Finding His Omega (Sweet Beginnings Bakery Book 3) Read online

  He thanked the chef and made his way back out into the hall. Sipping on the water gave him something to do with his hands and that helped calm his nerves, well, somewhat at least. Maybe he really should go back to the dressing room and wait it out up there.

  Connor just couldn’t stop imaging everything that could possibly go wrong.

  He could trip walking down the aisle, maybe the flowers would make him sneeze, or maybe he would forget his vows.

  It probably wouldn’t happen, but the thought still made his stomach churn.

  Connor wasn’t watching where he was going and he looked up, startled, when a familiar hand reached out to grab him before he walked into a wall.

  “Oh, hey! Theo!”

  Connor’s face split into a wide grin. He knew that it was technically a bad sign to see the groom on his wedding day, but he didn’t really care. They had woken up in the same bed together that morning anyway, what was a few minutes of talking while wearing their suits before the ceremony?

  “Hey Connor.” Theo wasn’t exactly the most exuberant person but he seemed unusually somber today. He shouldn’t be.

  Connor frowned.

  Theo hadn’t gotten into the whole wedding preparation thing as much as Connor had, but he had been the one to propose after all.

  “We need to talk.”

  Connor’s stomach dropped. Had a family member been unable to make it? Was there an emergency somewhere? Those words never meant anything good.

  Connor let himself be steered into a nearby room that was luckily empty.

  As soon as the door closed behind them, Theo began to speak. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do this to you, but I can’t.”

  “You… Can’t? Can’t what?” Connor was confused. What couldn’t Theo do? They had nothing planned for today except for the wedding and the reception, Theo could only mean…

  “I can’t keep lying to you.” Theo’s voice was soft, like he was talking to a spooked animal. “I’m so sorry Connor but…” He took a deep breath. “Parker and I have been together for the past few months.”

  It felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath Connor. He couldn’t even think of what he was going to say. Things had been strained the past few months, but that had only been because of wedding planning. Connor couldn’t be hearing Theo correctly, there was no chance that he had just said what Connor thought that he had heard.

  “I still love you, but I love him too. I’ve always loved him even though I thought that he’d never love me back. Now that I have him, I can’t…” Theo’s voice trailed off and he looked up at Connor, his eyes wide, as if he was desperate to make Connor understand. “We’re good together Con, Parker and I fit in a way that you and I never could and I can’t let this chance pass me up.” He held something out to Connor and Connor reflexively held his hand out before something cool was dropped into his palm.

  Connor just stared at the thin band of metal and the coolness almost burned against his warm flesh. He was completely shell shocked.

  “You’re breaking up with me?” He mumbled. He could barely get the words out.

  “That’s what I just said.” Theo sounded frustrated. “God, I swear you never understand anything.”

  Connor looked up at him with tears welling in his eyes. Theo could be a bit short tempered sometimes, but he had never said anything so cruel.

  “Parker and I finally got our shit together six months ago. I’ve been cheating on you Connor. We’re done.”

  That seemed to force Connor out of his state of shock and into a full blown rage. “How dare you.” He drew himself up to his full hight. It was humiliating that he still had to look up to meet Theo’s eyes but he wasn’t going to back down.

  Connor had never been so angry in his entire life.

  They had gotten engaged six months ago. Theo had cheated on him and asked Connor to marry him the same month, maybe even the same day.

  Parker had known just how much They meant to Connor and decided to sleep with Theo anyways.

  Theo hadn’t just cheated on Connor, he had cheated on Connor with Connor’s best friend. Connor could barely comprehend the level of betrayal from both of them.

  “Hey, if you weren’t so possessive and had agreed to an open relationship like I had asked…” Theo sounded defensive.

  Connor remembered the conversation in question. Theo had kept bringing up the possibility of adding a third to their relationship or maybe having one-off sex with other people. They had both been virgins when they got together and had never experienced sex with anyone else, so it made sense for them to try it out with other people, or so Theo said.

