“You know, if we’re really going to make this work, you’re going to have to stop calling me that.”
“Maybe you just need to stop doing stupid stuff.”
“You don’t need to . . .” Charlie shakes his head. “Are we really arguing about how we shouldn’t argue anymore?”
“Probably.”
Charlie laughs and shakes his head.
“God, I missed you.”
“Yeah.” Dave squeezes Charlie’s hand. “I missed you, too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Brandon is sat on the couch, flicking through a magazine when David finally makes his way downstairs the following morning. He puts his magazine down and just looks at David.
“Shut up.” David points at Brandon. “Just shut up.”
Brandon laughs and shakes his head. He looks back down at his magazine.
“There’s coffee in the kitchen.”
David mutters some kind of acknowledgement before wandering through to the kitchen. He returns a few minutes later, clutching a cup of coffee, and drops into the seat next to Brandon on the couch. He leans back and turns his head towards Brandon.
“Don’t go looking for sympathy from me - I told you to stop after your eighth beer.”
David’s response is to stick out his bottom lip.
“You’re pathetic.” Brandon wraps an arm around David’s shoulders and pulls David towards him. “I’m sorry for all the times I made you look after me like this.”
“Well, I’m sorry for making you look after me like this today.”
“I probably owe you.” Brandon kisses the top of David’s head. “Why do you put up with me?”
“‘Cause I love you.”
“And I love you, too, so no more of this; no more drinking, unless it’s a really special occasion, like when I retire or if I ever become a billionaire businessman or when we’re both stupid enough to think it’s a good idea to get married.”
“So never then?”
“Maybe, but . . . Hey.” Brandon nudges David with his knee. “You know you can never say no to me - we’re going to be stuck together forever anyway.”
David rests his head on Brandon’s shoulder.
“Going by how I feel right now, I might be dead before you get the chance to marry me.”
“Stop complaining - it’s your own fault.”
“Maybe.” David is quiet for a minute. “Make me breakfast?”
“You’re absolutely useless right now,” Brandon stands up and leans down to kiss David’s forehead, “but I’ll let you off just this once. What do you want?”
“Food?”
Brandon stares at David for several seconds before shaking his head. He turns away walks towards the kitchen, no longer bothering to contain his laughter.
David leans forward and calls out towards the kitchen.
“I love you.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love you, too.”
To be continued!
In fact, please read on to get a preview of the next book!
Preview to Book Three
The Omega’s Family
Mark is so focused on reading what’s on his laptop that he doesn’t notice that Tomas has walked into the room until Tomas is banging his laptop shut. He whines and looks up at Tomas.
“It’s too late - you need to come to bed now.”
“I can’t sleep.” Mark tries to grab his laptop, but Tomas moves it out of his reach.
“I don’t care if you can sleep, Mark - you need to rest at least before tomorrow.”
“No, I need to distract myself so I don’t spend the entire night worrying.”
“Mark, you are coming to bed - you will thank me in the morning.” Tomas holds a hand out towards Mark.
Mark grumbles for a few seconds, but then takes hold of Tomas’s hand.
Tomas helps Mark to his feet and squeezes Mark’s hand. He pulls Mark towards him and kisses the top of Mark’s head.
“You’re going to be okay, you know, but if you insist on worrying, we can talk about it.”
“I thought you wanted to sleep.” Mark settles himself against Tomas.
“I do, but what you want is more important.”
“Thank you.” Mark smiles. “You know what I really want?”
“What?”
“I want you to get her to stop kicking my fucking kidneys.”
***
Mark doesn’t realize that he’s been asleep until Tomas is shaking him awake in the morning. He whines and tries to burrow under the covers, but Tomas stops him.
“No, Mark - you have to get up now.”
“Go away, I’m sleeping.”
“You need to eat something.”
“Not hungry.”
“Mark, if you don’t get up and eat something now, you won’t get another chance until dinnertime, at least.”
Mark opens his eyes and looks at Tomas.
“Do I have to?”
“You’ll only be complaining if you don’t.”
Mark grumbles for another minute before pushing back the covers. He swings his legs over the side of the bed and pushes himself up.
Tomas stands back and watches Mark for a minute.
“You going to stay there all day?”
“I can’t get up.” Mark sticks his bottom lip out.
Tomas laughs for a few seconds before helping Mark to his feet.
“Thank you.” Mark leans against Tomas and closes his eyes. “I’m not ready.”
“Mark, you need to eat.”
“I don’t mean breakfast.”
Tomas steps back and looks down at Mark.
Mark opens and closes his mouth a few times before speaking.
“I know this is everything we’ve been waiting for, for nine months; I know she’ll be here soon and I can’t wait to meet her, but I’m not ready for any of this.”
“I know.” Tomas wraps an arm around Mark’s shoulder and kisses the top of Mark’s head. “It’s so much and I know we have made all the preparations, but it still doesn’t feel like we could ever be ready.” He squeezes Mark’s shoulders. “I don’t think we have much of a choice in any of this anymore, though.”
