by Aria Grace
“Yeah.” My heart warmed. I still wore my clothes from school the day prior, I hadn’t been home in thirty-six hours. I needed a shower, but being with these two was way more important than all of that. I met Harley’s gaze. “There’s nowhere else I want to be than with the two of you.”
The three of us settled on the couch. I sat next to Harley, and Asher settled on his lap, his legs stretching out to rest on my lap.
Within minutes of starting the movie, Asher was asleep.
“Think we can move him to his room?” I asked.
Harley blinked tiredly. “Maybe. But I don’t have the energy.”
“Me neither.”
“Thank you, Devon. I couldn’t have gotten through this without you.”
“You could have. You’re a strong omega and a good dad. But I am glad I was there. I don’t want you to do these things alone, Harley. I – I want to be there for you and Asher. As more than just his teacher, or just your neighbor. I want more.” I worried that I spoke too soon, asked for too much, but Harley smiled.
“I want that, too,” he said.
It was awkward and difficult, but I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips. It was slow and sweet, and totally amazing.
“Are you two kissing?” Asher’s voice broke up apart.
Harley’s cheeks flushed. “Yes, Asher. We were. Mr. G. and I are dating now.”
I held my breath as we waited for his response. What if he rejected the idea? What if he didn’t want his dad dating his teacher? I didn’t want to upset the kid, especially when he was already injured. What if it was too much too fast?
“Okay,” Asher said and he laid his head back down on his dad’s lap.
My eyebrows rose as I met Harley’s gaze. “Guess that’s that then.”
He laughed. “Yeah. That was… easy.”
“Yeah.” I wrapped my arm around his shoulders as we settled in to watch the movie. Later we’d answer all the questions about the future, but for right now we could just be.
37
Harley
“C’mon Asher, we have to go.”
“Aw, c’mon dad. Five more minutes?” Asher did a little bounce as he begged to continue playing with his friends.
“Go ahead, buddy. We can stay a little while longer,” Devon said.
I shot him a look and he shrugged. “We gotta be a team,” I said.
He grinned and kissed my cheek. The two of us sat on the park bench where I’d first seen Devon when I picked up Asher from school after his first day.
“I know. I’m sorry. He’s just having so much fun. It’s the first day without his cast.”
I leaned into Devon’s embrace. “You’re right. He is having fun.”
The last few weeks had been brutal with the cast on, but Asher had been a trooper. He healed well and was finally able to get the cast removed earlier this morning. He insisted on attending half a day of school. And when I’d come to pick him up, he asked to stay and play with his friends. I couldn’t say no.
The three of us adjusted well to Devon and I dating. We had gone on a few dates just the two of us, and then we included Asher on a few outings. So far everything was amazing. I just hoped things continued to go well after I told him what I’d found out this morning.
“Have you ever thought about having kids?” I asked tentatively.
“Well, sure. I mean, I love kids. It has just never worked out. I wanted to meet the right omega first.”
I cleared my throat. “But you're not opposed to the idea, right. I mean, you—”
Devon turned and faced me, his eyes narrowed. “Harley, why are you asking?”
I bit my lip. “Well, after you left for work this morning, I wasn’t feeling very well, so I took a test.”
His eyes widened. “And?”
“I’m pregnant.” There was a long pause where he simply looked at me, blinking rapidly. “I know we haven’t talked about it, and clearly it wasn’t planned, but Devon, I’m so very excited. Please say something.”
“I love you so much!”
I didn’t expect that and I didn’t get a moment to react before Devon stood, pulled me to my feet and spun me around in the air.
“This is amazing!”
“You don’t mind?” It was too much to hope for, but somehow I’d found my dream man from a one-night-stand.
“Of course not. I love you, it's fast, but I do.” His eyes brightened with excitement and he buzzed with energy.
I grinned and my eyes brimmed with tears. “I love you, too.”
“Can we tell Asher?”
I nodded.
“Can I move in with you? Or you move in with me?”
I nodded again.
“This is all so great. I never could have believed that night would lead to all of this.”
“Me neither, but I’m happy. So very happy, Devon.”
First Comes Pregnancy
by
Harper B. Cole
and
Colbie Dunbar
38
Percy
“Dude, why are you looking like someone kicked your puppy?” Oliver slurred his words slightly as he plopped down next to me on the bench. “It’s your party, man.” Oh yeah, he was good and drunk.
“And I’ll cry if I want to.” I stirred my soda with my straw.
“Nooooo, no tears. You are starting your new job tomorrow! No more minimum wage with stupid-ass hours. Celebrate!” He downed his beer and set it on the table a little bit too forcefully.
He was right. My new job was something to celebrate, and I should, but instead I ended up with a bunch of people whose entire purpose was to get drunk.
“Go find someone and dance,” Oliver’s slur was more pronounced and I found myself agreeing just to get away from him.
The dance floor was crowded and my plan was to weave my way through it and to the other side for a bit and then to go back to the table, make an excuse and grab a pizza on the way home.
Apparently the new job came with a side of old fuddy duddy.