  Connor had briefly considered the possibility of a threesome, but in the end he couldn’t imagine the thought of being with anyone else and had turned Theo down. That was the one and only time that Theo had brought the subject up, and Connor thought that maybe it had just been a passing fancy. Connor himself had completely forgotten about the conversation until now.

  That just made Connor even angrier.

  “You can’t blame this on me.” Connor felt himself hiccup and his face was turning bright red in humiliation. Theo had the audacity to cheat, and now he was trying to blame it all on Connor?

  No.

  Connor wasn’t going to have it, he wasn’t going to roll over and try to sooth Theo’s ego. He was an omega, but that didn’t make him subservient. “If I wasn’t enough then, you should have just broken up with me then, not on our wedding day!” Connor paused, his chest was heaving and he could barely breath. “What about our kid? I’m having a fucking kid Theo, and you’re the father. Are you just going to leave him or her?”

  “You know I wasn’t ready for kids.” Theo said softly. “You said you took the morning after pill, but I guess…”

  “Are you trying to say that I got pregnant on purpose?” Connor hissed out. “You know that the condom broke and that stuff doesn’t work every single time. Do you think that I’m ready for a kid either?”

  Theo opened his moth to say something else but Connor was done listening to the alpha try to justify his betrayal. He didn’t want to hear any more.

  “Get out!” He yelled, and braced himself with one hand against the wall.

  “Connor, I…”

  “Get. Out.” Connor forced out, each word punctuated by a dry sob. He couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. The anger had kept them at bay, but now he was just tired.

  Theo looked like he was going to try to argue, but apparently thought better of it and left the room without speaking another word to Connor.

  Good.

  All the anger that had been keeping Connor upright suddenly left his body and he felt himself slump against the wall.

  He just couldn’t believe it.

  Theo had been cheating on him with his best friend. Parker had been cheating on him with Connor’s boyfriend. That level of betrayal was just so hard for Connor to wrap his brain around.

  He, Parker, and Theo had basically been a trio since they were kids. Connor and Parker were both omegas, but Parker had never shown any interest in Theo, nor had Theo shown any interest in Parker. When what seemed like the inevitable happened and Connor and Theo had gotten together, Parker hadn’t said anything negative or seemed upset at all. He had been happy for them even if he became a bit of a third wheel from time to time, or at least that’s what it had looked like from Connor’s perspective.

  He didn’t know anything for sure anymore.

  The three of them all conveniently getting jobs in D.C. had seemed amazing at the time. Connor would move to a new city but he would get to go with his boyfriend and his best friend. At the time, Connor couldn’t have imagined anything better and for the past few years it had been great, but now…

  Had Theo ever loved him in the first place or was he just going to marry Connor because that’s what high school sweethearts were supposed to do?

  Connor couldn’t trust anything or anyone, not with his entire world crashing down around him
.

  He was going to be left with the baby and…

  The baby.

  Oh God, the baby.

  What was he going to do? A kid was going to be hard enough to take care of with both him and Theo, but now, on his own…

  Connor wan’t ready to be a father at all, but he already loved his future child more than anything he had ever loved in his life. He was growing a life inside of him, a little piece of both of them. Even just the thought was amazing. He couldn’t understand how Theo could just walk away.

  And oh, what was he going to tell his parents?

  The full blown sobs that Connor had been somehow managing to hold back fought their way to the surface and Connor covered his face with his hands as the tears coming from his eyes became a downpour.

  He didn’t even care that his suit was probably getting dirty as he slowly sat down on the floor of the unused room, it’s not like it mattered anymore.

  Connor should get up and find someone, but it didn’t feel like he was in control of his body. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, all he could do was lean against the wall and try to stop the frantic thoughts that he couldn’t stop running through his head.

