Chapter 26: A Father’s worry
"A bunch of fucking low lives. Is he okay? I assume you offered him a job right away." Maxwell chuckled, a smile touching his lips.
"Of course I did. We’ll have to fudge a couple of things, since he’s basically been chased out of his line of work, but it helps that he knows a couple of people in the community. He apparently went to Harvard with Dr. Smith."
"But he didn’t finish?" His father asked, picking up on what Maxwell wasn’t saying.
"Well I don’t work with the hospital side of things, now do I? So why would I be trying to hire a human Doctor? No, Andrew changed to a different field. He is still a Doctor, just not of medicine."
"So why is he at your house then, Maxwell? Especially if you are neighbours." Maxwell’s smile faded from his face and he turned to stare out the window overlooking the front yard and the neighbourhood. His eyes slid to Andrew’s balcony.
"...His girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend had quite the reputation in the industry. She’s fucking insane, and has been kicked out of several companies because of some serious issues. The only reason she got hired at the same company as Andrew was because her aunt was on the board. But...that led to some serious consequences. She...She kidnapped Andrew for a week and used him in an experiment." Maxwell couldn’t even hear his father breathing on the other side.
"What?" Maxwell’s eyes began to water. Fuck. He couldn’t cry while on the phone with his father. He didn’t want to deal with whatever problem that caused.
"Andrew was kidnapped for a week and experimented on by his fucking crazy ex-girlfriend. He was a beta, Father, and now..." Maxwell inhaled shakily. "He’s lucky to be alive. Dr. Smith was fucking furious. Andrew had an absurd level of rut and alpha hormones in his system. I didn’t even find him. He escaped and found his way to my house. He’s covered in bruises and puncture holes. I’m so fucking angry, I just-" Maxwell cut himself off, running his hand over his face. "I’m really saying that I might not be able to do my work to the same level until Andrew’s adjusted. He needs someone to support him, and he doesn’t have any family left. I can’t trust his fucking friends, so it’s me."
"Maxwell, why are you going so far for one man? I understand that he’s been through a true horror, but you normally wouldn’t be like this." Maxwell bit his lip, thinking back on the months that he’d been living here, and how much he and Andrew had interacted. In the grand scheme of things, they hadn’t known each other for long, but that was okay. All of their interactions, all of their talks, and moments, meant something. They actually meant a lot to Maxwell.
"I...I don’t know. I just know that if our roles were reversed, Andrew would do the same thing for me. He already has. He’s been with me for several of my meetings with alphas who wanted to take advantage of me because I was an omega. He was there when the Fulton’s tried to drug me."
"Oh? He was the beta that was involved there? I had no idea." He hated how deadpan his father sounded. He’d already personally dealt with the Fulton’s, he didn’t need to get a stick up his ass over it. Maxwell could take care of himself.