by Aiden Bates
They hovered there for several beats of their racing hearts, each of them trying to prolong the moment, to stretch the pleasure out before it all came crashing down on them .
It was Luke who snapped .
Unable to resist shifting, just the tiniest bit, he pulled out the slightest bit just as Jay shifted. Pleasure crackled across his skin, and his hips jerked forward, slamming him back into that heavenly heat. They both cried out, their voices echoing off the walls, and that was that .
Jay's thighs clenched, the cords standing out as he raised himself up just enough to drop back down, neither of them willing to give up even an inch more than necessary. He was gasping, his eyes wide and clouded with pleasure .
Hanging on to sanity by the narrowest of margins, Luke bucked up over and over, doing his best to help Jay find the angle that made his throat work with bitten off screams .
He didn't notice his orgasm racing toward him until it was almost too late. Digging his heels into the mattress, he gritted his teeth and curled his hand around Jay's dripping cock. "Come on, baby. You first ."
There was a moment, frozen forever in his memory, as they both hovered on the edge. Jay's eyes met his, the blue like a beacon against the acres of skin flushed pink with exertion and glowing with sweat. He couldn't look away as they flowed together once, twice. Jay's cock jerked in his grip, his rhythm falling apart as he fell apart in Luke's arms. He whined, his nails digging into Luke's arm as he tried to keep moving .
Lunging off the bed, Luke rolled them over, knee sliding on the edge of the bed as he drove in deep, everything turning hazy and slick as Jay shivered against him, a harsh cry echoing between them. He lost his rhythm as the pleasure in his gut exploded, rattling him to his bones .
It seemed to last forever, the world coming back slowly and rippling aftershocks surprising him as he tried to remember how to breathe. Soft hands combed through his hair, soothing him, and he became aware that he was pressing wet, open-mouthed kisses to Jay's shoulder. He was sprawled across Jay's chest, pressing the omega into the bed. He had the vague thought that he should move, but couldn't work up the energy .
Jay didn't seem to mind, digging his nails into Luke's shoulders when he lifted one shaky arm to bring him down for a kiss. It was slower, somehow more intimate without the crazed lust of minutes earlier, and he fell into it. They both groaned when their movements shifted them enough for him to slide out, the sound rattling his teeth. Everywhere they touched was slick with sweat and other things, and he chuckled when just breathing made him slide to one side .
Rolling into a more comfortable position, he was a little surprised when Jay followed him, grumbling as he tucked himself up against his chest. Luke's whole body still tingled with the memory of how good the little omega felt, and he could barely move, but here was Jay fussing with the covers and arranging them both to his liking .
"This was the best terrible idea I've ever had," he said, burying his nose in Jay's hair. He smelled like sex and paint and cheap shampoo, and Luke breathed deep .
"Shut up and go to sleep," Jay muttered, yawning as he tucked the covers around them both firmly .
"We should clean up," Luke said, making no move to get up .
"Sleep," Jay said, covering Luke's mouth with one hand. He was asleep before Luke finished laughing .
16
J ay handed over his credit card, watching the clerks load his purchases into his car. His car. That he owned .
It had been two months since he'd gotten the last piece of paper signed and gained access to more money than he'd never really believed existed. He still woke up in the middle of the night trying to remember if he had enough money to turn on the heat .
His phone, a new, top-of-the-line model, chimed cheerfully from his pocket. He grinned, signing the receipt before he pulled it out .
"The office is playing the same CD of Christmas music on repeat. I've heard 'Oh, Christmas Tree' ten times since I got here this morning. —Luke "
Rolling his eyes, Jay thanked the clerk, climbing into the car .
"You're such a Scrooge. —Jay "
"Ebenezer or McDuck? —Luke "
He laughed out loud, tossing his phone into the passenger seat and heading for his studio. Traffic was awful, everyone out shopping for gifts, but Bonnie had been getting on him about making sure his show would be ready. Time kept getting away from him, and he hadn't painted anything in almost two weeks. Partly because he'd used his last canvas and hadn't gotten to the store, but mostly because he'd been trekking all over the city looking at houses. Because he could afford one now .
