34. Daisy
Braxton Hicks.
I had been such a baby over practice contractions.
It was embarrassing, really.
“You’re not allowed to leave the nest without one of us with you,” Jeremy insisted.
“You heard what Doctor Parrish said. They weren’t even real contractions,” I insisted, sitting up. The moment the doctor had cleared me to go home, the guys had taken me straight to my nest and seemed to think I was going to somehow avoid leaving it until I popped out the babies.
“She also said you should take it easy,” Devon said as he pulled fresh linens out of the linen closet. “So, no leaving the nest unless one of us is with you.”
“What if I need to pee?” I asked pointedly.
“One of us will carry you there,” Jeremy insisted.
“Jeremy! The bathroom is ten steps away. I think I can manage that.”
“Don”t even think about it!” Devon yelled from where he was buried in the closet.
“You guys are going to smother me,” I muttered to myself, crossing my arms.
Jeremy leaned forward, giving my forehead a gentle kiss, cupping the side of my face. “Please? For me? I need to know that you and the ducklings are safe.”
My resolve was crumbling. How could I deny him when he looked so innocent and caring?
“The ducklings are fine, and they are happily kicking away at my bladder,” I assured him.
“I hate that I”ve got to be away for a few days. Are you sure you”ll be okay? You know what? Maybe I should just say screw the contract and stay.”
“Jeremy!” I cried. “You are not going to miss a game you’re contracted to attend. It”s very unlikely the babies are going to come in the next day or two. It”s two nights away, and Devon and Nate are both going to be here, keeping an eye on me. We can video call every night. We better do that, anyway, because I”m not going to have much to do while lying in bed all day.”
He frowned. “It”s not fair that I have to go away.”
“I know, but you wanted to save your paternity leave for when the babies are here.” Players only received two weeks of paternity leave, and Jeremy had insisted on using that from the day the babies were born. He made it clear he didn”t want to miss a moment with them.
“I know.” Jeremy sighed, leaning down to kiss my belly. “Now, you two are going to stay in there until I get home, aren”t you? And then I”m going to make a lovely nursery for you. You guys are going to let your mother rest, yes?” He looked pointedly at my stomach, like the babies were going to respond.
I was looking forward to organizing the nursery. Jeremy had instructed Devon to bring the crib in from the workshop to the nest while he was gone. It was truly starting to hit me that, any day now, I was going to have two babies.
“Go kick hockey ass.” I laughed, pushing Jeremy away. “You”re already late again.”
The team bus had actually left right after my contractions had started and they had rushed me to the doctors. Because of that, Jeremy was going to have to rush to catch the coach to the away rink. He’d insisted on staying until I was settled, though.
“I love you. Keep yourself and my ducklings safe, okay?”
“With Devon and Nate watching over me like guard dogs, I don”t think it”s possible not to.” I laughed, playfully shoving him out of the nest.
As Jeremy walked out of the room, Nate walked in. Or, at least, I thought it was Nate. It was hard to tell, considering his entire face was covered by a small mountain of fabric.
“Pillow delivery!” he exclaimed as he lightly tossed the items onto the end of the bed.
“What are these?” I asked with furrowed brows. My nest was already jam-packed with pillows, though I would never say no to more. Pregnancy nesting was a whole other level of nesting.
I was quickly becoming spoiled. A mere few months ago, I didn”t even have a nest, and Jeremy had given me a phenomenal one… yet the desire to add more was still there.
“I took a detour on the way home to the nesting store and got every other pillow that was left on your wish list.”
I stared at him for a moment too long as his words sank in.
“Nate!” I cried. “One of those pillows cost over two hundred dollars!”
“So?” he asked with a shrug. “You want it, and it”ll make you comfortable.”
I blinked a few times in his direction before turning to Devon, who was now at the edge of the nest, a few blankets in hand. “I think we need to take him to the hospital. Or maybe he needs to see a priest. His personality has changed so much, I”m convinced he’s a changeling, in need of an exorcist, or he has a concussion.”
