17. Roman
Chapter 17
Roman
M y decision to skip practice to play video games wasn’t a smart one, but I was happy that I’d done it when I saw the call from Hazel popping up on my phone screen. I would much rather spend an hour talking to her on the phone than skate laps on the ice.
After our movie night, we took her home with a box of Belgian waffles, and she had sleepily hugged us all goodbye before she crawled into her nest. My bed had felt oddly empty that night, and I wanted her back there as soon as possible.
“Duchess! Did you try the pecan pie I sent?” It was my favorite, and I wanted her to try it so we could both bask in its glory. I refused to share said pie with my pack mates, but I would be nice and share it with Hazel.
“I haven’t yet.” Her voice was rough, so I sat up straighter, discarding my controller, the game in front of me forgotten.
“Are you sick again?” I asked.
“I think so. I’m so sorry to bother you, but could you give me a lift to the clinic? It’s really bad. I would get Sebastian to help me, but he’s still not talking to me, really.”
An irrational anger rose in my chest at the idea of Sebastian helping her instead of us.
Both Phillip and Cormac were at practice, so I was on my own. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I assured her.
“Thank you,” she whimpered weakly.
Cursing the distance between us, I quickly threw on the first pair of shoes I could find and made my way to my car, peeling out of the drive at a breakneck speed. If I could live on the Hawking campus, I would do it in a heartbeat to be closer to her. Hazel was a stubborn omega, and for her to willingly call me and ask for help, I knew she had to be feeling like complete trash.
Parking outside Dallas House, I knew there was no way to avoid a ticket, but that was the last thing on my mind.
“Hey, Oliver!” I greeted the doorman as I rushed past.
“Hello, Mr. Kingswood!” He shouted at my retreating form. We’d met the first time I came to look after Hazel, and she had put me on her approved visitors list.
Not bothering with the elevators, I took the stairs two at a time. I knocked on her door, then waited three seconds before becoming impatient and opening the door.
A quick glance around her room let me know that she wasn’t in her nest or in any of the obvious areas, so I made my way toward the bathroom. The door was open, so I walked right in.
Hazel was sitting on the floor next to the toilet, her head resting on her knee. In the spacious bathroom, she looked tiny and frail.
My chest stuttered at the sight of her. This wasn’t working. She needed someone to take care of her.
“Duchess?” I kept my voice low and soothing as I crouched next to her.
“Roman?” Her voice held a question as her eyes blearily opened and she took me in. “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t you remember calling me?” I asked, gently reaching out to feel her forehead. Her skin was cold and clammy, and she was far too pale overall. My concern was only intensified by the fact she didn’t seem to remember calling me only twenty minutes ago.
“Oh… did I? I don’t feel so good. My head is pounding.” She groaned. “I haven’t been able to keep anything down in days again.”
“I’m taking you to the doctor,” I declared.
“The clinic may not be open now. They close early,” she mumbled, unable to fully open her eyes.
“Not taking you to a small student clinic. I’m taking you to an actual doctor’s office . They’ll know more about your condition.”
Hazel’s eyes snapped open. “No!” she cried. “I can’t go to my regular doctor who will tell my parents I’m pregnant. They’ll tell me I disappointed them. They’ll shout. I just, I can’t.” Her chest started to heave with panic as tears filled her eyes.
“No,” I rushed to reassure her. “Don’t worry. I’ll take you to the pack’s doctors. We pay them very well, and they will keep quiet. I would much rather you talk to an actual pregnancy doctor and not a student doctor, okay?”
Her wide eyes were hazy, and she may have been thinking, or she may have been trying to gather her thoughts, but either way, I took her silence as acceptance. I made a mental note to ask her about her family later.
“Come on, Duchess.” I slipped my arms under her legs and lifted her up. She weighed nothing in my arms, and I frowned down at her as her head lolled on my chest. She hadn’t been that light when I had picked her up during her heat. Just how much weight had she lost?
Thankfully, the coast was clear as I took her downstairs. There were no other students milling around.
“I can walk,” she mumbled into my chest as I carried her bridal style.
“Sure you can, Duchess, but why make the effort?” I laughed. There was no way in hell she could walk in a straight line at that moment, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. Knowing Hazel, she would have insisted on walking, then fallen headfirst down a set of stairs.
“Miss Giltbrook!” Oliver gaped at the sight of me carrying the small omega through the lobby.
“Hazel isn’t feeling too hot. I’m taking her to the doctor,” I informed him.
