“You’re going to shoot me? Son, I have too many friends who’d love to show you a good time,” Trent said, grinning.

My heart beat painfully against my chest, and my blood turned cold inside of me. I had never been more shocked by Lawrence’s behavior, and I quickly put the blame on myself for his actions.

A voice went off in my head: If he shoots him, they’ll take him away from you forever. They’ll put him in Juvenile detention, just like our father was at his age.

“Lawrence. Dude. Put the gun down,” I whispered. “It’s not worth it. Remember dad’s stories?”

Lawrence was shaking, and I noticed a stream of liquid running down the side of his pants. “Get away from Jax!” he screamed, starting to cry.

“Is this kid serious?” Trent asked his goons. They were dirty losers, and it made me irate to see them think they were better than my little brother.

An overextended, lanky twenty-something-year-old, pointed at Lawrence’s wet pants. “Wow. He peed his pants, Trent.”

Trent burst out laughing like a hysterical hyena. “Holy shit! Well, would you look at that? The kid is incompetent,” he said.

“Incontinent,” his friend corrected him. Trent shot him a glance.

I wanted to smash my bottle against Trent’s awkward face, but with Lawrence holding a gun, I was worried I might get in the way. His finger was shaking the trigger and the more they poked fun of him, the surer he was becoming of his decision to shoot.

“I’m going to do it, Schwartzy,” Lawrence said, with tears falling down his plump, red cheeks.

“Don’t, Lawrence! Violence is never the answer,” I whispered. But I knew it wouldn’t thwart his passion.

“They stole our engine! They aren’t our friends. It’s like you told me, it’s us against the world,” Lawrence cried.

Trent stepped off Jax, but not without treading his heel on his chest one last time. He backed off. Jax’s head was bleeding pretty badly on the one side. The blood draped down the front of his face. He groaned, panting like a wounded animal. I knew that we had to go now, that things were not safe here any longer.

Jax rolled down the porch steps, like a sack of potatoes. It was a sorry sight. When he got up, he walked toward Lawrence. Trent yelled out, “Stupid fucking kid!”

Jax glanced back, stumbled, and then turned back around. “Let’s go,” he grumbled.

But Lawrence hadn’t put the gun down, and I was getting worried his vision was acting up again. “Come on, buddy,” I whispered. “We have to go now.”

I came up behind him and placed my hands on his shoulders. “What’s going on, bub? Is it your vision?” I asked him.

He nodded. “Schwartzy, I can’t explain it. I feel weak,” he whispered.

“You’re okay. We’re going to leave now,” I said. Jax started the truck engine. Lawrence lowered the gun and collapsed into me. I scooped him up into my arms and ran toward the truck. We sped away into the night.

“Well,” Jax said. “At least we know where your engine is.”

I didn’t know what to think or believe. There I was, stuck in bumfuck Idaho and I had already been involved in a brawl. “You could have helped me out back there,” Jax mumbled. Okay, maybe I wasn’t exactly in the fight, but I was a witness.

“Yeah, well, shit happens. Omegas don’t fight,” I lied.

“Enlighten me. What do omegas do? Do they just have babies and clean the house for the alphas? You were a witness. You could have come in there and at least broken up the fight,” Jax said, holding the side of his head. “Is it bad? Do I need stitches?” he asked.

I carefully took his head into my hands, draping my palm across his cheek. I leaned over my seat to get a better look at him. My chest grazed him. I pulled away.

The wound didn’t look pretty. “You might need some stitches,” I said.

“Dammit,” he sighed. “Lucky for me, I don’t have health insurance. You’ll have to sew me up back at the house.”

“What? Me?” A jolt of fear went through me. “No, dude. I’ll faint.”

“Seriously?” He looked at me, disappointed. “Then I’ll stitch it myself. Thanks, guy. You’ve really helped me out this trip.”

Jax let out a tired sigh, and I felt pity for him. I had judged him the wrong way. I didn’t necessarily like the guy, but there was no denying that he had tried to help us out. We didn’t get the engine from Trent, but we at least knew where it was and who to talk to.

“Look, I’m sorry. I owe you big. I know that,” I whispered. I reached into my bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. “Here. Drink some of this. In fact, take the whole bottle.”

