Chapter Thirty-Seven

Conrad

I rubbed my hand over Mason’s belly, bending over and kissing it.

It would never cease to amaze me.

His skin pulled taut over his round abdomen and veins ran up the sides, and a light brown line went down the middle. His belly button also popped out.

It was the cutest damn thing.

“You need a new bra,” I said, my eyes going to his breasts ready to burst from the one he wore.

“I think it’s okay.”

“Your boobs are kind of oozing out of it.” I cupped them in my hands.

“If this was when we first found out, I would say I don’t want a new bra.”

“Mason, it’s okay. I love your breasts.” I ran my thumbs over the front of his bra, making sure to catch his nipples.

Mason let out a gasp and then said, “They’re a b cup now, aren’t they?”

“Most definitely.”

“Since I’ve gone to a couple more of my meetings, I think they’ve helped me a lot to really love myself as I am. And…”

“What, baby?” I asked, looking into his eyes.

“I’ll still use the male pronouns, but if people ever ask about my gender, I’m going to say, intersex. Not an intersex male, just an intersex person.”

“That’s great. I’m so happy you’re becoming comfortable being you.”

“You’re okay with it?” He sucked on his bottom lip and blinked.

“Of course. Know that I love you exactly how you are. I mean look at this.” I pushed up on his breasts some with my palms.

“Okay. They’re growing because they’re filling up with milk, getting ready for our babies. We’re going to be dads so soon.”

“Not even a couple months.”

“We never decided on a name for him. Elizabeth and…”

“What about Reid?” I asked, kissing the center of his chest, right above the little bow on his bra.

“My middle name?” Mason asked, tears seeping from his eyes.

“Yeah.” I wiped a tear from his cheek with my thumb.

“What about yours?”

“No, yours.”

Mason smiled. “Elizabeth and Reid. They sound perfect together.”

“Perfect like you,” I said, softly kissing his lips. He kissed me back and pulled down my pajama bottoms.

“You’re wearing them,” he said, smiling.

I wore white lace bikini underwear.

I finally went ahead and ordered a pair, figured why the hell not?

And surprisingly, they felt really great on me.

“God, that’s a turn on. Look how they cup your cock and balls in there. I can see everything through the lace.” He sat up and took me in his palm. “Everything is nestled in there so nicely and the way these hug your hips.” He massaged me and then bent forward and put his mouth over my bulge. Kissing to the underside. Sucking on my balls through the lace. He tugged down the front of my panties. My erection front and center. I kneeled before him as he sucked me.

“Take off your bra,” I told him as I pulled off my shirt. He took it off. “Now get on all fours.”

“Let me just make you come.”

“I said get on all fours.”

He nodded and turned around.

“My good omega,” I said, running my palms up his back. I yanked down his pants and underwear, and leaned forward over him, wrapping my arms around his belly. “God, Mason, you’re so sexy.”

“Yeah, you’ve told me before,” Mason said.

“You getting sassy mouthed with me?” I asked, slapping his ass.

He bit the corner of his lip and smirked. “Maybe.”

Bending down some, I spread his cheeks and lightly licked over his hole. Mason gasped as I drew circles around it with my tongue, then began kissing his opening, lashing my tongue inside.

Giving him one more kiss there, I got up, grabbing the lube.

Lubing up my cock and his hole, I pushed myself in, good and slow. Enjoying the feeling of his tight hole and the heat I met the deeper I went.

Then I gave one good forceful thrust.

“Ah,” Mason cried out, arching his back.

I grabbed his hips and gave him a few more good thrusts and then slowed down a bit.

“You’re not going to hurt them.” He put his hand on his stomach and glanced back at me.

I bent forward, pressing my lips to his. “If you say so.”

I kissed below his ear and neck and then began pounding him.

As I pumped in and out, he moaned, encouraging me to pick up speed with his hole clenching around me.

I let out a stuttered breath.

He felt so good.