The music vibrated to the point of the floor shaking as I gave Oliver half a wave and walked through the masses, fully intent on not stopping, until a hot omega curled his finger my way.
He was dancing at his high-top table by himself, his curls a mess, begging for my fingers to fix them.
“Hey,” because I rocked the pick-up lines.
“Hey, you trying to get away from that omega?” he asked, telling me he’d noticed me long before I noticed him. Shame too, because his smile would’ve wiped my crappy mood away long ago. There was something about the combination of the messy hair and that smile that just did it for me. Heck, I was already stirring in my jeans.
“Not in that way. I’m not an asshole.” I sidled up to him. “He is someone I work with—used to work with, I guess—celebrating my new job—anyway, he’s drunk and that’s not my thing.” Why was I telling him all this? He was obviously interested in something more enjoyable than listening to me babble on, even if it was only to flirt and possibly dance.
“Same.” He held up his bottle of water in solidarity. “And I didn’t think you were an asshole, I just thought you might need a way out of a bad date.” His hips still swayed, adjusting to the new beat as the songs switched.
“You want me to go?” I asked, unsure what he was saying. He was so playful and fun...was that even the right word? But whatever the case, he had a magnetism to him and I wanted to get closer, not farther away from him.
“I want you to dance,” he grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the floor. The music was fast and the bass heavy, but he had his arms around me, our hips swaying, our cocks pressed together, both of them hard and mine most certainly ready.
We danced and danced as people came and went from the dance floor, our bodies now sweaty, his scent of cardamom and thyme somehow even more pronounced. I wasn’t ready to let him go—not yet. So when he leaned in close whispering, “I need you,” who was I to argue? I needed him too, like my
next breath.
I grabbed his hand and looked to him to see where we should go, and when he hitched his chin to the right, I wove through the people down a small hallway, trying each door and finding every one of them locked.
“Please tell me you can pick locks,” I teased as we reached the last one, his hand circling the knob, my mind envisioning it doing the same with my cock—the need between us so heady.
He pushed the door open with a cheeky, “Yes.” And dragged me inside. We’d stumbled upon the employee bathroom—hardly what I’d call romantic, but this wasn’t about romance, this was about sating a desire, and I could do that here just as well as I could anywhere else.
His lips slammed into mine as soon as the echo of the lock rang through the room.
I kissed him with all I had, fumbling with his jeans and mine until both our cocks were free. Grabbing them both in my hand, rubbing them up and down, the delicious friction pushing me far too close to release.
“Fill me, alpha,” he called out, and I broke our kiss, both of us panting.
“Put your hands on the wall,” I demanded and he did, his glorious ass hanging out and calling for a smack, the small still-thinking part of my brain telling me there wasn’t time for that. I barely had enough thought to grab a condom from the vending machine. Thank you, club gods, for assuming your employees needed these as much as the guests.
He must’ve had a similar thought, looking over his shoulder and pleading, “I’m so ready for you, now.” He wiggled his ass, and I tapped his thighs to have him spread his legs as far as they could trapped in his jeans. Spreading his cheeks, I found him slick and waiting, which wasn’t the same as ready, and I circled his hole with a finger and pushed it slowly inside.
“More. I need your cock,” he begged, and I found myself lining up with his hole and watching as he pushed back on me, taking control and fucking me from the bottom. Damn, it felt fucking amazing, and it was all I could do not to come in the first thirty seconds, only allowing myself to climax as he cried out, his cum hitting the door, his cock completely untouched, my cock filling him so completely.
“Fucking perfect.” I kissed his shoulder, my hands now settled next to his on the wall.
“I think we can do better next time,” he sassed.
Little did I know next time meant as soon as my knot subsided.
Too bad this wasn’t a date. But if he wanted a date, we’d have exchanged names by now—at the very least.
39
Marve
Where in the hell are they?
I’d stopped at a pharmacy on the way home from work. But it was huge, and I’d never been here before. I trudged up and down the aisles searching for something. To be honest, I hoped I didn’t find them. Maybe they’d sold out? Perhaps there’d been a rush on them and I could put off knowing for another 24 hours or so.
Who am I kidding? My mood swings and aching nipples plus skipping my monthly heat told me all I needed to know.
An omega brushed past me with an alpha who I assumed was his boyfriend, partner, husband, or significant other. I wished I had one of those so I didn’t have to do this alone. As I glanced up, packets of extra-large condoms caught my eye. Oh, universe. You’re hilarious. Not.
“How does it work?” the alpha asked as the omega plucked a small package from the shelf and peered at it. “Do you stick it in your mouth?”
The omega slapped his companion’s shoulder playfully. “No, you idiot. You pee on it.”
“I do? Why?” The alpha scratched his head. “Shouldn’t it be you?”
“Are you messing with me?” The omega’s wide eyes and open mouth suggested he was rethinking a relationship with the alpha.
The alpha winked. “Yup.”
“Oh, you!” The omega grabbed three different boxes and headed to the cashier. “I can’t wait to find out for sure. Boy or girl?”