"You're ignoring me. —Luke "
"I was driving. —Jay "
Eying the stacks of canvases crammed into every spare inch of space, Jay contemplated the best way to get them all upstairs. He almost didn't answer his phone when it rang, assuming it was Luke calling to whine at him .
"Sorry to bother you," Marcus said when the call connected. "I wanted to see if you had a chance to look over the spending plans I sent over ."
Jay bit his lip. "Er... No," he said guiltily. "I mean, I tried, but I felt like I was going to die, so I hid them in a drawer with all my other paperwork ."
Marcus laughed, warm and unconcerned. "That's fine. I'm flying down for the big holiday party, so I can go over them with you then ."
Groaning, Jay hefted a couple of the larger canvases, deciding to get the worst part over with. "Do I have to ?"
"Legally? Yes. It's not a big deal, though. There's no wrong answer; you just pick the plan that sounds like it fits your needs the best. If you decide you don't like that one, we can always change to a different one next year ."
Juggling the canvases and his phone, Jay struggled to get the security doors open. He almost dropped everything when a terrible stench in the foyer made him gag. Clutching his stomach, he barely managed to keep his lunch down. "Oh, that is vile ."
"Jay?"
"Something must have died because that reeks," he said through his teeth. "Hang on a second." Tucking the phone back into his pocket, he hurried into the elevator, breathing easier once he was off the first floor. "How has nobody reported that to the management, yet ?"
"It might be something outside," Marcus said. "A raccoon someone hit or something ."
Shuddering, Jay unlocked the door to his studio and set the canvases down inside the door. "Is it sad that I hope it's not? If I have to wait for road maintenance to come clean it up, I'm going to be holding my breath in and out of the building for the rest of the winter ."
"True. Do you have any taxidermists in your building? People do that for art, right ?"
"God, I hope not," Jay said, leaning against the door as he popped open a bottle of water. He'd been feeling run down lately, and he was hoping it was just dehydration and not the flu. "It shouldn't smell if they're doing it correctly, though, right ?"
"No idea. Maybe the smell is part of the 'experience,'" he said dryly .
"I hate you ."
"Funny, Luke tells me the same thing at least twice a week ."
Jay choked on his water, feeling his cheeks heat as Marcus laughed at him. "I really should go," he said, not quite managing to sound regretful .
"Don't let me keep you," Marcus said. "You're coming to the Christmas party, right? We do a Secret Santa ."
"I'll have to think about it." Jay grabbed one of his palettes, thinking about trying an experiment with one of the smallest canvases he'd found .
The minute he squeezed a dollop of white paint onto the scarred white plastic, he knew something was wrong. Gagging, he barely made it to the bathroom at the end of the hall before he emptied his stomach. He didn't even make i
t to a toilet, bending over the sink next to the door as his body tried to turn itself inside out .
"Jay? Jay? What's going on? Are you okay ?"
Panting, he clung to the side of the huge basin, trying to get his stomach to stop twisting itself in knots. There was a tiny smear of white paint on his thumb, and just that tiny bit of smell set him off again, tears dripping down his cheeks as bile burned his throat .
He'd heard stories, of course, artists who took a break or decided to try watercolors at the peak of their career. Men who had to take medical leave from their construction or auto shop jobs .
"Oh shit. No, no, no," he muttered under his breath as he scrubbed at the smear of paint. There were fresh tears on his cheek, and he tried to tell himself that it was just the ache in his gut .
"Jay! Answer me, or I'm calling Luke ."
"I'm fine," Jay mumbled, staring at his hand. He could still smell the paint, his stomach gurgling unhappily. He clenched his hand into a fist so that it would stop shaking .
"You don't sound fine," Marcus said, his voice sharp .
