“It’s not my place to tell.” Even though she wanted to so much, Max should be experiencing all the brand new things that came with parenthood.
“I know, I know.” Holding her tenderly Mig calmed her down slowly, emotions were running high for everyone still. “There will be a time to talk to him.”
“Si, but we must thank Max for these.”
***
As he walked through the field Max felt that it was a good idea to come back again, not only was it a chance to see him family again but it gave him a shot of putting a few things to bed. But most importantly it gave him the opportunity to cheer on Mitch who had found himself finally on the team, a place that he richly deserved.
“Alright then?”
“Yeah, this is fucking awesome.” He exclaimed as he walked alongside his mentor.
“Tell me about it, been waiting to see you in here for far too long.” Max chuckled as they passed the first motor home.
“I know, feels like a lifetime.” He expected the barking laugh from Max with that comment he was so glad to hear it, he seemed like a new man. Almost.
“Mitch!”
“You’re in trouble.” Max teased as Mitch shrugged his apology and trotted off down the benches. “Shit, sorry. Andre.”
“Oh, ah, Max.”
“I want to apologise for the last time we saw each other actually. I was way out of line.”
If the ground swallowed him up he wouldn’t fight it in the slightest, Max was saying sorry and not so far away was the man who was forcing him to withhold the secret. “Not at all, please do not.”
“I have to, you asked me not to go see…him… and I did anyway.”
“Max, please, is a hard situation.” He sighed, stepping them both out of the way of moving equipment.
“Still doesn’t excuse me.” He smirked. “Can I just ask you one thing?”
“Of course.”
“It’s Félix alright, he’s not ill is he?” Max needed that tiny peace of mind to settle him for the weekend.
“No, he’s not ill.” The relief on Max’s face almost had him spill his guts.
“Thanks, I don’t know what I did, but I’m really glad to hear that.” And looking just beyond Andre his eyes were caught by a flurry of activity. “Félix.”
Andre heard him whisper his name.
“I’ll…go.”
Having Max walk away from him forced him to steel himself for the walk across the field, his disappearance was still a hot topic, but he didn’t feel the need to explain himself. His team had won the championship, he had won, and he didn’t need to do the rest of the season. That was all they needed to know.
“What were you talking about?”
“Nothing, he was apologizing for coming to see you last year when I asked him not to.” He said plainly.
“Oh.”
“Exactly, now let’s play.”
***
Mitch had asked him to come to another game, and with his own season going well it was Spain when he next could do it. Typical. But he did it anyway because it was Mitch and he was finally achieving a dream that at one point seemed completely lost.
“Hi.”
“Max…hola…hi…um, come in.”
“Sorry for dropping in on you like this, I just wondered if the booties fit.”
“Oh god, I meant to send you a letter back.” Laura groaned. “Come in, come in.”
“Don’t worry about it, I know how busy you must be with two newborns. I was just in the area, that’s all.” Max followed her in and spotted the welcomed mess associated with babies, it had him smiling.
“So sorry about the mess.”
“It’s supposed to look like this, when my sister had her she was so worried. I think it just lets everyone know you’ve got better things to do than pick up tiny socks.”
She watched his face soften as he picked the pair off the floor. “Double trouble here.”
“I bet, I’m really happy for you, Félix didn’t deal with the bad news very well, bet he’s made up to finally be an uncle.” Handing the socks he caught a glimpse of two wriggling babies on the floor of the lounge, safely contained on the play map they quietened down as Max walked in.
“Tomás and Lucas.”
“Very cute.” He whispered.
She couldn’t help herself. “Want to hold one?”
“Sure.” Max beamed as Tomás was handed over. “Alright there little man?”
He was a natural and she had to tell Félix to get his act together.
***
He wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, his impulse control was practically non-existent because he was stood outside of Félix’s room having lied through his teeth to find out the number. Max knew he hadn’t left yet because people were still hanging around downstairs to see him off after winning his home game.
He just had to knock.
Just simply knock on the door.
Knock.
He did it and immediately turned away to walk down the corridor, he didn’t need to do this. Not really.
“Hola?” Opening the door he wished he had looked through the peephole like he usually did. “Max.” He gasped.
“Hey. Um, sorry, I just…just needed to see you properly.” Exhaling heavily Max wanted so desperately to hold him close, breath him in and find out why they had to live in silence. “Make sure you’re still alive.” He huffed a short laugh.
“I’m…”
“Who’s that?” That was definitely a baby gurgling.
“Oh.”
“Félix?” Max asked seriously. “Do you have…”
Before Max could ask Félix dragged him inside, he couldn’t risk anyone hearing him ask that.
“You have a baby.” He gasped as he walked over to the car seat. “That’s…she’s yours?”
“Uh huh.” He admitted quietly.
“Yours, yours?” He asked in a complete daze.
“Si.” He mumbled.
“Right.” It was just another secret he had kept from him. When he was growing up it was fairly uncommon, but now it was happening more and more. “It’s this why you disappeared?” Max couldn’t keep control on his voice as he looked down at the sweet girl staring up at him. “Why you stopped talking to me?” His voice cracked as he remembered what he said about Kyle. “I’m…Félix…I would never call you stupid.”
