Chapter 8
Eight
Brady
“You sure you’re okay?” Jae’s keen gaze was locked on me while I cradled his newborn, Leo, and fed him his bottle.
Avoiding his scrutiny was impossible. Jae had let it go last week when I’d dropped by unannounced and taken over baby duties so the new dad could get a shower.
This time I knew I wasn’t going to be so lucky.
I tried to keep my focus on Leo and his bottle, ensuring he didn’t guzzle the entire bottle in one go.
“Yeah, I’m good. How’s Marty getting on with his dating profile?” I aimed for nonchalance. Judging by Jae’s frown, I failed. Still, his manners allowed me to get him off topic for a moment.
“He’s being pretty tight-lipped over it, but I know he’s had a couple of high rated matches in only a week!
” Jae fixed me with a glare. “Don’t change the subject.
You guard your phone like it’s gold. You don’t want to discuss Xavier, even though I know you’ve been seeing him, and your heat is coming up.
” He ticked each complaint off on his fingers.
Jae took a seat in the armchair, his butt hovering on the edge, ready to jump into action. “Normally you’re an open book—maybe too open—not this time, or for your last heat either. I know I’ve been busy with Leo, Curtis, the lawsuit, and the book—”
“I think I’ve messed up.”
Jae leaned so far forward I was worried he was going to fall. “How?”
It took me a few minutes, but I explained the last heat with Xavier, how we’d entered into this friends with benefits thing.
I told him how I’d ghosted Xavier for a couple of weeks, when it all got too real.
Then I voiced my worries about Gio and his looming presence in Xavier’s life.
I even went as far as showing Jae the messages from Gio where he threatened me.
“Brady, you need to tell Xavier about Gio. You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong for him to act this way. If anything, he’s lashing out at you because he knows he’s wrong for what he did to you and Xavier.”
“Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to open that can of worms. The divorce is finally going ahead and most of their ties are cut now with the apartment sold.”
“Okay, so why aren’t you making things official with Xavier? You like him, don’t you? He wouldn’t be going through all this if he didn’t like you back, so what’s the issue?”
“It’s really stupid,” I admitted with a wry grin. Leo had finished his bottle, so I laid him on my shoulder to burp him.
“Here.” Jae held out a cloth for me to put under him. “You are never stupid. Neither are your feelings.”
“I’m recessive.” Jae jolted. I’d never told him because it hadn’t been important. “If Xavier went back to Gio, he could have the family he wants. With me, there’s a strong chance that won’t happen.”
“Are you sure he wants kids?”
“He’s said so before. It’s why we didn’t use anything for my heat.”
Jae’s face grew extra serious. “No. Has he said they’re a deal breaker for him? Would he leave you if he couldn’t have them with you?”
His words stayed with me throughout the rest of my visit and even into the following day, mainly because I couldn’t answer him.
Had I ever asked Xavier if kids were a deal breaker?
No, I hadn’t. I knew how hard Malik and Chen had fought to have their own baby, so I knew if Xavier was serious about me, he’d put the same dedication into it as they had.
How important were biological kids to an alpha? I didn’t have many alpha friends I could ask. Curtis would have given a cutesy response about love being more important than biology. There were three men in my life I could ask: my alpha dad and my alpha brothers.
Seth and Noah, the twins, were the easiest to get in touch with.
They had a security firm together. I’d asked them once if they ever got sick of each other, not fully expecting an honest answer.
Noah had told me they fought sometimes, though it was rare.
They knew the tells better than anyone else and could fix things before they got out of hand.
They’d always been together, lived in the same house still, even though they earned enough to have their own places.
I envied their bond, always feeling like there wasn’t enough room for me between them.
I couldn’t imagine them both mated. Their mates would have to be really close, too.
I didn’t think they could handle being apart for long.
I pitched my question to Seth first. “If your omega couldn’t give you kids, would that bother you?”
“In what way? Why can’t they get pregnant?”
“What if you were with a recessive—”
“Has that alpha said anything to you? I’ll smash his face in if he has. Being recessive doesn’t mean no kids ever. There are pretty successful fertility treatments these days. Okay, they’re expensive. If you want a baby, Brady, we’ll help you out. Won’t we, Noah?”
“Right. Just say the word and we’ll pay whatever clinic. If you don’t want to carry the baby, there’s surrogacy or adoption. Babies don’t have to be blood to be loved.”
