Mardi Gras with His Omega

by Lorelei M. Hart

  “Maybe.”

  Oh, there was more to that story.

  “You were bringing this home.” My eyes lit up. Kayson and Reid were amazing parents, and the idea of them populating Mapleville with their perfect little babies sounded amazing.

  “Maybe.” He winked.

  “No freaking way. Really?” I jumped off the school, hugging him.

  “More, I was going to—never mind, it was dumb anyway. I was going to ask Reid if we wanted to start trying for number two, and I bought this as a prop. Just pee on it already.” He was babbling. Which was fine because, once again, it bought me time.

  Kayson pointed to the bathroom, and I begrudgingly got up and meandered in there, my cousin hot on my heels.

  “Are you going to leave?”

  “I guess.” He sighed before leaving.

  It took me thirty seconds to open the box and read the directions and five minutes to work up the courage to pee on it and set it on the back of the toilet. I wanted to watch it, see it change before my eyes, but that was a big no in the directions. Lying flat seemed to be of the upmost importance.

  “All done,” I announced as I walked out of the bathroom as if I had just managed some great accomplishment. “It says three minutes.”

  “I’ll set the timer.”

  He played around with his phone, setting the timer as a notification bing came through.

  “Holy shit!” Kayson squealed, yes squealed. “The florist was tagged in this.” He held the phone to me. “Is this him?”

  On the screen was a video of J, my J, only his name was Joaquim according to the hashtag #JoaquimneedshisOmega. He wanted me. Why else would he make a video with that hashtag? My stomach was wiggling now, but for an entirely different reason. He wanted me, was searching for me. The video had over a million views. A million. How did that even happen?

  “It—it is. But if I’m—”

  “Time to look.” He pressed play and I stood there mesmerized. Wondering what to do next. It wasn’t like I could send him a picture of me holding the test with the hashtag #singlepregnantomega, or could I?

  Chapter Eleven

  Joaquim

  #FoundMyOmega #NowWhat

  I’d never been one of those people whose gaze is anchored to his phone all the time. Mostly because I was either too busy or too tired to care. But ever since Harris showed me Brent’s picture, I could barely concentrate on my work, which wasn’t like me at all.

  Man, I had it bad.

  I got a text from my dad, demanding I video him as soon as possible.

  After I got off work, I was dead tired but videoed him anyway, not wanting to upset him.

  “Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

  “Is it you everyone is talking about? They are saying the guy’s name is Joaquim and that he’s a nurse. Is it you and that New Orleans guy?”

  His face, bright and cheerful, beamed over the chat line.

  “Yeah, that’s me, but how did you find out?”

  “Well, someone I know does the Tweeter so she told me about it after I mentioned you.”

  She. My dad didn’t have a she in his life—or did he?

  “She? Something you want to tell me, Dad? Are you dating?”

  I wished he was. My mom had been gone long enough for him to date, and my dad was a social man. He loved to go to parties and hang out with his friends playing dominoes. I’d been encouraging him to date for a while.

  “We went out a few times. Maybe I had a magical night like you did with Brent.”

  I smiled at him, but inside I knew that no one ever, in the history of nights together, had a night like Brent and I had.

  Period.

  “I’m happy for you, Dad. I’m glad you’re getting out there. Mom wouldn’t want you to be alone.”

  He shrugged. “So what are you doing about Brent?”

  Brent. I loved the sound of his name.

  “There’s nothing I can do but wait. I sent him the video, and I’m not sure if he’s seen it or what. A waiting game. It’s the worst, Dad.”

  “I know, mijo. Waiting for someone you love can be the worst thing in the world. Is there something I can do? Something to help you find him?”

  “No. There’s not. Are you okay with this, Dad?”

  “I’m more than ready to have you settled and giving me grandchildren, if that’s what you’re asking. That is what you’re asking, right?”

  I chuckled. “Kind of, yes.”

  “Good. Invite me to the wedding when you find him.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Okay. Celia is going to teach me to tweeter or whatever it’s called so I can keep up with the sexy nurse.” He laughed hard and hearty.

  “Okay, Dad. Whatever you say. Love you.”

  “I love you, too, Son. You’ll find him soon. Don’t worry.”

  We hung up, and I couldn’t help but hang on his last words. I was worried, worried as hell that Brent would never see that video and that the picture I now kept as my wallpaper would be the last time I ever saw him.

  Until he was in my arms again, that worry would remain.

  A text came in from Harris right before I hopped into the shower.

  Get on Twitter, like now.

  Wrapped only in a towel, I grabbed my phone and scrolled through Twitter. I had so many notifications lately, it was hard to keep up, so usually I didn’t. There was only one tweet I was looking for.

  I noticed a little red number at the top by my picture that I’d never seen before and clicked on it. A ton of messages were on there, but it was the latest one that piqued my interest.

  Hello. I am Brent’s cousin Kayson. He’s here in Mapleville. If you want to see him, call me.

  Below the message was another one containing this Kayson’s phone number and a pic of Brent, much better than the one I already had.

  With my other hand, I grabbed the bathroom counter for balance. Brent, this guy who for all intents and purposes I was madly in love with and had searched for months to find was simply a phone call and a flight away. Well, a flight and possibly a car drive.

