“Another day.”
Desmond nods - there has been far too many arguments and screams and cross words for tonight so a bit of time to cool down sounds like it would be best for everyone.
“Sounds good.”
Neal stays quiet for another few minutes before speaking again.
“Will you stay with me tonight? I don’t want to go back to …”
“I …” Desmond runs a hand down his face. “I don’t know if that would help.”
“It’s okay.” Neal shrugs. He tries to smile, but shifts back a few inches.
“I don’t want you to be sad or alone.” Desmond puts a hand on Neal’s arm. “It’s just that if I stay with you, it’s like I’m picking you and Alex is already so far away; I don’t want to push him any further. He said something awful, but I don’t want him to think he’s going to be totally on his own.”
“Yes.” Neal nods. “I suppose it would not help to make things worse, but … Just until I fall asleep?” He chews on his lower lip and looks up at Desmond. “I don’t like sleeping on my own.”
“Okay.” Desmond pulls Neal into a tight hug and kisses the top of Neal’s head. “I can do that.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Oh, hey - Neal’s pregnant again.”
“Seriously?” George drops onto the bed next to Calvin and pulls the covers up over them both. “Two minutes after we’re done having sex and this is what you’re thinking about. Did they call you when I was in the bathroom cleaning up?”
“What?” Calvin frowns for a second. “Oh, no, it was that meeting today.” He shifts back against George. “I didn’t have chance to mention it before now.”
“Right.” George wraps an arm around Calvin and kisses the top of Calvin’s head. “So he’s not leaving then?”
“Oh, no - he is.” Calvin shifts back just a fraction. “He said he wanted to be the one at home, helping raise the babies, which is fine - I mean, you know I miss our kids when I’m gone, but I still want to go back to work too.”
“It’s okay.” George smiles against Calvin’s head. “It just gives us the chance to miss you when you’re not here.”
Calvin smiles and takes hold of George’s hand. He’s quiet for a minute before speaking again.
“Neal’s not the only one who’s pregnant, though.” Calvin feels George tense against him. He rolls his eyes before turning over to face George. “If it was me, I’d have told you the second I found out.” He shakes his head and pretends not to hear George’s relieved sigh, almost as much as he pretends that he’s not just as grateful to not be going through that situation himself.
“Okay then, who is it?”
“Right.” Calvin grins. “It’s Alex.”
George stares at Calvin for a minute before standing up.
“Hey.” Calvin whines and reaches out towards George. “Where are you going?”
“I have to call Desmond.”
“Really? Like two minutes after we have sex and you’re thinking about your best friend?”
George puts his hands on his hips and gives Calvin a pointed look.
“Fine.” Calvin rolls his eyes and rearranges the covers around himself. “Go ahead, talk to Desmond - I’ll just occupy myself until you get back.”
“Cal, we have two young kids, two slightly older kids and we already had sex once tonight - I think what you mean is that you’ll fall asleep before I get back.”
“Whatever you say,” Calvin mutters. “Old man.”
“And what does it say about you that you still find an old man irresistible?”
“I wouldn’t go quite that far.” Calvin bites on the inside of his lower lip, but can’t stop himself from laughing. He sits up and leans over to kiss George’s cheek. “Go talk to Desmond, but don’t be too long, okay? We have important sleeping to get back to.”
CHAPTER NINE
Lee checks his watch for what feels like the thousandth time that hour and sighs. He rubs his forehead and drops his book onto the couch. He stands up and stretches out before heading upstairs. He stands in the doorway to the office for a full five minutes, watching Chrys hunched over his computer, before speaking.
“You’ve been up here, all night, you know,” Lee walks over and puts a hand on Chrys’ shoulder, “and it’s getting late. Are you coming to bed?”
Chrys shoots a quick glance up at Lee before returning his attention to the computer screen.
“I’ve got more stuff to do.”
“It can’t wait?”
Chrys mutters some kind of non-committal sound without bothering to look up.
“All right then.” Lee shakes his head and starts walking out of the room. He stops in the doorway and looks back over his shoulder at Chrys. “Can you come to bed soon please? I need to talk to you about something important.”
Chrys turns around in his seat and frowns at Lee for a moment before nodding.
“Sure,” Chrys mutters. He smiles for a second before turning back to the computer. “I’ve just got a bit more left to do.”
***
Lee doesn’t realize that he’s been asleep until he’s jolted awake by the presence of someone climbing into bed behind him.
“Hey.” Chrys kisses the back of Lee’s neck. “You want to talk now?”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Lee opens his eyes. He glances at the bedside clock for a second - the time is much later than he’d been thinking. He turns around to face Chrys. “It’s three o’clock in the morning - go the fuck to sleep.”
“You said it was important.”
“It was important four fucking hours ago - I’m sleeping now.” Lee turns back over and pulls the covers up to his chin.
“Come on - I want to talk.”
“You’ve finally got time for me, huh?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look, I don’t want to have this argument, right now.”
“But you’re angry.”