They all laughed, except for me. I was serious. I placed that pillow on my wish list as a far-off dream. I never actually expected anyone to buy it for me. Honestly, I didn”t even realize they had access to my wish list. I made a mental note to go online and make sure I took off all the expensive items...if there were any left after Nate’s shopping spree.
“Nate can be slow on the uptake, but once he’s on board, he’s all in.” Devon laughed. “Are you hungry?”
“I can eat.”
“I’m thinking steak tonight,”
“With baked potatoes?” I asked, already salivating at the thought.
He nodded sagely. “With loaded baked potatoes.”
“Daisy?” A hand gently shook me awake. Cracking open an eyelid, I saw Nate crouching at the edge of my nest.
“Nate?” I asked, my voice thick with exhaustion.
“You’ve been asleep for hours and haven’t eaten anything.”
“How long have I been out?” I asked, sitting up. Surely, it hadn’t been that long?
“It’s nearly nine, so a good fifteen hours.”
“Oh crap, really?” I exclaimed, turning to look at the clock on my bedside table.
Nate nodded. “You completely passed out yesterday, but I didn”t want to disturb you. Don”t worry, I already texted Jeremy to let him know that you had conked out.”
“Thank you!” If I hadn”t messaged Jeremy back for that many hours, and he had no idea I was asleep, he probably would have freaked out and turned around and came straight back home. “I need to pee!” I said, rolling out of bed and quickly going to do my business before Nate insisted on carrying me. “Where’s Devon?” I asked as I crawled back into bed.
“He had to go to a quick contractor meeting, so it”s just us for now.” He sat on the edge of the bed, passing me a bowl full of oatmeal mixed with various fruits. “Jeremy told me what sort of food you”ve been eating lately.”
I took the bowl off him, my stomach gurgling with hunger as I smelled the sweet fruit.
“Why are you here? Surely you have work?” Nate was usually out of the house by seven a.m. most days.
“I took a small leave of absence. I’ve been glued to my desk for years, so it was sorely overdue,” he admitted. “It also means I can help you out while I am taking a break. I”ve gotta be on hand in case you need snacks.”
“I”m not going to lie. I”m very tempted to ask you for an impossible snack.”
“What qualifies as an impossible snack?”
“Something that was discontinued several years ago.”
“That does, indeed, sound like a challenge,” he said, his expression and tone utterly serious.
“For now, I suppose I will be content with the gummy candy I bought.”
“I did order extra snacks. I covered most of the potential bases,” Nate declared happily, pointing to the dresser to the left of me. Sure enough, there were several trays full of various snacks, chips, candy, and more.
“Did you buy a whole grocery store?” I laughed.
“No…” Nate smirked. “Just the entire snack aisle. “There”s a little of everything. That way, you can fulfill any craving. There’s a variety of chocolate and sour candies, as well as salty snacks and chips. There are even fruit snacks and healthy things, like nuts and dried berries.”
My chest warmed. He had done that for me. Yes, it was probably just to ensure I didn’t get out of bed, but just the fact he had thought about it, then went out and procured everything, made me smile.
“That is probably only going to last a day or two,” I informed him. The later I got into my pregnancy, the more and more I found myself snacking. “Remember, technically, I”m eating for three now.”
“Well, it”s a good thing I don’t have anything better to do than to feed you and keep you company. If I”m honest, I don”t really know what to do with myself other than that right now because I haven’t taken a day off in so long.”
“Surely, you”ve had a vacation?”
Nate looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. “I took two days off to accompany Jeremy to a game, but even then, I took my work laptop with me. There’s nothing more important to me than work. Or, at least, that”s what I stupidly thought. It”s time for me to start focusing on family.”
“So, what do you plan to do with me all day?” I asked, pausing when I realized just how filthy my words sounded. Nate pursed his lips as he tried to hold back his laugh. “You know what I mean!” I laughed, lightly slapping his arm.
“Well, I”m not exactly used to being a gentleman of leisure, but there are several options we can choose from. There are the classic video games that we can play from the nest, or I do believe we have several board games that I can bring in here.”
