Page 94 of Use Me Up

I glare at him across the room from us, sexily lounging in the doorway like he is, saying we can’t be parents, and I feel it sinking down into my stomach like a stone.

I’m definitely kidding myself.

“Beta,” he says to Hannah, “take the Plan B.”

“Don’t tell her what to do,” mutters Ellis.

Hannah is not wearing any makeup and she’s got on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and she looks incredibly young. She’s far too young to be used in this way, and Ellis is not ready to be a father. Maybe Ellis will never be ready to be a father.

I groan. “He’s right, Ellis.” I look up at Hannah. “Go take the Plan B.”

“Well,” she says, lifting her chin, “as it happens, it’s not actually up to any of you, is it? It’s up to me, because it’s my body.”

“True,” I say. “That’s true.” I feel a little leap of hope inside me.

“What would it be like?” She’s looking at me.

I let out a breath, and my body floods with something warm and liquid and pleasant. “If you had a baby with us, you mean?” I breathe.

“She’s not doing that, and there’s no us,” says Kane.

“You said I could come back with you,” says Ellis. “Are you taking that back?”

“You,” says Kane, pointing at him. “I said you, our omega, not…” He looks at Hannah. “Sweetheart, you’re adorable and I was sad that we didn’t get a chance to pass you around during Ellis’s heat, sure. I liked watching you get yourself off on Gatlin’s knot as much as anyone would.”

I think of that, feeling the warm feeling turn hot, remembering the way her wet little pussy squeezed my cock when she was coming, and I’m a little lightheaded.

“But,” Kane continues, “that’s no reason for us to play house together.”

Hannah nods. “Yeah, I know.”

“But what would it be like?” says Ellis. He turns to me. “Do you want her?”

“Obviously,” I say. “Obviously, I want her. Obviously, there’s something about her.”

Ellis grins at me. “Yeah. Yeah, there is. She’s sweet and funny and so damned cute and I think about her constantly when she’s not around. I’m in love with her. If you got to know her, you’d love her too—”

“What?” interrupts Hannah. “You do not love me.”

Ellis turns around to look at her. “Of course I do.”

Hannah turns on her heel and stalks out of the house.

I go after her. Probably Ellis should go after her, but I’m up and moving before he is. I grab her on the front steps before she gets any further. “Don’t go,” I say. “Just… wait.”

She stops, turning to look at me, and I have the urge to kiss her again, but I squelch it.

I speak again. “It would look however you want it to look. If you wanted to have a baby and be mostly on your own, and we just supported you, we’d do that. Or we could move in, find a way to all be together, and we could all—”

“You want that?” she says.

“I don’t know,” I say, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “The thing with Ellis, it happened out of nowhere. We weren’t ready, and it didn’t actually go very well, so there’s every chance this would blow up in our fucking faces. This is not the way to start a pack, but…” I gesture back and forth between us. “You feel it, too, right?”

She bites down on her lower lip, and her eyes glimmer, and she nods. “I feel something.”

I reach out and seize her hand. “It’s not about babies. It’s about you. I want you.”

She lets out a very noisy breath. “Okay, I…” She tugs her hand out of mine. “I need some space for a minute.”