  With shaking hands, I pushed the number, and it led to the phone picture popping up. I only had to press the green button in order to find him.

  Just one button.

  And so I did.

  “Hello?” someone answered on the first ring.

  “Hello. Is this Kayson?”

  A lot of shuffling and the sound of a shutting door came through the phone before he replied. “This is Kayson. Is this who I think it is?”

  “Um.” I ran a hand through my hair. “This is Joaquim.”

  The guy on the other line let out a little squeal. “Hello, Joaquim, I’m Brent’s cousin. Before I tell you where he is, I have one question.”

  This was all happening a little too fast, but at the same time, not fast enough.

  “What’s that?”

  “Do you love him?”

  I hefted out a breath that carried all the stress and anxiety I’d held inside my chest for so long. I only had a few visions of Brent, but they were so close to my heart that my brain had a hard time remembering sometimes. I could hear his voice in my ears as I slept, calling my name. Sometimes I smelled the scent of him when I was by myself. I woke in the middle of the night, calling out his name.

  Love was the least of what I felt for Brent and I didn’t even know his last name.

  I wanted him to have my last name one day.

  So my answer took almost no thought at all.

  “Of course I love him. I think I have since I first saw him. Does that sound stupid?”

  Kayson made a sound of approval. “No, J, it sounds just right. So, tell me, how fast can you get on a plane? I have a plan.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Brent

  #BigPlansformyOmegaMan

  “Hi. It’s Brent. I’m trying to figure out where the video of Jay started, but I am lost in all the share
s. If someone sees this and can find it, that would be awesome.”

  I reached over and hit stop. I was so freaking lame. I couldn’t find Brent even with all of the social media realm helping me, and then I tried to make a video only to have it suck monkey balls.

  In the two days since Kayson found the video, I had done nothing but re-watch it, try to backtrack on all the shares, and jerk off.

  True, the last was beyond unhelpful, but seeing his face and hearing his voice did things to me.

  Mom asked me straight out if I was pretending not to be able to find him out of fear. Fear that what we had was a fleeting moment of some shit. I stood firm and told her it had nothing to do with that and more to do with privacy settings of the people who shared the video, but then that idea wormed itself into my head. What if I was scared?

  It wasn’t as if it was just me, now. I had a baby growing inside me. I was going to be a dad. Under the best of circumstances, that had to be scary as shit, but after a one-night stand with someone I didn’t even know, the location of it morphed into abject terror.

  The possibility of him freaking out at my pregnancy was all too real. Sure, he’d been on social media looking for me and sure, he sounded sincere, but that was when he was looking for a single omega and not a prego.

  Practically speaking, the pregnancy should upset me. I was not financially sound. I still had to finish school. I was single. The thing was, I was so beyond happy. I was going to be a dad. Me. My only concern was if Jay would be happy, too.

  My phone rang, and a glance told me it was my cousin. He seemed to be playing protector lately. Which was nice. He even promised to come with me to tell my mom, something I really needed to do. I knew she’d love a grandbaby of her own. She’d all but adopted Rose as her grandbaby and was the epitome of a doting grams. But that was different than having your own son, who still was not standing firmly on his own two feet yet, having a child.

  I also had feared that she would blame Henry for sending me to NOLA. Which was irrational but still festered in the back of my mind.

  “Hello.” I was a little snappy, but I couldn’t help it. Between the pregnancy hormonal uproar and nausea and my being so close yet so far away from finding Jay, I was a hot mess of messiness.

  “Hey, little cousin. I need your help.”

  “Babysitting?” Not that I would mind. She was pretty amazing.

  “No, nothing like that. This is a paid gig with extremely high earning potential.” Kayson went all used car salesman on me. That never boded well.

  “Sounds sketchy.” I plopped on the couch.

  “Or like I’m desperate.”

  “That.” I huffed out a laugh as I lay down, my feet hanging over the arm of the couch, just dangling there.

  “What is it?” I sighed. I’d do whatever it was. He was my cousin, but I really hoped it wasn’t a right-away favor because I could use a nap.

  “Just some deliveries.” “Just,” never was with Kayson. Last time I helped him, I had to set up for a wedding—alone.

  “Really?” My grumbling had him in stitches. It wasn’t funny. “I hate delivering flowers. Please tell me it isn’t wedding stuff.” Because then I might say no. Maybe. Probably not, but I’d think about it.

  “No. Not weddings.”

  I did a little fist bump with, well air.

  “And you have to say yes. It’s your fault.”

  “How exactly is it my fault?”

  “Hashtag ViviansRoses is how.”

  “You did that, buttwad.” It may or may not have helped me almost find Jay, but that was beside the point. He totally used my heartbreak as a promo op, so I wasn’t going to feel sorry for him because it worked.

  “For you. I did it with love.”

  I sat up. It looked like delivering would be in the works, even if it was the last thing I wanted to do. Maybe it would at least distract me from the stupid reels of what-ifs running through my head.

  “Whatever.” I sat up, all thoughts of a nap gone. Too bad the smell of coffee made me want to puke because I could’ve used a cup about then. “How many?”

