16. Daisy
Jeremy was running late. I”d spent hours sitting in the living room, wrapped up on the comfortable sofa in a throw blanket, with Gilbert curled into my side. He told me he”d be home by four—the game had ended at two, so he’d had plenty of time to make it home.
He had insisted that I wait at his place during the game, claiming that he liked knowing I was at his place while he was gone. Plus, I could keep Gilbert company. I wasn”t hard to convince; his place was so much more comfortable than mine, and I wasn”t going to miss an opportunity to sit on that overly stuffed sofa.
Had something happened to make him run late? Had something distracted him? The Chargers had won by a landslide. Having watched a few of his games now, I was starting to understand the rules, and I even managed to distinguish Jeremy”s figure out of the throng of similarly colored players several times.
I had decided to pass the time by working. My decrepit old laptop looked out of place in Jeremy”s apartment. It was so old and outdated next to the recently renovated apartment.
Plus, I had to resist the urge to throw it against the wall every ten minutes because it was so goddamn slow. The moment I had some spare income, I was going to buy myself a better computer.
The admin work had been slowing down, and I was starting to get worried. How was I going to be able to afford to give birth? Everything was so expensive, and some hospitals would even charge for letting me cuddle my baby for half an hour after they were born—it was ludicrous.
I had less than $100 in my bank account. Sadly, the only reason I had that much was because Jeremy had been feeding me so much lately that I hadn’t needed to do any grocery shopping of my own. Otherwise, my bank balance would have looked even more pathetic.
After an hour of admin work, I put the laptop down, taking a deep breath. My stomach turned with the usual morning-sickness-turned-all-day sickness, and I focused on snuggling with Gilbert. Lying down fully on the gigantic sofa, he easily cuddled into my side as I lay my head down and let myself rest for a moment. The warm, woodsy scent of Jeremy helped calm my raging nausea.
Between his cooking and his scent, my sickness had decreased significantly .
A moment of rest turned into much longer as I drifted into a relatively deep sleep, only to be woken by the sound of the front door clattering open, and Gilbert excitedly hopping down from the couch and running to the front door.
Stretching, I slowly sat up, groaning as my back complained. The further along I was getting in my pregnancy, the more everything ached. As much as I was dreading childbirth, I was looking forward to having my body back and somewhat less achy. Then again, once I had the little parasite, I would probably be too sleep deprived to notice any pains.
Reaching both my hands up, I viciously rubbed both my eyes, desperately trying to wake myself up.
“Hey, flower, were you asleep?” a voice asked from the living room doorway. My eyes shot open. That wasn”t Jeremy.
Devon was standing in the doorway. He was wearing black jeans and a white button down, his hair pushed back out of his face, emphasizing his widow’s peak. Sweet spicy cinnamon wafted towards me, and I couldn’t resist sucking in a lungful.
“I, uh...yeah, I was,” I admitted weakly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Jeremy called me from the arena. He said there was some bureaucratic stuff going on, and he was being kept late. He assured me he was fine, but he was concerned about you being left on your own for so long.”
“Left on my own for so long? What am I, a puppy?” I smiled sleepily at him. Jeremy’s concern was sweet, and it was nice to be thought of that way.
“I see the pregnancy brain is getting the better of you, but Gilbert is the puppy. You are the heavily pregnant woman.”
“Ah, so, that”s why I look like I”m smuggling a beach ball in my dress. It makes perfect sense,” I said dryly, looking down at my belly with a surprised expression. “That still doesn”t explain why you”re here.”
“Well, Jeremy informed me you were going to be on your own for dinner. I thought coming to take you out for some food was the polite thing to do. How do you feel about a greasy burger and fries?”
I opened my mouth to tell him he didn”t have to do that, as nice as the gesture was. But before I could even say the first word, my stomach grumbled violently and Devon’s grin widened. “Someone”s clearly hungry. Come on, let me take advantage of this opportunity. It”s not often I get time for a one-on-one date with you, since Jeremy’s usually hovering around like a big, angry bear.”
A date? Is that what he’d come here for? I probably should have been more freaked out by the prospect that a second alpha now wanted to take me on a date, but I was honestly too tired to think straight. Having just woken up, everything felt a bit hazy. But this man was offering me food, and I wasn”t going to reject that.
“Where do you want to go? I don”t think I”m exactly good company right now. I can hardly see straight.”
“I could always go pick up the food and bring it back here. We could eat it while lying around on the sofa or, hey, even in bed. Jeremy mentioned that your back has been sore.”
There was no way in hell I was going to lie on Jeremy”s bed without him, or even at all. My pathetic bed was out of the question. It would be downright cruel to subject Devon to that.