I would not cry! I would not! My brothers were the sweetest to ever exist. “Okay, that answers my question and no, Xavi hasn’t said anything. It’s just me worrying. You know how I get.”
There was a collective sigh on the other end of the call. “Good,” Seth said. “We mean it, okay? Any baby you bring home becomes family, and if you ever need anything, we’ve got you.”
“Aww! I love you both!”
My alpha dad’s response was almost word for word the same, complete with threats to harm Xavi if he hurt me. I felt truly blessed to have such a loving family. Dad even gave me a final reminder:
“You don’t know what will happen with your next heat. Don’t borrow trouble. Enjoy each other now instead of worrying about what could happen tomorrow.”
My heat started at a low simmer, like it usually did. I managed to deal with the first wave myself because Xavi was stuck in traffic.
I called him while he was on the road to show him what I was doing with the toy he’d bought for me. “See how easily it’s going in? I’m waiting for you.”
Xavier cursed and revved the engine. “Fucking traffic! I’m about to abandon this damn car. To hell with getting it towed.”
Seeing him all worked up from our call had me giggling. “Just get here safely, okay? I need that cock.”
Forty minutes later, as the next wave grew demanding, I opened the door to Xavier. He must have taken the stairs since he was sweating heavily.
He crashed into me, picked me off my feet and pushed me against the wall. My legs went around him automatically, my fingers in his hair.
His kiss was rough, desperate. He licked into my mouth as if he owned it. Maybe he did. No one made me feel like he did.
My robe was roughly torn open seconds before I felt Xavi’s cock breach my entrance. I was so wet from our kiss and the dominance he displayed that he slid in right to the hilt.
The alpha fucked me there against the wall as the wave of heat crested. My cries filled the tiny hallway.
“Xavi, Xavi, please.” The neighbors would just have to deal with it. My alpha was making me see stars.
I couldn’t get enough of him. My hands raked over his back. I tried to peel him out of his shirt, but he wouldn’t stop kissing and licking over my scent gland to give me space.
“Please!” His thrusts grew harder as he tried to get deeper into my body.
Xavier grunted and licked my throat. He was almost savage, just on the right side of pain. I loved every second of it.
“Stroke yourself,” he growled before sucking a mark on my collarbone.
I got a hand between us and stroked only a few times before I shot between us.
Xavier’s come flooded my ass just as his knot swelled. He ground it deeper into me as I came once more.
“Fuck!” I heard him mutter. His sweat soaked head rested against the wall.
“You okay?” my voice came out hoarse from crying out his name.
“Left the damn hamper in the car.”
I laughed, earning a groan as I tightened around his cock. “Get it later.”
He walked while still inside me and laid me on my bed. There was something so tender in his expression. My body ached with the feeling of being used, but I also felt safe now he was here in my arms.
“Hey,” he said with a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose.
“That was so fucking good,” I praised, tightening my grip around his shoulders. “Do it again.”
He did once more before letting me nap for an hour. In that time, he ran down to the car and used my key to get back inside. By the time I woke, he had water waiting for me.
The low burn of my heat was steadily rising. This time, I felt like he’d hit my womb. Those orgasms were always more intense than regular ones.
“Are you ready to breed me, alpha?”
“So ready.”
This time he teased me by kissing and licking all over my body before his cock eased inside me. He started at my toes, with tiny, ticklish pecks. The space behind my knee had butterflies fluttering in my tummy.
God, he was so sexy as he licked the hollow of my throat. In his blue eyes were tiny flecks of green. I loved looking at them.
He propped my leg on his shoulder as he sucked my cock and fingered my hole.
Xavi continued to work my body with an almost sadistic determination.
He practically had his whole fist inside me, but I loved it.
I’d come twice and was begging for more.
I could barely hold on for him to get inside me at just the thought of having his hand in there!
By the time my heat was nearly over, he’d flooded my womb with his come. I loved the feeling of it and prayed it would work. I wanted to keep him.
We lay on the bed with me on my side, my leg hiked up. Xavier pumped deep into me, the angle perfect to nail my prostate and enter my womb. There, nestled in his arms, I hoped that this would be it. That I’d get my sign.
When he knotted me, I sank further into his embrace. With his arms and pheromones wrapped around me, my heat ended.