“What?”
“When I said those things about Kyle, I…shit…sorry…you played when you were pregnant. That accident, oh god.” Feeling light headed Max took to a nearby seat and sat down before he crashed to the floor. “You just sent that text afterwards, I almost threw up watching that.” Putting his head into his hands he brought his breathing back under control. “Félix I thought I’d lost you.”
“You didn’t, I was fine.”
“How can you say that, you had her inside of you.” Max shook his head.
“See you think I am stupid.”
“No, never Félix.” Max answered truthfully. “I trust you implicitly.”
His stomach churned violently at what Max said and what it meant. He would have supported him. He didn’t think he was stupid. He had to tell him.
“I didn’t realize you were seeing someone else.”
“What?”
“After we met up, I understand why you could wait now. I hope what we did, didn’t mess anything up.” It was all slotting into place now, he had well and truly missed his chance.
“No, I…” Mila began to grumble.
“I think we need to be formally introduced.” Max fought to put a smile on his face. “What’s her name?”
“Mila.”
“That’s a very pretty name.” Mila Garcia
“You think?” The guilt he felt that he wanted Max’s approval was never going to leave him.
“Of course, you picked it.” He assured as Félix unclipped her seatbelts to pick her up. “Aww, she suits you very well.” Moving closer he felt his heart clench at how natural it all seemed. “I’ll get
that shall I?” Answering the knocking at the door Max was greeted with Félix’s parents. “Hi.”
“Max, has been so long!” Isobella exclaimed.
“I know, bit of a crazy year.” Max shrugged.
“I see you have met Mila, such a beauty.”
“I know, had to be really being Félix’s.” He still couldn’t believe it, Félix had been pregnant and he never noticed.
“Well, we’ll leave you two to catch up, we’ll take her down to the car okay?”
“Si, won’t be long.” Félix leant down to kiss her forehead and make sure she was safely strapped in to his standards. “Te amo Mila.” As he parents left he knew he had to tell Max.
“Green eyes, she’s got green eyes.”
“I know, there’s a reason.” Locking the door he rested against it knowing it was for the best.
“Her father has green eyes?” Max deadpanned feeling odd.
“Yes, he does.” He said out loud, tears welling up. “He has the most beautiful eyes.”
“I don’t want to hear about another man Félix, not now, not yet.” He croaked.
“It’s not another man. It’s you.”
“What?”
“Mila, is yours Max, you’re her father.”
“What!” Max cried. “She’s my daughter?”
“Was so scared you’d hate me.”
“For playing? You kept this from me because of something you thought? Fucking hell, oh my god, she’s mine?” His stomach lurched as his head spun. “She’s mine.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You need to do more than that.” He gasped, struggling to catch his breath. “I have a daughter. That night, that’s when…” It was just too much to take in and Max couldn’t hold it together, sobbing into his hands he cried hard, gulping in air whenever he could. “I need to see her.” He wailed.
“You can’t.”
“Why not!” Roughly wiping his face with his hands Max stood up, his legs feeling wobbly. “Why can’t I see my daughter?”
“I’m doing it on my own, we don’t have a relationship like that.” Félix couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye as he spoke.
“But we wanted one, that night we agreed, we wanted one Félix.” Walking over to the door he stood face to face with Félix, holding his face in his hands. “If you don’t let me see her I will never forgive you, and I will fight Félix, I will fight to see her.” He warned him. “Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t want people to know.”
“And you don’t think I want a private life too?”
“You came out!” Félix shot back.
“And you’re punishing me for that?” He was proud of himself for making the choice to take the weight off of his shoulders. “You can’t.”
“I’m.” He pouted before shoving Max away from him.
“Then why tell me? Why let me see her?” He begged. “You’re being so cruel, and for no fucking reason. We have the chance for something great here.”
“It’s my choice.” Escaping through the door as Max slumped in a chair across the room, running for the stairs he hurtled down them to meet his parents in the underground car park.
“What’s wrong?” Mathieu asked as he caught sight of the tear tracks on Félix’s face.
“It’s nothing.” He dismissed.
***
“Pick up, pick up, pick up. Tommy?”
“Hey, you alright?” Max sounded scarily distressed.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Where are you?” He asked carefully.
“Outside.” He admitted. “Can you come meet me?”
“Sure, will be right there.” Hanging up he pocketed the phone and gave a brief explanation to his wife as he left the house to see the familiar sports car Max favored, and sliding into the passenger seat he clipped himself in before Max silently drove off.
He knew he could trust Tommy to keep it to himself but still he needed privacy.
“Please talk Max, you’re freaking me out.”
“This is between us only.”
“Of course.”
Taking a deep breath Max let it all out in one go. “Félix stopped talking to me because he was pregnant with my baby.”
“What the…fuck.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Max…oh god…how…why…how are you?” He knew it wasn’t the best thing to say but he was truly shocked.
“It’s so bad, I can’t deal with this, he won’t let me see her anymore because he doesn’t want anyone knowing, and because I came out apparently that will happen.”