He nodded, mouth agape. “Where is Mr. Sebastian?”
“Away game,” I explained simply, ignoring the anger at his question. Sebastian seemed to be prominent in every aspect of her life, and I hated it, even though he hadn’t been around in weeks. I know I should be above jealousy, since Hazel was pregnant with my child. Not Sebastian’s.
Saying he was at an away game seemed like an easier explanation than trying to tell him what had happened recently between him and Hazel.
I placed Hazel in the passenger seat of my car, grabbing the blankets and pillows that we kept in the trunk and making sure she was comfortable. When Phillip had suggested we keep blankets and pillows in the cars in case of emergencies, I thought he was being ridiculous, but as Hazel wrapped the blanket around her with a small, sleepy smile, I silently thanked him.
My doctor’s office was situated ideally right between my place and Hazel’s, so it was only a short drive. I made sure to keep the car at a comfortable temperature and kept glancing over at Hazel, whose head was lolling on the pillow as she dozed. She must truly have been exhausted to not be paying attention on the drive.
“Hazel?” I gently shook her shoulder as we got to the doctor’s office. “We’re here. Do you want me to carry you in, or do you want to try and walk?” If it were up to me, I’d be carrying her, but I knew she would likely be embarrassed if I carried her through a busy doctor’s office.
“I can walk,” she declared groggily, sitting up and looking around the parking lot with hazy eyes.
“Are you sure?” Part of me wanted to disregard what she was saying and just scoop her up, anyway.
Unfortunately, I knew Hazel well enough to understand that would probably lead to a very angry omega, and a very angry omega did not make for a good time.
Hauling myself out of the car, I walked around to her side, opening the door and holding my hand out for hers. Even her hand felt tiny in mine.
Standing up, Hazel let out a small moan before shaking her head and focusing on the task ahead.
Once inside the doctor’s office, I went straight to the reception.
“Kingswood,” I said. The nurse didn’t need to know anything other than my name.
“Go straight into exam room three,” the nurse instructed, looking over Hazel with concerned eyes.
Nodding, I did as I was told, practically dragging Hazel with me.
Money talked—and for Hazel, I would make it fucking scream.
“I feel stupid.” Hazel sighed, leaning back and resting her head on the wall behind her.
“Don’t. The baby is causing all kinds of chaos in your body.”
“But dehydration? You carried me out of my dorm like some masked superhero wannabe because I was a little thirsty?”
I snorted. It was a bit more than that. According to the doctor, she had reached the point of dehydration where her muscles were struggling, and her cognitive function was minimal.
When the doctor had mentioned that, she had laughed weakly and informed the doctor it was okay—she spent her time around people like me who already had minimal cognitive function.
Even when sick, she found a way to sass me.
“Can we go yet?” she whined.
“Not until your veins have taken the whole bag. You heard the doctor.”
After diagnosing the issue, the doc had hooked her up with IV fluids. She had tried to protest when he had brought out the needles, so to distract her, I let her squeeze my hand.
If all my bones were still intact, I would have been surprised. For such a tiny, frail omega, she had one hell of a grip.
“But I want to go home,” she whined.
“Come back to the pack house with me,” I offered, though I didn’t plan on taking no for an answer.
“I can’t keep relying on you guys.” With the arm that wasn’t attached to the fluids, she ran her hand through her hair. Her eyes were beginning to look sunken in their sockets.
“You can keep relying on us, seeing as we are the ones who got you pregnant. We are kind of responsible for this. It takes two to tango.”
“Or four, in this case.” She laughed lightly.
“Well—” I was cut off by the doctor re-entering the room.
“You’ve got a bit more color to your face now, Miss Giltbrook. How are you feeling?”
“A lot better, honestly.”
The doctor looked at the IV bag and quickly checked the chart. “Seeing as you’re feeling better, I feel comfortable with you going home with Roman today. If these symptoms persist, I recommend having a nurse come out every day or two to give you IV fluids. That way, we can ensure you stay hydrated and you don’t reach this point again. You’re pregnant. You need to be looking after yourself.”
“I will, thank you so much.”
“Take care of her,” he directed at me, and I nodded solemnly.
I fully intended to take care of Hazel for the rest of her life, if she would let me.
Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick message to my pack mates, my mind made up.
Hazel was probably going to murder me, but my decision was final.
Back in the car, Hazel admitted she wanted fries, so I swung by a local drive-through.
