be with Dante. Our last conversation made it sound like it was permanent and he wasn’t coming back. A month later, he turned up at my door with his bags packed and asked to crash with me. All I could get out of him were four words. ‘There was no baby.’ Bits and pieces slipped out over the years, but he hasn’t really talked about it since.”
Harper put his head in his hands and sat there in silence, taking it all in.
“And when I told him I was pregnant?”
“It just sliced that wound back open, like it had happened yesterday.”
“How long ago was it?”
“It was right around the time Darcy and I started getting serious. Almost five years ago.”
“And he hasn’t seen Dante since?”
“Hasn’t mentioned his name, hasn’t returned to his home town, and has kept his family at arm’s length, all except his aunt.”
Well, it certainly didn’t sound like William and Dante were engaged. So what the hell was Samuel talking about?
“What about William’s omega father?”
He looked up, watching Beckett’s face carefully as he asked the question.
“What about him?”
“I—” Time to come clean. “He might have come to see me. I’ve been trying to figure out why.”
Beckett looked shocked to hear it. “Oh, hell. Does William know?”
Harper shook his head. “I didn’t want to tell him until I understood what game was being played.”
“Well, I can’t tell you much. I know that Dante and Samuel were very close. And that William stopped talking to Samuel when he left Dante. Make of that what you will.”
Harper could read between the lines well enough.
“Anything else you think I should know?”
Beckett deliberated for a long moment. “William wasn’t always as closed off as he is now. Before Dante, before the baby, he was more open, more of a romantic. Since you and he… got involved, I’ve started to see glimpses of that William here and there. You’ve been good for him.”
Beckett didn’t know the half of it. Especially the part where he and William were fake boyfriends.
“He needed a muse,” Beckett continued. “But he needed whatever you’ve become to him far more.”
Huh. So much for keeping that secret.
“He told you?”
“And I’ve kept it to myself, Scout’s honor.”
“Not even Zac?”
“He hasn’t needed to know yet, but I’m sure he’d find it easier to be a better friend if he knew the truth. And he’d understand why you kept it from him.”
“I know he would, he’s a good egg.”
Beckett frowned. “I thought he was a duck.”
“That, too.” Harper got up. “I should go.”
“You won’t wait to see Zac and the kids?”
“Can’t. I’m working a half shift today so Adam can celebrate his anniversary with his girlfriend.”
“Do you need a ride anywhere?”
“Nah, I could do with the fresh air. I do have one favor to ask, though.”
“Name it.”
“Don’t tell William his father came to see me?”
Beckett looked worried at his request.
“You do plan on telling him, right?”
“Absolutely. But it’s… a little more complicated than I thought. I just need some time to work out how I’m going to handle it.”
The alpha finally nodded. “I’ll let you do it your way. But if you need anything, anything at all, Zac and I are here for you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that, I really do.”
Half shifts always passed quickly, but the last hour of Harper’s ground to a crawl when he spotted a familiar face sitting down at the table by the window. What was Samuel doing at the cafe?
He let Tessa handle serving him and focused on cleaning as the last of their customers finished their drinks.
“Harper, the gentleman at the window is asking for you.”
Grimacing, Harper set down his cloth and went to see what William’s father wanted now.
“Harper, dear, how are you?”
“Working, Mr. Riley. Is there something I can help you with?”
Samuel pressed his hands together. “I know, and I’m so sorry to interrupt. I should have taken your number the other day. It’s just… I think we need to clear the air—you, me, and William. He’s expecting us this evening.”
“You want me to come with you to talk to William?”
“If it’s not too much of an inconvenience. You never picked up your script from Dr. Arnold, so it seems like we need to have this out before anyone else gets hurt.”
Harper’s bullshit radar had been on high alert after their first meeting, and it was now blaring at him loudly. Still, he felt the quickest way to figure out the angle Samuel was working was to play along.
“I’ll be finished in ten.”
“That’s great, dear. I’ll