Page 38 of His Gentle Omega
Was it wrong for me to want one kiss, to taste my fated mate?
Instead, I did the right thing. The good thing. The thing that he needed me to do, especially with his son not a foot from us, playing an innocent child’s game.
“I’m so sorry,” pushing off and away from him, I apologized. “I just wanted to wake you up so you could go to bed. You need a decent night’s rest for tomorrow.”
Shay looked disappointed, before quickly masking his features. Rubbing his hands over his face, he shook his head. “How long was I asleep? I feel like all I’ve done the last couple of days is sleep.”
“Not long,” I told him, resuming my spot on the floor, putting distance between us.
“You were snoring.” Lucas looked over his shoulder at his dad. “You’ve slept bunches and bunches, Daddy.”
“Because your daddy has been sick, and he needed all that sleep to get better.” Obediently, I moved my game piece closer to the candy castle and a win.
Lucas wasn’t wrong. Shay had spent the better part of the last few days not doing much more than taking his medicine and sleeping. The plus side was that he hadn’t needed a breathing treatment at all today, and his coughing was much better. He was still prone to random coughing fits. But instead of the dry, hacking coughs from before, it was much more productive.Trying to pull out some of the nasty stuff that had settled in his lungs.
The upside was that I had gotten to spend time getting to know Lucas, and what an amazing boy he was. Smart, funny, and well-behaved, he made me long for things I couldn’t have. At least not anytime soon.
Thankfully, I had remembered the bag of new board games I had stashed in my closet. They were waiting for me to drop them off at the battered omega shelter, and I hadn’t had time yet. I had told Lucas he could pick one game from the bag, and it would be his to keep and take to his new house.
Often, the children that stayed in the shelter ended up taking some of the toys or games from the shelter when they left. The volunteers and shelter workers never discouraged it, as most of the kids left their homes with next to nothing. Toys and games were easily replaced.
Lucas and I had spent every night racing our gingerbread men to the candy castle on the board.
And when Shay was awake, he was a hands-on dad, taking over Lucas’s care. Giving him his baths, watching a movie with him, joining in to play the board game, and helping him make Play-Doh ice cream treats. He wasn’t up for reading to him just yet, as he still got short of breath quickly. But Lucas knew the two stories he had with him by heart, and he would read to Shay each night before he went to bed.
It was one of the cutest things I had seen in a long time, and it made my ovaries scream. Seeing the two of them on the bed together, Shay’s arm around Lucas as he ran his little finger over the words and made sure his dad could see all the pictures, made mewant. Watching Shay with his son made mewant.
If there was such a thing as single dad kink, I had surely discovered a love for it. Yes, please, sign me the fuck up. Because watching Shay with Lucas was one of the sexiest fucking things I had ever seen.
“You can head to bed, if you want.” Sliding my piece closer to a win, I made a funny face at Lucas, when he huffed after his card had him going backwards. Lucas was never a sore loser, but he definitely had a competitive streak in him. Since I did too, we often ended up playing several games each night, as tie-breakers. I loved spending time with the little boy, so it was never a hardship.
To say I wasn’t looking forward to them moving out was an understatement. Even if it was just next door. Even though I knew it was for the best. We were playing house, and I was starting to love it just a little more than was good for my own well-being.
Deep down, I knew I was not what Shay needed right now. It was never, ever, a good idea for someone in his situation to jump into another relationship so quickly. Not that we were in a relationship or had even talked about what we were to each other. Because we had not. There just hadn’t been a good opportunity to do so. Either Shay was sleeping, or Lucas was between us.
Knowing he needed to get things settled with his ex, and knowing we should wait for all of that to be settled before we even thought about what it meant for us to be fated, didn’t mean I was happy about it.
My brain knew what I should do; my body was on a completely different path.
Shay shook his head. “You guys are almost done. I’ll take him to bed, and head there myself. But thank you. I really wish youwould let me take the couch, now that I’m almost completely better. I’ve put you out long enough.”
This wasn’t the first time he had offered to sleep on the couch, since he had realized I only had two bedrooms and the Pierce men were occupying both beds. I doubted Shay would even fit on the couch if he stretched out, and he hadn’t needed to be uncomfortable. Besides, keeping a child entertained during the day caused noise, and he needed the sleep. It was easy to shut the bedroom door against any noise.
When the game was finished–me winning–Lucas hugged me tight to say good night. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the strawberry scent of his shampoo, wanting to savor this moment. This very well might be the last good-night hug I got from him for a while, and my heart was aching.
Hours later, stretched out under the blankets on my couch, I was still staring up at the ceiling. My mind just wouldn’t shut down tonight, and sleep wouldn’t come. Tomorrow, everything would change. I could feel it like I could feel a summer storm on the wind.
Shay would meet with Alex, and then he and Lucas would settle into their new home. They would start their new life, and I didn’t know what would happen between us. I wouldn’t blame Shay if he had no interest in dealing with our fated status. The Goddess had made it so fated couples could walk away from each other. I knew that. But that never happened in any of my books or movies.
“This isn’t a fucking book or movie, Bennett.” Rolling onto my side, I tried to talk some common sense into myself. “Maybe you should do some research on fated mates. Get some insight into it. And not from Seth. He’s not a reliable source.” Maybe I should talk to actual fated mates, like Asher and Gabe. Or my landlords,Finn and Wade Sinclair. They were fated too. “It would be better than you talking to yourself in the dark.”
A cry broke the air, jerking me out of my thoughts. A few seconds later, it came again, and I jumped up, nearly getting tangled in my blankets to get to him.
Shay.
It wasn’t the first nightmare he had had. He had them almost every night, though he seldom remembered them. If he did, he never mentioned it.
Thankfully, I didn’t need any light to see down the hallway or locate the furniture in my room. My wolf had excellent night vision.