“These are fantastic. I wish there was takeout like this near campus.” She moaned as she ate the delicious fried potatoes.
“There’s a location only two minutes away from my place,” I said as we pulled up outside of Dallas House.
Hazel pouted at me. “Lucky!” Her face warped into a frown when she noticed Cormac and Phillip outside, leaning against Phillip’s large SUV. “What are they doing here? I thought they had practice.”
“I texted them.”
She bit her lip. “I just want to sleep.”
“Yeah… about that.” I took a deep breath, preparing for her to throttle me. “They’re here to help you pack some of your things, so you can come stay with us for a bit. You’re moving in with us, Duchess.”
Her voice was shrill as she turned to me with abject shock on her face. “Excuse me?!”
She undid her seat belt, but before she could storm out of the vehicle, I had my arms wrapped around her, pulling her into my lap. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Phillip and Cormac making their way toward us.
“Hazel.” I kept my voice low and calm. “We know you’re independent, we know you’re a badass omega who can do everything herself. But let’s face the reality of the situation. You are sick. You need someone to be around twenty-four-seven to support you, and we can do that. You heard the doctor.” As I spoke, I gently brushed her hair out of her face.
If looks could kill, I would have been a pile of dust on the floor.
“You can’t just bully me into moving in with you. That’s a shitty move.”
“Oh, it’s completely a shitty move,” I agreed. “But I am also willing to play dirty. Hazel, you’re pregnant.”
“He’s right, sweetness,” Cormac said as he opened the driver’s side door. “Look, like it or not, we’re family now. Even if you ignore this one’s constant advances, at the end of the day, we’re going to have a child together. We just want you safe and healthy. Twice in the span of a week, we’ve had to come out here—not that we mind doing that. We’ll happily do that for you.”
“But what if it takes us longer to get to you? We would much rather be near,” Phillip said.
“But this is my home,” she whined, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
“If we could move in here, we would. We even discussed moving universities, but it just wasn’t feasible. Unfortunately, Dallas House is very strict about only having Hawking University students,” I grumbled.
“We’ve already cleared out one of the rooms, so you can make a nest and have anything you need. We want you to be comfortable. All of us have the rest of the day off and will happily spend the day transporting your entire nest over to our place.”
Hazel looked deep in thought. “What if the room doesn’t feel right? What if I’m not comfortable because the room is too stuffy? I like my space as it is!”
Phillip was quick to answer. “Already thought about that. You are in a room that has an amazingly large window and even has a window seat. We’ve added some blackout curtains, but we can add any sort of fabric you want to the windows. We’ve also ordered an air purifier and a humidifier that is shaped like a mushroom. So you can adjust the settings to make it perfect for you.”
“When on earth did you find time to order that?” she asked.
Phillip grinned. “I did all that just on the car ride over here. Imagine what I can do by the end of today.”
Hazel bit her lip. “I have really wanted to get one of those mushroom-shaped things.”
“Something about it just seemed very… you,” he said.
“What if I want to turn your spare room pink?”
“Then, I guess we’re buying paint!” I said with a grin.
Hazel looked at me, perplexed. “You would let me paint a room in your pack house pink?” she asked, her nose scrunched adorably.
I laughed. “Duchess, I would let you do whatever you want to my pack house, and it’s not the spare room, it’s your room. It is your nest room, okay?” I insisted. “If you want to paint it pink, you can, though I’ll be honest… I may have already taken the liberty of painting the room. Well, hiring someone to paint it because the large pink, purple, and blue sky mural with fluffy clouds was a bit beyond my skill set,” I admitted with a laugh.
Her eyes widened, and I knew I had her. I had noticed that several items in her nest and in her closet had fluffy clouds on them. Whenever she wasn’t feeling well, she was usually wrapped up in a large blue cardigan with clouds all over it. Several of her throw pillows in her nest were giant fluffy monstrosities shaped like clouds.
“I can have that?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“I didn’t get the room decorated like that for anyone else, did I?” I laughed.
“You’ll love it, sweetness. Honestly, it seems just your sort of vibe,” Cormac insisted. “So, will you come home with us?”
She bit her lip deep in thought for a moment. We were going to do whatever it took to get her to come home with us. If kidnapping was what it took, then kidnapping was what I was willing to do.
I would much rather she came willingly, but you know, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
If a little sickness is what it took to get her to move in with us, then I guess that’s what it took.
“I’ll do it.”