“Do you have Scrabble?” I asked excitedly.
Nate’s brow furrowed in thought. “I think we do somewhere.”
“You may be a fancy pants lawyer, but I”m pretty confident that I can kick your ass in Scrabble.”
“In that case, game on.”
“There”s no way in hell that’s a word!” I exclaimed, looking at where Nate had laid down his letters to spell aliquot.
He smirked at me. “It’s a legal term.”
Grabbing my phone, I typed in the word. “Okay, I’ll concede. They really bashed some weird words into your brain in law school, didn’t they?”
“Oh yeah, I’m a wealth of useless knowledge now.”
We had intended to spend an hour or two playing board games and somehow got absorbed into a cutthroat tournament of Scrabble. It had been rather eye opening. It was nice to see Nate so relaxed. He lounged across the nest on his side, looking at the Scrabble board between us.
“I think we need to stop and get some food that”s slightly better than just fruit snacks. If Jeremy finds out I haven”t fed you properly, he’s going to murder me.”
I sighed. “I suppose I would rather you didn’t die. Then again, I think you”re choosing now to end this game because you are in the middle of losing.”
Nate cocked an eyebrow at me. “Who said we needed to stop the game?” He handed me his phone. “There are at least six delivery apps on that phone. Pick one and choose something to eat, and I”ll order takeout—get whatever sounds good to you. That way, I can continue kicking your butt at Scrabble.”
“Those are fighting words.” I laughed, taking the phone from him and opening the first takeout app I saw. “There”s a dessert place not far from here that delivers—that looks amazing.”
Nate narrowed his eyes at me. “Order some real food for us, then we can order dessert.”
I grinned playfully. “We don”t have to tell Jeremy.”
“I”m quite attached to my balls, and I fully believe Jeremy will remove them from my body if I don”t feed you properly.”
“Ugh. Fine. Spoilsport.” I groaned, looking through the various restaurants. “How about Chinese takeout?”
“Just please order something with vegetables,” he pleaded.
“Does beef and broccoli count?” I asked.
Nate sighed, a long-suffering sigh, even though a smile tugged at his lips. “I suppose it will have to.”
“Good,” I said, tapping the phone screen. “Food is ordered. Now accept that your defeat is imminent!”
Nate didn’t leave me alone until Devon came home many hours later. He excused himself to go sort out some work he needed to hand over to a colleague while Devon dove into the nest.
“It sounds like you two had a good day,” Devon said as I cuddled into his chest, letting his spiced, warm scent seep into me.
“He’s surprisingly good at Scrabble,” I admitted.
Devon’s chest rose and fell under me as he laughed. I looked up at him with a questioning face. “Oh, flower. Nate is excellent at Scrabble. It was his go-to game after he’d had a few drinks. I can”t tell you the number of times he has drunkenly played Scrabble and dominated.”
“That little scammer!” I laughed.
“It takes a lot of talent to be able to go toe to toe with him,” Devon said as he gently rubbed my back.
“Oh, I won. He just held his own very well,” I said primly.
“You make me laugh,” he said, before leaning down and placing a kiss on my lips. I wasn”t satisfied with the gentle brush his lips. Lightly grabbing his hair, I pulled him in closer and deepened the kiss.
I love being close to my alphas. Having their bodies pressed against mine made me feel secure, wanted, and loved.
Especially when I could feel their arousal digging into me like Devon’s was. Even though I was bloated, sweaty and tired, I still felt desired, far more than I ever had before.
I kissed the underside of his chin, my hand roaming down his chest, slipping under his waistband.
“Fuck, we shouldn’t do anything.” Devon groaned as my hand found his erection, pumping lightly.
“We can take it slow,” I insisted. “Plus, I don’t have to leave the bed at all…” I cooed.
“You’re too damn tempting for your own good,” he said, his eyes firmly on my cleavage.
“Well, give in to the temptation, then. Please, I need you, alpha,” I whimpered.
He closed his eyes and softly cursed. “Fuck… I can’t say no to you.”
“We can be quick.” I grinned at him.
