Emory’s hand had stopped moving. “We would figure out adoption?”
Cameron had hoped that maybe, since Emory said he wasn’t all that interested in kids, they wouldn’t have to go through this song and dance right now. The longer Emory gazed at him in confusion, the more it felt like he would be outright lying if he didn’t tell him everything.
Cameron swallowed hard and sat up, pulling the sheets and comforter with him. Emory followed suit, the look of confusion turning to one of concern as Cameron shuffled out of bed.
He didn’t need to go far, and to be honest, he didn’twantto go far. He turned around and stood right at the edge of the bed and tried to put on his bravest face.
“I know we haven’t covered a lot about my birth parents yet, but basically, I was with them for four and a half years, and during that time, a lot of really not great stuff happened. Some of it I remember, and some my real parents–my ba and pa–told me. I think my social worker told them a few things, and therewas a little in my file, but this particular one I didn’t find out until I was in college…dating my shitty ex, Thomas.”
Cameron grasped the bottom of his shirt and slowly peeled it over his head. He didn’t have to drop his pants again, because Emory had seen the scars on his legs.
Or maybe he hadn’t, since he’d been such a gentleman and tried not to look, but he had felt the ones on his hips, so Cameron gestured at those first. They were in patches, some on his hip, some on his ribs, and a bunch more on his back.
Emory was staring at him intently. His hands, which were strong and could possibly do some real damage to a person, were lying limply in his lap as he waited for Cameron to continue.
Cameron anxiously rubbed at his upper arm, drawing Emory’s eyes to the much less noticeable scars there. “The final thing my birth parents did, which ultimately ended up saving my life, also had some really severe long-term consequences.”
Emory appeared to be barely breathing, his shoulders were a solid line across, and his eyes were swirling with something. There was still no sign of his inner alpha beast, though, so Cameron continued.
“Again, I didn’t find this out until much later, but apparently, I had shifterpox. Not a huge deal, but something that needs to be treated and looked after. My birth parents weren’t really all that interested in looking after me, though, so they let it run rampant. I guess when you allow a kid to scratch to their heart's content, they end up with scars,” he said, gesturing across his body. “And if you let it go completely untreated, it can cause high fevers, swelling, and severe sickness. One of the neighbors called Child Services after seeing a severely sick kid playing outside day after day. Thankfully, I don’t remember much about it, just being sick and then finally being taken away from there.”
Cameron’s octopus trembled, and Cameron closed his eyes and wrapped his arms all the way around himself. He mightas well finish the story now. He’d come this far already. “Fast forward to college, and I’m dating Thomas—who’s an alpha. We had a condom break during one of my heats. As I’m sure you’re aware, that is an almost surefire way to get pregnant. We were over a year and a half into our relationship, and I already knew I needed to get out at that point, but I was trying to figure out how. Turns out the nicest and worst thing he ever did for me was insist I go to a clinic instead of buying a test at the store. They did a full exam, one I’d never had done before, and they… Well, they found out I’m sterile. The doctor sent me to a specialist, and they looked over my records and believe the untreated shifterpox was to blame.”
He heard Emory’s sharp intake of breath, but he kept his eyes squeezed shut.
“As I said, it was the best thing he ever did because I’m glad I found out then. Even if, at the time, it felt like the worst because…shortly after that appointment, he left me. He said he didn’t want a ‘broken omega.’”
Now, so many years later, Cameron could almost admit that Thomas leaving had been the second-best thing he could have done. At the time, though, it had felt like the end of his world. He’d just found out he was sterile due to the damage his biological parents had caused him, and not even his shitty boyfriend would stay with him. This was the other reason Cameron didn’t really date. He didn’t want to have this conversation with random people he met on dating apps. Hell, he didn’t want to have it with his fated mate, and yet here he was.
Fate sure was a bitch.
He kept his eyes closed as long as he could bear it, but finally, he couldn’t take the silence any longer. He cracked one eye open to find Emory still sitting there, his hands lying useless in front of him as tears trickled down his cheeks.
“Emory?” Cameron whispered.
“I am so, so sorry, Cameron. I…I don’t know what else to say. I’m so sorry that happened to you at such a young age and then again in college when you were still just a kid. And now…to have to tell me about it because of myfamily…” He said the word like a curse before shaking his head, causing tears to fall onto his sheets. “I’m just so sorry, honey.”
Cameron didn’t have to wait for his octopus to spur him forward. He scrambled back onto the bed, abandoning his discarded shirt and instead opting for the warmth of his fated mate’s arms. He nearly bowled him over when he crashed into him, but Emory quickly steadied them with a hand on the mattress and his other arm wrapped tightly around Cameron’s back.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Cameron said, his voice slightly muffled from his face being pressed into Emory’s shirt. Emory began carding his hand through Cameron’s hair again, while his other hand grabbed a fistful of blanket and yanked it around Cameron’s shoulders.
“I feel like I have everything to be sorry for. You shouldn’t have had to?—”
“No, really, Emory, it’s alright,” Cameron interrupted, fisting his shirt in rather the same way his octopus kept curling and uncurling his tentacles. “I probably should have told you earlier or?—”
“Absolutely not. When would you have told me? At the airport?” Emory’s eyes were set with a steely determination now, and Cameron’s argument died on his tongue. “You had no reason to tell me until now, and even now, it feels like this should have been your choice, not something you felt you had to do because of my overly zealous family.”
It seemed like maybe Emory had some of his own family shit to deal with.
“It’s okay, Emory,” Cameron tried again.
“It’s really not. Our first morning together, and me and the stress of my family have ruined it.”
Emory looked devastatingly sad, which was fair enough. What had happened to Cameron was sad and horrible and had taken him a very long time to come to terms with. He didn’t expect Emory to know how to handle it, but he also didn’t know what to do with this misplaced guilt he was holding. Cameron’s octopus flapped around anxiously, demanding that Cameron fix it, but he was sort of at a loss.
Something must have shown in his face, because Emory’s jaw tightened and he raised a hand to wipe down his face. “I’m…really not helping the matter, am I?”
Cameron opened his mouth, though to say what, he had no idea, but Emory shook his head and sighed. “I’m sorry. I used to hate it when I’d tell people about my dad dying, and they’d get all worked up, and I’d end up having to comfortthem. I feel like not only did I stress you to the point you had to run away to…to burrow into my bedding. Then, when you tried to tell me why, I made you hold my grief over it. I’m really,reallysorry, Cameron.”
