18. Kennedy - Four weeks later
Chapter 18
Kennedy - Four weeks later
M y stomach was in agony.
“What have you eaten for the last day or so?” Eli asked calmly as he knelt behind me, holding my hair back. “Did you maybe have something questionable?”
It was humiliating, but the stubborn alpha refused to let me suffer alone.
After Eli had nursed me back to health, I was sure I wouldn’t get sick again for a long time, but weeks later, here I was—sick. Again.
“I'm not sure. All I've been eating is your cooking, freezer meals, and cafeteria food,” I grumbled.
Eli huffed. “Well, that isn't exactly the healthiest of diets.”
“I eat veggies when you feed them to me,” I pointed out, leaning back and giving him a pained look. “I am so sorry about this. You did not sign up to play doctor. You've got enough on your plate as it is.”
“You won’t hear me complaining about getting to spend more time with my beautiful omega. I hate that you’re feeling like this, but I’m happy to be here. Not because you’re sick, but to support with this—” He gestured to the toilet, where I had been praying to the porcelain god for half the morning. “When you’re feeling better, I’ll go to the grocery store and get the ingredients to make chicken soup. Do you like it plain or with noodles?”
“With noodles.” I craned my neck to look at him. It was tragically unfair that he got to look that handsome, while I looked like I was a member of The Walking Dead cast. Even dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeve T-shirt, he took my breath away. He could have had any omega he wanted, yet for some reason, he kept choosing me.
“You know, you could try dating an omega who doesn’t have a child and isn’t constantly sick.” I laughed lightly. Though I’d framed it as a joke, it was still a real concern of mine. How long would it be before he realized he could do so much better than me?
His brows furrowed, and he gently ran a hand through my hair. “Why on earth would I do that? I happen to be highly attracted to serial killers and their adorable children.”
He was ridiculously good with my daughter. I had intended to wait longer to introduce him to her, but after we had been sick, Char had become obsessed with her new friend. Every time Eli came around, she would get excited and demand cuddles.
“She’s getting far too attached to you,” I grumbled. “As am I.”
“I want you both to get attached to me. As long as you’ll both have me, I’m not going anywhere.”
“There are still so many things we don't know about each other yet. I've only met one member of your pack. What if I don't like the others? You admitted that you guys want one omega for your pack. You talking about getting attached feels a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
“That is such a weird saying, I will never fully understand it. As for my pack, you've met Micha, and you liked him, didn't you? Now, drink this.”
I nodded as Eli passed me a bottle of water, and I took a few sips. “Micha was nice…” I trailed off.
“Killer, you’re fooling no one.” He chuckled. “Your scent gave all your thoughts away.”
“I was sick! I was weak and couldn't hide my emotions. That's totally not fair.” I pouted at him.
Eli pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. I probably smelled terrible from being sick, but he didn't seem to care.
“That is not something to get upset about. I like that your emotions can be so obvious. Micha also liked you a lot. He's been asking nonstop when he can see you and Charlotte again.”
“He has?”
He nodded. “Yep. As for the rest of my pack, if you're not attracted to them, you're not attracted to them. Yes, we've always had the idea that we would date an omega as a pack, and I’m pretty sure that’s how this is going to go, but if it doesn’t, then I’m also okay with that.”
“You always seem to know the right thing to say,” I grumbled.
“What can I say? You just need to accept that I'm a genius and know everything. How about this? Shall we ease into things slowly? Why don't we get Micha to join us for our aquarium date next week? He’s already met Char and adores her. If that goes well, then we could have a pack date?”
“That sounds nice,” I admitted. “Though, maybe we should wait until I’m not dying to make plans?”
Eli squeezed me lightly. “That sounds fair. How are you feeling now? Do you think you can go spend an hour or two in bed while I grab some food?”
Taking stock of my body, I nodded. “Yeah, I’m exhausted.”
Before I could even make a move to stand, Eli had wrapped his arms around me and lifted me, as if I weighed nothing. With shocking ease, he carried me through the apartment and to my bedroom.
I was too exhausted to protest, so I simply squished my face into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply. Vanilla, smoky, and oh so comforting.
As he lowered me into my little makeshift nest of a bed, I accidentally let a whine escape my chest as he started to retreat.
A pained look flashed across his face. “Oh, sweet pea. I'll be back in thirty minutes. Then we can snuggle in the nest after some food, okay?” he asked, gently running his hand through my hair, making my body relax and go all mushy.
Head scratchies were dangerous.
“Cuddles when you’re back?” I asked pathetically.
Being sick made all my omega instincts a hundred times worse. Usually, when I was feeling stronger, I would have had a bit more self-restraint, especially with an alpha I had only been on a handful of dates with.
