Page 31 of His Gentle Omega
“That is enough, Asher.”
Bennett’s sharp tone broke through all the noise. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. Bennett had mastered the art of getting everyone’s attention without having to raise his voice to do it.
“You are scaring the kids, and Shay doesn’t need this right now. It’s time for his nebulizer and his meds.” Bennett calmly handed me my nebulizer, and I took it, looking past my brother, who was still looming over me, to Lucas. He was crying quietly, the tears running down his cheeks and that broke my heart. Because he hadn’t cried that much through anything that had happened. He’d been brave, and had listened, and kept it together more than any six-year-old should have been expected to.
“It’s okay, Lucas,” quietly, I tried to assure him. “Uncle Asher and I just have some things to work out. I’m going to take this,” I waved the nebulizer around, “into the bedroom. Where it’s quiet. I need quiet. It takes about twenty minutes.”
It was probably me taking the coward’s way out. Again. But I just couldn’t deal with any of it right now. Not my crying son. Not my screaming nephews who I had yet to properly meet. Not the look in Bennett’s eyes, part sympathy and part anger. And definitely not my brother. I could not deal with him at all right now.
Resting against the pillows, I shut my eyes and let the medicine do its thing, trying not to listen to the voices drifting down the hallway from the living room. I refused to use my shifter hearing to eavesdrop on what was being said about me. It was just the rising and falling volume of unintelligible words. White noise. Bennett could tell Asher whatever he wanted to, whatever he might know, I was beyond caring.
And when the medicine ran out, and I was wired and shaky, I sank down further on the bed, curling onto my side. I was so fucking tired. So very fucking tired. I couldn’t remember ever being this exhausted in my life.
Ignoring the soft footsteps I heard, I kept my eyes tightly shut, not wanting to face Bennett right now. Not wanting to face anyone.
The bed dipped, and a long body stretched out against my back, familiar arms wrapping around my chest, pulling me into him. His warmth engulfed me, and I didn’t need my sense of smell to come back to know who was holding me.
Asher.
I would know those arms, the feel of them, the safety of them, anywhere.
And that was the moment I broke.
Shattered into the million little pieces I was afraid I would never be able to put back together.
The tears I’d been holding back, the pain I’d pushed away and down, and to the side, washed over me. And I cried. Shaking, I clenched my jaw tightly, trying to keep the sound in. So he wouldn’t hear. So Lucas and Bennett wouldn’t hear.
“I’m sorry, Shay,” he whispered, his arms tightening around me in a bone crushing hug. It almost cut my air off, but I didn’t complain, afraid he would take the safety of his arms away. “I was an ass. None of it matters. You’re here, and I’m here, whatever you need.”
His breath whispered across my neck, his hand stroked through my hair, like he used to do when he chased the monsters away when I was little.
I needed him to chase the monsters away now.
“I love you, big little brother. I always have, and I always will. Nothing will ever change that. You don’t have to tell me anything that happened. Though I hope someday you’ll trust me enough to tell me. Whatever you need, whatever Lucas needs, I have you. I’ll always have you.”
Sobbing, I buried my face in the arm wrapped tightly around my chest, my entire body shaking as I let everything I had kept inside for so long–for years–out.
Chapter Eleven
Shay
Slowly, I opened my eyes and stared into a pair of identical blue ones. Smiling softly, I whispered, “Hi.”
Lucas grinned back, a smile that shone all the way to his eyes, and seeing him so happy, so relaxed, made all of it–running away in the night, the long ass trip, being sick–worth it all.
Not that I was having second thoughts about leaving Edward, I wasn’t. It was the absolute right decision. I just wished we’d had a better start to our new life than we seemed to be having. Nothing was going as I had planned in my head, but then, things seldom did.
“Hi, Daddy.” Lucas was lying next to me on the bed, his head on the pillow next to mine, and I didn’t know how long hehad been there.
Sniffing, I realized I could sort of smell something tantalizing drifting down the hallway. A mixture of chicken and herbs, and my stomach let out a rumble. This was the first time I had actually been hungry in days, or that I could smell.
“Bennett said I could wake you because the soup is ready. It smells so good! He said you need to eat whether you want to or not. I wouldn’t argue with him, if I was you,” he told me matter-of-factly, putting his little arm around my shoulder as far as he could get it. Pulling him close, I snuggled him, feeling his sweet warmth.
This was one of our favorite things to do, snuggle together and just be. He hadn’t yet grown too big to want snuggles, and I drank every one of them in, knowing the day would come when he would tell me he was too old for them.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” my words ruffled his dark head. I wasn’t sure how long I had slept, or when Asher had left. He’d held me while I’d bawled like a baby until exhausted, I had passed out.
Now I could hear the soft murmuring of voices drifting into the room, but I couldn’t make out the words or who was talking. Bennett for sure, because I had already come to recognize the sound of his voice, and at least one other person.
