Chapter 160: You did it before

​Watching Reid from across the table, I could see the exact moment his defenses crumbled. Reid had a massive, fiercely guarded soft spot for his father.

Brad looked so incredibly fragile, so small, and so gentle in his pastel pink clothing that it was almost impossible to believe he had given birth to a towering, aggressive Alpha like Reid. But he had.

And because Reid had been such a stubborn, difficult child during the pregnancy, his father’s womb had been permanently damaged, preventing them from ever having other children.

​Reid carried the silent, heavy weight of that responsibility every single day. He would snap at his mother without a second thought, but when it came to his father, he couldn’t bear to be the reason those gentle eyes turned sad. He was already weak as he was. No need makinf him looking weaker by being sad.

​What made it even more complicated was the quiet dynamic between his parents. His mother never weaponized his father’s fragility; she never forced her Omega husband to convince Reid of the things he had already refused her. The request was entirely his father’s, born out of a simple, quiet longing to have his only child under his roof for just one night.

​Reid’s jaw worked, his grey eyes darting to me in a brief, panicked flash. If we stayed here, under the same roof as his sharp Alpha mother, the risk of a slip-up multiplied by ten.

​But looking at his father’s hopeful, delicate expression, I knew we didn’t have a choice. Refusing now would only make us look defensive, like we were running away from something.

​I offered Reid a microscopic, reassuring nod from across the table.

​Reid let out a long, defeated sigh, slouching back into his chair as the rigid tension drained from his shoulders. "Fine," he muttered, crossing his arms and looking away to hide his face. "Fine. We’ll stay for the night."

​His father’s face instantly lit up with a brilliant, youthful smile that made the heavy dining room feel a fraction lighter. "Wonderful. I’ll have the butler show Captain Evans to the guest room right away."

"No, he’ll stay with me," Reid suddenly said.

​The words didn’t just cut through the quiet satisfaction in the room; they dropped like a lead weight onto the mahogany table.

​Everyone paused. The butler who had been stepping toward my chair froze mid-stride, his face morphing into a blank, professional mask beside me, my own breath caught in my throat.

I stared across the table at Reid, my chest tightening as a sudden jolt of panic shot straight to my fingertips.

​What the hell was he doing? Was he completely losing his mind? After all our planning, after everything we had rehearsed back at his place, was he really going to blow our cover right in front of the one Alpha who could dismantle us with a single phone call?

​I kicked his shin under the table, hard, trying to catch his eye to tell him to shut his damn mouth, but Reid didn’t even flinch. His jaw was set like granite, his slate-grey eyes narrowed and locked squarely onto his mother.

​"Reid," his father murmured, the gentle smile faltering on his lips as his soft, pastel-clad shoulders lowered in confusion. "Sweetheart, the guest room is incredibly spacious, and your room only has—"

​"I have a feeling Mom’s going to try something," Reid interrupted, his voice dropping into a rough growl that completely bypassed his father and aimed straight for the head of the table.

​His mother didn’t move. She slowly set her tea cup down into its saucer, a tiny, chilling clink that felt like the cocking of a pistol. She met his gaze with a cold, terrifying serenity.

​"She’ll call my captain when I don’t have eyes on him and try to feed him promises to make me leave the team," Reid continued, his chest expanding as he leaned his heavy frame over the edge of the table, his frozen pine scent flaring with a sharp, defensive edge that filled the room.

His eyes flashed with a bitter, decade-old resentment. "Just as she did back then. I know exactly how you operate, Mom."

​The underlying weight of his words hung heavily in the air.

What was he talking about? I wondered as I stared at him before looking towards his mother. It seemed like there was a scar he carried, a deep-seated paranoia that circled around his mother. Had she... done something like that before? Why would she even...?

​Reid gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white as he stared down the matriarch of the McCoy Empire. "So, I’m not having him out of my damn sight this time. End of discussion."

​I sat perfectly still, my hands resting flat on my lap beneath the table to hide the fact that they were starting to tremble.

My mind was racing, trying to analyze the damage. On one hand, Reid’s outburst was reckless. But on the other... he had just framed his obsession with keeping me close not as a romantic interest, but as an intense, paranoid defiance against his mother’s likely interference.

To a sharp, ruthless Alpha like his mother, a son acting out of bitter, rebellious spite was far more believable than a rookie pining after his Beta captain.

​"Reid, mind your tongue," his mother said, her voice chillingly level, entirely unaffected by his aggression. She leaned back, her sharp eyes tracking the rigid line of his jaw before sliding slowly over to me. "You speak as if I have nothing better to do than bribe a hockey captain in the middle of the night."

​"You did it before," Reid hissed. "Now’s not any different since you hate the sports so damn much."

​"Before, you were an undisciplined child who needed to grow with much more guidance," she replied smoothly, her gaze remaining fixed on my face, searching for a micro-expression of guilt or fear. "But if Captain Evans truly has the professional integrity he claims to possess, he wouldn’t be swayed even if robbers pointed a gun at him and asked him to take you off the team. Isn’t that right, Captain?"

​I felt a sense of dread at those words but I forced my facial muscles to remain entirely fluid, drawing a slow, even breath through my nose.

I looked past Reid’s furious silhouette and locked eyes with the matriarch, letting the absolute, unreadable authority of Captain Evans settle over my features.

​"Of course, Mrs. McCoy," I said, my voice smooth, steady, and devoid of any emotional cracks. "My commitment is to the Serpents and the championship. No amount of pressure can change my roster. However..." I paused, turning my head slightly toward Reid, giving him a cool, authoritative look that a captain would give an unruly player. "...if Reid’s paranoia is going to keep him from resting properly before our morning practice tomorrow, I have no objections to sharing the space. My priority is ensuring my roster is focused, not fighting his family."