Page 38 of Roommates
“Of course I want to stick with you. Why do you think I'm here?”
“Whyareyou here?” I demanded, removing his fingers from my face. “You shouldn't be here. You have a game tonight. A really important game!” How could he forget that, after all the effort he'd put into practice?
“I don't care about the stupid game,” he waved me off with such vehemence I almost believed him.
“There's things more important than sports, even I know that.”
“This isn't just sports and you know it,” I insisted.
He shook his head. “I haven't been able to think about anything but you since I heard you weren't on campus anymore.” His eyes traveled down to my belly. “You and the baby.”
I almost squirmed a little bit under his gaze. There was so much concern in it. I knew now that I shouldn't have left him... and that he still cared about me, even after everything I'd done and everything I'd kept from him. “I'm sorry,” I said again. “I don't want you to lose your shot at professional football because of me.”
He opened his mouth, closed it again and huffed. “How am I going to make you understand that I don't care about that right now? Getting into pro football was only ever a way to escape my parents’
clutches. This is more important. You're having my baby!” he said with emphasis. “Who gives a shit about football?”
“I haven't... I'm not...” I didn't know how to go on, reminding him that I could not have this baby, because with every word he said, he made me want it more. It wasn't fair, really, how he was doing that to me, teasing me with this fantasy of a life by his side. Just me and him and the baby.
I was sure he'd make a fantastic dad too...
“Before you say anything else, I need you to know something,” Adam said after watching me struggle with my words like a toddler making his first attempts at sophisticated speech.
I started to tilt my head at him, and before I was even done with the motion, Adam leaned in to catch my lips in a kiss that stole my breath. For as long as his mouth was on mine, I didn't even care that someone could be watching us from one of the many windows of the surrounding houses. Nothing existed in the world aside from Adam and me and my desire to be with him. When he broke away, I looked at him in a daze. He caught my eyes with an intensity in his own that made the fine hair in my neck stand up. “I love you,” he said, as if it was the most simple truth in the universe.
That moment, he had me convinced that, to him, it was—because I felt exactly the same way too.
“I love you too,” I said, letting the words slip out of my mouth before my fears could stop me from voicing them. Whatever happened from here on out, I wanted Adam to know that I cared about him, even if I hadn't made the smartest decisions.
He kissed me again, more deeply this time. I found myself leaning into him. I'd never been able to resist him, had I? At this point, I was tired of trying to.
If he was truly able to forgive me then...
Maybe we could have a future after all. My heart beat faster, urging me to hold on to that thought even as Adam and I parted again. Before I could say anything, though, Adam spoke again.
“I've had a lot of time to think on the train here,” he started. “I don't think you should have to give up on your goals just because you’re omega, or because you're pregnant.” His eyes strayed to my belly again, and I thought I saw a glint of desire in them, as if secretly, he couldn't wait for me to start showing.
“The world isn't perfect,” I said. “If omegas weren't so disadvantaged I wouldn't be so determined to make a change and none of this would be an issue.” As I finished speaking, I heard a low rumble in the distance, as if the sky wanted to underline my words for dramatic effects. If the situation wasn't so dire, that might have gotten a chuckle out of me.
“The world isn't perfect but that doesn't mean two people can't be perfect for each other,” Adam insisted, surprising me a bit with the wisdom of his words—and with just how much he seemed to want us to work out.
“I'm not perfect for you. I've caused a huge mess for you.”
“I don't care about that. We can fix this! I can raise our child.”
My eyebrows climbed up my forehead. Did he really mean that?
“Don't look at me like that!” he continued. “I know it's not the most alpha-like thing to do, but why should you be the only one who gets to break the stereotype? Why can't I choose to care for my family?”
“That's... I wasn't saying that... I just don't know if that's really what you want.”
“I want it more than whatever my parents have planned for me, and since I'm standing here with you right now instead of being at my game, I guess I want a future with you more than I want a career in pro football too.”
I couldn't argue with that. Hewashere when he really shouldn't be.
“I'll be almost done with school when the little one is born,” Adam said. “We can make it work. If you want us to.”
“I want that more than anything,” I admitted.
