Page 54 of Jake and Conner
And then I fainted.
23
Jake
Bastian led me to a nice-looking house on the outskirts of town. I rarely ever came here, and I'd never particularly noticed the house before, but it looked well-taken care of--aside from the lawn anyway. "How long ago was this place abandoned?" I asked.
"A couple of months," Bastian said, sounding distracted as he led me around the house to the back.
"Is it going to be sold?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Someone's mother got sick or something and they left in a hurry." Bastian shrugged and opened the back door, which turned out not to be locked. "They turned off the electricity," he said as he walked into the dark house. The sun was still up outside, but not a lot of light came in through the windows.
"Mark?" he called. "It's me!"
Together, we waited for a response.
Finally, someone moved on the upper floor, the wood faintly creaking above us.
"Did you bring food?" A young male voice called from above. I guessed that it was Mark.
"I'll get something later," Bastian responded. He was starting to move up the stairs and I followed behind, careful to be quiet so as not to spook the omega. He was probably not expecting Bastian to be bringing company. From the little Conner had told me, I understood that he was in a bad situation with the adults in his life.
On the upper floor, we were faced with four doors, two on either side of the hall. One of the doors on the right was opened and led into a spacious room with a large bed. On top of it sat a young omega with matted brown hair, long bangs falling into his face. I tried not to stare at his belly, which was showing quite prominently. I wasn't sure exactly how far along he was, but I estimated that he was probably between five and six months.
I wondered how long it had been since anyone had performed even a basic health check-up on him and the baby.
As we entered the room, Mark stared at me with wide eyes.
"Don't get mad," Bastian said. "Ihadto get someone. I want you and the baby to be safe."
"I'm fine, and the baby is fine too!" Mark insisted. Then he glanced at me again, cowering a bit like a cat who had been cornered.
"I'm Jake," I introduced myself. "I'm a friend of Conner's. He's very concerned about you."
"Is he?" Marks face fell a little bit. "I didn't mean to worry him. Or anyone. I just needed to get away."
"They were going to take the baby away," Bastian said as if he needed to defend his boyfriend's choices.
"I'm not here to judge you," I said. "But Bastian's right that you should have someone look at you. How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine."
"He's been having cramps," Bastian said, calling the omega out on his lie. "He's turned eighteen yesterday. His mom can't do anything if he comes out of hiding now, but he's being stubborn."
"My mom has gone insane," Mark said quietly. "She hasn't been the same since my dad died."
When Mark mentioned his dad, I suddenly noticed something I hadn't before. In the dim light, it was tough to make out facial features, but now Mark moved his head just a little bit and I got a better look at his face and the resemblance between him and the victim of that horrible car-crash was striking.
This was the son that George had told me about. The one he'd never managed to establish a good relationship with.
My stomach clenched, seeing Mark here, hiding his pregnancy from the world and remembering his dead father who would have wished so much better for him.
"How bad is the cramping?" I asked, trying to focus myself rather than jumping straight into action. My first instinct was to grab Mark by the arm and take him out of here, drive the boys to a clinic where someone who was actually trained in prenatal care could take care of them. I didn’t have the expertise to diagnose him. My job was to keep people alive until I could get them a hospital. Sometimes that involved delivering a baby, so I was equipped to handlethat,but not much that went beyond it.
I knew that cramps could mean nothing, or they could be a really bad sign.
"They're not too bad," Mark said, but I wasn't sure that he was telling me the truth.
