Brian

I really hoped that Nate would move in immediately—like, not even go back to The Sunnyside Home at all— but I knew he had to get his stuff. And I guess I could understand how he was feeling about not wanting to be a burden. Kind of.

But the thing was, I was the alpha and it was simply my job to take care of him. Providing for my omega and my family was in my blood. Every fiber of my being wanted to keep him safe and happy, regardless of whether he was carrying our baby or not. But knowing that I’d knotted him and that he most likely was pregnant, I wanted him by my side.

But I had to let him go back, for a little while anyway. There were some things I needed to figure out for myself too. I had to talk to the landlord, Hank, about Nate moving in, and while I was at it, I thought I might even ask him about buying the place. That’s what I’d been thinking about right before I entered Nate that last time—about the two of us raising our family together in this house.

I really loved this neighborhood and I always thought it would be an amazing place to raise a family. And I loved the fact that Hank and Jason lived right next door with their son. That meant our kids would have someone to play with, and a safe neighborhood to play in. Especially with Hank being a former cop.

As I was heading out the door to go talk to Hank, I almost ran into Alex as he came busting in the front door.

“Hey,” I said, jumping back and out of the way of the door. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’ve been around,” he said with a sheepish look in his eyes.

“Around where? Are you living under the house now?”

“Ha ha. No, I’ve been back here a few nights to get some clothes and stuff. I guess you must have been asleep or something.”

“Yeah, if you were skulking around in the dark I probably missed you,” I said as I closed the door. “What, are you hooking up with someone?” I asked. “Staying at their house? Come on, I need details.” I followed Alex into the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter.

“It’s nothing,” he said with a shrug as he opened his cupboard and started pulling out cans of food.

“Alex, I can tell by your voice and the fact that you’re not looking at me that you’re hiding something. Not to mention, the smell of omega that’s all over you.”

Alex turned around quickly and looked at me with panic in his eyes. “You can smell him?”

“Um, yeah, it smells like you brought a horny harem into the house with you.”

“Jesus, I took a shower before I left. I guess his scent is still on my clothes. The guy’s got some strong-ass pheromones.”

“Who does?” I said impatiently.

“Look, Brian, I’d like to tell you, but I promised him I wouldn’t. He’s really not comfortable with what’s going on.”

“What do you mean, with what’s going on?”

“Well,” Alex said as he filled a grocery bag up with food. “He wasn’t an omega until a couple weeks ago. I guess he had one of those late changes, you know, how betas can change out of the blue?”

“Yeah, but I kind of thought that was a myth or something.”

“Nah, I’ve known a couple guys it’s happened to. Anyway, he didn’t even realize what was happening. He went into heat and I just happened to be there … and yada yada yada.”

“You’re giving me yada yada yada?”

“Come on, I promised him,” Alex said, looking at me.

“All right, I won’t keep pressing you for details. But you know you’re going to have to give up some of them eventually, don’t you?”

“Yeah yeah yeah. So what’s been going on over here?”

“Not much. Nate’s been coming over and hanging out. That’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping I’d run into Holden and Shane at some point too, ‘cause I wanted to talk to all of you.”

“About what?”

“Well, you know how Nate has been living in that group home?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, it’s a cool place and everything, but I was really hoping he could move in here with us. He would share my room with me, of course.”

“So, you guys are really going for it?”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “I think things have really been going well for him lately. He seems happier and more at ease. Plus …”

“You didn’t,” Alex said, turning to face me. “You got Nate pregnant? Already?”

“Well, I don’t exactly know if he’s pregnant or not. But …”

“You knotted him, didn’t you? You horny bastard.”

“Hey, don’t give me that. I have a feeling you’ve been doing plenty of knotting of your own, lately. It’s hard as hell to resist an omega … especially one that’s in heat.”

“Yeah, and especially one that’s in heat that you’re particularly compatible with.”

“What you mean? You guys have a lot in common?”