"It's nothing." He tried to inject as much confidence into his voice as possible, hoping to convince himself .
"People don't just puke their guts out because of nothing. Do you need me to call you a cab? You should go to a doctor right away ."
Jay swallowed a laugh. He kept waiting for the panic to hit, but he was surprisingly calm. "I'm not sick," he said .
"How can you be sure?" He could hear Marcus' shoes clicking against the tile of his office. Over the last few months, Jay had learned that the alpha's biggest weakness was feeling useless .
"I'm not sick," he repeated .
"I'm calling Luke. You should at least get checked out by a doctor. What if you have food poisoning ?"
"Marcus," Jay snapped, dragging his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I'm not sick, and you don't need to call Luke ."
"I'm calling Luke ."
"Marcus, do not call Luke." He tried to imagine having this conversation over the phone and winced. "If you call Luke, I will fly back to New York and reorganize your filing cabinets by color ."
That got the other man's attention, and he paused. "If you're sick, you don't have to hide it. They can treat just about everything nowadays, and we can't do anything to help if we don't know about it ."
Rolling his eyes, Jay growled under his breath. "I am not sick. Let me be absolutely clear. I'm not sick. I threw up, yes, but I'm not sick. I'm not terminal. I'm pretty sure I don't even have the flu ."
"But you — "
"Marcus! I'm not sick. I'm pregnant !"
The words echoed around the bathroom as Marcus came to a screeching halt. Jay stared at his reflection in the mirror. Besides the greenish cast to his cheeks, he looked more collected than he had in weeks .
Taking a deep breath, he said it again, waiting for his heart to leap into his throat. "I'm pregnant." The sky didn't fall, and his heart stayed firmly where it was, thumping along only slightly quicker than normal .
Marcus choked. "You're what? Since when? I mean, when did you find out, not when did you... You know ."
Jay laughed, light and happy, his hand pressing against his stomach. There was nothing to see, but now that he was looking for it, he could feel how the area below his belly button was harder, even though he'd gained almost ten pounds now that he could get groceries whenever he wanted .
"Since about ten minutes ago. I mean, I hadn't noticed it until I went into my studio. Fuck," he cursed, distracted by a realization as he stared at the traces of white paint embedded in the whorl of his fingerprints. "I'm going to have to call Bonnie and let her know that the spring show won't be all oils ."
"Is that what made you puke? Why didn't you want me to call Luke— Oh, my God. He doesn't know!" Something crashed to the floor, but Marcus didn't seem to notice. "You have to tell him ."
"Breathe, Marcus," Jay said, finally feeling a little bit of the expected panic raise the hair on the back of his neck. "I haven't even had a chance to sit down yet, much less tell Luke. The only reason you know is because you were on the phone." He heard keys clicking across the connection and growled. "Do not tell the others before I have a chance to tell Luke. He should get to be the one to tell them ."
"I wouldn't!" Marcus huffed, and Jay raised an eyebrow at his reflection, letting the silence stretch. "Okay, I totally would, but I wasn't going to. I'm updating your spending plans to include outfitting a nursery and prenatal care ."
"Are you serious?" He shook his head, affection driving away the chill of uncertainty. "You're such a nerd ."
"Thank you," Marcus said, his voice less shaky .
Jay stared at the bathroom door, trying to calculate if he could get the door of his studio locked and make it back to his car without his body rebelling. He didn't have a whole lot of options, so he took a deep breath to head out just as Marcus cleared his throat .
"Are you worried about what Luke will say ?"
Choking on nothing, Jay coughed hard enough to see stars. "Well, I wasn't," he said, his throat burning, "until you said that ."
"I didn't mean it that way," he said, and Jay could imagine him seated in his big corner office, wringing his hands and pouting. "It's just something that people would worry about, right? You shouldn't. You know you shouldn't. Luke loves kids, and he's a good guy ."
"You're babbling," Jay said dryly. He decided not to point out that Luke was also a lawyer. "The only thing that I'm worried about right now is Kurt finding out and spilling the beans ."
