When he entered the little gym, Eric was struck again by how beautiful Julian was. The Omega was waiting behind the front desk, and even with the dark circles under his eyes and the slight slump to his shoulders, the Alpha couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

He glanced down at the Omega’s still-flat tummy, knowing that his child was growing there. His Alpha instincts urged him to tell Julian that they should try to make it work, but his pride made him stay silent. Pain twisted in his heart like a dagger, and he made himself meet Julian’s gaze.

The Omega was watching him with the same expression he’d had when they were strangers: proud and a little cold. “You wanted to speak to me?”

Eric glanced over Julian’s shoulder. Gabe and Logan were behind the closed door of the Omega’s office, the Alpha cradling their child in his arms. They gazed back at him through the window with watchful faces.

“I’m glad you have such good friends,” Eric said.

Julian looked startled but quickly regained his composure. “If you have something to say, say it,” he said. Under the impatient edge, Eric could hear a slight hitch in his voice, the only sign of how upset he was.

“I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier,” the Alpha said. “I didn’t mean to freak out on you or try to tell you what to do.”

Julian didn’t say anything but looked up at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to go on.

Eric sighed. Telling the truth would be the best way to explain himself, as much as he hated doing it. “The whole situation was just… familiar. My ex, a long time ago, said he was pregnant with my child. We were having problems, but stupidly I thought having a kid with him would fix them. I set him up in a bigger apartment, paid the rent for a year, and gave him some cash for baby stuff and medical expenses. And that was the last I saw of him.”

Julian looked startled, but Eric kept talking. It was like a dam had finally broken, and he had to get all the words out now. “He quit answering my calls and blocked me on social media. I panicked at first because I thought something had happened to him. When I tried to go see him, mutual friends of ours said he had told them all about my ‘controlling behavior’ and they wouldn’t tell me where he had gone. I finally made some fake social media profiles to check up on him, and I saw he had posted pictures of shopping sprees and spa visits.” He still remembered the rage he’d felt, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

“When I finally cornered a mutual friend a few months later and asked her about the baby, she had no idea what I was talking about. He wasn’t pregnant at all. It turns out he lied about everything.” He shook his head, forcing himself to take a deep breath.

“And you think I’m the same?” Julian asked.

“No! I know you’re not,” Eric said quickly. “I just… wanted you to know it wasn’t anything you did. It’s my past that made me act the way I did. I’m not asking for your forgiveness, I just thought you should know the whole story.”

The Omega nodded and looked down. “Well, I really am pregnant,” Julian said. “But I don’t want any of your money, if that puts your mind at ease.”

“Are you going to keep the baby?” the Alpha asked.

“Yes,” said Julian, without any hesitation. “You don’t need to be involved. I have plenty of savings,” he said, with a challenging lift of his chin. “And I don’t mind being a single father.”

Eric hadn’t been expecting that. He thought of Charlotte’s long struggle to take care of Leah by herself and suddenly felt guilty. “I don’t mind sending you-“ he began, but Julian cut him off.

“I don’t want you coming and going in my child’s life,” he said firmly. “It would be confusing for them. You either need to be a father or don’t, but you don’t get to pick and choose or half-ass it when it’s convenient for you.”

The Alpha found himself struck by Julian’s strength, his determination. The things he had once loved about the Omega, he realized sadly. “I can’t stay,” he said quietly. “I’ve told you that from the beginning.” It was a lame excuse and they both knew it.

“If you can’t stay, then please go,” Julian said. The Omega seemed strangely calm, but Eric could hear a tightness in his voice. The slight shimmer of tears in his eyes caught the light, and he quickly looked away like he didn’t want Eric to see his face.

The Alpha reached into his pocket and set a business card on the desktop. “If you ever need anything, please contact me,” he said.

Julian nodded stiffly, still avoiding Eric’s gaze.

He didn’t know what else to say, so he turned and walked out, letting the door swing slowly shut behind him.

* * *

Eric knew he shouldn’t look back, but he couldn’t help himself. The large windows facing the parking lot let him see everything. Gabe and Logan were bending down to give Julian a double hug, and even little Cash had toddled over to rest a hand on Julian’s knee. The Omega’s back was to him, so he couldn’t see Julian’s expression, but the way they were all circled around him must have been warm and comforting. He was glad for Julian and glad for their child, knowing they wouldn’t end up like him: alone.

As the thought came to him, Eric’s own aloneness suddenly felt like a physical thing, like a hole under his ribs. The brief touch of feeling like he’d had friends and love somehow made it worse than before. He turned his truck onto the highway, his foot pressing hard on the accelerator, feeling the engine roar as it carried him away. He had to get out of this town. He didn’t care about anything anymore. What did it all matter?

He’d just pulled into the parking lot of the hotel when his phone jangled. He checked in case it was Charlotte, but the caller ID said “Bright Realty.” He hesitated, but decided to answer the call.

“Mr. Carwell? I have some good news,” chirped Carla, still ridiculously cheerful.

“I could really use some,” Eric answered, trying not to sound as miserable as he felt.

He heard the sound of paper shuffling in the background. “If you recall, you asked me a few days ago if the seller would be willing to reconsider the charity event requirement for buying the house.”

The Alpha had almost forgotten; it seemed like an eternity ago. “Oh, right.”

“Well, I spoke to her this morning and it turns out she changed her mind. Something’s come up and she apparently needs cash immediately, and so the house is available to you now if you still want it.”

If she had asked him a few days ago, Eric would have hesitated. Being around Julian, feeling loved and seen, had changed him. But now that all that was gone, and he was back to being alone, there was no hesitation.

“Yes,” he said. “I want it. Have the office prepare the paperwork.”

After he hung up with the lawyer, he scrolled through his phone until he found “Wrecker Demolition.”

“Hey, John, it’s Eric Carwell,” he said, marveling at how normal he sounded, even to himself. “Remember that job I mentioned? Well, it’s back on. How soon can you get a crew down to Bright Beach?”