Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(70)

“Carolyn—” I started, close to a bark.

“Matt, you look at Lola like… God, you look at her like she’s an omega.”

I scoffed and turned my face away, jaw ticking. “I am nearly twice her age, Caro. Do you really think I’m trying to relive my youth or one of those other ridiculous cliches?”

Carolyn leaned forward and dropped her voice. “I think that she needs someone to care for her, and that is an irresistible siren call to you. I like you, Matt, I really do. But you can be kind of impossibly alpha for a man who has some strange platonic role with his own omega.”

I breathed out slowly, Carolyn and I glaring at one another from either side of the booth, neither one of us wanting to attract the high profile stares of the other diners. Maybe a dinner in would’ve been better. Carolyn could’ve really let off some steam shouting at me and I…

No, I didn’t like to lose my temper. That was one alpha habit I made sure not to indulge in.

Buying gifts, pampering…sexual appetite? I thought Carolyn had liked those qualities, but maybe not.

“I’m not judging you. I’m just saying, look in a mirror. You are just waiting for that girl to glance twice at you,” Carolyn said. “Just be careful with your own heart. Lola needs your pack now, but there will be a time, someday in the future, when what’s happened to her is in the past and it’s not about needing you anymore.”

I gaped at Carolyn, stiff in my seat, my brain skittering to a stop. Being transparent was one thing, but being cautioned…

The waitress arrived in her black dress and placid smile. “Have you decided what you’d like to order?”

“Yes, I’ll have the scallops,” Carolyn said, a cool, crystal-perfect smile on her lips. “And I think I’d prefer a dry chardonnay for that dish.”

I swallowed my pride and shook off my stupor. An awkward dinner it was, then.





I had three days to mull over Carolyn’s accusations or advice or whatever I could call her words. And then Lola returned to the house.

I was so busy watching Lola and Caleb, their heads bent together and faint smiles on their lips as they spoke to one another in hushed tones, I didn’t notice Rake calling my name.

The toe of Wes’ boot nudged my ankle, and I snapped my stare away from the girl. Lola had been absent from our house for the past few nights, and I was both relieved and nervous to see her again. She seemed subdued, and unless Rake, Leo, or Caleb were coaxing a smile to her lips, she was wearing an anxious expression most of the night so far. Had that Indy character sent her another message? She would tell us, wouldn’t she?

“I’m sorry, I was…” I cleared my throat as Rake arched an eyebrow at me, lips slanted in an attempt to stifle his laugh at my expense. He knew what I was doing. I recovered awkwardly with, “What were you saying?”

“I said I was surprised Carolyn could spare you so much this week,” Rake said, slicing a thin strip of his steak and dipping it into the bèarnaise sauce I’d made. “You haven’t missed a family dinner.”

Ah. I wondered when they’d notice.

“Carolyn and I split up,” I said, focusing on my own plate so I could ignore the sudden quiet that fell over the table like a blanket, conversations dying off at my announcement.

“What? Matt, when?” Rake asked, hushed, as if it were meant to be a private conversation.

“On Tuesday, when I took her out for dinner.”

My pack looked more distressed by the news than I had probably felt when Carolyn eviscerated our relationship.

“Matthieu, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Caleb said gently.

“Are you all right?” Rake asked, brow furrowed.

“I am,” I said, nodding. When Rake’s eyes narrowed, I added, “Honestly. She said it was time, and she was right. If we’d both been happy with where our relationship was at, it might’ve been a different story, but neither of us really was.”

“She knew you were a part of our pack—” Rake said, hackles rising and hands fisting around his fork and knife.

“She did, and when we started dating, that wasn’t an issue. The pack will always come first for me,” I said, holding Rake’s gaze so he would know that whatever regrets I had with Carolyn, giving her up for my pack was never going to be one of them.

Rake’s lips pursed, and he dipped his head in agreement.

“I’m sorry for any pain it caused you, but I am happy to know you’ll be at more family dinners now,” Leo said, and I raised my glass to him.

“To the pack,” I said.

Around the smaller family table, my packmates raised their own glasses, echoing my sentiment. Only Lola hesitated, pink on her cheeks and her fingers on her own glass, but uncertain on whether or not to join the toast. Rake’s arm wrapped around her shoulder and he leaned in, pressing a kiss to her temple and chinking his glass against hers. She wasn’t a formal member, but how long would that take?

Perversely, and perhaps unwisely, I hoped it didn’t take long. Leo and Rake might not be able to claim her formally, but with the approval of us alphas, no one would question her place with us. And maybe, with enough time…

I swallowed and dragged my eyes back to my plate. The thought of claiming Lola was so far-reaching, and possibly even violating to the young woman, I was ashamed of myself for letting it cross my mind. Caleb made more sense. He was Leo and Rake’s alpha, he would provide her with a bond to both of them. Not to mention, he was one of the gentlest and most patient alphas I’d ever met.