“No, actually we have next to zero in common. But you’ve heard those stories about finding a really compatible mate—one who’s, like, hormonally compatible, haven’t you? How alphas can totally lose control when the scent hits them? Well, that’s pretty much what it was like for me with this guy. Seriously, I was sweating and shaking. I’ve never felt anything like it before in my life. And once I got back to his place, I couldn’t freaking leave. I just wanted to stay there with him forever. Finally, when his heat ran its course, things mellowed out a little, but …”

“But you got him pregnant, you horny bastard,” I said with a smile as I crossed my arms in front of me. “And you’re giving me grief?”

“Aw, come on, give me a break. I haven’t gotten a full night’s sleep in over a week. I just came back here to get some clothes and grab some groceries, then I’m heading back over there.”

“I thought you said his heat was overwith.”

“It is. I just like hanging out with him,” Alex said with a sheepish grin.

“So, when am I gonna get to meet this super compatible omega?”

“Well, he doesn’t really want to come over here. He doesn’t want to leave his house at all, really. I’ll try to talk him into it. So, where have the other guys been?”

“I don’t know. This place has been really quiet this summer. Maybe everyone has found a particularly compatible mate.”

“Ha ha, yeah, probably. Well, I’m fine with Nate moving in. He seemed like a pretty cool guy. You talked to Hank about it yet?”

“I was just gonna go over there and see if it’s okay.”

“Sounds good. Oh, you don’t happen to know anybody that needs a bike, do you?” Alex asked as we walked into the living room.

“What kind of bike?”

“I guess it’s some kind of super expensive all-terrain racing bike. I don’t really know bikes at all, but this omega I’ve been hanging out with says it’s the top of the line. He’s selling some of his stuff cause he’s trying to downsize and start his own business. He said he bought it a couple months ago and only rode it once. He doesn’t think he’s gonna use it anymore now that he’s … well, you know.”

“What he’s afraid to ride a bike when he’s pregnant? What is he from the nineteen-fifties?”

I followed Alex upstairs and stood in his doorway as he pulled some clothes out of a drawer.

“No, he’s … well I don’t know why exactly. He just wants to sell it. That’s all I know.”

“How much is he asking?”

“A couple grand, I think. But I’m sure he’d be into making a deal.”

“Do you think he’d be interested in a swap of some kind? Does he need any web design work done? App development? Anything like that?”

“I don’t know, I’ll ask. You thinking about getting a new bike?”

“No, mine’s still in decent shape. But I think Nate could use a new one. He used to spend half his life on his old BMC back in high school and he had to sell it when his parents died.”

“BMC?” Alex said, turning to look at me. “That’s the kind of bike Jeremy has. He said it’s a really nice one, but I have no idea.”

“Jeremy, huh? Well, at least I got that much info out of you.”

Alex went into his closet and started throwing more clothes onto his bed. “And that’s all you’re getting out of me. I’ll check with him and see if he wants to do a swap.”

“Okay, sounds good. Well, I’m gonna head over to Hanks. You gonna be gone for a while?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll be back eventually, though. Say hi to Hank for me.”

“Sure thing. See ya, Alex.”

I left Alex to his packing and headed over to Hank’s. It took him a while to answer the door and when he did he looked exhausted. “Hey! How’s it going?” I smiled when I first saw Hank with little Javier in his arms, but then noticed that they were both covered in white powder and I couldn’t help but laugh. “What happened to you guys?”

“Oh, just trying to make some pancakes. You’d think it wouldn’t be that difficult. But I swear, everything is ten-thousand times harder with an infant around. You wanna come in?” Hank asked as he stepped to the side and let me through the doorway. “Have a seat. Sorry about all the clothes. I haven’t had a chance to fold the laundry yet.”

“Is Jason around?” I asked as I pushed a pile to one side and sat down on the couch. Hank sat down next to me with Javier on one leg. “I think this little guy is very excited about checking out our visitor. Do you mind?” he asked.

