Savannah had a nervous expression on after divulging everything that had happened to her mom.
She expected her to be upset, and rightfully so. Her mom hadn’t given her a lot of restrictions despite their fragile positions, but she couldn’t even keep to the few given to her.
Matilda instead looked thoughtful, "You said he ignored Natasha?" She clarified.
"Well, yes," She said hesitantly, not sure if that was good or bad for her.
"And he didn’t seem upset at all?"
"Not more than usual, he even turned down dinner but I don’t know if Natasha has anything to do with that."
Savannah eagerly supplied answers to her mom’s questions, it didn’t look like she was in trouble so she would answer as many questions as she needed to.
Matilda waved that away, "That has nothing to do with it. You should invite more of your friends over-"
"W-What?" Savannah spluttered, stunned.
"Listen to me," Matilda shut down her protests. "If Davian doesn’t want your friends over, he would have said so immediately."
"Plus, this is a great chance for them to get closer to him." She tagged on, a scheming look in her bright green eyes.
Matilda was quickly picking up on the pattern of Davian choosing to ignore them, which was the best she could ask for.
Because the only other option available was getting kicked out or shot, most likely not in that order.
She didn’t know why he was tolerating their presence but she would take as much as he would give.
She was especially not picky about who the Mafia King ended up with because she knew that it would be difficult to find someone who would catch his attention.
So, she would just throw everything she had at him, and that included Savannah’s friends.
She carefully handpicked her daughter’s friends to establish her position in high society, and she had some influence over them so they would also be perfect for a potential mate for Davian.
"Yes, Mom," Savannah murmured, a furrow in her brow as she absorbed the new rules she was given.
"Now go get ready for dinner, It starting to get late."
Lake was up early the next morning as he usually did, his internal clock working normally again.
He had a feeling that it had something to do with all the walking he had done the day before.
Now, it was a new day and he had to make a decision. Would he go to the nearby park and potentially meet Clint who promised him a picnic?
Or would he find an alternative way to spend his day that didn’t involve the chatty Alpha?
He could also just spend the day indoors and avoid making a decision, because both weren’t great choices.
Returning to the park in the neighborhood meant that the only nuisance he had to deal with was Clint, but trying somewhere else brought the dangerous potential of meeting many Clints.
Lake had a prominent frown on his face as he took his morning coffee, he was giving this far too much thought.
He came to a decision then, preparing a much simpler lunch than the day before.
He would go back to the same park and if Clint did show up, he would tolerate him.
And if the Alpha tried to take things further than just odd friends, he would show him his mating mark and be done with it.
With the laundry done, he went back to his usual outfit of t-shirts and ripped jeans, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he left his apartment.
This time, he didn’t forget to buy earphones, looking the other way when he went past the bakery.
The cashier there seemed hellbent on getting him to buy pastries with chocolate in them whenever he went in there.
He wouldn’t be staying long at the park this time, he would just sit for a bit, munch on his lazy sandwich, and then walk back to his apartment.
It was more about the walk than anything else after all, and it would cut down potential time spent with Clint.
Lake hummed along silently under his breath as he walked, thinking about Caspian as he did.
He hoped the other Omega was doing well, he could call but he preferred Caspian did the calling so he didn’t interrupt anything.
He could send him a quick text though - Lake made a mental note to do that when he got to the park.
One that was quickly forgotten because of what he came to meet.
Frieda was at the park as always but this time, he came to meet Clint already there.
Frieda completely ignored everything around her, focused on her book, and it was something Lake was really envious of.
Because he came to the park to find a buffet laid out, Clint grinning as soon as he noticed his arrival.
"Did I miss the memo about a party?" He had to ask the Alpha, clutching his bag close, ready to hotfoot it out of the park at the moment’s notice.
Clint frowned, "I don’t think so? We’re supposed to have a picnic together, remember?" He asked hopefully.
Lake doubted he could forget even if the Alpha hadn’t informed him the night before.
"I was starting to think you wouldn’t come, I’m really happy you did."
Well, Lake had come really really close to sitting all of this out."Right," He murmured, still unable to get past the large spread of blanket covered by food. "Why is there so much food if it’s just the two of us?"
He doubted Frieda would be interested in free food, and she would be definitely less interested after learning whose food it was.
Clint’s hopeful smile fell off his face, his hand finding his short hair. "It’s a lot of food?" He asked with genuine confusion.
"Not unless you eat like a horse," He tried to say as lightly as possible.
Because Clint had kept to his word and prepared a picnic for them, so he would be nice.