  Please be less than a dozen, I inwardly begged.

  “I got most of them done, but I need to get some fancy centerpieces for a sixtieth anniversary ready so like three.”

  Like three wasn’t three, but it wasn’t a plethora, either, so I at least had that going for me.

  “Three, I could do.”

  I got in the car and made the deliveries. Three was accurate, but they weren’t all at the hospital or some other equally easy to deliver-in-a-row location. They were dispersed across town, not that town was large. And my idiot of a cousin set them up in an order that had me going back and forth and back again.

  I plugged the addresses into my GPS and decided beggars couldn’t be choosers. I was going to deliver them from farthest to closest so I didn’t spend all afternoon driving, especially since he had already packed the van I’d so much have rather taken my car.

  They’d better tip well.

  The first delivery was to the nursing home, and it made the whole ordeal worth it. Mrs. Frederick’s was a bundle of sunshine, and having her niece send her flowers only added to that. I remembered her from when I was a kid and she ran the story time at the local library. She liked to remind me often about the time I thought coming out of the bathroom with my pants in my hands because I couldn’t figure out the button was hilarious. I was three, so it kind of was, but still.

  My second delivery was to the hotel, which was a pain in the neck because it meant parking in the delivery’ section out back because the van was so big, but at least I wouldn’t have to wait outside in the chilly weather.

  I knocked on the door to room 415, which amused me to no end because it was on the second floor and the only one in the four hundreds. I guess the hotel thought it made the suite look fancy or some shit.

  The door swung open and there stood Jay. The flowers fell to the floor as I reached out to touch him, needing to know he was real. My touch quickly turned into a hug, needing his scent to cover me completely. My Jay. Tears arrived unbidden, and Jay pulled back long enough to wipe them from my eyes.

  “I have so much to tell you,” I whispered, terrified he was going to reject me after I’d finally found him, and in Mapleville of all places. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he would come to me. Maybe I forgave my cousin for his #Viviansroses after all.

  “Your cousin told me everything. It will all be okay.” He pulled me back in for another hug.

  I—my cousin—it was too much to wrap my head around.

  “So, you’re fine with the baby?” I blurted back, and he jumped away quickly, grabbing my hand as he did so. Rejected, but not. I didn’t understand.

  “The baby?”

  Stinks. I’d just announced our baby, with no lead-in, in the hallway of a hotel.

  Chapter Twelve

  Joaquim

  #BabyMakesThree

  When I turned sixteen and sat down at the table the morning of my birthday, my father passed me one plate with waffles and another with a set of keys on it. I stared at them, knowing what it meant, but couldn’t quite get the words out for how I felt.

  I didn’t have that problem this time.

  “Come in, Brent. It’s...it feels like I’ve been looking for you forever.”

  I invited him in, or more accurately yanked him in, and as soon as the door closed, I gently pushed him against the nearest wall and took full advantage of his lips, pouring in every ounce of love and loneliness I’d felt without him in my life. My hands roamed down the sides of his torso and then to his belly, already a little plumper than I’d remembered.

  “This is our baby? You’re having my baby?” My smile was so big it hurt my face.

  His hands covered mine, and a tear ran down his face. “Yes. I just found out.”

  I chuckled and took his lips for one savage and deep kiss. “I knew that night was magi
cal.”

  Brent leaned forward, put his forehead right on my breastbone, and let out a sigh. “I didn’t know how you’d react. I thought maybe…”

  I reached under his chin and with a hooked finger raised his head so he and I were eye to eye. “Whatever you were thinking...about me not wanting this baby…or you because you’re pregnant, just put them out of your mind right this second. I want you and me together. I want this baby. I want this family we have created. Does that answer all your questions?”

  He nodded, more tears coming down his face and now mine. “Most of them, yes. Oh, here.”

  Brent held up a bouquet of fragrant red roses, and we both laughed.

  “Your cousin is good at setting you up. Remember that for the future. We’ve got some catching up to do.”

  We walked into the hotel room, which was an enormous suite that I’d rented. It was the only suite, not only in this hotel, but in Mapleville at all.

  “Sit down, Brent. Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Have you been sick at all?”

  He looked a little green, so I got the small hotel trash can and put it next to him just in case. Also, he wasn’t speaking.

  “I’m sorry. I’m overwhelming you. Come here. I just want to hold you. It’s been too long.”

  I scooted closer to him, and that’s when the dam broke. Brent hadn’t struck me as the overly emotional type, so he must’ve been shocked and overloaded with hormones. My dear, sweet omega, crying for us.

  “We are here together now,” I said after gathering him up and holding him tight to my chest. He felt a little clammy to the touch.

  “I thought I was sick. Throwing up like crazy, and the smell of coffee is enough to gag me. I’ve been tired, and one minute I’m cold and the next one I’m burning up. This pregnancy stuff is horrible except for the part where I am carrying a part of you with me.”

  My heart had never been so full. Here I was in the middle of nowhere, in a town I didn’t know, in a hotel room, holding my new family right here in my arms.

  I felt complete for the first time in my life.

  We must’ve stayed like that for hours.