Chapter Thirteen
Rory
Whether he was picking me up or not, tradition stated that the Alpha choose a restaurant for dinner. I wasn’t about to let every shred of my upbringing out the window just because Damien was a little different. I was still an Alpha, and that meant I had to act like one.
Except I had no idea where to take an Omega like Rory on a date. There were a few nice restaurants in town but I was sure that Damien had far better in his lifetime. I decided the best thing to do was call Aden and ask his advice.
“Oh, he must be special if you need advice about where to go for dinner,” Aden said when I asked where to take an Omega for a dinner to impress. “Wait, is this Damien Raoult? Are you taking him out?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I knew I felt a connection between you two,” Aden said. “See, honey. I told you. I was right,” he said away from the phone. Captain Mayfield must have been nearby. I began to worry that I would never live it down.
“I just don’t know that anything I can offer him will compare to what he can buy for himself,” I said.
“Then don’t try to compete with what he can do for himself, Rory. Take him someplace that means something to you. I know you don’t like fancy restaurants so don’t take him to one. Do the opposite.”
Aden was right. I was too focused on impressing Damien when I should have been thinking about how I could let him into my world. That made the decision about where to go easy.
So I got dressed in jeans, boots, and a black concert t-shirt. On the way out the door to meet him at the gates, I grabbed my leather jacket and my old jacket too. By the time Damien’s driver rolled up to pick me up, I was waiting out front with my motorcycle.
“We’re not going to need your driver,” I said.
Damien was dressed in a black suit and purple tie. He cut a figure in that suit that made him look good enough to eat, but it was too much for where we were going.
“Ditch the jacket and tie in the car and put this on,” I said and handed him my old jacket.”
His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning and I wondered if he’d ever been on a motorcycle before. I watched with a smile as he took off the tie and coat and then laid them neatly in the back seat of the car. Damien shrugged on the jacket, and even though he looked a little more dressed for the occasion, I knew he’d still stand out where we were going.
It dawned on me that would be the case no matter what. Damien would stand out anywhere. I was happy that I hadn’t thrown that old jacket out in the trash. It was sexy as fuck on him.
“I’ll call you when I need you to pick me up again,” Damien said to his driver.
“You ready?” I asked and got on the bike. “Get on.”
Damien straddled the seat behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I couldn’t believe how natural it felt having him molded against me. The fated mates stuff had seemed like such bullshit in the past but it appeared that my body knew to whom my heart belonged.
We pulled up in front of the diner and I prepared myself for Damien’s protest. Off the Rails Diner was a railroad-themed diner with a giant neon train engine for a sign. They had the best double bacon cheeseburgers in town, and their fries were crisp, salty perfection. You couldn’t get a better burger and fries anywhere in the world in my opinion. The simple pleasures in life were the most important to me.
“I must say, no Alpha has ever brought me to a diner on a first date,” Damien said with a genuine smile. I could tell he wasn’t making fun or being a snob.
We went inside and sat down. Damien was the best dressed man in the place, but it didn’t seem to faze him. He had the cool confidence of a person who didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought. Damien didn’t seem to notice that he turned all the Alphas’ heads.
One thing was for sure; people had been spreading gossip about him for a long time, and they were all wrong. Damien was not the arrogant playboy he was rumored to be. I think people had projected their own insecurities onto him, and Damien was so focused on what was important to him that he hadn’t spent any of his time correcting them. I could see how his demeanor could’ve been mistaken for hubris when you combined it with his money.
I don’t think he did much to dispel the mythology that surrounded him either. Damien wore it like a shield but I’d seen a glimpse through the cracks. I just had to hope he wouldn’t run the second he realized his defenses didn’t work on me.
Since he was my mate, I wanted to know more about Damien. I figured he’d throw up a wall if I came out and asked him to tell me about himself, so instead I decided to lead by example.
“I think that you think I’m all flag-waving-apple-pie-rah-rah-America, but that’s probably because I am,” I said with a chuckle. “I can’t help it. I grew up in Texas with a father who was military. I’ve been in my whole life one way or another. I was born on an Army base. If they let us serve for life, I’d die a soldier even if I didn’t die during combat.”
“You’ve never considered doing anything else?” Damien asked.
“What else would I do? I don’t know anything but the Army.”
“Well, there’s private contracting. I could use someone like you as a consultant. You could work from home and have a family. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop going out on dangerous missions?”
I started to think that Damien was worried about me, but it made sense too. Being a stay-at-home father while my Omega worked was not the way I was raised, but the idea had its appeal.
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to admit that to someone, but I didn’t know how Aden, Captain Mayfield, and Kali did it. I couldn’t see myself going out on dangerous missions while I had a baby at home. I admired them for doing it but my mind would always be on my family back home. My first duty would always be to their safety and security. I guessed that’s why I hadn’t ever had a family. I wasn’t ready to tell Damien all of that yet, though.
“I went into the military to save lives,” I said to deflect the conversation away from me revealing deep-seated desires that I wasn’t ready to talk about. “My older brother died in combat when I was still in high school. You’d have thought it would have made me hate the Army but all I wanted to do was join up and do my part. In my heart, I’ve always known that my part is helping people.”
“Raoult Industries is opening a new division to develop combat medicine supplies to help save lives. I really could use someone with your extensive experience to help my company save as many people as possible.”
The last thing I’d expected when I met Damien was a job offer, but it was so tempting. The tech behind combat medicine was sorely behind the times and Raoult Industries had the money and clout to make a real difference. I’d never in a million years expected to hear that Damien wanted to take his company in that direction. I wonder if almost dying had made it a priority.