Page 79 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“Oookay. Well, whatever you got, bring it.”

“It's inside.” Zander climbed out of the car and I followed him to the front door. The bookstore was closed, but I thought I heard sounds coming from the apartment upstairs as we ascended the stairs.

Was that Betty?

“Go ahead and open the door,” Zander said, passing me the key.

“All right then.” With a tinge of apprehension, I unlocked the apartment and turned the door handle.

“Surprise!” several someones shouted in my ear as the door swung open. I nearly flinched before I took in the group of people gathered in the apartment's living room.

There were Dean and Griff and Kade and Shane and even my big sisters Lara and Carole. What were they doing here? Both of them grinned at me with identical smiles as if they could read the question on my face.

They probably could. I wasn't trying to hide my confusion.

Trying to figure out what was going on, I let my gaze sweep across the living room. Someone had decorated it with pink and blue balloons and there was a bunch of neatly wrapped presents sitting on the couch table. Was this...?

“Oh God, are you throwing me a baby shower?” I asked.

“Yes, we are!” Zander couldn't have sounded more pleased. “I figured your family would be a little more supportive than mine.”

“A little? Pah.” Griff grabbed my arm and led me over to the kitchen where a huge cake sat on the counter. “You brother spent all day yesterday preparing that thing, and he wouldn't even let me have ataste!I'm pregnant too! I should get cake!” he shouted in the direction of the living room.

I eyed Griff from the side. I wasn't sure exactly when he was due, but his belly was pretty prominent by now.

“You get nauseous when you have sweets!” I heard Dean shout back.

Griff rolled his eyes. “That wasonetime,” he said to me. “I promise I won't get sick at your party. I don't know why my babies never like sweets. It's a tragedy.”

“Yeah, that sucks.” I patted his back. “Thank you for the cake, Dean!” I yelled in the direction of the living room before turning back to the cake. It wasawesome.And not only because it had a picture of the Midnight Ranger on the top. It also looked delicious. Like it was sure to put me into sugar-induced hyper-activity once I had a slice of it. Idly, I wondered if Vinists had baby showers too. Would Rhys get a cake if he got pregnant? Not that I wanted him to get pregnant in his situation.

“Do you think we should eat?” Griff asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. He looked like he was about to plead if I said no.

“Let me greet the other guests first. I can't believe you guys got Lara and Carole to come in.”

“Are you crazy? We'd never have missed this.”

I turned my head to see Lara stand in the door to the kitchen.

“I can't believe my little brother's pregnant,” she said with some amount of glee. “You have to take your coat off so I can check if you're showing yet.”

“Do you also have a list of baby names to suggest?”

“No, but Carole does.”

“Don't you guys do everything together?”

“Meh, we split the work sometimes,” she waved me off.

“Well, I'm glad you're not both harassing me at the same time, but tell Carole she has to get in line behind Kade if she wants to rattle baby names at me. Currently he wants me to call the child Kaden or Kayla.”

Lara made a face.

“Yeah,” was all I said in response. “If I had to name this child after anyone it would be Clark or Peter or something. A name fitting a super hero.” I grinned, resting one hand on my belly.

“Aw, you're the real super hero here, little brother.” Lara reached out to ruffle my hair. Feeling generous, I let her. “Have you heard from Mom and Dad yet? They sent some gifts.”

“Oh, no, I haven't. I'll call later.” And then, just as I said that, pain flared up in my side. It wasn't super bad, but so sudden that it made my legs buckle anyway.