“He can’t do that.”
“I’m going to fight it, I have too, she’s so beautiful.” Resting his head on the steering wheel he sighed. “She has my eyes. They’re green.”
Rubbing circles on Max’s back he let him cry it out for as long as he needed to, and hearing how broken he sounded made tears well up in his own eyes, one of the strongest people he knew was being reduced to nothing.
“She’s so big already, she must be, what, five months and I’ve missed so much already. I don’t even know her birthday.” He sniffed. “Mila.”
“Huh?”
“That’s her name, Mila.”
“Max, he’ll come to his senses.”
“I just want to hold her, she needs to know I haven’t abandoned her.”
If he knew a way to contact Félix or his family he would, he’d tell them what a wreck Max was and how vile Félix was being regardless of his fears. “She knows that.”
“How? She doesn’t even know who I am!” Stuttering as he tried to speak Max sat back. “I don’t know what to do.”
“We’ll think of something.” Opening his door he hopped out to walk around to Max’s door. “I’ll drive us back, we’ll look after you.” It was the least he could do.
***
“Please Laura.”
“Max…”
“I know everything okay, I know she’s mine.” Saying it out loud was like a knife to the heart. “Just…I haven’t gone to his house okay…I just need some help with all of this. To understand.”
“He asked us all not to say anything.” As she said the words she didn’t agree with Laura watched Max’s face crumple.
“I have a daughter I haven’t truly met, I don’t know her birthday, I have never held her.” He sobbed. “Félix isn’t like this, I don’t get it, we were supposed to be dating now.”
“There is a park near here, I will meet you there in half an hour.”
“Thank you.” He rushed before darting to his car to drive off, he knew the park she was talking about because he had been there before with Félix, it wasn’t anything structured, just a wide expanse of greenery that families flocked to. And right on the dot Laura arrived with Lucas and Tomás in a pram.
“This time you can hold Lucas.” She knew he needed some paternal contact.
“I just want to understand.”
“I can’t say anything.” She repeated, Félix had sworn her to secrecy.
Sighing in defeat he tried to enjoy the sensation of having a baby in his arms, but there was something missing.
“It’s not Mila.”
“No.” His voice broke and he didn’t care. “I saw her for a few seconds, and you didn’t tell me anything when I visited, no one’s told me anything. She’s my daughter, and I’m nothing to her.”
Laura’s heart broke. “Max, he’s my brother.”
“I know, I know, I shouldn’t be asking this, I’m being unfair.” Bouncing Lucas a couple of times he smiled back at the happy chirp he got. “You’re a handsome guy.” They chatted about the boys for a while longer, Max just happy to have some sort of connection to his girl even if it was tenuous.
“I need to go, but come around again, come for dinner. In a couple of weekends.”
***
Doing as he was told Max arrived on Laura and Mig’s doorstep exactly two weeks later, a bottle of wine in one hand and a big bunch of flowers in the
other, he was grateful for their sympathy. “Hola.” He mumbled, still a little unsure and feeling guilty. “Sorry for putting you through this.”
“Max, all I ask is that you don’t hold what we’re doing against Félix, I guess you are going to fight and I feel like I am betraying my family.”
A part of Max knew this would be the perfect ammunition for a legal case, but he was brought up far better than that. “I promise.”
“Alright, make yourself comfortable while I put these in some water.” Calling back as she walked towards the kitchen she wondered further if she was going to make things so much worse. “Tomás is looking for a hug.”
“Thanks.” Sinking back he closed his eyes, taking everything he could from the moment.
“The flowers are beautiful Max. So here we are, this is Mila.”
“What!” Jerking up he saw Laura stood in front of him with a bundle in her arms swathed in pink.
“It’s Mila Isobella Garcia.” She said softly as she placed her in his arms, his paternal instincts kicking in so quickly it took her breath away. As Laura left them alone she heard Max whispering to her about how much he loved her already, and what surprised her most was hearing him say that Félix wasn’t a bad person for what had happened.
Placing her delicately on his legs he quickly slipped his shirt off, picking her up again they went skin to skin, it felt so primal and so right to have her so close. “Mila.” He said over and over, wanting to commit how it felt to say her name to her to memory.
“Would you like something to drink?” Laura popped in to see how they were getting on.
“I don’t need anything but her.” He replied truthfully. “Tell me everything you can.”
“I hope Félix will do it if I am being honest.”
“Me too.” Max admitted, he wanted to hear him tell him everything, be sat right next to him as they took turns holding her. “But please tell me her birthday.”
She couldn’t deny him that. “The twenty first of December.”
“Well how about that Mila, you were a perfect Christmas present.” Kissing the top of her head he breathed in her scent, all baby powder and cotton. He wanted that with him forever.
“Sure you don’t want something to eat?” Laura asked.
“I don’t want to waste a second with her, I’ll eat later.” Taking his phone out he handed it over to Laura. “I won’t show a soul, and I know I’m asking a lot of you…”
Something Greater Than Yourself: An Omega Mpreg Romance Page 8
