Chapter Eleven
Philip
I should have gone home when I left Ollie’s house, but I opted instead to go straight to my parents. I wasn't going to let my dad and his fucked up ideas regarding my responsibilities in life interfere with mine and Ollie's relationship any longer. I wasn't convinced that my dad was stealing money from the town. How could he be? He’d been mayor for thirty years. Someone would have noticed by now.
Someone did notice. Ollie noticed.
It was dark by the time I arrived and only the light in my dad’s office was on. I entered the house without knocking and went right to his office. He was behind his obnoxiously large, solid mahogany desk doing paperwork of some sort.
Was that bought with stolen money?
He looked up with a frown but smiled when he saw me. “Philip, I'm glad you're here. I turned in your application so your name will be on the ballot. That Harry something or other is looking to run against me this term. He's your age. Thinks he has all these ideas about how to run this town.”
“Dad. Dad. Stop. His name is Harrison Bowman. I went to school with them. He's actually quite intelligent.”
“Never mind all that,” my dad said. “Let's talk about your campaign. I think—”
I shook my head. “No, Dad, for the last and final time, I am not running for mayor. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go down to town hall and retract that application. I have half a mind to tell somebody that you forged my signature to begin with. Isn't that illegal?”
“I'm just doing what's best for you,” my dad said, sitting back in his chair looking slightly defeated.
“What's best for me is for you to let me live my own life. It's not as if I'm sitting around doing nothing. I have a job. I want to be fire chief one day.”
“Millers have always served this town.”
“I am serving this town,” I said. “I’m a firefighter.”
“Blue collar work.” His words dripped with disgust.
I reeled back like he’d slapped me. “Since when did you become such an elitist asshole? You think that sort of work is beneath you?”
“It’s not the sort of work I’d hoped that my son would do.”
“You need to stop interfering with my life,” I said.
My mother came in the room, her hair tousled from sleep, wearing a white robe. “What is going on in here?”
“Dad's interfering with my life. Again,” I said. “You two have already pushed one son out of your life, at this rate, you’re never going to meet my Omega and my son.”
My dad stood studently, his face red with anger. “That slut Omega has no business in your life. I paid him to get the fuck out.”
I recoiled. My instinct told me to retaliate. I'd love to walk over and punch my father square in the nose. Nobody talked about my Omega that way. “That's it. That's the final straw. I'm done. You don't talk about Ollie that way. Or Christopher. He's my son. And I love Ollie. I'm going to marry him, if he'll have me.”
My father glared and pointed a finger at me. “You walk out of this house right now, Philip, then you're done. You're cut off.”
“Cut off from what?” I said. “I haven't lived here in years. I have my own job. I pay my own way. What exactly are you cutting me off from?”
My dad sputtered, his face darkening with each passing moment. I thought for a minute the he was going to have a heart attack. “Your inheritance. The wealth I’ve acquired in my life. You won’t get it.”
“Ollie’s been going over the town budgets.” I watched his face carefully for a reaction. “Are you embezzling money? Is that the wealth you’ve acquired?”
He flinched. Telling me everything I needed to know.
“I'm out of here,” I said and lifted up my hands in defeat. “Mom, I can't do this anymore. He can't keep interfering with my life. I can't let him push Ollie away again. He and Christopher are my family. And if he has been stealing money, I plan to report it.”
Tears fell down her cheeks, but she nodded. “I understand,” she said.
“Don't you walk away from me, Philip. You'll regret it,” my dad shouted.
I held up a hand. “Talk to me when you can stop interfering with my life and prove you haven’t been stealing from the town you claim to care so much about.” I walked out the door.
Tomorrow, I'd go down to the town hall, retract my application and get copies of the budget for myself. Where did I even go to report that sort of thing? That was a question to answer tomorrow. First, I had an apology to make to Ollie. I should have listened, should have believed him.
I went back to my lonely apartment. I'd barely spent any time there since Ollie and I had begun seeing each other again. The place was cold and empty. And quiet. No laughter from Christopher to fill the space. How had I ever been content here?
There weren't many other people around. It was an apartment complex, but really, it was just a large house that the owner had converted into three separate living spaces. One of them was unoccupied at the moment. The other housed an older couple. I didn't converse with the neighbors a lot, just a friendly wave every now and again.