“No, I could probably do with getting out and stretching my legs,” I insisted, slowly standing. The sentiment was somewhat diminished, though, when I wobbled, the room spinning ever so slightly.
Devon, seeing me going off-balance, rushed forward, grabbing me gently by the elbows and steadying me.
He smelled just as good as I remembered, all spicy-sweet chai. His scent complemented Jeremy’s well; they were both warm and comforting scents I could easily get wrapped up in and fall asleep with.
“Careful there. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Just the little parasite causing some light-headedness. I’ll be fine in a second,” I assured him.
“Car”s got heated seats, and it”s a large vehicle, so it should be easy to get in and out of. How does a drive-through sound? We can eat in the car and get rid of the trash before we even get back.”
“You know how to please a pregnant lady.” I laughed wryly.
“I”m learning. Do you need to grab anything, or should we go? Before you say anything, Jeremy has made it very clear that you are not allowed to grab your purse. I am to purchase any food that we consume—not that he needed to tell me that.” Devon rolled his eyes. “Like I would dream of making a woman pay. What does Jeremy think I am? A caveman?”
“Jeremy has strong opinions when it comes to me paying. I offered once or twice, and he was gravely offended.”
“Rightly so. If an omega is kind enough to join an alpha for dinner, then the alpha should pay for the pleasure of getting to fatten up the omega.”
“I think I”m big enough as it is, at the moment,” I said with a grin, gesturing to my stomach. I was pretty sure I’d had the exact same conversation with Jeremy.
“Nope, you are far too tiny. Remember, I picked you up when I met you, and you were far too light, especially considering you”re carrying a passenger. Maybe one cheeseburger won”t be enough. Maybe you should have two cheeseburgers or even three? Or maybe like a cheeseburger and a hot dog?”
I burst into laughter at his eagerness. “If I eat that much, I’ll explode!”
His brow furrowed as he thought about it for a moment. “True, I do rather like you and don”t want you to explode, so I guess I”ll just have to feed you a normal cheeseburger and fries, but I will add a milkshake.”
“Can you even go for a burger and fries and not have a strawberry milkshake?” I asked.
Devon smacked his palm to his forehead. “Of course not. I”m just being obtuse. Come on, flower, time to feed you.”
“Let me put out some food for Gilbert first. Jeremy usually feeds him right now, and I don”t want to leave him on his own with no dinner.”
“We could take him with us. I”m sure he”ll be happy in the back seat.”
“I will warn you right now—he will try and steal your burger, especially if you have cheese on it.”
Devon sighed and playfully glared at the dog. “Fine. In that case, we’ll leave the beast here. Put the TV on, so he has some noise, and I”ll get his dinner.” He left the living room and made a beeline for the kitchen while I grabbed the TV remote.
The sound of kibble pouring into a bowl grabbed Gilbert’s attention, and he hightailed it out of the room as I put on a random home renovation show.
“All ready?” Devon asked from the doorway.
“Yep, I”m coming. I”m just a little slow,” I said as I grabbed my jacket from the hallway.
It turned out that Devon”s car was gigantic.
“You call that a car?” I asked, incredulously.
He grinned. “It has four wheels and doors and gets you from A to B.”
“That looks like a tank on wheels!”
“What can I say? I like a spacious car, and in this thing, I feel like the king of the road.”
I stared at what looked like an armored SUV. It was practically a military-grade vehicle. Where on earth did he even get that thing? It was so tall. I looked at it for a moment. Stupidly, I’d decided to put on a dress this morning, thinking I was going to have dinner with Jeremy.
“How am I supposed to get into that thing? I”m not exactly flexible right now,” I said, frowning. “And I’m wearing a dress.”
“And it”s a beautiful dress on a beautiful omega,” Devon praised as his eyes raked over me.
“That doesn”t mean I want to flash the entire parking lot what’s underneath said dress.”
That got Devon”s attention. His brows knitted together as his eyes raked over me once more.
“No, we don’t want anyone else seeing something they shouldn’t. Give it a go, there”s a step up. Jeremy”s little sister is short, and she”s gotten into that car a few times.”
He walked round to my side of the car and opened the door. Sure enough, a small step popped out, making it decidedly easier to get in. There was also a handle on the doorframe near the roof that Devon pointed out.
“This seems doable,” I agreed.
“I”m going to stay behind you, just in case. That way, you only flash me.” He shot me a dazzling smile and my core tightened. It almost felt wrong to be so attracted to him, since I was quickly getting attached to Jeremy. But he had made it clear that he would be happy for me to be part of his pack. It was going to take me a while to wrap my head around this idea.