He began panting and bent his head back. But then he winced and pushed up, so he stood on his knees and grabbed his stomach with his hands.

“Mason, you all right?”

He let out a whimper.

“Jesus, we should stop.” I wrapped my arms around his chest and held him to me.

“Sometimes, when you orgasm, it makes you have contractions.”

“Okay, we’re done.”

“No, it’s passing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please finish.”

We stayed standing on our knees, and I kept it slow and gentle. He lay his head back on my chest, and we came together.

***

“Okay,” I told everyone. “I’m going to get him. I’m pretty sure he has no idea because he keeps asking when we’re going to buy the rest of the baby stuff,” I told everyone in the room.

“We’ll be here waiting,” Mason’s mom said.

“Should we say surprise? Don’t want to scare him and make a baby pop out,” Margo said.

“I’m sure he’d be happy if it were only that easy,” Jill said.

“Right back.”

I hopped in the car and drove over to our cottage. Mason sat on the couch, eating a sandwich and watching a home and garden show.

“You should see how they did this baby’s room,” he said, teary-eyed.

“We’ll have our babies’ room looking awesome soon enough.”

“They’re going to have to sleep in laundry baskets. I’m due in a month, Conrad.” He stuck out his trembling bottom lip.

“I know, baby.” I went and sat down next to him on the couch and rubbed his belly. It stuck out so far now. It was like a giant torpedo of babyness.

“Come down to The Welcome Center with me?”

“Can you get a crane to lift me off the couch?”

“Come here,” I said, holding out my hand, pulling him to his feet.

“Let me pee first.”

“I’ll wait outside.”

 

“Why are there so many cars here?” Mason asked as I pulled into the parking lot of The Welcome Center.

“Having some afternoon snacks and stuff. Figured we can socialize a bit.”

Mason sighed. “Okay, I suppose.”

I helped him out of the car, and we went into the building. I held the small of his back as we walked. I’d pick him up and carry him, but I knew he’d never let me. Sometimes, it looked like he struggled so much to get from point a to point b.

“Over here,” I said, guiding him toward the day room.

“Oh,” Mason said, catching sight of some of the balloons. “Oh,” he said again as we walked in, sniffling and blinking back tears.

“Surprise,” I said.

 

Mason

The baby shower was wonderful, and I spent most of it crying. My mom was there, Jill and Morgan, everyone from the community. While Conrad’s family couldn’t make it, they sent lovely gifts in their place: car seats and a stroller for the babies and two cribs. But as I sat there staring at the room full of people who loved me, I began to think this is all of them. If we stayed at Pine Wood Falls, I’d probably never meet any other people, and I still kept dwelling on that about a week later. Maybe it was knowing that we had less than a month left that I started overthinking everything.

“Can we really stay here? Settle down, make a life for ourselves?” I asked Conrad. He sat at the dining room table, doing his homework.

“Of course, we can,” he said, looking up from his book.

“I haven’t been out in public in months. What if we get pregnant again? I’ll be stuck here all the time.”

“Mason, you can—”

“No, none of that. You know I can’t deal with that stress.” Just thinking about it caused my chest to tighten. “What are we doing here? Hiding away. We don’t ever have to have kids again. You know that, right?”

“Yes, of course. I’m not going to force you to have children,’ Conrad said in a gentle tone. But doctors, community members, even Conrad, always talked about all the children I’d have in the future.

“We can take our twins and go start a life in the city. Be around people not like us. Make new friends. I know you like it here, but you have a full life with school, a job, a family.” All I had was being stuck in the middle of nowhere. Sure, I had a family, but they, mainly Conrad, got to go out and live their lives while also having a family.

“I feel like all I’ll ever have is a family if we stay here. That’d be it,” I said. “I was supposed to have a career in publishing or become a professor. I’m not even in school right now. What have I done?” I put my hands over my face.

“You made the choice you thought was best for you and the babies,” Conrad said, pulling my hands away from my face and looking into my eyes.

