Nate waved goodbye to William as he strolled into the school along with all the other kids. His best friend, Jenny, fell into step beside him, and the two of them disappeared into the crowd of third graders. Other parents peered out of their cars, watching as their children went into class as the volunteer curb patrol tried to usher them on, wind milling frantically with their arms and blowing into their whistles like angry referees. A text message came through on William's phone. It was Victor, Jenny's omega father.

VICTOR: You're two cars behind me. I saw Nate and Jenny run off together. Got time to grab breakfast?

WILLIAM: I see you. I've got a couple hours before I need to go to the office, I'm down.

VICTOR: Send Noods?

WILLIAM: Seriously? The Japanese noodle place?

VICTOR: Um, it's called ramen, and I could eat that any time of the day. Plus, they just started a special early-bird menu. I want to check it out, it’s super cheap.

WILLIAM: lol. Fine.

He saw Victor's white SUV pull out from the line of cars ahead of him, and his hand waved out the window. William laughed and pulled out to follow him. He and Victor had met when Nate had made friends with Jenny in the first grade. The two omega dads quickly hit it off, and now they were as good of friends as their kids were. Victor was a stay at home omega, with an alpha mate who worked in the entertainment industry as a sound technician. Because he was at home all the time, Victor was always available and more than happy to keep William company on the phone whenever he had something he needed to rant about. And the best part was that Victor didn't mind taking care of Nate on the days when William had to work late, and Nate never complained about a chance to have an extra playdate with Jenny.

The strange thing about William's friendship with Victor was that he was the kind of person who he normally wouldn't have gotten along with back in his younger days. In high school, Victor was the guy cheering on the alphas at all the football games and holding fundraisers for the school prom, while William was under the bleachers, smoking cigarettes and making out with the alphas who knew where to buy drugs and how to get into the twenty-one-and-up concerts. A lot had changed since then. He'd had Nate. The rebel had calmed down and done everything he could to get his shit together for the sake of his son.

The two of them got a corner table at Send Noods, and Victor ordered two bottles of Sapporo beer.

"I have work," William protested, laughing. "It's ten in the morning..."

"I have work, too," Victor said, winking. "I've got a house to clean and shit-ton of shopping to do. It's okay, you'll be fine. Nothing like a day cap."

"A day cap?"

"Y'know. Opposite of a night cap."

"Ah-ha."

The waitress, a college aged girl wearing a knit beanie and an army jacket, came over to their table with two bottles and two empty glasses. They placed their orders for two bowls of ramen, and Victor poured the beer into the glasses.

"Cheers," he said.

"Good morning," William replied, clinking his glass against Victor's. They both drank. "Ahhh. What was I talking about? It's never too early for a beer."

"Damn right," said Victor, guzzling down half of his beer. He was the kind of guy who wasn't quite an alcoholic, but still had a close enough relationship with alcohol it did seem like he had a dependency on it. "I just always enjoy a good beer," he'd explained to William. "And a shitty one, too."

"I had that stupid dream again," William said, playing with the empty beer bottle.

"Really? The one about your ex?" Victor asked.

"He's not even my ex. He's like, my ex, ex, ex. Three exes ago. What does that make him? Three ex?"

"I think it just makes him your ex," Victor said. "But I don't think it's too big of a surprise that you'd still be having these dreams about him. He played a big part in your life, for better or for worse."

"I mean, I never dream about the other shitty ones."

"Yeah, but you didn't have a kid with those guys, William," Victor reminded him. "It's different."

There was Kenneth, who he'd met in an alpha bar that he'd worked at for a few months when living in the family condo. He’d been the typical type of man that William went after. Rode a motorcycle, smelled like leather and cigarettes and cheap whiskey. He was perfectly charming, and William was looking for something to fill the void he felt after leaving Eddie. Those perfect charms eventually gave way to a mean streak. Then he found out he wasn't the only omega sharing Kenneth's bed.