I sent Ollie a text message telling him that I was sorry, and that I hoped to be able to see him tomorrow and talk with him then. He sent me a message back letting me know that I was welcome for dinner tomorrow night, just like normal. That made me feel better, but still not that great. I didn't want to fuck up my chances with Ollie. It seemed that my dad was putting as much effort as he could into ruining my life. If it came down to it, which it seemed to at the moment, I’d choose Ollie and Christopher over my dad any day of the week. If that was what it took, then I’d live with it.
***
The next day, I got to sleep in, although my sleep wasn't overly restful. It had been filled with bad dreams of Ollie disappearing, this time with Christopher. I knew he'd never do that to me, but that didn't keep the nightmares at bay.
I wasn't in any hurry, but I figured I might as well get my day started. I grabbed my gym bag so I could go for a run after I visited town hall. I’d stop by the firehouse and lift a few weights in the weight room, then shower there since it was easy. No point in doubling back to my house. My lonely empty house. Plus, that way, if there was any good food at the station, I could mooch off them.
At the town hall I approached the clerk, Susan.
She looked up from her desk and smiled at me. “Hello, Philip,” she said. Susan was an older lady who'd been working for the town for longer than I could remember.
“Hi, Susan. I came to retract my application for mayor.”
Her eyes widen at that and she said, “Oh, I was under the impression that you were going to be following in your father's footsteps.”
“No,” I said. “I don't have any desire to be mayor. Ever.”
“Okay. Well, I haven't filed any of the paperwork yet. So, I'll just give it back to you.” She picked up a manila folder from her desk and handed it to me. “Funny,” she said. “Your father was just here. I was talking with him about that nice man, Oliver Stone.”
“Oh, yeah?” I said. “What about him?”
“Just seemed odd that he came to look at the town budget. He had me make a few copies for him yesterday. It's always nice when we have residents interested in the town's goings on, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said. “What did my dad have to say?” Nothing good, I was sure of it. He’d probably been livid to know that other people didn’t think Ollie was the devil.
Susan’s brow furrowed. “He wasn’t too happy. I’m sure he had something else on his mind though.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Then he had to run off to some meeting. You know your dad, always busy being mayor.”
“Of course,” I said. I wasn’t here to shatter Susan’s rose-colored glasses. That would happen with time after the investigation started. I lifted the folder in my hand. “Thanks for this,” I said. “If my dad tries to file this again, just throw it in the shredder, all right.”
She laughed awkwardly. “Okay.”
I smiled to ease her confusion. She smiled back.
I tossed the application in the nearest trash can as soon as I was in the parking lot. Then I headed toward the fire station. Cameron was still on shift. I waved a hello as I walked in.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he said.
“Had nothing better to do, figured I’d go running and then hit the weight room.”
“Shouldn't you be at home with your Omega?”
“I wish,” I said.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Nothing too serious, I don't think. At least I hope not. I might have stuck my foot my mouth yesterday and haven't quite figured out how to get it out.”
Cam shook his head. “You Alphas have a tendency to do that.” A flash of sadness crossed his eyes and I wondered what was behind it. He’d never really talked about any alphas in his life. “We’re having sandwiches for lunch. You want me to make you one?”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’d be great. I should be back in a little bit. I'm just going to go for a quick five miles.”
“Have fun.”
I changed into my running clothes and took off.
The five miles didn't do much to ease my mind, but I did burn off a bit of energy. I tried to brainstorm ways to show Ollie how sorry I was for not listening to him. Perhaps he and I could go over the town's budget together. My dad was laundering money, and we needed to put a stop to it. My jaw clenched, and I pushed myself to run faster. I couldn’t ignore the evidence in front of my eyes. If my dad was stealing money, that meant an investigation and charges and arrests, and if my mom knew anything, she'd be in trouble too. Christ. What a nightmare.
My five miles turned into six and I was halfway through mile seven when I realized how late it was getting. If I didn't go back now, I'd miss lunch. I turned around and headed back toward the station.
Just as I was entering the front door, the sirens rang, and everybody hustled into action. I stood out of the way since I wasn't on duty.
“Where's it at?” I asked to know one in particular.
Cam came running by, he had his gear in his hand. “Philip, thank God you’re here. Suit up. You're coming with us.”
“What? Why? You guys short-handed?”
“No,” he said. “The fire. It's your apartment.”