Well… eight dates now, but who was counting? Eli felt different, though. Despite only knowing him for a little over a month, he had proven that I could trust him time and time again.
It also helped that watching him take care of my daughter was the single hottest thing I'd ever seen a man do.
Eli leaned forward to kiss my forehead, pulling the blankets up over me. “As soon as I'm back, I'll put some food on the stove, and then we can all have a cuddle. Cuddle and watch movies. How does that sound? We’ve got time until Little Miss is done at day care.”
“That sounds perfect,” I admitted wistfully.
He gave me one final kiss before retreating, the sounds of him gathering his phone and keys as he exited reaching my ears.
The moment he left, there was a hollowness in my chest.
I was well and truly fucked.
I was drifting in and out of sleep when Eli returned. He slid into the bed, slowly shaking me awake.
“Sweet pea, can you wake up for a moment?” he asked gently.
“Yeah?” I asked, sitting up.
“Something occurred to me while I was out, so I picked something up at the store. I probably should have talked to you first, but well… I remember you telling me about your morning sickness with Char and how you craved apples…”
It took a moment for his words to sink in.
I had told him about my apple craving. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I had been feral for apples. I couldn't get enough of them, but at least it was a healthy craving.
“Yeah?” I repeated, confused.
“Well, you're sick, and have been for a while, and you're eating lots of apples,” Eli said gently.
The sleepiness was wiped from my brain and replaced with sheer panic in a split second.
“You think…?” My chest started pounding uncomfortably. Why hadn't I thought of that? Why hadn't I even considered that as a possibility? “But I'm on birth control,” I mumbled.
“Birth control isn't one-hundred-percent effective. It's unlikely, but I thought it best we check, so I picked up a test.”
I rubbed my eyes, my mind running a million miles a minute. “Oh, god…”
“Do you think it's possible?” Eli asked, pulling me into him and running his hands up and down my arms in a soothing gesture.
“Now that you mention it, it is similar…”
“You've been sick for a while, and it's not going away,” Eli said.
I looked around my tiny room in my tiny apartment. If I was pregnant, it was going to be a nightmare. I could barely afford to keep myself and Char afloat. I couldn't handle a second baby. Where would I even put a second baby?
“I can tell by that look that you're starting to panic,” Eli said. “There's no point in panicking until you've taken the test. It may well be negative.”
I nodded dumbly. “Yeah, it’s probably negative. I'm on birth control. Let’s do this,” I said as I clambered out of the bed.
“Now?” Eli asked.
“Yep. Now that the idea is in my head, I won’t rest until I've taken the test.”
“I guess it's a good thing that I got the test before telling you my suspicions, then.”
“Oh, yeah. If you’d told me before you went out to get the test, I would have spent the entire time you were gone freaking out, panicking, and catastrophizing,” I admitted.
Eli chuckled. “It's almost like I know you,” he said as he sat up, ambling to the kitchen, where he had left the groceries.
He took out the small digital test and handed the box to me. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, ever considerate of me.
“You wait here. I'm going to go pee on the stick, and I will come back while we wait for it to process. Luckily, I need to pee after my nap…” I said, looking over the box. It was one of the expensive digital tests.
I went through the motions of taking the test, almost numb with panic. How could I let myself get back into this situation? At least there was an alpha this time. He was with me while I was taking the test.
Popping the cap back on the test, I washed my hands and returned to the living room, where Eli was sitting on the couch, folding some of my blankets.
“Three minutes,” I said, brandishing the test in the air before placing it facedown on the coffee table.
“Come here,” Eli said, opening his arms. I sat on his lap without hesitation, snuggling into his chest. “No matter what the results are, we'll be okay.”
I sniffed. “How can you say that?”
“I'm not going anywhere, and we will make it work. I promise you, Kennedy, I am not going anywhere. Regardless of what that test says, you are stuck with me. I am very quickly becoming obsessed with you.”
“The feeling is kind of mutual,” I admitted, nuzzling deeper into his chest.
“Good.” I could hear the smile in his voice as he kissed the top of my head.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, simply soaking in each other. Three minutes had definitely passed, but neither of us made a move to check the test. Perhaps we were both enjoying the last moment of it just being us cuddling until reality kicked in.
“We're going to have to check it sometime,” Eli said, eventually. “Do you want me to do it?”
I took a deep breath. “Together?”
When Eli nodded, I leaned forward and picked up the test so that it was still facing down and we couldn't read the results.
Taking one last long look at the alpha who had been quickly stealing my heart, I flipped over the test.
The answer was there in clear, bold letters.
Pregnant .