He looked at me and then back at the road. “In a little bit,” he said, gesturing at the darkly lit highway. “God, I’m so late. James is going to be so scared.”

“Who’s this James guy? Boyfriend?” I asked him.

“It’s a long story,” he grumbled. “I’m watching a friend’s kid.”

I knew he was talking about Trent’s son because he mentioned the name back at his house. I also knew that it was something I didn’t want to get myself involved in, so I kept my mouth shut.

I glanced at the vanity mirror in the truck. Lawrence leaned his forehead against the frosted window. “You okay, bub?” I asked, reaching back and squeezing his kneecap.

I could pretend that everything in our life was “okay,” but the truth was that I was scared shitless. I was frightened of not having enough money to support us. I was worried we might come back to nothing. We already lost our house to our uncle Dean in the family court battle.

Most of all, I was terrified of Lawrence and his health.

Lawrence had been displaying some issues lately. It’s not that we didn’t want to go into the hospital. We just didn’t have the money to take him in for any lab tests. I tried to keep an eye on him, but the symptoms were starting to grow in frequency.

“I’m fine,” Lawrence muttered. “Please, just drop it.”

“I’m just trying to be a good brother. I need to protect you,” I said.

Jax glanced back at him. “You guys can crash with me until the end of the week. After that, I might not be able to house you anymore. I’ll see what I can do, but things aren’t exactly peachy in my house right now either,” he said. “I’ll get your engine back. One way or another, we’ll get things worked out.”

“Whatever you can do, we’re grateful,” I muttered. Jax was a giant, and he looked kind of menacing, but I got the feeling that he was really trying to start over. I had to respect that.

We pulled into his driveway. I was surprised at how nice his neighborhood was. “Welcome to the cul-de-sac,” he said, gesturing with his arms.

I jumped out of the truck and lent a hand to Lawrence, who sucked in his lower lip with excitement. “Wow,” he whispered. “This is your house?”

“Yeah, for the time being anyway,” he said. I wondered what that meant, but I didn’t press the subject.

He walked to the front door and put a finger to his lips. “James is probably asleep, so if you could be quiet when you walk in, that would be great. I’ll set up the couch bed and get you guys some blankets,” Jax said, lightly holding around his head wound. The blood was still coming down.

“I just want to say that we’re grateful. And maybe I underestimated you,” I said, feeling guilty.

He was still covered in blood, and when he smiled, he didn’t give off the impression he wanted to. He took my hand and squeezed it briefly. I didn’t know whether or not to squeeze back. When he let go, I found myself staring at his big hands.

“You were pretty relentless near that corner store, but I get it. You’ve had a rough trip. Maybe now you’ll look at our town more fondly,” Jax said. “Oh wait, let me get Lawrence some pajamas. They might be a little big, but I’ll get his clothes washed and dried in the morning.”

He unlocked the door and tiptoed into the dark hallway. It was a two-story home, charming and quaint. It had that wooden, old-timey vibe. Back in Nevada, I grew up in one of those “model homes,” so it was really refreshing to see the inside of his place.

Jax walked over to the couch and set up the mattress for us. He grabbed a stack of blankets and big, fluffy pillows. “There. I think you’re all set up,” he whispered.

“You’re still bleeding,” I whispered, wincing as he walked through the center, living room light. “You need to close that wound.”

He looked in the hallway mirror and sighed, touching the edges of where that idiot smashed the bottle. “Shit,” he groaned. He slipped out of his sleeveless shirt, revealing his rippled abs and intoxicating body. His tattoos stared back at me, but I quickly looked away as not to draw attention to my attraction.

I wasn’t into guys like him. I couldn’t be with a guy like him. But he was truly handsome, and I knew he had a big cock because his body was massively built. “It’s okay.” He laughed at my expense. “You can keep staring if you want.”

I blushed, dark red and looked at Lawrence. He had his headphones on. He was scrolling through his Magick cards, thank God.

“I wasn’t looking. I was thinking,” I said.

“Whatever you want to call it,” he said, wetting a dark towel in the nearby sink. He slowly slid the cotton over the dried blood and cleaned himself. When he got to his wound, he sighed. “The damn thing is going to scar up, isn’t it?”

