at anything that’s going on around him. I put the drink on his table, right in his view, which finally gets his attention.

He looks up at me with a look in his eyes that breaks my heart. He really needs someone there for him right now.

“Do you need me to take him for a moment?”

The Omega eyes me, his gaze changing, and he takes a moment before he nods and carefully holds the baby out to me. “I’m having no luck today.”

I take the little boy, softly swaying with him and walking a little between the tables.

The Omega looks at the glass that I put in front of him. “How did you…” Then he looks at me again, recognition in his eyes. “You’re the guy who always sits in the back.”

“Yeah. I’m Clay.” I sit down in the chair opposite the Omega, the baby boy has finally quieted down.

“I’m Aiden, and that’s Seb.” He looks so relieved now that Seb’s quieted down. “Thank you. For both. I…”

He looks down and I want to hurt the person who made him look like that, who made him feel this pain.

“Bad day?” I offer, trying to keep my voice level.

“Yeah, you could say that.” He plays with his fingers along the edge of the glass and I can’t help but follow the movements with my eyes.

“Anything I can do?”

“Can you keep him entertained for a moment? I need to finish up a few emails. I know it’s a lot to ask, but… I can’t lose my job too.” He looks… desperate.

“Sure. You work, I’ll keep an eye on this one.” I look down at little Seb, the baby’s eyes focusing all around while contently sucking on the pacifier.

I’ve seen this Omega, Aiden, work every morning in the cafe, every morning without fail. Often taking his kid with him and managing everything at the same time.

To think that a hard-working Omega like him would suddenly be left alone. That there is someone who can not appreciate his work ethic or his dedication…

I find it hard to wrap my head around.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have my own Omega. But even from some of the Omegas that work at my cafes who do have Alphas, I know that they’re treasured, not just thrown aside. I can’t imagine anyone not appreciating an Omega like Aiden…

I stand up with Seb, walking around a little with him on my arm.

Many of the Omegas and even Betas and Alphas, come here with their kids. So I’m often around young children and comforting or entertaining them for a while is just part of the job.

Sure, now that I have four of these cafes, I don’t tend to do a lot of groundwork anymore. But I used to be just one of the guys behind the counter, one of the guys helping all these people.

And I carried a lot of kids around for customers, so they could get some uninterrupted work done. I even carried some of the kids from the employees around. Because I can understand that getting someone else to look after your kid isn’t always the easiest thing in the world.

This cafe is a little smaller than some of the others, so it doesn’t have a special dedicated play-corner for kids but the other three do. Something I chose the buildings and designed the layouts for specifically.

I don’t want parents to have to leave their kids with someone or somewhere else, if they just want to be away from home for a couple of hours to work.

They may want to be away from home, that doesn’t mean they want to be away from their kids. And I wanted to help them out by not having to choose between a job and being able to pay for childcare during those hours.

I make my way back to Aiden, who is looking at me and quickly averts his eyes when he realises I caught him. “Work done?”

He nods. “At least some of it. Thanks.” He reaches out and I give Seb back to him. “Hey, little man, are you being all quiet when the Alpha holds you, but not with me, eh?”

His voice is sweet and there is such a sad smile playing around his lips.

I want to make him really smile, to see an actual smile from him, because in all these months that he’s been coming here… He barely ever smiles, always a little stressed, a little sad. “You need someone to talk to?”

He meets my eyes for a moment, and that sadness seems to only have increased and I need to fight everything in me to not just insist that he tells me what’s going on.

“Thanks. Just…” He swallows hard. “A really bad day, one I didn’t think I’d have to deal with, after some really difficult months. And just…”

He looks at Seb, running a finger over his cheek. “Problems. Drama.”

“Something a piece of pie could fix?” I stand up.

“You don’t have to. I can’t afford it today.” He seems almost panicked.

“No worries. I’m the boss here and I don’t allow a cute Omega to look that sad if I can make it better with some pie.” I turn around before I can see his reaction.

Fuck. I should keep my mouth closed sometimes.

The guy has an Alpha, and a kid, no matter if the Alpha isn’t here right now. He’s mated. Off limits.

I catch Zeke as he makes his way to the back. “Can you get me a piece of cherry pie and a piece of apple pie from the back?” I step behind the counter to make a hot chocolate and a cappuccino.

Zeke looks at me. “Clay…”

“I know, just… I don’t want him to look that upset.” I shrug. I know that it’s not a good idea. But I can’t help myself.

“Fine. I’m taking it out of your profits though.” He laughs as he walks to the kitchen in the back.

I roll my eyes at him and put the two drinks on a tray, then I glance at Aiden, who has gone back to work, Seb in the chair next to him. If his Alpha left him, so soon after he gave birth to their son, and he sort of admitted that things hadn’t been going well for a while…

What can I do to make things better? How can I make everything a little easier on him?

“Don’t just stare at him. You’re finally talking to him.” Zeke appears next to me with the two pieces of pie, pretty generous pieces too, and puts them on the tray. “Go, get back to him.”

