Page 47 of The Prez

I shake my head and wrap my arm around Omari’s shoulder. “We’re good. Brothers, this is Omari. My boyfriend.”

Omari’s head whips over to me. I raise an eyebrow at him. He smiles as a tear leaks from his eye, nodding as he leans into me.

Jace smiles, holding his hand out. “Guess that makes you the first gentleman.”

Omari’s giggle makes me smile as I look down at him. “Omari is fine. It’s nice to meet you all.” He shakes all my brothers’ hands. “Thank you for coming to check on him. It means a lot.”

“We’ve been here for hours and we’re tired,” I say. I pullmy keys from my pocket. “Someone take my bike home. I’m gonna ride back with Mari and Little Raf.”

Jace takes my keys and hand them to another brother. “This is prospect work,” he grumbles.

“Not now, Jace,” I warn, not in the mood to hear the same argument I’ve heard when I tell someone to do something they think is beneath them.

“You’re right,” he says quickly. “Sorry, Prez. Let’s go y’all. If you need anything or to take a few days …”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him I’ll be at the clubhouse tomorrow, but I do need to stay home with Omari and Little Raf. If for no other reason than to support Omari. “Yeah, thanks. Give me a couple days.”

He nods and they take their leave. I walk my family out to the car, watching Omari as he buckles Little Raf in, paying close attention so I can do it myself one day.

I hold his hand tight in mine on the way home since Omari looks as if he’ll break if he’s not tethered to the present.

Once we’re home and inside, Omari takes the baby into the nursery, changing him into pajamas. He looks over at me as he scoops the baby back up. “Is it crazy that I want to sleep in here with him to make sure he’s okay?”

I shake my head, walking over to them. I wrap my arms around them both and Omari sighs, a soft sob breaking free. “No. But there’s no room for me. Let’s take him in my room.” I tell him to go to my room and I push the crib out of the nursery. Once in my room, I arrange the crib on the side of the bed Omari sleeps on, away from the bedroom door. He lies Little Raf inside, staring at him for a few minutes before he lies down himself.

Gathering Omari in my arms, I hold him while more silent tears leak from his eyes. “I’m sorry for what I said,” I apologize again. “You did nothing wrong.”

“Thank you,” he whispers. “I’ll try not to blame myself.”

“You shouldn’t.” I sigh. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m going to call his doctor tomorrow,” he says. “And we’ll go from there.”

I nod, kissing the top of his head. Hopefully, we can get some answers.

When Omari finally drops off to sleep, I stare at the ceiling, sending my thanks to whatever god allowed me the opportunity to work at being a better man for Little Raf and Omari. Now, I have to put my money where my mouth is and be better.

CHAPTER 13

OMARI

The next fewdays are tense. Both Big Raf and I watch Little Raf like a hawk. I’ve checked labels on the back of jars more times than I can count. We’re sticking to foods we know he can eat and still bottle feeding.

Zeke and Shane, Jace and his wife—who they call an old lady even though she can’t be older than thirty-five—and more of the brothers come and check on Little Raf, bringing him gifts and holding him. Most of them send me reassuring words and a few even marvel that Raf has a boyfriend. I blush every time someone asks, not sure how we even got here, but not minding it one bit.

After three days of Little Raf being the happy baby he usually is and when the meds are finished, we both relax a little. Surprisingly, Big Raf has apologized to me every day for blaming me for what happened. I don’t fault him for it. It was a highly emotional situation and I wasn’t making it better by falling apart like I did.

Earlier today, Little Raf had an appointment with his pediatrician that set us even more at ease.

“Even if there is no history of allergies in the immediatefamily,” the doctor said, checking over the baby and laughing when Little Raf grabbed his stethoscope to put in his mouth, “you never know what a child will react to. It really is trial and error.”

Even though I didn’t want to sound so pitiful, I asked, “So I didn’t do anything wrong?”

He smiled over at me and shook his head. “Nothing wrong at all. We have to introduce foods to babies for this very reason. Now that we know what to look for, we can avoid it. In this day and age, allergens are listed on the back of most foods.” He gave me a soft look as I kissed the top of Little Raf’s head. “You’re doing great with him. He’s a healthy weight and height and he appears to be a happy baby. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

Big Raf was silent during the entire exchange, but I know he was paying attention.

Over the past few days, he’s been there without fail. He’s been holding Little Raf more, he sat with me during bath time and asked questions, then the next day, he took over. He was already doing feeding time, so that didn’t change. Whenever Little Raf needed to be changed or put to bed, Big Raf handled it.

---