“Guess not.” Mark pulls back and looks at Tomas. “You’ll stay with me, the whole day?”
“Every second.”
***
“And another . . .”
“Mark, will you just shut up.”
Mark’s eyes widen and he turns towards Tomas.
Tomas winces, but realizes that he can’t go back now so he’ll have to continue with what he was going to say. He takes a deep breath.
“Mark, I love you, but you are driving me crazy.”
“Excuse me for having a hard time with this - in case you forgot, they’re cutting open my stomach this afternoon.” Mark shifts away from Tomas and turns his head to the side.
“Yes, and you have been yelling at me for the last two hours. Not talking to, just yelling. Look,” Tomas tries to grab Mark’s hand, “I know that you’re having a hard time with all of this and I will gladly listen to you talk all day, but if all you’re going to do is shout at me, then I’m going to leave before I end up saying something I regret more than this.”
“Fine.” Mark wrenches his arm away from Tomas. “Leave.”
“Fine.” Tomas stands up and starts walking out of the room, but stops before he even gets to the door when Mark calls out to him.
“Don’t leave.”
Tomas sighs and turns back around. He watches Mark for a minute before walking back over and sitting in the chair by the bed.
“You’re a jerk,” Mark takes hold of Tomas’s hand, “but I need you.”
“I’m sorry.” Tomas leans over and kisses the side of Mark’s head. “I know this is a hard time for you and I’m trying to be understanding, but you’re not letting me in, Mark.”
“I don’t mean to . . . It’s just so hard.” Mark lets his head drop back against the pillows. “I can’t handle all of t
his and . . .” He turns his head towards Tomas. “I don’t mean any of it - I love you and I’m so glad that you’re here with me - but I still might need to yell at you for the next few hours. I need to get it all out.”
“If you want to yell, Mark, then I suppose I can handle that, but can you at least try and stop calling me names?”
“I’ll try.”
***
“Is that it?” Mark’s eyes snap open. “Is it over?”
“No, Mark; it’s only over when you hear a screaming baby - they haven’t even started yet so just calm down.”
“Dick.” Mark turns his head away.
“You said you were going to stop calling me names.”
“I said I’d try.”
***
Mark has been so busy concentrating on not snapping at everyone that he almost misses the most important part of the whole procedure - he doesn’t realize that his own baby is about to be born until Tomas nudges him. He looks at Tomas for a second before shifting his gaze over to the doctors, just as they lift the baby up. For a minute, he doesn’t even register anything apart from the wailing coming from his baby. He leans towards Tomas.
“We have our daughter?”
“Uh . . . Not quite.”
“What do you mean?” Mark turns towards the doctors a little too quickly and winces at the pain it causes. He takes a deep breath and tries to focus on the baby in front of him. “I see her.”
“No, Mark.” Tomas leans in and rest a hand on Mark’s cheek. “We got a boy instead.”
“We did?” Mark feels himself relax. “That’s different, but it’s okay - we’ll still love him.” He lets his eyes drift shut. “We still got . . . He’s . . .”
“Mark? Mark. Mark!”
***
When Mark wakes up, he feels such an intense ache in his head that he just squeezes his eyes shut again and refuses to even think about moving. He lies that way for at least ten minutes before he even thinks about opening his eyes again and another few minutes before he works up the energy to pry his eyes open. He winces, but keeps from closing his eyes again. He sees Tomas sat in the corner of the room and smiles for a minute before speaking.
“You look like shit, which is about as bad as I feel.”
“Hey.” Tomas is at Mark’s side in a second. He wipes his eyes and puts a hand on Mark’s cheek. “You feeling better?”
“Kinda,” Mark mutters. “Everything hurts.” He tries to sit up, but Tomas pushes him back down.
“You need to rest more.”
Mark whines a little, but decides not to try and fight it further. He takes a few deep breaths.
“What happened?”
Tomas smiles at Mark for a minute before replying.
“What do you remember?”
“Uh . . .” Mark frowns for a moment, while he thinks. “We got a little boy instead, right?”
“Yeah.” Tomas’s smile grows at that thought. “He’s fine, by the way - healthy and happy. He’s sleeping now, down in the nursery.”
“That’s good.” Mark lets his eyes drift shut. “That’s really good.” He opens his eyes again and keeps them wide to try and avoid falling back to sleep. “Everything is fuzzy after that.”
“It would be.” Tomas brushes down Mark’s hair. “You were out of it almost right away.”
“Hmm.” Mark thinks about that for a few seconds, but then shakes those thoughts away. He smiles and nudges Tomas’s arm. “Don’t look so shocked - it’s not like I died.”
“Don’t joke about that, Mark - you nearly did.” Tomas pulls his arm away and steps back. He looks at Mark for a second, but then turns his head away. He clenches his teeth and spends the next minute willing himself not to cry. He wipes his eyes and runs a hand over the rest of his face before turning back to face Mark. “You were losing a lot of blood, Mark, a lot. For a minute, they thought you might not . . .”