“Damn right I’m angry, but I’m also tired and I am not in the mood for an argument so just shut up and go to sleep - we’ll talk about this some other time.”
“But …”
“Seriously, Chrys - one more word and I’m leaving.”
Chrys opens his mouth to say something else, but then decides it would be a bad idea. He closes his mouth again and spends the next several minutes frowning at Lee. He knows that he’s messed up - that much is obvious - but when did it get quite this bad?
***
Chrys wakes up alone the following morning and it does nothing to ease the worries still left over from last night. He stands up and stretches out. On a normal day, he’d shower or go about getting ready for the day before going downstairs for breakfast, but he knows that it’s more important for him to find Lee first today. He walks downstairs and through the living room. He hesitates just outside the kitchen, where he can hear Lee walking about. He takes a deep breath before stepping into the kitchen.
Lee looks up when he hears Chrys walk into the kitchen, but looks away after a couple of seconds.
Chrys is grateful for the lack of shouting, but he doesn’t think it’ll be long before this eerie silence starts to bother him more than any screaming ever could. He walks over to the counter and pours himself a cup of coffee. He has a few sips before he realizes that something doesn’t taste quite right. He frowns and takes another sip before looking up at Lee.
“Decaf? Since when do we drink decaf?”
“Since now.”
“Please don’t be like this.” Chrys puts his cup down and takes a few steps forward. “I just want to talk.”
“Yeah, and I wanted to talk last night.” Lee clenches a fist and looks over and Chrys. “I told you that it was important.”
“And I’m sorry, but what I was doing was important too.”
“Yeah.” Lee can’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. “I’ve gotten that memo over the past month when the most you’ve said to me is five words at a time.”
“This is more than five words.”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
“Sorry.” Chrys lowers his gaze, just a fraction. “I’ve just been trying my best to find something for next year.”
“You think I don’t understand that? You think I don’t know how terrifying it is, how much of a desperate scramble it turns into?”
“Okay, yeah, but I don’t want to end up …”
“Like I did?”
“With nothing.” Chrys sighs a scrubs a hand over his face. “I’m not ready to give this up yet.”
“Do you really think that I didn’t feel exactly the same way? I understand all of this. I went through the same damn thing and not once did I stop talking to you, not once have I ignored you when you told me something was important.”
“I didn’t ignore you - I was just late.”
“It’s not good enough.” Lee bangs his hand on the table. “You can’t keep doing this.”
“Then tell me why. Tell me what was so important.”
“So you can ignore me for another month?”
“I’m sorry, all right? Just …” Chrys sighs. “Just tell me.”
“So what? I’m just supposed to forget the rest of this shit and move on?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. We’ll be better. Just tell me.”
Lee stares at Chrys for several seconds. He doesn’t want to say any of this, not now, not like this, but he doesn’t think he can keep this to himself any longer. He opens his mouth to reply, but the ringing of the phone interrupts him before he gets to say a word.
Chrys takes a step towards the living room, where the handset for the phone is lying on the coffee table.
“That’s great - go get the fucking phone. It’s not like we’re in the middle of something here.”
Chrys stops and looks back over at Lee.
“It might be important.”
“More important than me?”
Chrys opens and close his mouth a couple of times.
“Go.” Lee waves towards the living room. “Just go.”
Chrys stares at Lee for a few seconds before rushing through to the living room.
“I’ll be back,” Chrys shouts back over his shoulder. He grabs the phone and holds it up to his ear. He’s a little short, at first, but then he gets caught up in the conversation. He’s still relieved when he hangs up, though. He takes a deep breath before walking back through to the kitchen. He’s not surprised when he gets back to the kitchen to find that Lee has already gone. He sits down at the table and puts his head in his hands. He’s messed up and now he’s gone and made it worse. He doesn’t see a way out of this now and he knows that it’s all his fault.
CHAPTER TEN
“You’ve got Alex’s phone number, right?”
David puts down his book and turns to look at Brandon. He frowns a little and hesitates for several seconds before speaking,
“Yes.” David is quiet for another few seconds. “Why?”
“It sounds like he’s having a shit time dealing with all of this and I thought he might like someone to talk to.”
“Right.” David nods. “You want to help Alex?”
“What?” Brandon folds his arms across his chest and scowls at David. “I can be very fucking comforting when I want to.”
“Hey, I don’t doubt that,” David smiles and nudges Brandon’s shoulder, “but Alex? I didn’t think you even liked him.”
“I … Maybe we’ve had some problems, but that’s not the point - he’s hurting and I can help.”
“You think?”
“You don’t?” Brandon stares at David. “You don’t think I understand what it feels like to be pregnant and not happy about it?”
“I think that it’s not the same thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because you decided not to have our baby and he’s clearly going to have his.”
“You think it’s not just as fucking difficult?” Brandon grits his teeth and turns his head away. He takes a deep breath. “I just want to tell him that it’s okay to not be happy.”
“It’s nice that you want to help, really, but …”
“What?” Brandon turns back to look at David. “Do you think I’d get him to make the same decision I did?”
