Chapter XXI
That evil bitch.
Sitting alone in a dark lounge room, I numbly go through the motions of my recovery exercises. I haven’t left this beanbag since yesterday because I’m waiting for Knox’s parents to arrive. I need them to tell him that I’ve always been by his side. He’s mine, not Jaimie’s. I need him to remember.
Speaking of evil in the shape of sunshine, the snarky Omega intrudes on my crying session, sauntering into the room with a cocky grin. He has no business in here, so I know he only came to taunt me some more.
“How could you?” my voice breaks as I hold his gaze head-on. This charade of hating me has gone too far. He has hardly anything to gain from this other than hurting me emotionally. How much lower can he stoop? To what merit?
“How could I what? Take my rightful place?” he leans in close to me with a snarl, “Why don’t you go back to the lowly floor you came from, Omega.
But keep your eyes peeled. I believe there will be a telescope named after me soon.
Oh, and maybe we’ll rename the other one as well. Give it something more fitting.”
“I’m pregnant,” I confess barely above a whisper, teeth clenched tight with tension.
“What?” Jaimie blinks, smile stuttering as he’s hit with that bomb of information.
“You heard me. I said, I’m pregnant! With his baby!” I chew at him.
Jaimie scoffs, trying not to show that he’s fuming on the inside.
I’ve played this game before at boarding school with stuck-up Omegas who have some sort of superiority complex.
Like we’re trying to out-Omega one another, fighting over Alphas and status.
It’s stupid and immature, but he brought this war on.
“Yeah, right. Like he’ll believe it’s his,” he eyes me with disgust. “With or without his memory, he doesn’t want another scandal, Arius.”
“You’re awful, Jaimie. He doesn’t love you and you know that.”
“But he doesn’t know that, and he doesn’t need to. He doesn’t remember you. Therefore, he gets to fall in love with a more suitable Omega from scratch.”
“Shut up! Just shut up! You evil, conniving, little– “
I stand, ready to spew more venomous words at him, but someone enters. The door clicks open quietly, and a distantly familiar scent fills my nose.
“Holy shit. Arius?”
Jaimie and I pause our standoff to look at the Alpha who entered. I never expected to hear that voice again. It’s been so long. My tone softens to something far more professional as he enters the room cautiously, eyes bouncing between us. I clear my throat, straightening my posture.
“Chet?” my voice comes out lighter than it did a moment ago. “Gosh, I had no idea you were still in touch with Knox. Nobody told me you were coming.”
He huffs with a smile, holding a get-well-soon card that I’m assuming is for Knox.
“Yeah, we chat here and there. I didn’t realize he stayed in touch with you either until I saw you guys on the news.”
I can only hope he’s referring to our space journey, not the damn elevator situation.
“We only reconnected recently. It’s good to see you.” Tilting my neck, I remain polite, though I’m sure he heard some of what I had said before he walked in.
“Likewise. And tell me about your gorgeous friend,” Chet’s eyes become dreamy as he observes Jaimie.
I turn to the Omega, stunned to find a red blush across his cheeks as he bares his neck toward the Alpha too.
Gone is the Knox-hungry Omega from before, replaced with a smitten bundle of innocence.
I can tell he’s torn between wanting to steal Knox away from me just for attention or take a shot with a single Alpha whom he’s actually interested in.
Oh, this is going to be good. With a knowing smirk, I cross my arms and exhale dramatically.
“Sorry. This is Knox’s love interest, Jaimie,” I announce confidently.
Jaimie’s eyes bulge and he takes a one-eighty from the evil twat he’d been only a moment ago.
“No! He’s teasing! I’m Knox’s cleaner,” Jaimie glares at me, holding out a hand for Chet to kiss. The Alpha does so with charm and grace. I raise an eyebrow, but I’m glad to see that Knox taught him well. Not that Jaimie deserves it.
“If you say so,” I mutter as they eat each other up.
“Well, that was before I knew what a handsome friend Knox had. Are you going to introduce me, Arius or stand there like a harlot?” Jaimie straightens his already perfect lab coat.
Chet smiles, looking drunkenly enamored. Why must I be the wingman here?
“Jaimie, this is Chet. Knox’s childhood friend,” I sigh.
Jaimie eyes him up and down fondly. I suppose, Chet is dressed rather neat and orderly with carefully styled hair. Basically, Jaimie’s biggest fetish.
“And senior computer programmer,” Chet adds, puffing his chest, “If something doesn’t work, I make it work. I’m like a code-whisperer, perfecting every line for optimal functionality.”
Jaimie hums with intrigue while I swallow bile.
“You guys have fun,” I bail, but they both ignore me anyway. They continue chatting and Jaimie’s giggle tortures my ears until the door is closed behind me.
In the hallway, I’m not terribly surprised to bump into Knox’s parents on the way out.
“Hey, it’s been so long!” I greet them with far more energy than I had for Chet.
“Arius? My goodness, I didn’t expect to see you here!”
His mom hugs me, though her words sting a little.
From day one, my dreams of coming here were brushed to the side by everyone, even though they knew I wanted it as badly as Knox, if not more.
They shouldn’t be surprised to see me here at all.
Especially after my involvement with the transfer bed.
I went to fucking space and that still isn’t enough for people to realize that I’m serious about pursuing space science.
“Good to see you, Omega. Still not settling down I see,” Knox’s dad teases with a side hug, adding a knife to my heart. I hug him back and smile through the pain.
“Haha, yeah. Um, I can walk with you guys to visit him if you’d like.”
