Page 73 of The Omega's Surprise Baby

* * *

When I enteredmy apartment in LA, my roommate pointed me to a stack of letters that had arrived for me in my absence.

I raised an eyebrow at Nick. That wasa lotof letters.

“You said they weren’t writing you anymore,” he said in an almost accusatory tone. I didn’t blame him. He was only worried. Hell,Iwas worried. What was with this renewed interest in me?

“Not like this, they don’t.” I picked up the stack of envelopes and leafed through it. Four letters over the course of a week?

“Do you think it’s because there’s speculation about your new relationship on the net?”

“I don’t know. These people are crazy. I can’t tell you why they do anything.” Not entirely true. When you were in their circle, it all made scary sense. “I don’t want to deal with this. I’m going to burn these.” And perhaps another move was in order. I dropped the envelopes back on the table and rubbed my face.

“Anything else I need to know about?”

Nick shrugged, but I could tell there was something he wasn’t saying.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

I looked at him for a moment longer until he broke.

“My stupid brother tied the knot,” he said eventually.

“Oh, Nick, I’m so sorry.” It was all I could think to say. And of course my stupid family had to send a barrage of letters while Nick was worrying about his brother joining the same cult they belonged to. I suppressed a groan.

“It’s fine,” he said, although it clearly wasn’t. “How wasyourweek?”

“Much nicer than yours, I’m sure.”

“Good.” He grabbed a bag of cookies and flopped on the couch. “Come on, I want to hear everything. But spare me any details of your lovemaking with my cousin, please.”

“Gotcha.” I sat with him and took a cookie. If distraction was what my friend needed, I could provide.

We ended up talking for about an hour until my phone rang.

Michelle.

Of course.

“I gotta take this,” I told Nick. “I’ve been holding her off all week.”

“It’s all right. I gotta get ready for work, anyway.”

Another night shift. I shot him a sympathetic look before answering the phone.

“Kade! Are you back in LA?”

How did she always know…? “Did you see that online?” Were there new pictures?

She laughed. “You told me your plans a few days ago, remember?”

“Oh.” I totally forgot.

“Anyway, we need to talk about how we’re going to announce your special circumstances.”

Ugh, do we really?There were definitely sides to this job that I did not like. “How about I announce it onStar Gaze?” If I was going to do this, I wanted to do it in style. “Can you ask them if they can get me a slot on the show in a couple of weeks?” I wasn’t ready to announce my pregnancy on live television yet. Not before Shane and I had even told Conner and Mary.