Three years ago, there was Millar. After some long heart-to-heart talks with Parker, William had begun to realize his tendencies when it came to men and had told himself he wouldn't fall for another one of those types of guys. Millar was a manager at Electronics World, where William had worked as a customer service associate. He certainly didn't seem to be anything like William's usual type. In fact, he normally wouldn't have found him remotely attractive. He was tall, rail thin and a bit geeky, with a soft-spoken demeanor. But there was something about that drew William to him. Maybe it was because he was his manager, and it was a little exciting to be in that sort of position with someone who had power over him. Millar didn't have a mean side, but he didn't have a nice side either. After they'd gotten together and had sex, any passion, interest, or affection that Millar had had before was gone. All he seemed to care about was fucking and not much else. William left him and soon after was fired from the job. Thankfully Parker and Kell had formed their business not long after that and hired him on.

William decided he had a problem. He attracted and was attracted to broken men. That was when he decided it wasn't worth it.

"Anyway," Victor went on, "You don't need to worry about that guy. You've got your new life. New life, new you. You've got full custody of Nate, right? Eddie hasn't even tried to contact you."

"No," William agreed.

"What a scumbag."

"I just worry about Nate. He knows things are better off without his dad, but I don't know if that's just my influence. I'm afraid he'll want to reconnect with Eddie later on."

"That'll be his decision, I think," said Victor. "You can prepare him and warn him, but in the end if he wants to, then it's his choice."

"Yeah."

"Or... You could find a badass guy to be Nate's new alpha dad, and then you won't have to worry about that."

William laughed. "Uh-uh. I don't think I could trust any guy I'm into, not with my track record."

Victor snorted. "Don't be silly. Don't doom yourself to failure. You can't just give up. And if you're aware of it, then you know what to avoid."

"That's the thing, though, I don't think I am aware of it. It's like... I'm beginning to feel like we're all wired to fall for a certain type of person. It's something that's in us from a young age, and we don't really have a choice in the matter. Maybe the only way out of it is to go for someone who you feel zero attraction for."

"I don't think that's true," said Victor. "But I also don't have enough experience with alphas to refute it." He and his mate Edgar had been high school sweethearts. "I think you should give dating another try."

They were interrupted by the arrival of their food, which was brought over to them by a tall, dark-haired alpha with huge, broad shoulders draped with an apron that looked comically small for his imposing stature. He had a blue bandana wrapped around his head that had "Send Noods" printed on it. "Thanks for waiting, guys" he said.

"Hi, Dakota," Victor said, smiling at him.

The man—Dakota—nodded at Victor. "Miso ramen for you, Victor. I know how much you like those bamboo shoots, so I put a bit extra in there for you."

"That's so nice of you, Dakota! See, William. This is why I love this place. Not only is it owned by a man who studied how to make ramen in Japan, he's generous as hell!"

"You eat here almost every week, Victor," Dakota said. "Least I can do for my best customer."

"Best customer," Victor said, proudly.

"And a salt broth ramen for you," said Dakota, placing the bowl of piping hot noodles in front of William.

"This is my best friend William," Victor said. "Our kids are in the same class together. Oh, but he's a single dad," he added quickly.

"Alright, that's enough," William said, kicking Victor under the table.

Dakota smiled politely. "Let me know if you need anything else," he said, and slipped away.

Victor split his pair of chopsticks and used the soup ladle to test a bit of the broth. "Oh my god," he moaned. "Heavenly. I swear, I haven't had ramen this good since Edgar and I went to Tokyo for our honeymoon. Dakota! This is heaven!"

"Best customer," he called from behind the counter.

William tried a bit of his soup. It was bursting with flavor, but at the same time tasted light and healthy. Perfect. And the guy who made it wasn't too bad, either.

"Anyway," Victor said, slurping down a portion of noodles. "You really should give dating another try."

"I don't know," William said. It was true, there'd been those feelings of deep loneliness, especially in the mornings when waking up in an empty bed. But the potential pitfalls of a new man were too great. He had a good thing going. He didn't want to risk that. "I don't think it's a good idea. I just always seem to get involved with the wrong men."