“The babies. That’s my whole life. I’m the baby making machine. And isn’t that what you want, Mr. Alpha? Have someone at home. Someone to spit out all those babies you keep talking about?”

“Mason, where is this all coming from?”

“My life, that’s where, Conrad. And in a matter of weeks, I’m going to have two newborns, and I’m going to still be stuck here because I’ll be feeding them around the clock. It’s not like you can do it. I’m the one with the breasts.” My face was hot, and my hands shook.

“I thought you wanted all of this.”

“Maybe I don’t. Maybe I’m just now realizing it,” I said through my gritted teeth.

“Well, maybe, you just need to get some fresh air. I’m sure your hormones are on overdrive.”

“Fresh air, the answer to everything. But you know what? I am going for a walk.” I did need to calm down. My shaking hands being a good indicator of that.

“Let me come with you.”

“What? No.”

“I don’t want you walking by yourself.” Oh my God, he didn’t want me to do anything.

I jabbed my pointer finger at him. “I’m capable of doing some stuff on my own.”

“Fine, go. I’ll be here, waiting for your phone call.”

I so badly wanted to kick him. I want to say I ran out of the house, but instead, I slowly waddled to door with tears rolling down my face. I made sure the door slammed behind me, though.

 

Conrad

I called up Tyler because I didn’t really know what else to do. Mason and I had never had a fight before. Tyler came over with a six-pack. Even though he and Sam were a good deal older than us, we all became good friends.

“So Mason is pissed at me,” I said, taking a chug from my beer. The two of us sat on the front stoop of the cottage.

“What did you do?” Tyler asked.

“I think just existed. Should I go after him? He’s out walking by himself.” I needed to be by his side. Make sure he was safe. Be there in case he went into labor.

“Conrad, he’s a full-grown man, and if he can make it through a twin pregnancy, he can handle a walk by himself.”

I looked down at the ground. “I might’ve been an ass, too.”

“Yep. Yep. Alphas are really good at that.”

“I thought he was so happy.”

“I’m sure he is, but he’s due in just weeks, and you thought his life changed before, now add two babies into the mix. Sometimes, omegas can feel boxed in.” Tyler brushed back his hair as a breeze blew it into his face. It was a clear, beautiful night. Actually, perfect for a walk.

“That’s what it sounded like.”

When Mason went off on his tangent, his eyes darted everywhere, and he wrung his hands together. It looked like he was panicking and wanted to get out of there.

“I know you want to protect him. Do everything you can for him, but maybe you need to pull back a bit. Give him some breathing room.”

“I do, or I thought I did.” But damn, my heart hurt, thinking maybe I was too overbearing. Too controlling. And knowing he might not have been happy almost brought me to tears.

Tyler cracked open another beer. “What does he do?”

“Besides be pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“God, yeah, I guess he’s right. Maybe I pushed him in the direction of not taking classes. Always resting. Always having babies.” But man, if I didn’t love him pregnant.

“I think you’ve been thinking too much about what you want and not enough about what he wants.”

“But he says he wants those things, too. The life together, the house, more children.”

“I have a feeling he says those things in agreeance with you.”

“I never thought about that, but yeah.” I scrubbed my palm over my face and looked into the dark night. The only light coming from a small window in the cottage across the street.

“Sometimes, omegas will say things to keep their alphas happy. They tend to put others first, and a lot of the time, they get nothing in return but ungratefulness.”

“I’m so grateful for him.”

“I bet you tell him that a lot, too.”

“I always do.” I always told him how amazing he was. How beautiful he was. How much I loved him, but maybe I never gave him a chance to say anything back, or anything that was real, at least.

“But they say, actions speak louder than words.” Tyler slapped me on the back. I didn’t even finish my beer. An idea brewed, so I needed to be sober to drive where I had to go. Would it help at all or make Mason feel worse? That I didn’t know, but I had to try.