“Oh, we just finished up. We brought him some things to help jog his memory, but…” his mom becomes choked up.
“He didn’t remember,” Knox’s dad finishes for her in a whisper, wrapping an arm around his mate.
“Hey, it’s okay. It’ll take time. He’s so strong, I’m sure he’ll be back to us soon.”
I’m not even sure if I believe my own words.
Instinctively, my hand drifts to my stomach but I yank it back down.
I’ve been so focused on how I’m going to tell Knox that I’m pregnant that I hadn’t considered how I’m going to break the news to his parents.
Knocked up before mating is never an easy thing to explain.
I don’t know if they saw our recent scandal which makes my face heat with further embarrassment.
Would they even accept me as their son’s mate?
“Um, is he still in his office? I should go make sure he knows where all his important papers are,” I lie, trying to get out of this interaction.
“Yeah, he was headed there when we left. Take care, Arius. Call us if there are any updates on his condition,” his mom grasps my hands in hers before breaking away.
“Of course. You guys take care,” I wave as they head for the elevator in which Knox and I had…done stuff in.
Letting the politeness fall from my expression, I trudge to Knox’s office with a shameful grimace.
I was hoping he’d find the tabloids of our scandal on his own and put two and two together, but it looks like I’ll need to bend the rules a little and just tell him.
Now that Jaimie is fixated with Chet, Knox has to believe me that he’s mine, not his.
I knock on his door, listening for any sounds from the other side. A moment of silence stretches, and I become fidgety where I stand. It’s possible that he’s in his observatory and didn’t hear me. That’s where he was hiding yesterday too. As per his request, I didn’t bother him.
It’s also possible that he wandered off and is completely lost somewhere in this giant building.
I glance down the hall, wondering if I should begin searching, but then I see light stream in from under the door.
As I try to make sense of it, the whir of a machine can be heard from within his office.
Someone is definitely in there messing with something.
I twist the knob and help myself inside. The lights are dim and it’s empty aside from the strong scent of Alpha.
“Knox?” I whisper his name, walking in aimlessly.
My foot crunches something near the sofas making my shoulders jump. Glancing down, I lift my shoe to find scattered pieces of plastic that look like someone smashed something on the ground. My heart races, pumping loudly in my ears as I assess the scene.
Once more, my attention is pulled elsewhere as more light streams through the observatory. Carefully, I approach the door, scanning my badge for it to open. I step into the gray mechanical wonderland of high-end technology and yellow striped tape forming a walk path.
“Knox?” I try again, greeted by silence.
Another machine begins to sing with a series of beeping noises.
I follow the sound as if I’m in a haunted house attraction, cautious of what lurks around each corner.
I enter a threshold, stepping through until I’m faced with the mechanics of Knox’s prized possession.
A telescope worth more than every car in the executive parking ramp combined.
It’s pointing up at the sky through a circular test window as big as the sun.
It casts a shadow on me as evening approaches.
In front of it, Knox is moving around like a mad scientist, fumbling with buttons and tools.
“Knox,” I say his name softly, trying not to startle him as I enter the space.
He whips his head toward me.
“Hey, come look at this.”
He waves me over, returning his attention to the focus knob of the scope.
“Oh, um. Okay,” I join him with uncertainty in every step.
I thought he’d be mad seeing me again after the rumors Jaimie spread to him.
“Listen, I need to talk to you about something. I don’t want you to be mad, but you need to know the truth,” I begin, leaning next to him while he fusses with the scope. His eyes look like he’s half-listening, constantly drifting toward the window.
“Okay, sure. Just look at this real quick. I reprogrammed my focal point and discovered what I believe is a red giant, just north of the supernova we found three years ago in Aquarius.”
He spit-fires the information, and I’ll admit it’s an interesting discovery, but so is the discovery developing in my belly at the moment.
“Knox. We need to talk about us. It’s serious.
I thought you’d uncover everything on your own, but things are getting out of hand, so I just need to tell you everything.
There’s plenty of proof, too, so you’ll know I’m not lying.
Jaimie said some pretty messed up– wait,” I stop myself abruptly.
Looking up at Knox with my brows drawn together, I assess his face closely, “Three years ago? Did you say three years ago?”
“Yeah. I suppose you weren’t here for it, but when Comet XI released the processed photos, they reminded me of you. It was exactly the type of thing you would’ve hung on your bedroom wall,” he shakes his head with an attractive smile.
I stare at him in shock for so long that he clears his throat to speak again.
“Anyway, what were you saying? Is Jaimie bothering you again?”
It takes effort to shake the numbness out of my mouth to speak.
“Knox?! You got your memory back?!”
He hums in contemplation, absorbing the weight of my words.
“Was it gone?” he asks innocently.
With a laugh, I fling myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and inhaling his scent. He’s startled by my excitement but accepts me into his arms with a chuckle as I attack his face with my lips.
“So, you remember? You remember me?” I beg as he holds me tightly.
“How could I forget you?” he caresses the back of my head, “What were you saying before? You wanted to talk about us?”
I lean back, though he makes no move to unlatch his hands from my waist. Gazing into his eyes, I pull one of his hands to my stomach, pressing it there with a smile. Knox lifts a hopeful eyebrow and I nod.
“I’m pregnant, Knox! We’re having a baby!”
His galactic eyes say more than words ever could. I never thought I’d get mated in an observatory of all places, but now that we’re here and the pheromones are in the air, I wouldn’t want it any other way.