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I heaved a long, exasperated breath, rolling my eyes. “First off, why do you assume he’s ‘poor dear’? He’s the feistiest man I’ve ever met. Secondly, I did not say it like that.”

Jason drained his bottle and set it on the table, squinting as he studied me. Despite his speech being directed towards Jonah, he maintained eye contact with me as he asked, “Did you know that same day he ran outta here like a bat out of hell? And when he came back, he smelled like…”

“Jasmine?” Jonah offered, a chuckle on the outskirts of his voice.

Jason pointed in Jonah’s general direction, his speech slightly slurred. “Bingo.”

I reached over, patting him on the back. “I’m making the executive decision to cut you off.”

“I’ve only had two”—Jason holds up his fingers—“beers.”

“On top of two shots of tequila and two cocktails. Some of us can hold our liquor, and some of us can’t.” I sipped at my third beer, shrugging. “But! That’s not what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I have to have—”

“Did you know,” Jason began, interrupting once again, this time turning his entire body in his chair to face Jonah. He pointed in my general direction. “He hasn’t even told the omega who he really is?”

Jonah arched an eyebrow. He peered around Jason to stare at me. “You haven’t?”

“Jesus… no.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, rolling my eyes and pursing my lips. “I haven’t.”

Jason's skin was splotchy, his bottom lip quivering lightly as he sniffled. “The poor dear will be blindsided once he learns the truth.” He used the sleeve of his shirt to dab at his eyes. “It's not fair. Leadin’ him on like this.”

I threw my hands up in exasperation, practically shouting, “How am I leading him on?!”

Jonah heaved a long-suffering sigh as he patted Jason's shoulder, his eyes rolling in my direction. “You know that when he drinks, he becomes overly emotional. This is why I suggested having only non-alcoholic beer in lieu of alcohol.” Jason's tears dried up instantly. He and I both stared at Jonah, mouths agape.

“I’d rather—,” I began, but Jonah interrupted,

“Don’t change the subject, Elias.” He threw an arm over Jason, steadying the large beta as he nuzzled his head on Jonah’s shoulder. “Why are you refusing to tell this man about who you are?”

“It’s not really a refusal. It’s just… omitting the truth a bit.”

“Which is still a lie. And a lie is a deep betrayal.”

“S’what I told him,” Jason yawned. “But he didn’t want to listen to me.”

I genuinely inquired, “How do I tell him the truth?” This was something I’d struggled with for the past few weeks now. Delaney and I’d been seeing each other for almost four months now and despite being extremely wary about getting any closer, I couldn’t help it. I was inexplicably drawn to him. “I don’t know what to tell him.” I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest. “Where do you two suggest I start?”

“From the beginning,” Jason offered.

Jonah made a counter-offer. “Tell him what’s most important to know. The thing that if you keep from him, it will cut a wound so deep, neither of you will be able to recover. If you’re unsure of what that is, weigh what you’re hiding against any hypothetical situation in which he would be hiding something as well. If you find yourself being upset at the magnitude of what he’s hypothetically keeping from you, that is what you need to lead with.”

I’d thought about that as well—how I would react if I found out that Delaney was hiding something important from me. I liked to think that I could and would forgive him, but knowing how important honesty was to me, a large part of me knew it would be a deal breaker. However, was I in the position to even say that a lie would be a deal breaker? “I’ve… not told him anything about myself really,” I admitted with a grimace.

“So, he doesn’t know that you’re a Bordeaux?”

Jason's head popped up. He looked just as bewildered as Jonah sounded when he asked, “How can he not know that?”

“I don’t use my last name at all. And he hasn’t asked what it is so…” I trailed off with a shrug.

Jason was absolutely scandalized. “But you’ve slept with him!”

“From what I’ve heard, multiple times,” Jonah added under his breath.

“But I haven’t—,” I hedged, squinting at Jonah, my eyebrow lifting in curiosity. I ignored the comment, subtly shaking my head. “Regardless of how many times I did or didn’t—”

“Definitely did,” Jason interjected.

“Regardless of how many times I may have slept with him, last names are not that important. We aren’t children.”