  This couldn’t be happening, this couldn’t be happening…

  CHAPTER 3 - GAVIN

  GAVIN WAS STARTING to grow restless as the start time for the ceremony grew nearer and nearer. Supposedly the ceremony itself wouldn’t last too long, the cake cutting would happen pretty soon after, and then he and Jeff could get back to the bakery.

  Sure the view of the lake and the vineyard was nice, but Jeff wasn’t exactly the most talkative company and Gavin had a new recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that he had been wanting to try out. Hopefully they’d be back at Sweet Beginnings before closing and he would have a bit of time to mess around in the kitchen.

  The summer air was warm and even under the shade of the tent it was pretty toasty. Gavin could feel his mouth start to get dry.

  He needed some water which really shouldn’t be that difficult to get considering that he was in the catering section, but all of the drinks around him were in fancy fake crystal glasses and all lined up in perfect order on the refreshments table. Gavin wasn’t about to mess that up.

  Jeff must have had the same thought because he turned to Gavin and opened his mouth. “Hey, I’m pretty thirsty. They should have water for staff up at the kitchens, if you’re going could you grab me a glass please?”

  On a normal day Gavin may have been a bit irritated at almost being ordered around, but he was thirsty himself and Jeff had just told him where to go to actually get the water, so…

  “Sure.” Gavin shrugged and got up. It wasn’t worth arguing. Jeff was pretty much his supervisor anyway.

  Luckily, the tents were close to the small gathering of buildings that made up the structural part of the vineyard.

  The main house was some old victorian mansion that had been transformed to play host to the various events that the vineyard hosted. It really was a gorgeous place, Gavin thought as he made his way towards the kitchen.

  He didn’t actually know where to go, but he could smell food and that probably meant that he was heading in the right direction.

  At the end of the hall, Gavin could see a set of double doors that seemed to be where the smell was coming from.

  Success.

  He sped up his pace, not wanting to take too long, but before he got there a noise drew his attention.

  Gavin stopped and looked around.

  Was that sobbing?

  There shouldn’t be crying on a wedding day, not unless it was happy tears, and yet…

  There are a particularly loud sob and Gavin stiffened. Yes, that was definitely someone crying, and not the happy kind. It sounded like it was coming from the room to his right.

  Should he get someone?

  What if the person was hurt? Gavin was a baker and before that he had worked in PR. He was not at all qualified for this.

  But still, Gavin couldn’t just walk away. At the very least he could find out what was wrong and go get someone from the wedding party or the vineyard staff that could actually help.

  He stood up a little straighter and opened the door. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting to find, but the omega he had talked to earlier slumped up against the wall and trying to muffle his crying with his hands was not at all one of the options.

  Immediately Gavin rushed over and knelt before the omega. He wasn’t sure what to do, but he couldn’t just leave the man here.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Gavin asked softly and gently placed his hand on the omega’s shoulder. He didn’t want to stress out the obviously worked up man any more than he already was.

  The groom jolted, like he just realized that Gavin was there, and without warning Gavin suddenly had a lap full of crying omega.

  The other man had practically launched himself at Gavin and wrapped his arms around Gavin’s neck, burying his face in Gavin’s shoulder.

  Gavin was frozen for a second, but then reached up to gently, and awkwardly, rub at the omega’s back. He was pretty sure that the omega was named Connor, although Gavin wasn’t completely sure.

  This sure was an extreme case of pre-wedding jitters.

  Gavin tried to think about how he could untangle himself and go find someone that actually knew Connor. He had no idea how to deal with this.

  His training for working weddings hadn’t exactly included ‘what to do when you find a member of the wedding party sobbing in a back room.’

  “Shh, it’s going to be fine.” Gavin said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice. He wasn’t really sure, he was almost starting to panic himself. Feelings and crying omegas were not his forte.

  “No, it’s not.” Connor let out a harsh sob. “He was cheating on me!”

  Gavin froze.

  Shit.

  That changed everything.