“Look, Brandon - you can’t even talk to me about this without getting angry? Do you really think you can handle talking to Alex when he’s going to do what you didn’t?”
“You don’t know that.”
“Of course I do.” David just about resists the urge to roll his eyes. “It’s Alex - if he wasn’t going to have the baby, he’d already not be having the baby.”
“Are you sure you don’t mean that Desmond and Neal have guilted him into it?”
“Not even those two could get Alex to do anything he didn’t really want to.” David offers a brief smile. “You seem to be taking this really personally.”
Brandon shrugs. He’s quiet for a minute before speaking again.
“It just sounds like he could use someone to talk about this with. I know I could’ve.”
“You had me.”
“Yeah.” Brandon nods. He glances at David through the corner of his eye. “You were there and you were so supportive, but you weren’t pregnant so you’d never be able to understand everything. I know how it is to suffer like he’s doing - I just thought I could help.”
“That …” David smiles and wraps an arm around Brandon’s shoulders. “That’s nice of you and, yeah, it doesn’t matter why you’re reaching out; it just matters that you are.”
“So you have the phone number?”
“Yeah, I’ll dig it out for you later.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Daddy!”
Franc hasn’t even had chance to take off his coat after returning from work before Giselle is wrapping her arms around his legs.
“Hey, princess.” Franc sweeps Giselle into his arms and kisses her forehead. “What’s up?”
“We’re gettin’ cousins!” Giselle grins and claps her hands in front of Franc’s face.
“Oh.” Franc smiles - Neal had told him about the babies a few weeks ago, but asked him to keep it quiet until they were ready to make the big announcement. He’d known then that Giselle would be excited and he’s not let down by her reaction. He shifts Giselle over to one hip and uses his free hand to take off his helmet. “You’re happy then?”
“Uh huh.” Giselle gasps and her eyes widen. “Do we getta visit? And play with Matty and Libby and Ollie and Max and Andrea and Bella and Lukas?”
“Uh …”
“Oh, I got to tell Nima! And Ellie! Uncle Steve’s got to know! Daddy, put me down.”
“Sure.” Franc sets Giselle down on the floor and watches her race off upstairs. “Don’t wake up your sister.” He shakes his head and wanders through to the living room. He smiles at Melissa as he drops down onto the couch next to her. “Giselle is excited for the babies then.”
“She hasn’t stopped talking about it.” Melissa shakes her head. “I can’t imagine how much of a fuss Matthew and Elizabeth are making.”
“Yes, I imagine it will be quite difficult for them right now.”
“And Alex?”
“He …” Franc shakes his head because he has no idea about anything to do with Alex or what he’s thinking right now. “Like you said it will be difficult for them now.”
“But they’ll be okay.” Melissa puts her hand on top of Franc’s hand. “Somehow, they always are.”
“Mommy! Daddy!” Giselle comes barreling back into the room. “Can we have more babies too?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What the fuck is this?”
“Mark …”
“No.” Mark points at Tomas and then throws his arms out to the sides. “Seriously? It’s like a fucking joke.”
“Mark, will …”
“Could they not fucking wait or something? Like a couple of weeks?”
“Mark …”
“It’s s
upposed to be our turn.” Mark stops just short of stamping his foot on the ground. “It’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair.”
“Mark.” Tomas reaches out and pulls Mark towards him. He puts a hand on top of Mark’s stomach. “Stop swearing in front of the baby.”
“Why?” Mark leans against Tomas. “You do it all the fucking time.”
Tomas laughs for a few seconds and presses a kiss to Mark’s shoulder.
“Then you need to calm down.”
“It’s not fair,” Mark mutters and settles against Tomas. “It was supposed to be about her.” He puts a hand on top of his stomach. “She was supposed to be the biggest story in our world and now everyone’s forgotten about her because of them.”
“Not everyone.” Tomas wraps his arms around Mark. “We remember her.”
“Well, of course we fucking do.” Mark sighs. He’s quiet for a minute. “She’s just as special as those kids are. She deserves some attention.”
“And she’ll get it, but she’ll get it from us instead of everyone else. It means she’ll get a quieter life than those babies probably will. Don’t you want that for her?”
“Well, yeah, but part of me wants her to be the center of attention, too.”
“She does deserve that, but it isn’t enough to get worked up over? Let’s … Let’s just enjoy having her to ourselves, okay?”
“Okay.” Mark smiles. “We can do that.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Desmond looks up from his conversation with Neal to see Alex shuffle into the kitchen, pour himself a cup of coffee and shuffle back out again. He stares after Alex for a moment before sighing and shaking his head.
“I do want to fix it, you know,” Neal mutters.
“I know.” Desmond smiles and squeezes Neal’s knee. “I suppose it’ll just take a bit of time. I’m just worried about him - he seems to be getting worse.”
“He …” Neal shakes his head. “Like you said - it will take some time.”
“Yeah. You going to be okay on your own with him tonight?”
The Omega's Finest Baby: An Mpreg Romance (Unexpected Book 2) Page 7
