Page 3 of Jake and Conner
My brain had no problem coming up with a hundred and one ways all of this could go to shit.
But I wasn't about to let Aaron and Laurence know.
"There's ice on the road," I said instead. "It'll be safer if I drive. Your mate is kind of freaking out."
Laurence gave a weak laugh. "I noticed. I can't really blame him. It's his first time."
"True." I made myself smile back at my friend and squeezed his shoulder. "Let's get you to the hospital and get that baby born, okay? Are you excited?"
"I am." Laurence started to grin, but the joyous expression was interrupted by one of pain as another contraction tore through him.
"Have you picked names yet?" I asked, if only to distract him.
"Juliana for a girl. Jared for a boy."
"Those are lovely names."
Just as I said that, Aaron entered the room. "I got the bag in the car and Marvin's here. We can go."
"All right." I walked up to him and held my hand out. "I'll drive. Keys?"
Aaron hesitated only a moment before dropping the keys into my hand. "Thanks, man."
"Don't worry about it," I said, clapping his back as I passed. "I can't wait to meet your new baby."
I was happy for my friend, really. He deserved all the familial bliss he had found with Laurence. I couldn't deny, though, that seeing him with his pregnant mate, my chest tightened.
Because I wanted what he had too, but I wasn't anywhere close to getting it.
There was no time to focus on that now, though. I could throw myself a private little pity-party later when the baby had safely been born and I was back home--and honestly, I was probably just going to fall straight into bed at that point. I'd never been one to indulge in pity-parties. They got boring fast. I preferred to take action where I could.
It was Conner's birthday soon…
I shoved that thought to the back of my mind as I entered the car and turned the key in the ignition. The faster we got to the hospital, the better.
Once everyone had buckled up--Aaron and Laurence in the back seat--I slowly backed the car out of the driveway and onto the road.
"Thank you so much for driving," Laurence said.
"Don't worry about it," I said, never turning my gaze from the streets ahead of me, not when I knew how treacherous they could be. I would get my friends to the hospital safe and sound, if it was the last thing I did.
"It's very generous of you," Aaron said, "I bet you're tired."
I only shook my head in response, and thankfully, Aaron became too preoccupied with his mate to keep talking to me. Usually I wouldn't have minded a little conversation, but figuring out how fast I could go without wrapping us around the next tree took all my focus. The wind was picking up and howling through the neighborhood around us. This close to the ocean, we always got strong winds. Normally that didn't bother me, but that night I was just hoping that no branches had been torn from the trees to block the road. That would mean a delay we didn't need.
Every now and then, I glanced at Aaron and Laurence in the rearview mirror.
Laurence's face was contorted in pain. I'd seen the same kind of expression on laboring omegas more than once. He was close, I was pretty sure. Aaron was rubbing his back and fussing over him, but not much of it seemed to register with Laurence. He was too busy trying to keep the baby inside of him until we made it to the hospital.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if he was going to make it.
Focusing my attention back on the road, I sped up a little bit. It was either that or pulling over and delivering the baby myself. So I tightened my hands around the steering wheel and went as fast as I could without crashing into anything.
I was off duty, damn it.
The car skidded, my heart skipped a beat, my knuckles turning white as I tried to keep the vehicle under control. I exhaled when we were on track again with all our limbs firmly attached to our bodies.
Everything was fine.