Devon groaned, sitting up. “Hands on the headboard, omega,” he instructed, his voice low and commanding. My stomach quivered at the sound.
I slipped off my shorts, exposing my already soaked pussy to him before doing as I was told.
Presenting myself to him.
“Holy fuck,” he mumbled.
“Yes, fuck.” I nodded eagerly, arching my back so my pussy was thrust towards him.
Hands roamed over the globes of my ass as Devon took his time appreciating every curve.
“You can memorize my body later,” I grumbled.
“You’ve really got no patience, have you?” I could hear the smirk in Devon’s voice.
My reply was cut off when I felt the head of his cock gliding through my folds, teasing me.
My hips pushed back in anticipation, desperately seeking friction, but the asshole was taking his sweet time.
“Fuck me!” I growled. “Please,” I whined, my tone going from pissed to needy in a heartbeat.
“You know I can’t resist when you beg.” He pushed forwards in an agonizingly slow movement. Every inch stretched my walls, that delicious sensation of being full muddling my senses.
He stilled once his pubic bone was pressed against my ass, letting me adjust to his size. No matter how many times we did it, the alphas always felt huge.
I guess that really said something about the sperm donor.
“I don’t think I can go slow, flower,” Devon growled.
“When,” I panted, “did I ever ask you to go slow?”
A laugh escaped Devon. Without another word, he reared back so only the head of his cock was resting at my entrance. I wanted to sob with how the emptiness felt after being so full just a moment prior.
Thankfully, he didn”t make me wait. It wasn’t as explosive as our previous times, but there was a slow, simmering intensity I was happy to drown myself in.
The room was filled with our moans and the sounds of Devon’s thrusts.
It didn’t take long for the telltale tightening of my abdomen to start.
“Fuck, I needed this,” I moaned, throwing my head back, closing my eyes and focusing on Devon’s hand on my waist, the feel of his hips slapping gently against my ass with each thrust.
My orgasm was approaching, and it was going to be a damn good one. All I could see in front of me was the headboard I was desperately clinging to. As Devon increased his thrusts, one of his hands came to rest on the headboard, not far from mine as he bent over me, taking what he and I both needed so desperately .
The moment my orgasm hit, my mind completely switched off. As if a deeper feral instinct had taken over me, and I was no longer in control of my own body, I lunged forward, my mouth closing around Devon”s wrist and biting down. Hard.
Bite. Claim. Mine.
It was like a mantra in my head. Devon was mine.
My body convulsed with the intensity of my orgasm, and I could feel my wetness dripping down my thighs.
“Fuck!” Devon shouted. Leaning forward, his teeth latched on to the side of my neck Jeremy hadn’t marked, and he bit down, solidifying the bond as his cock throbbed with his own release.
“Alpha,” I whimpered happily as he gave a few shallow thrusts as we both came down from the high.
“You drenched the nest, flower,” Devon finally said in a strangled, worn-out voice.
“Worth it,” I declared happily, crawling out of the nest with shaky legs.
Still on his knees, Devon looked at me in amazement as he rubbed his chest. “This is bonkers, I can feel your contentment.” He smirked. “Clearly, I fucked you good.”
Rolling my eyes, I picked up a pillow and lightly threw it at him before leaning forward to kiss him. “Are you happy?” I asked, even though I could feel his elation through the bond.
“Ecstatic,” he replied. “This was a long time coming. You?”
“I feel amazing, but I think we both need a shower after that.”
I groaned as I waddled over to the bathroom, sated and sleepy.
“I’ll change the nest sheets, then come join you,” Devon said as he gathered the wet bedding in his arms.
It wasn’t until the shower had started running that a cramp rippled through my stomach. I hissed. It was just like my Braxton-Hicks contractions, only significantly stronger.
The pain ebbed, and I looked at myself in the mirror, freshly fucked with a bond bite on my neck. As I reached for my toothbrush, another cramp took over, only this time stronger, and it was accompanied by a slow trickle of liquid running down my leg.
These weren’t Braxton Hicks.
I was in labor.