Page 9 of Duke's Baby Deal
Eventually the door opened, but instead of Bax, Holland stood in the opening. Like usual, I couldn’t decide if he was prettier than Bax, or if it was the other way around. No matter—I’d have given my top fangs to look like either of them. Even now, when I should have been thinking about other things.
Holland looked me up and down in surprise. “Bram, what are you doing here?” He sniffed and his eyes narrowed. “That was a short heat.” Suspicion began to grow in his eyes.
I started to shake. “Is Bax around? I really need Bax.” And to my horror, tears started to roll down my cheeks.
Holland’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Bram, what have you done?” He pulled me into the house and stared at me a moment. His body was stiff and I could tell he was angry.
“I swear,” I told him frantically. “He just showed up and then…”
“Who?”
I didn’t want to tell him, I didn’t, I didn’t. But he was Bax’s cousin. And he had that sketchy past; he couldn’t throw stones, right? “Justin,” I mumbled, staring down at the floor.
“Fuck, you are an idiot.”
I jerked, and raised my head. “I didn’t go looking for him. I was home. Where I was supposed to be.” I shuddered, and the sick churning of my stomach got even worse. “I asked him to leave, and he wouldn’t, and then I—I—” I curled over my arms, still wrapped around me, and took deep, noisy breaths, determined that I wouldn’t puke on Holland’s feet.
Holland made a sound and pulled me into a hug. “Shh, you don’t have to describe it to me. I know what it’s like.” He stroked my hair for a moment, the tension leaking out of his body, then pushed me away from him and tugged at my jacket until I took it off and gave it to him. He hung it up on one of the row of hooks on the wall beside us, then began to lead me down the hall with an arm around my shoulders. “Come on. You’re not to tire him though—he had the baby last night.”
“And I missed that too!” I wailed, appalled at the unfairness of life.
Holland made a noise, his attitude back again to disapproval, but before I could yell at him for being an unfeeling prick, we turned through the door to Bax’s bedroom.
I’d seen it before, while I was pupsitting on nights when Bax had too much work to do in one day, or if he and Abel wanted a night to themselves out of the house. I wasn’t sure why they didn’t have Holland look after them, since he lived in a little apartment attached to the side of their house, but I wasn’t going to complain. I liked Bax’s pups—they were smart, and made me laugh more than any of the other ones I’d dealt with. And the house…
I’d poked around after the pups were in bed, wondering if I’d ever have something that nice once I mated. You could tell Abel was head over heels in love with Bax, because he’d built such a wonderful place for him to live. Sure, most of the walls weren’t painted yet, and the floor was just plain boards, but it was bright and sunny, the furniture was nice and, best of all, it was theirhome. I couldn’t wait to have my own home.
Assuming anyone would even mate me now.
Bax was nestled into a pile of pillows big enough to be a bed themselves. His eyes were closed, and the new baby lay on his naked chest, swaddled in a beautifully crocheted blanket. At the sound of our footsteps, he opened his eyes, and I had a momentary flash of jealousy—for his beauty, for his home, for his mate and his baby—before I remembered that I had bigger fish to catch.
“What happened?” Bax asked, and I thought he might have already guessed just looking at me, because his mouth tightened and the peaceful expression disappeared from his face. Thankfully, he didn’t start right in on what an irresponsible child I was like I suspected Holland wanted to. I don't know what I would have done if he had.
Bax pushed himself up in the bed, ignoring Holland’s concerned cry, and beckoned me over. “Come sit.” He patted the empty spot beside him. “Holland, I’m fine. This isn’t my first. My omega line is pretty much sealed, I just need to take it easy for a bit so it doesn’t tear.”
Holland bit his lip and nodded, but he didn’t leave the room, coming to sit on the bed at Bax’s feet. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.”
“I know. I’ll be fine; I won’t overdo it.” Bax turned to me. “Sit.” He held out a hand and pulled me onto the bed. “I’m sorry you missed Taden’s arrival, but you can be around for the next one.”
“He’ll be around for his own before that,” Holland said dryly, but pressed his lips together and looked away when Bax shot him a severe glance.
Rumors had flown when Holland had shown up and hadn’t shown any interest in looking for a mate. I wondered if he really was already mated, and his mate wouldn’t touch him, or couldn’t. Or maybe his mate was dead, like some of the other rumors? Or had put him aside because he couldn’t have pups? Or maybe he’d had one, and the mate didn’t like it? Or some of the other, nastier stories.So sad.Well, he could say what he liked then—I wouldn’t complain. Not like I was lily pure and innocent now, anyway. But the comment had hurt and I pressed my lips together to keep them from trembling. I was afraid that if I let anything start, I’d just turn into a blubbering mess.
A tap on the back of my hand brought my attention back to Bax.
He gestured at the baby. “Do you want to hold him?”
Did I?Of course I did. Mutely, I held out my arms and Bax carefully picked him up and put him in them.
He was adorable. Bigger than I’d expected, and his eyes still didn’t focus on anything. “Hello, Taden,” I cooed, and rocked him a little, and I found that my own crazy emotional state started to calm as I watched the baby in my arms. I think that’s why Bax did it—I always forgot how smart he was, until he did something like this.
Bax reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You ready to tell me what happened now? And then we’ll work out a way to fix it.”
“There’s no fixing this.” That was the fear talking, though. I hoped there was a way out of this, that one of them would know something. “I was going crazy cooped up in the house last night, so I went outside to toss a ball around, and Justin found me.”
“That was foolish. You’re almost eighteen now, Bram. You should know better,” Holland snapped.
Bax gave him a look that should have set his hair on fire. “Go. Now.”