“It’s pretty bad,” I whispered, fumbling at my pants.

“Fuck it. You got any of that whiskey?” Jax asked. “I feel like we should drink a few nightcaps together before I hit the hay.”

I grinned and revealed the bottle inside of my bag. He winked. “My second favorite vice,” he said, taking the bottle into his hands and holding it near the light.

“What’s your first favorite vice?” I asked him.

“Getting omegas pregnant,” he said with a sly smile on his face.

My cheeks turned hot to the touch. My balls tightened, and I felt my cock steadily rise against the inside of my pants. I didn’t respond to him because I didn’t know what to say. There was something about him now. He went out of his way for me. No one had done that before. I kind of wanted to… barf.

“Relax, omega. I’m joking around,” Jax said, laughing. “I’m not like that. I rarely get out these days.”

“Mmhm,” I nodded sarcastically. “I’m sure you keep your dick in your pants like a monk does.”

Jax eased the cork out of the bottle, winking. Grabbing two shot glasses, he poured. “Enough dirty talk. I want to make a toast,” he said.

“To me?” I joked, but slightly hoped he’d continue with the dirty talk. It had been a minute since I slept with anybody and I had to admit, it really fucking sucked not to feel close to anyone anymore.

“To new acquaintances,” he said.

I clinked my shot glass against his. I felt the familiar whiskey burn roll down my throat. Lately, the bottle had become a bit of a friend to me. On lonely nights, I would sit in the back of the truck and stare off into the stars. It made things feel okay, but I knew it was a temporary solution to a permanent problem.

Someday, I promised to find a place to call home. Then, things could be better again.

“We’re just acquaintances? I thought we were friends,” I said. Honestly, him sitting in front of me, completely shirtless, wasn’t fair to me. Where else was I supposed to look? His eyes? Yeah, that was a little hard when his abs looked good enough to lick.

“Well,” he said, pouring two more shots, “I guess I could use a friend.”

His eyes stared into mine. For a brief moment in time, we both knew what we desired, even if it didn’t make any immediate sense. We were total strangers, yet there was a strange attraction gluing us together.

I looked back down at the shot glass. I knocked it back. I felt a wave of confidence rush through me. I looked at him, intoxicated with strange lust. And just when I was about to stand up and walk toward him, I heard the light shuffling of footsteps come from the staircase.

“Jason, I’m scared. Will you read Harry Potter to me?” The little boy was about seven years old, dirty blonde, and entirely too cute. He wiped his eyes and lightly walked down the stairs. All I could think was: Who was Jason?

“There’s nothing to be scared about, guy,” Jax said. He scooped James up into his arms and held him the way a real father holds their children. James reminded me of Lawrence when he was a kid. I suddenly felt wistful about the past, back when dad was still around to holler at us for supper.

“But I heard things,” James said. “Bad things. There’s a leprechaun outside. I know it! Trent told me so.”

“Trent told you that?” Jax asked, visibly annoyed. There would be no late night, tom-foolery, which was probably in my best interest overall.

He di-id,” James mumbled, sleepy. His pajamas were bunched up at the ankles, a few sizes too big for him. They were blue and had little Thomas the Tank Engines on them.

I wanted a kid of my own, but I knew that was never going to happen. My personality was too extreme for most people, but the main tick against me was that I was dirt poor and riddled with issues. What alpha wanted to deal with that? Not Jax. Not anyone. That’s why I lashed out so much, I guess. It was painful trying to circumvent your life when you had so many things wrong with you.

“He didn’t mean it, sweetie,” Jax whispered. “Okay, I’m going to tuck you into bed and read one chapter of Harry Potter.”

“Just one?” James whined.

“Yeah, guy. I have to be up early tomorrow. I’ve got work. Remember?” Jax asked.

James nodded wildly. “The new new,” he said.

“That’s right. That new new. The job of the century,” Jax said. Then, turning to my lonely butt, sitting at the coffee stained table, he said, “You good? Do you need anything else?”

“I’m good,” I said. Lawrence was still playing with his cards on the bed. “I think we got it taken care of.”

That night, I had a feeling things were going to change. I just didn’t know how fast that change could come. All I wanted was a second chance, a reason to keep fighting. When I sat down next to Lawrence, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.