Lorenzo releases one hand and reaches toward Wilson with the other. “Come on,” he says, his voice steady where mine fails.
We climb the stairs in silence, Wilson following us in silence. Some part of me needs to make sure he’s okay and the other needs to know if I’m pregnant. The moment we get into the bathroom, I rush to rip open the box and pee into a small cup to wait for my answer. My fingers shake as I twist the little timer on the edge of the sink to three minutes.
Then I drag Wilson against me, muttering ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again until it just bleeds into an incoherent mutter. The noise doesn’t stop until I feel Wilson’s arms tighten around my back, his lips pressing against my head.
“I’m not mad, Oliver. Just… shocked.”
I pull back from him, catching Lorenzo an inch away, his hand settled on the back of Wilson’s neck. Wilson leans into the touchslightly as Lorenzo moves forward, holding both of us against his chest.
“How can you not be angry? I was trying to make us a pack and then I stopped being careful. I even had a heat spike and—”
Lorenzo cuts me off. “Babe, that’s not your fault and you know it. And Wilson, gorgeous, because I already know your mind is working a thousand miles a minute, we are right here. None of us are going anywhere, baby or no baby. Whether it’s yours or Nicholas’. Take a deep breath for me.”
Wilson glares at Lorenzo and then down at me. “Iambreathing.”
I just chuckle as I lean up to press a kiss to his lips. “No you’re not.”
The Beta complies and then lets out a shuddering breath, his shoulders falling a little. That gives me the relief I needed to finally relax, Lorenzo holding us all together. I don’t even know what I expect the test to come out to. Some part of me wants it to be positive. The other part knows I’m not ready.
The timer dings, dragging me back to reality as I rush the two steps to the test, my heart plummeting into my stomach. “Negative,” I breathe out, feeling my entire body deflate with the word. Wilson presses into Lorenzo’s chest, obviously relieved even if he hasn’t said anything.
I double over as tears hit me so hard I can barely breathe. My hand claws at the edge of the sink, and the sob tearing through my chest is loud enough that Lorenzo’s pulling me against him before the next one rips free. His arms circle my back and I press my face into his shirt, crying with the force of something I didn’t even know I was carrying until the test said I wasn’t.
“Oliver,” he whispers close to my ear. “Baby, talk to me.”
“I kind of wanted it.” My words are muffled against his chest. “I know the timing’s wrong. I know we haven’t defined anything, and the club’s still in danger. I know Wilson’s still deciding if hecan trust any of this but I think… I kind of wanted it, Lorenzo.” The words surprise me but the longer I think about it, the more the idea of little babies running around up here while our club flourishes grows on me. I want the family that my parents said I’d never had because I married a Beta. I want the chaos and the screaming and the terrible two’s. Not now, but at some point. “Zo, I want a family, a pack that’s loud and messy and full of people. I want to carry our babies and raise them in this apartment above the club. I don’t even know where this feeling is coming from butt finding out I’m not pregnant almost hurts more than if I had been.”
Lorenzo’s hand cradles the back of my head, his mouth pressing against my temple. “Then I’ll make sure we have that family, babe.”
“I want all of it,” I stammer, my voice breaking further. “But I want it when we’re ready. When the club is safe and Wilson’s okay and Nicholas is really ours. I want the version where we build something strong enough to hold a family. I want the earned version.”
He rocks me against his chest, his hand running through my hair. It takes me several minutes to calm and when I finally do, I remember there’s another man in this bathroom, one I’ve somehow haven’t checked on.Again.
I raise my head to see Wilson just standing there, his eyes darting between the both of us, his cheeks flushed pink. He sucks in his bottom lip, obviously working through whatever he wants to say. I brace for the worst, the part where Wilson says he doesn’t want kids or that this is too much, too fast.
Instead, what he does say breaks my heart.
“Am I included in this family?”
A small growl pulls from my chest as I untangle myself from Lorenzo and march over to Wilson, curling my fingers into his shirt and dragging him down a little. “I thought we got past this,Wilson. You’re mine. All mine. Well, mostly mine.” I smack my free hand at the tears that escaped earlier. “You’re theirs too and yes, you’re family. You’re my Beta, Wilson and if I could claim you, I would but I can’t so that will be Nicholas’ job.”
His eyebrows raise clean off his head, Wilson stuttering over his response. “That’s… I… Nicholas hasn’t mentioned…”
I snort. “He doesn’t have to. Now, kiss me or I’m going to die.”
Lorenzo chuckles from behind us. “Oliver, you are not going to die. You had a scare but you’ll be fine and we’ll navigate through everything else like we always do.”
I throw Lorenzo a finger and drag Wilson closer, my lips brushing against his. “Kiss me. Tell me I’m yours too. Tell me that this is just the start to the family we’ll build.”
“You’re mine,” he whispers as he kisses my lips. “Both of you. All mine.”
I’ve never heard such sweet words and earning them was everything I had hoped.
22
Lorenzo
An article surfaces at 4 PM on a Wednesday, three hours before we open. I’m at the bar reviewing the week’s vendor invoices when my phone buzzes with a Google alert I set up months ago.
