Page 4 of The Surrogate Omega, Part Two

“Just humor him, sweetheart,” he whispers low enough so River can’t hear. Then, raising his voice and glancing over to my brother, he adds, “I’ll just bring these to the car and then we can get some breakfast. Thanks, River.”

“Of course.”

I watch as Evander scoops up all the clothes and heads out of the room. “Are you ready to go downstairs? I’m sure breakfast is almost ready.”

“Sure.” I stand up and follow my brother out of the room. It occurs to me that I never mentioned that Logan knotted me last night. I open my mouth to tell him when Logan appears around the corner with Cooper.

They both look a little awkward but neither say anything as they greet us. Evander is with them, the canvas tote still over his shoulder, so he was clearly intercepted and distracted. Cooper smiles brightly. “Ready for French toast?” he asks. River’s eyes narrow but he just nods. Evander kisses my cheek and leaves to go throw the bag in the car. This is clearly not the time to discuss the events of last night.

Shrugging, I follow them. I’m sure Cooper will tell him later.

THREE

Evander

We spend the night at Lake’s townhouse. The two of us can work from home on Monday, so I just brought my laptop with me and figure I’ll take over Lake’s kitchen table. Logan’s switching back to night shift for a few weeks, so he’ll head back into the city sometime in the late morning, get his workout in, and shower before heading to work. It’s not a perfect system, but it’ll work for now.

The guys don’t know, but I’ve been looking into apartments that are centrally located for all three of us and big enough. Logan would jump at the chance to move out of his place, but I’m worried about Lake. He might not be quite ready to give up his space. Plus, he likes only living a block from his brother and niece. If it wasn’t for Logan, I’d gladly move into Lake’s place. But Logan needs to live in New York as his permanent residence for work, so unfortunately, it’s not possible.

Anyway, our relaxing and easy morning didn’t end up happening because Lake’s morning sickness finally kicked in. Instead, I got jolted awake at 4 am when Lake clamored over me, kneeing my kidney in the process, already dry heaving. Two hours later, and there’s no end in sight. Logan paces the bedroom, his hands held in tight fists, and his blue eyes are alight with worry.

“And the doctor really said this is normal?” Logan asks me for the one-thousandth time. His voice is strained, like it’s taking all his effort to stay calm. If I weren’t so worried about Lake myself, I’d be fascinated about the changes in Logan. Gone is the easy-going guy who goes with the flow, at least for now.

I want to come back with a sarcastic quip, since I already explained this multiple times, but I know he’s just worried, so I try to stay patient. “She said itcanhappen. Extreme morning sickness seems to be more common with male Omegas, at least with the small sample they currently have. The biggest concern is dehydration. If he can’t at least keep down liquids, Dr. Abbot recommends taking him to the hospital so that they can put an IV drip in him.”

“No hospitals!” Lake calls from the bathroom, his voice weak.

“Little Bird—” Logan begins, but Lake sticks his head out of the bathroom. My stomach immediately knots. He looks awful. He’s sickly pale and his eyes are glassy. Fuck, he’s’ killing me. I can’t bear seeing him looking so miserable. He’s sitting on the floor and there’s a line of spit hanging from his chin.

“Please, Logan, Evander. No hospitals. Not yet. I promise, if it gets to that point, I’ll let you know. I just can’t—not right now.”

My heart is breaking as I look at Logan over Lake’s head. He’s told us briefly about his fear of hospitals, but it hasn’t been much of an issue yet, so I haven’t put much thought into it. Now I wonder just how deep this phobia runs.

I walk over to Lake, kneel next to him, and hold an arm out to him. I’m not sure if he’ll want to be touched right now, so I leave it open to him and am thrilled when he instantly leans into my touch.

“No hospitals yet, sweetheart. But if we think that either you or the baby are at risk, we’re gonna insist.”

Lake sighs as he nods into my chest. As much as I love Lake seeking comfort from me, I hate knowing it comes from him feeling so vulnerable and scared.

Logan takes a deep breath, like he’s trying to make himself relax, then sits down in the doorframe of the bathroom. He takes up most of the space in the doorway, and looks uncomfortable as fuck, but it makes me fall in love with him even more. I adjust Lake and me so we can curl up into Logan as well. A low laugh escapes me as I imagine how ridiculous we probably look all curled up on the bathroom floor together, but I can’t think of anywhere else I want to be right now. I need to be close to my men.

Of course, it’s only a few minutes later when the heaving starts again, and Lake is speed-crawling to the toilet. Logan and I eye each other, having a silent conversation. It’s killing both of us to see Lake hurting so much, but it’s hard to know what to do. We have to trust Lake to know his own body and make his own decisions regarding his health and the baby, but it’s not easy.

Logan and I are snapped out of our silent musings when a phone starts ringing from the bedroom. Lake looks up with glassy eyes. “That’s my personal phone which means it’s River, Dad, or Zoe. Can you please answer it?”

“Sure, sweetheart.” I push myself to my feet and get to Lake’s phone, that’s sitting on the nightstand, right before it hangs up. I don’t even get a chance to look at who’s calling.

“Hello?”

“Ev? I did call Lake’s phone, right?”

I blink as I try to process what I’m hearing. Fuck, River sounds just like Lake over the phone. It’s kind of unnerving.

“Hi, River. Yeah, you did. Lake is, uh, not feeling so well this morning and asked me to get it.”

“Fuck, did the morning sickness start?”

I glance toward the bathroom door. Lake is in the toilet again and doesn’t seem to be paying attention. Logan is kneeling behind Lake and rubbing his shoulders. He glances at me and gives me a sharp nod, the unspoken signal that I should pump River for information and get his opinion on the situation.

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