“But I’m okay.” Mark reaches out for Tomas’s hand. “I’m right here and I’m okay.”
“Yeah.” Tomas steps in and takes hold of Mark’s hand. He tries to smile, but he can’t manage it.
“What is it? What else aren’t you telling me?”
“You . . .” Tomas takes a deep breath. “It was too much blood, Mark, and they didn’t have a choice.”
“Didn’t have a choice about what? What happened?” Mark listens as Tomas says a lot of terrifying words that he wishes he wasn’t hearing. He tunes the words out after a while, can’t handle anything more than what’s already been said. He opens his mouth to speak, unaware if he’s interrupting Tomas, not that he would care if he knew that Tomas was mid-sentence. “So what you’re saying is that we can’t have any more children, that I can’t have any more children?”
“I’m sorry, Mark. I’m so sorry.”
***
“He’s perfect, isn’t he?” Mark glances at Tomas, but soon returns his attention to the baby. “I can’t believe they told us you were a girl. All this time waiting for one thing and we get something different instead - it makes me feel so unprepared, but I would never be disappointed.” He lifts the baby up so he can kiss his cheek. “I am so glad we have you.”
Tomas opens his mouth to speak, but doesn’t get to say anything before Mark is calling out.
“He needs a name.” Mark stares at Tomas with wide eyes. “I know we picked one, but that was for a girl and we got a boy instead. I guess we could use that name, but it wouldn’t really feel right - like it was never supposed to be his, you know? And we should think quickly then - we can’t call him ‘baby’ for his whole life.”
“Mark.”
“Don’t.” Mark looks up at Tomas and acknowledges the troubled look on his face, though he can’t give it much more thought. “Please.”
“Mark, you haven’t mentioned it.”
“Because today is supposed to be a happy day - the happiest day of our lives - and I can’t have something, anything, ruining it so, please, just don’t.”
Tomas watches Mark for a minute before walking over. He sits on the bed next to Mark and wraps his arms around Mark and the baby. He kisses the top of Mark’s head.
“I promise.”
***
“You know that you are allowed to stay tonight, yes?”
Tomas opens his mouth to reply to the nurse, but Mark gets there first.
“Don’t you start - I only just persuaded him to leave.” Mark smiles at Tomas for a second before looking at the nurse. “They spent the whole time telling us we were expecting a girl so we got ready for her - pink and skirts and headbands and flowers. Then we had a boy and none of it seems right anymore. I mean, I know I should be saying ‘fuck it’ to gender stereotypes, but I can’t - I still want the blue and the footballs and the mud and everything that should be for boys.” He stops just long enough to take a breath. “Of course that means re-doing the whole nursery, decorating and clothes and all. I want everything to be ready for when we get out of the hospital, which means he has to go home, re-paint an entire room, take back most of the clothes and get some new furniture. He’s not going to have enough time for all of that if he’s hanging out here with me for the whole night.”
Tomas steps in and puts a hand on Mark’s cheek.
“Promise me that you will get some sleep tonight and not just spend the entire night staring at the baby.”
“You know I can’t promise that, but I can promise that I’ll try. Now, go.” Mark pushes Tomas towards the door. “Our boy needs his own room.”
***
Tomas stands in the doorway to the nursery, watching Mark for a minute before speaking.
“So I’m not your favorite anymore, huh?”
“Damn right.” Mark laughs for a few seconds. “I mean, I love you, but babies will always come first.”
“I know.” Tomas walks over and wraps an arm around Mark’s shoulders. He looks down at the baby. “You’re going to have to stop staring at him so much, you know.”
“I can’t help it -
he’s just so fucking cute.” Mark reaches out towards the baby, but Tomas grabs his arm to stop him.
“Don’t wake him up now - we only just got him to sleep.”
“You’re right.” Mark pulls his arm back. “Daddy is sorry, Lukas.” He leans towards Tomas. “We picked a good name, huh?”
“Perfect.” Tomas is quiet for a minute. “Mark, will you talk to me now?”
Mark closes his eyes and sighs. He opens his eyes again and looks at Tomas.
“It’s not fair that he’s the only one we’re going to have.”
“He doesn’t have to be - there are other ways.”
“Not like this.” Mark shakes his head. “It will never be the same and that’s just not okay. I know this has been hard for me, but the fact that I can never do it again feels like I’m losing something important. It feels like I did the last nine months wrong, knowing I can never do it again. None of it is fair and I should feel horrible about it, but then I feel guilty that I’m not just completely happy that we have a beautiful son.”
“So you stare?”
“So I stare.”
Tomas pulls Mark right up against him and closes his eyes.
“I don’t know how it’s all going to be okay, Mark, but we’ll find a way.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Be sure to catch the first in the series:
The Omega’s Unexpected Baby
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Or, if you want both of them at a low price, Kickstart My Heart
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The Omega's Finest Baby Page 12
