In Nick's absence, there was nothing I could do but carry on as usual. Somehow, I managed to make myself open the bookstore in the morning, close it in the evening and lose all the hours in between by rearranging all the shelves in an effort not to think about Nick.

On the phone, he'd said he needed some time.

How much time?

It had been four days already. How much longer was I supposed to wait?

I took a deep breath, taking in the smell of ink and paper which was one of my favorites—second only to Nick's. Nick's always made me think of morning dew for some reason, but I thought it fit him well. He was the kind of omega who saw every day as a new opportunity. So why was he taking so many of them to talk to me? He must know that I didn't mean to harm him or his brother. That was the last thing I wanted.

I pulled a couple of books from the shelf in front of me and stacked them up on my desk. These all had passages or entire chapters filled with harmful misinformation about omegas, and I wanted them gone from my store. No way was I going to sell this crap any longer.

As I walked back to the shelf to continue my work, the jingling of the door bells made me look up. I didn't often get customers this early in the morning. Much less children who were supposed to be in school. The boy stopped a few steps into the store and looked around a bit uncertainly, as if he'd entered a foreign land. I'd never seen him in here before, but I'd spotted him around town with Conner every now and then. An alpha's scent came off, faint but noticeable even where I was standing a couple of feet away from the kid.

“You must be Jake,” I said, startling him.

“You know who I am?” Curiously, he came closer.

“Your friend Conner is my best customer.”

“Oh, yeah. He talks about this place all the time. That's why I had to come early, so he wouldn't see me.” A conspiratorial grin graced his young features. He looked a little like the cat who'd gotten away with the canary.

“Aren't you supposed to be in school right now?”

“Are you gonna tell on me?” Even as he asked this, his stance was relaxed. “Conner said you were cool.”

I almost had to laugh. I was cool now? No one had ever called me that.

At my silence, Jake's forehead drew into a frown. “I'm only here to buy a book.”

“That's generally why people come to this store.”

“Well, I need a book for Conner. I don't know what to get. I usually just stick to comic books.”

“Nothing wrong with comic books.” I remembered Nick liking those too. He'd had a great collection when we were younger.

“Comic books are great,” Jake agreed enthusiastically. “Conner told me his uncle Nick almost got a job with a comic book studio recently. It’s too bad it didn’t work out with him being pregnant and all. I would have asked him to take me along.”

Wait, what? How had I never heard about that?

Something Nick had said came back to me. How he was ready to give up everything. Was this what he was talking about? A job with a comic book studio in LA? I’d never even known he’d applied for that.

“Is something wrong, Mister? You look like you’re not feeling well.”

“No, I’m fine.” I only needed a moment to process the whirlwind of thoughts in my head. Nick had kept this news from me. Why? Because he thought there was no point in telling me anyway? He’d made his decision to give everything up without consulting me. If I’d known…

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“What kind of book do you think Conner would like?” Jake asked, pulling me out of my thoughts again.

Right, the kid was here to buy something. “What's the occasion?” I asked, trying to focus on the here and now and my customer.

“Um, the occasion is me spilling soda over the book he brought to read at recess.”

A short laugh escaped me at that. Why were there so many book abusers in this town? “Okay then. You need a gift that says, 'I'm sorry and I will never ruin another book.' I'm sure we can find something.”

“Yeah, that would be good.” Jake looked relieved. “I'm not sure about never ruining another book, though. Accidents happen!”

“I'm sure he'll forgive you.”

“Yeah, Conner's cool.” Jake grinned.

“He is pretty special.” I walked over to the phone box, knowing there were several books there Conner would love to get as a gift. “Here you go. A special book for a special boy,” I said, pulling Omegas Then and Now from the shelf and handing it to Jake.

“Oh, this is heavy. You sure Conner will like this?” He turned the book over in his hands, eyeing it critically. “It's about omegas? Conner doesn't like to be treated different because he's omega—and he's right. He shouldn't be,” Jake said with all the righteousness of a young alpha who still believed he could change the world.

“No, but that book is about history, and Conner likes learning about that.”

“True. Okay. I'll get this. How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing if you promise me you'll always be a good friend to Conner.”

“Really?” The boy's face lit up. “That's easy! He's my best friend!”

“I know. Take the money you were gonna spend on the book and get ice cream for the two of you or something.”

“I will! Thank you! Conner was right, you really are cool!” Jake declared, and then he left the store before I could even react to that, leaving me behind to think about all the other things he'd said. The omega I loved wanted to be a comic book artist in LA.

Wasn't there anything I could do about that?