“Not at all.” I put my hands around Javier’s waist and picked him up, then set him down on my lap. His little hands were grabbing at anything they could get a hold of—my shirt, my face, and my hair.

“Sorry about that,” Hank said as he flopped back and rested his head on the couch. “Just hold him far enough away that he can’t grab anything if it’s bothering you. Oh, my God, I am so exhausted. What was it you were asking?” Hank asked with his eyes closed.

“Oh, nothing. Just if Jason was around. Is he at work today?”

“Yeah, today’s a full day for him. He was home with me all day yesterday and this place was spotless. Can you believe that? It looks like a cyclone hit it now. Hopefully he’ll just pick up a giant carload of food on his way home from work tonight. There’s no way I’m gonna attempt to cook anything for the rest of the day after the pancake fiasco.”

“Wow, so this is all just from today?” I asked.

Hank lifted his head up and looked around the room, then let it flop back down on the back of the couch. “Yeah, just one day. Not a full day, even. Half a day.”

“Well, I was gonna say, you guys should get a housecleaner, but … wow.”

“What we need is to live inside a vacuum cleaner. The second there is one inch of clean space anywhere in this house it immediately gets covered by something. Clothes or food or … I don’t even know what’s over there in that corner. I’m telling you, that kid,” Hank said, pointing at his infant son with his eyes still closed, “can make a mess with a clean towel.”

“But you’re still the cutest baby on the planet,” I said, bouncing Javier up and down as he giggled and continued to try to grab my face. “Seriously, Hank, this kid is insanely cute.”

“Yeah, he is,” Hank said with a smile. “Just don’t have kids until you’re absolutely sure you’re ready for them, ‘cause I’m telling you, they take over your entire life.” I didn’t say anything in response and somehow Hank immediately knew what that meant. “Dude,” he said, opening his eyes and looking at me. “You’re not. You didn’t. Are you?”

“I don’t know what I am,” I said, looking back at Javier. “Not yet, anyway.”

“Wow. Nate?”

“How did you guess?”

“Well, I am a detective,” he said with a laugh. “I haven’t seen you with anyone other than him in, what, a year? So I just used my powers of deduction.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s Nate and he might be pregnant. That’s why I came over. I wanted to ask you something.”

“You want Nate to move in?” Hank asked.

“How did you guess? Wait … detective,” I said, pointing at Hank.

“Exactly,” he laughed. “Yeah, sure, that’s fine with me. As long as the other housemates are okay with it.”

“Well, I talked to Alex, but no one else’s been around for about a week. It’s been pretty quiet over there.”

“Maybe they’re all off having a summer fling,” Hank said in a wistful tone. “That sounds nice. Tons of sex and no crying babies to interrupt. Full nights of sleep. Long, leisurely dinners in a restaurant.”

I looked over at Hank and noticed his eyes were closed again. I wondered if he was going to fall asleep sitting there. That would’ve been fine with me. I didn’t have anywhere to go and I loved playing with Javier, but I really wanted to ask him another question. “Hank?” I said, gently.

“Yeah. I’m awake.”

“Have you ever thought about selling that house?”

Hank’s eyes opened for the second time and he looked at me. “You want to buy it?”

“I was thinking about it. I mean, I don’t know where I’d come up with the down payment, but it seems like it would be a really nice place to raise a family. It’s almost the exact same layout as this house, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, they were built at the same time. Well, I’ll talk to Jason about it. We may be able to work out a private contract instead of going through a mortgage company. That way we could make the down payment anything that would work for you.”

“Really? That would be amazing.”

“Just keep your pants on, Brian. I definitely need to talk to Jason about this first. We’ve been living off the rent on that house, so we’ll have to see if we can swing it. Is this something you would like to happen really soon?”

“Well, I just came up with the idea. But, if Nate is pregnant …”

“That gives you about five months.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking at Hank. “That gives me five months.”