Page 21 of Claimed By the Bookstore Alpha
I should have gone back to the store and left him alone as I'd promised. But my feet carried me across the street anyway, drawn by a force I couldn't resist.
The pharmacy was small, with narrow aisles and fluorescent lighting that made everything look clinical. I told myself I was just picking up the vitamins I'd been meaning to buy for weeks, nothing more. But as I walked into the store, I followed Clark.
I found him in the family planning aisle, standing in front of the pregnancy tests. He was staring at the wall of boxes with fear etched on his pale face and he was tugging at the sleeves of the sweater he had on. My sweater. Every protective instinct I had was screaming at me to comfort him.
"Clark?"
He spun around, his eyes wide with something that looked like panic. "Flynn. I... what are you doing here?"
"Shopping." Why else would I be here? I couldn’t say I was stalking him. "Are you okay?"
His gaze darted back to the pregnancy tests and then to the floor. "I'm fine. Just... picking up some things."
But he was swaying as if he was about to collapse, and there was something in his scent that made my wolf pay attention. I couldn’t determine what it was.
“Hey.” I stepped closer, and he didn't back away. "You don't look fine."
"I've been sick.” He nibbled his bottom lip. "For weeks. I thought it was just stress, but..."
He didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. I looked at the pregnancy tests and the fear in his eyes. The pieces started clicking into place.
Oh my gods. Was he…? Was that a result of us being together? A baby? My baby?
He swallowed hard. "I didn't think... I mean, I know it's possible, but I never thought it would happen to me. Or to us.”
Clark was pregnant with my child. And I'd spent the last three weeks pushing him away, convincing myself that we were incompatible, that he could never accept what I was.
I should have taken him in my arms and said how much I loved him and I was a horse’s ass and would he ever forgive me. But I said none of that. "Have you taken a test?"
He shook his head. "I keep meaning to, but I'm scared of what it'll say."
"Scared of being pregnant, or scared of not being?" Or was he terrified of being linked to me even though we weren’t together?
He looked at me with something that might have been hope. "I don't know. Both, maybe?"
We stood under the harsh fluorescent light, surrounded by pregnancy tests and family planning supplies, and it dawned on me that everything I'd been so afraid of was already happening. Clark was potentially carrying my child and I'd been too much of a coward to be there for him.
"I know what you're going to say. That this is exactly why we shouldn't have gotten involved. That it's too complicated, too much risk."
"No," I said firmly. "That's not what I was going to say at all."
His head shot up. "It's not?"
"I was going to say that I'm sorry. I've been a fool and an asshat. I've missed you every single day since that night I pushed you away.” I paused for breath. “And if you want nothing to do with me, I’ll understand because I deserve it but I will support you and the baby emotionally and financially.”
I noted the same longing I'd been carrying reflected in his eyes.
"Flynn..."
"I hurt you and I pushed you away when you needed me most. But if you're pregnant..." I gulped. "If you're carrying my child, then I’ll be there for both of you.”
His eyes filled with tears. “Wait. For a moment let’s pretend I might not be pregnant. Would you be saying the same things if we weren’t standing right here in front of the pregnancy tests?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in saying that. He was my world and I’d stomped on it and him.
“What about all that stuff about us being incompatible?"
He wasn’t letting me get away with being vague. Smart guy. "I was scared of you finding out things that might change how you think of me. But if you feel about me the way I do about you, I owe you the truth about who I am."