"Won't happen," Marcus said .
"I'm supposed to meet Luke for dinner at Milano’s tomorrow. I'll tell him then. Try to keep a lid on this until the dessert course, please." Digging his keys out of his pocket, Jay was as ready as he could be to brave the paint smell .
"I haven't told a soul," Marcus protested .
"Yet," he muttered. "Look, I have to get out of this building, so I'm going to hang up now. I'll see you at the Christmas party ?"
Marcus snorted. "You'll be seeing us sooner than that if Luke makes that announcement ."
"Is that a promise or a threat?" Jay muttered as he disconnected the call .
Getting out of the building was easier than he had expected, but once he'd made it into the car, he had no idea what to do. Nervous energy thrummed through him, making him too restless to go back to his apartment. He thought about going to a park he'd seen when he was house hunting, all trees and grass arranged around an artificial lake .
Stopped at the light, waiting to turn onto the highway, he abruptly changed his mind. He did a quick U-turn, heading for the gallery. There was a small, expensive clinic in the neighborhood that he'd frequently seen well-dressed omegas going into when he was homeless. They had a whole slew of awards mounted in the front window, but he'd never paid attention to what they were for. There was no reason for him not to check them out now .
* * *
"S orry I'm late."
Jay jumped a foot, shoving the napkin he'd been unraveling thread by thread under the table. "It's okay," he said, his voice cracking. "I haven't been here long." That wasn't even close to the truth, but he wasn't going to admit to arriving almost half an hour early .
He got to his feet, accepting the chaste kiss that Luke pressed to his cheek. They'd been seated in the back this time, closer to the kitchen. Mia had winked at him as she led him back, so he was pretty sure that it was her attempt to keep her father's shouting to a minimum .
"You!" Marcello appeared in the
doorway of the kitchen, one big fist swinging at Luke's head. "You leave him here all by himself for almost an hour? They don't teach you manners in those fancy schools of yours?" He pulled Luke into a hug, pressing a sloppy kiss to his cheek. "My Emilio will have words with him, Jay. Don't you worry ."
Feeling the blush heat up his cheeks and cursing his fair complexion, Jay smiled sheepishly at Luke. "I was a little early." All the nerves that he hadn't felt talking to Marcus and going through the tests at the clinic had come back with a vengeance last night. He'd barely slept, heading out two hours early because he couldn't stand to sit at home another minute .
"Did you like the place you went to?" Luke asked, his eyes warm as he settled into his seat .
For a full minute, Jay tried to figure out how he'd found out about the clinic before he realized the alpha was talking about his house search .
"No," he said finally, shaking his head. "I ended up rescheduling the viewing ."
Luke took a sip of his water, the lines around his eyes crinkling as he smiled. "Get too involved in your painting ?"
Jay's startled laugh was louder than he intended, and an older man with Mia's hair ducked his head out of the kitchen. Emilio was thin and stern, but his eyes softened as he noticed them sitting there. "Oops," Jay said, covering his mouth. The Italian omega disappeared back behind the door without a word. "I don't think he likes me ."
"Emilio?" Luke said, glancing toward the kitchen. "He's just shy ."
"Shy. Right," Jay chuckled. He hadn't had much interaction with Marcello's other half, but the first day the man was back from Rome, he'd made a man cry for grabbing Mia's ass .
"He is." Looking to Mia as she came over to take their order, he gestured broadly. "Tell him how shy your papa is, Mia. He thinks Emilio doesn't like him ."
Mia sighed. "Do you want your usual?" she asked, scribbling on her pad without waiting for him to answer. She leaned one hip against the table, her voice dropping as she turned to Jay. "Everybody thinks he doesn't like them, but he really is just nervous about talking to people. He has a really heavy accent sometimes, and people can't understand him. Vincenzo used to get so embarrassed, and now Papa barely ever talks to strangers ."
