Archer spun, taking Alex back from me and handing him over to the dumbfounded alpha before grabbing the man by the shoulders and spinning him toward the door.
"You need your little omega to fight your battles for you?" The man called, looking ridiculous as he was very clearly being shoved out the door by that little omega, but at least the aggression seemed to be dying down.
"No, didn't I tell you not to look at him?" Archer said, blocking the man's view of me with the door and his body. "First of all, this shouldn't even be his battle because he's done nothing wrong. Second, do you really think if that man got mad, you'd win? Try again." Archer slammed the door in his face, clearly angry as he spun back around to stomp toward the living room.
"Do you think it's okay for him to go home with his dad?" I asked putting my thumb over my shoulder indicating Alex on the other side of the door. "He seemed pretty angry."
Archer threw a hand in the air waving it dismissively. "Yeah. Regardless of his jealousy issues, he took Alex with no problem and held him like he was precious. I don't know what's going on between him and Willis, but that man loves his son."
I sighed, following him across the room and falling onto the couch, reaching out to snag him and pull him down on my lap. We hadn't done the lap thing since the sleepwalking incident, but I'd missed it, and after tonight when I had a moment of thinking I was going to have to kick some alpha's ass with my precious omega in the room, I needed to hold him.
"It might not be all him," I said, sighing happily when Archer easily melted against me just like he always had. "Willis has hit on me before."
"What?" Archer sprang back to his feet, looking ready to go hunt down the other omega, but I pulled him back down, wrapping my arms around him.
"It was a few weeks ago. Obviously, I turned him down, but clearly, they're having trouble. I don't know if it was because of Willis's flirtation, or he was flirting because they have problems, but I'd say they have a lot to work out."
Archer grunted, crossing his arms, but leaning against me again. "Maybe. But I'd kinda like to kick both of their asses right now."
"I'd pay to watch that."
"No, you wouldn't. You don't like confrontation."
"I hate all that for Alex," I said softly, wondering how long until it started affecting the sweet little boy.
He hummed in agreement, leaning further into my side. "I'm really disappointed in Willis. I thought he was a good guy. Why would he do that to somebody he loves? I know I'm not the most omega-ish omega out there, but I'd like to think that I'd be good to my husband, to my alpha."
I chuckled, sighing against the side of his head. "You'd be the best omega ever. The best husband ever. And I don't know what you mean by omega-ish, but you seem like the perfect omega to me."
He was quiet for a moment, maybe rolling those words around in his head and hearing the longing in my voice. I could hear it, and I didn't even really care that it was showing right then.
The silence stretched, making me wonder if he'd fallen asleep.
Though things had gone back to mostly normal with us, we hadn't addressed anything to do with the two events that had changed things between us to begin with. I didn't want to chance making things uncomfortable again, but I really needed to know what happened that second time, since it was the one that made me worry most about my actions. He'd had to get physical to get away from me, and that scared me.
I wasn't sure why I was doing things in my sleep again. Maybe it was because when I got in those dreams, I didn't want to wake up, or maybe I was going through something hormonally that was wiping me out––though I should seriously be too old for that shit––but if it was going to be happening again, I needed to know that I wasn't going to do something that could possibly ruin everything.
"I have a question, and I'm not really sure how to ask it," I said, looking down into his face as he tipped his chin up at my words.
He smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "You know me… and my family. Whatever it is, just ask it. There aren't many things that can surprise me. Especially after this last reunion."
I nodded, in complete agreement with that. The number of times I'd heard someone talk about licking buttholes at the table during this last one was disturbing.
"When we were at the lodge… Did I… When I woke up…" Damn. I knew this was gonna be hard, but I didn't even know how to start.
Archer groaned, squeezing his eyes closed and turning his face into my shoulder. "What do you remember?"
I blinked, surprised by his actions. "Huh?"
"You're trying to ask about what happened before I elbowed you, right?" he mumbled against my shirt.
"Then something did happen?"
Shit! I knew it. I'd done something to change things between us.
He nodded, but I didn't need that confirmation. My heart sank and I swallowed hard. "Did I hurt you? Force you to do anything you didn't want to do?"
His head snapped up, eyes wide in surprise. "What? No! Oh God, have you been worrying about that?"
I cringed, biting my lip and nodding. "A little. I don't really know what happened. I just… I was having a pretty vivid dream…" I blushed hard, not really wanting to reveal what exactly I'd been dreaming about. "And then you elbowed me. At first, I didn't think much about it. It wouldn't be the first time you've accidentally elbowed me in our sleep, but my fingers… I'm pretty sure I had your…"
He groaned again, a small laugh escaping as he dropped his head back to my shoulder to hide his face. "Yeah, things got a little interesting before you woke up."
My heart spiked with fear, my body going hot and then cold, and sweat breaking out across my brow and down the center of my back. "Are you sure I didn't hurt you?"
Chapter Five
What I wouldn't give to not have this conversation right now, but the idea that Avery might be feeling what I'd been feeling when I'd woken up after our night together and seen just how much medicine he'd taken, making it pretty fucking obvious that he'd been all but anesthetized and was sleepwalking through the whole thing, made me hurt. I couldn't do that to him—especially knowing what I did now. With what I'd learned a few days before, I was going to have to tell him everything anyway, might as well be now.
"You didn't hurt me, Avery," I whispered, still burying my face in his chest. "And at no point was I forced to do anything."
He reached up, caressing the back of my head and nuzzling his face down into my hair. "I'm so sorry, Arch."
The laugh that bubbled out of me was almost painful. "Please don't apologize to me. I was awake the whole time. I should've worked harder to wake you up. If anyone should feel like they took advantage, it should be me… again."
He chuckled, shaking his head. "We've been over this, Arch, you have exclusive permission to take advantage of me."
I groaned. Why do you have to say it like that? Why do you have to make it sound so damn sexy?
"You were sleeping. Just like last time, you had no idea what was going on."