His irritating chatter faded, though in my head, I thanked him for leading me to the right place. But as I scanned the products, I was as confused as the alpha had pretended to be. After reading the instructions, I had no idea which one was best. I should have researched for the most accurate one online.
Without looking, I bundled some into the shopping basket, and after paying, sat in the car, wondering how I’d gotten to this point.
Meeting a stranger at a nightclub and having a quickie in the bathroom wasn’t part of my life’s plan. But the crazy part was, we’d used a condom as there’d been a dispenser in the bathroom. But it had broken. The condom had broken. Didn’t they test these things?
Time to get this over with.
Thirty minutes later, I was staring at two pink lines that confirmed I was pregnant. Now what? While I had a decent salary and a guaranteed month’s paternity leave, bringing up a child alone was life-changing. And my family was over on the other side of the country. They wouldn’t be doing any child-minding, though I suspected my parents would come out for the birth.
Birth! I didn’t want to think about that. That was months away. But I should let the alpha know he was going to be a daddy. That was the responsible adult thing to do, right? Being an adult and acting like one were two different things. I didn’t want to confront him, see the disappointed look in his eyes as though I’d done this deliberately.
Big problem was… well, not the pregnancy… that was on a whole other level of complicated. I didn’t know the guy’s name. He was a tall, sandy-haired alpha with big blue eyes. Those damned eyes. They’d drawn me to him, not to mention his lazy grin that made my whole body tingle. How could I have been so stupid?
His cock had worked magic. And not just getting me pregnant. We’d done it three times in a tiny bathroom and almost broken the door. How did he have the stamina? Best sex I’d ever had. Afterwards, he’d helped me out of the bathroom, as my legs were wobbly, to a secluded booth and bought us both drinks, my friend Winston joining us after his fling for the night disappeared.
But I’d dozed off, and when I woke up, I was alone with Winston. I vaguely recalled the alpha saying we should exchange numbers, but the table had been cleared and the staff were cleaning up. There was nothing scribbled on a napkin or my hand, and my phone was locked, and Winston was fucking clueless about all of it, eating a plate of onion rings that had just arrived.
After asking the guy behind the bar if he knew the alpha and getting nothing more than a shrug and a blank look, I’d stumbled outside and caught a cab with Winston, my aching body a reminder of the energetic sex we’d had. Fucking Winston. I wanted to go home with that alpha, not him.
My thoughts had returned to that night many times over the next few weeks, but now the only chance of finding the alpha was to go back to the nightclub. Was he a regular? I didn’t have a name or a photo. Asking about a tall alpha with piercing blue eyes was going to get me strange looks.
So, the next night I parked nearby and staked out the club. I was hoping to avoid going inside. All-day sickness was my constant companion and I nibbled on crackers as I sat in the driver’s seat while my eyes threatened to close. Why hadn’t anyone warned me about first trimester exhaustion? Being sick, yes. Everyone talked about that. And the not drinking alcohol thing.
But trying to get through the work day without falling asleep was a struggle. And here it was ten o’clock at night and I was sitting outside a nightclub when I wanted to be in bed.
And that became my routine every night for a month. I’d start off in the car, hoping to catch Mr. Big Blue Eyes if he walked in. I’d never forget that sexy swagger as he made his way over to me that night.
As the night wore on, I’d slip the bouncer a tip and run inside. After scouting around the club and the bathroom—if he was a player, having sex in a cramped employee bathroom might be a habit—I’d give up around midnight and head home.
On Day 30 I admitted defeat. I’d done my best to let the guy know. But being chatted up and wolf whistled by drunk alphas as I surveyed the club was something I hoped I’d never have to repeat.
/>
Besides, going to clubs might be a thing of the past. I could hardly waltz in with a baby in a sling. And would I want to? Doubtful.
I resigned myself to never knowing who he was. I could deal with it. But for our child to never meet his or her alpha father, for that part of their history to be a blank page, it could leave a gaping hole that would never be filled.
40
Percy
It was my first week with Café Om added to my route, and I was tired. When my boss encouraged me to take them on, I had assumed they were all about the coffee and their deliveries would be small. How wrong I was. They had apparently upped their baking game and ordered almost as much as the bakeries on route.
It was good, though. The money was solid and I’d get used to it.
I grabbed my hand truck and got the first part of the delivery ready and inside, where Dan signed off on it. I’d only been to this one a couple of times, but so far he was one of the nicest people on my route, acting as if I was doing him a huge favor by bringing him his order as opposed to treating me like I was less-than like a few of my stops did in the beginning.
“I have another load.” I gave him a half wave, heading outside. A familiar scent wafted over me, and I thought back to that night at the club.
It was just the baked goods, I told myself, begging my cock to stop stirring.
Outside, I sucked in a breath of fresh air and recited multiplication tables in my head as I gathered the rest of the order. Why did he still have such a strong effect on me? I met him one time and at the end of it all he’d rejected me. Not so much rejection as one-and-done, but still. I had wanted more.
I sucked at one-night hook-ups.
I tripped slightly on my way in—over my own stupid foot.
“You okay?” a familiar voice asked.