  Poor guy, he had seemed so excited earlier and to find out that that he was being cheated on the day of the wedding? That was just cruel.

  Gavin felt a hot flash of anger flow through him. He really, really, hoped that he didn’t see Connor’s ex-fiance later. Sweet Beginnings generally prided themselves on good customer service, and, well, yelling at a customer wasn’t exactly good customer service.

  He had to say something although he wasn’t sure what he could come up with that would comfort the omega. Gavin had been dumped by his fiancé, sure, but it was one thing to be dumped in the privacy of his own home, another to be dumped less than an hour before he was set to walk down the aisle.

  “He didn’t deserve you.” Gavin murmured. “Let’s go find your family and get you a drink okay?”

  The omega took a deep breath. “I was, I am, pregnant. He didn’t want it.” Connor whispered, and he sounded broken. “He left me, he left us, and I can’t even get drunk.”

  Gavin felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. What kind of person breaks up with their fiancé on their wedding day? Their pregnant fiancé?

  If he hadn’t been holding the still sobbing omega in his arms, Gavin would have gone out and tried to find the guy, code of conduct for the bakery be damned. He was absolutely furious on the behalf of a complete stranger.

  Gavin didn’t hold strong to traditional values, but he still felt that as an alpha it was his job to do everything he could to protect and provide for his omega. What Connor’s ex-fiancé was as far from ‘protecting and providing for’ as one could possibly get.

  Gavin was saved from trying to console Connor even more by the door slowly creaking open, and he looked up see Jeff poke his head through the doorway.

  Jeff looked taken aback when he saw Gavin kneeling on the floor with Connor in his arms. “Gavin, what’s going on?”

  Connor flew back and stared at Jeff with wide eyes.

  “Shit.” Connor mumbled. “Shit, I…”

  Gavin quickly got to his feet and hand out a hand to Connor to pull him up. Connor wobbled slightly so Gav
in wrapped an arm around the omega to steady him. Connor leaned into Gavin’s touch and Gavin just tightened his arm.

  If he could help Connor in any way, or give him any sort of comfort, he was going to do so.

  “The wedding is going to be called off.” Gavin said softly before Connor had the chance to say anything. The omega shouldn’t have to explain it all again.

  Jeff’s eyebrows raised and Gavin could see him putting the pieces together in his head with the scene before him.

  “Shit.” Jeff mumbled, then he turned to Connor and used his best soothing tone, a tone that Gavin had heard directed at a panicking Mark or a worried Alex but never at himself. “Do you want to stay here and for me to go get someone or do you want to go find your family?”

  Connor mumbled something into Gavin’s shoulder that Gavin couldn’t understand, not with Connor’s voice muffled by the fabric.

  “I couldn’t hear you, I’m sorry.” Jeff said softly, and he really did look upset on Connor’s behalf.

  “The dressing room.” Connor said again, louder this time.

  “Okay.” Jeff said, keeping his voice soft and calm even though Gavin could see the slight frustration in his posture. “Can you tell me where that is?”

  “I can go by myself.” Connor made to pull away from Gavin and almost fell. Gavin gripped Connor’s waist even more firmly and Connor immediately relaxed against him.

  Jeff and Gavin exchanged a look over Connor’s head and silently came to an agreement.

  “It’s okay, I can walk you.” Gavin said in what he hoped was a soothing tone.

  “I don’t want to be needy.” There was a bitter tone in Connor’s voice that made Gavin frown. Someone, somewhere, must have scolded Connor for requesting help, and Gavin had a bad feeling that he knew who the culprit was.

  “It really is no problem.” Jeff said smoothly. “Let’s go ahead and get you up there and into more comfortable clothes, okay?”

  Connor nodded blankly and Gavin took that as the signal to start walking, and gently tugged Connor along with him.

  He could carry Connor if he really had to, but after everything that had already happened today Gavin thought it best that the omega get upstairs under his own power if at all possible.