“I didn’t think you’d agree.” I know that he’s not been the biggest fan of my infatuation these last months.

“I don’t care right now. His Alpha left him. He needs all the cheering he can get, even if it’s attention from a different Alpha. He seems at least a little less sad when you’re talking to him.” Zeke pushes at me. “Go.”

“Thanks.” I mean it. Zeke’s an important friend, his opinion matters to me.

I balance the tray as I wind my way through the tables, becoming more and more aware of Aiden looking at me and when I meet his eyes a surge goes through me and I nearly stumble.

Fuck.

Nope. I should not be responding like this to a mated Omega, it’s not right. “Pie and something warm to drink.” I put the tray down.

“Thanks.” Aiden blushes a little. “I’ll make sure to pay for it tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry. You’re having a bad day. I just want to make it a little less bad.” I put the hot chocolate in front of him. “You prefer cherry or apple?”

“Ehhh…” That seems almost the hardest question I could ask him today. “Both?”

“Okay.” I sit down and the surprise in his eyes is almost comical.

I laugh as I try my best to cut both slices in half, swapping half of each pie and then handing one of the plates to Aiden.

“Thanks.” He takes a bite, savouring the taste. “The pies here are so good.” He grins, then he looks at Seb as the little boy starts to become fussy again. He takes the boy in his lap, looking uncomfortable as he meets my eyes. “He needs a bottle. I hate to ask, but…”

“No worries.” I wave at Zeke, pointing at Seb and Zeke nods, giving me a thumbs up. “He knows how to deal with situations like this.”

“Is he…” Is Aiden blushing?

“What?”

“Is he your mate?”

“What? Oh. No. He’s just been working for me for a long time.” Zeke and I, mates… I think we’d drive each other crazy. He’s a great guy, and a very good friend, but we wouldn’t be able to work as mates.

Zeke brings over the bottle and I wrap my arm around his waist, pulling him close.

Zeke pats my head after handing Aiden the bottle. “What’s he telling you now?” I can hear the laugh in his voice.

“Not much.” Aiden smiles a little as he gives Seb a bottle, looking at the little boy for a moment before he looks back up at us. “Why?”

I shake my head and Zeke steps from my arms. “Don’t listen to him too much, he can sometimes tell the most ridiculous stories.” Zeke turns to walk off.

“Like him being your boss?” Aiden calls after Zeke.

“No, that part is actually true.” Zeke laughs and I hear him walk off, greeting a customer that just came in.

That seems to get Aiden’s attention, or, maybe it’s just an interesting distraction from working today. Anything to make him seem a little happier. “So, you’re really the boss here?”

“Ehh. I own the chain of cafes, but this is my favourite one.” I normally don’t mind talking about this, but it feels different when Aiden looks at me like that. Like I’m the most interesting person in the world.

“Wow. That’s so cool! So, you now own like… Five cafes?”

“Four.” I let out a laugh. “I wish it was five and maybe it will be before the end of the year. I’m…” I stop myself, I haven’t even talked to the investors about this.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. You’re not a spy from another company as far as I know, and you seem to be a smart guy.”

He finally shows me a real smile at that, just for a moment, and it takes me a bit to remember what I was planning on saying.

“I’m actually looking into maybe opening a new cafe, a bigger one than this, down the street.”

“Nice. Not too far away I hope? This is already almost a ten-minute walk for me.” He shrugs a little. “With a little kid, a ten-minute walk can be quite the task.”

I shake my head. “Just a couple of buildings down the street. But, I haven’t told anyone yet. I first want to make sure I can actually pull it off…”

I take a deep breath. “We just opened a new cafe late last year. So, it may be a little early to think of the next one yet.”

“But you’re a man who always thinks ahead, always finding the next challenge?” Aiden grins.

“I guess.” f**k. That was a compliment, wasn’t it? That was flirting, right? Damnit. “I probably wouldn’t have opened a work cafe that’s child and kid-friendly if I wasn’t one to take on challenges.”

“I love the concept. ‘Take your kids to work, when you work from home, away from home.’ It’s smart and definitely interesting. How did you come up with it?” His genuine interest is so obvious.

“I had a couple of friends who were mated while they were in college, and one even got pregnant… But…” The frustration over their situation still doesn’t sit right with me.

“The house they were in was small, as all college housing is, and the library wouldn’t let them in with a little kid. They said it was too noisy and that their baby would distract the other students.”

I almost get angry again just thinking of it. “So few places allow young kids, even though they don’t have to be a bother to other people, just as long as their surroundings are right. I needed a final project to get my master’s degree, and I set this up.”

I feel a little awkward at how excited I am over telling him this. “This is the original cafe that I set up and it got pretty popular pretty quickly, first with other students and later also other parents who worked from home and wanted to get out a little. Even people without kids come here regularly.”

As I finish my story, Aiden looks at me like he’s seen a miracle.

“You’re such a good guy, doing that for your friends. Wow.” He smiles and I have to look away for a moment, because I think I may start to blush…

Damnit…

Not right.