Page 52 of Thorns That Bloom (Venusverse #3)

Theo

Sam and I spend an hour or two doing some retail therapy before we finally get the groceries and walk toward where Sam parked his car.

I can’t stop smiling when I look at him, replaying in my head how excited he got when he found those cute baby socks with elephants on them in the clothing section that we somehow wandered into.

There’s so much I still don’t know about him, but the way I keep uncovering more and more makes me feel like this is what I’ve been waiting for my entire life.

This one person I get to spend the rest of my existence learning about and growing closer to until we’re exactly what I know deep down we’re meant to be—two hearts beating in one rhythm.

“My damn ankles are swelling so bad,” Sam mutters grumpily, rubbing his lower back.

“We’re almost at the car, right?”

“Yeah. Ugh, I can’t even walk around normally anymore.”

“You’ve had a long day. We get to yours and you can lie down, put your feet up, and wait for me to make you a feast, hm?” I turn to him with an excited grin.

Sam grimaces, then glances down at the heavy bag of groceries in my hand.

“You bought way too much. Not that I won’t be able to eat it.

This child is like a tapeworm. The hunger is endless.

Then there’s the heartburn, and the swelling, and the— Well, you don’t have to know about all the horrible side-effects,” he grumbles to himself. “Trust me. You don’t want to.”

I can’t help laughing. Not at him, though; at how grumpy he gets when he’s uncomfortable. It’s too endearing. I plan to make him as comfortable as humanly possible once we're at his place.

“Theo?” I hear somewhere behind us.

Sam and I both halt. I glance around, squinting in confusion. The voice is familiar.

“It is him!” I squint and see the tall blonde waving at me from across the path leading from the shops toward the parking lot.

It takes a few moments for me to place her—it’s Kailee, from high school.

She has a pram in front of her and a group of women her age surrounding her. They’re all heading our way.

“Oh, long time no see,” I say with a little wave. I turn to Sam, who stands next to me with a slightly annoyed expression. He quickly changes it when he meets my eyes, but I know he’s not very comfortable. “I’m sorry. She’s from high school. Haven’t seen her in—”

“Catch up, it’s okay. Really.” He shifts on his feet and rests his hand under his belly. “Really.”

Before I can argue, Kailee gets to us. She’s beaming. “Theodore Reid!”

It takes a little longer to register the faces of the others.

The curvaceous ginger with bright green eyes to her left, Hannah, went to the same school as us, only in a different class.

The short woman with a bouncy afro had joined the school for the final year.

I never really talked to her much. She was very shy, especially in front of boisterous, annoying alphas like myself.

I don’t recognize the brunette with a toddler in her arms behind Kailee at all, but the woman next to her that’s on her phone, dressed in all black, was our classmate, too.

“Would you look at you!” Kailee gives me a look over from head to toe and goes in for a hug. “Knew it was you when I saw those broad shoulders and that bird’s nest. You haven’t changed your hair since school,” she adds with a chuckle.

“You haven’t changed much, either. In a good way,” I say, matching her cheerful energy. Only when she steps away from me do I notice she’s pregnant. Not as heavily as Sam, but the bump is definitely there.

“Always a flirt,” Hannah notes, looking up from her phone.

The women let out a cascade of playful laughter.

“I remember you always saying you would never settle.” Raising my brow, I glance over the hood of the pram to be met with the wide, blue eyes of the baby within. I expected it to be sleeping, but it focuses on me right away, cooing and flapping its arms and legs with excitement.

“Oooh, he likes you,” Kailee says, sounding like it’s an unusual occurrence.

The women give me looks of admiration, as if I had done something.

She reaches for the baby, pulling him out of the pram with a quiet huff.

She rests him on her arm and rocks him a bit, giving him time to adjust. “I remember you saying the same,” Kailee notes with a smirk, glancing toward Sam.

I turn to him, then back to her with my mouth half open, ready to clear the awkward misunderstanding, but Sam chuckles. “Did he now?” he asks, narrowing his eyes with a crooked smile.

My heart hiccups. He didn’t correct her. He’s…he’s letting her think we’re together. That his child is mine. The realization makes my cheeks burn and my knees weak.

“This is little Yosef. His Mamma is very good at getting Mommy to change her mind on many things, isn’t she?” Kailee tickles the baby, making him giggle adorably. “Yes, she is. She is!”

Huh! Kailee was only interested in guys in school. Then again, that was a while ago, and a person hardly knows themselves properly in high school. It’s a little surprising nonetheless.

Everyone gravitates toward the adorable tan baby with fat cheeks and peach fuzz for hair. His infectious laughter puts a wide grin on everybody in the vicinity. Including Sam. When I glance at him, he’s standing there, hand resting on his belly, gaze fixed on Yosef with a thoughtful expression.

I wonder if he’s worried or excited. Probably both.

“You want to hold him?” Kailee asks.

“What? Me? Oh, I’m not… I don’t know,” I mutter, quickly putting my hands up.

She’s already thrusting him into my arms and, by god, he smells lovely.

Like freshly washed sheets and sunshine and…

okay, maybe a little like vomit, too, but he has that baby smell.

The smell of innocence and a blissful, simple existence without a single worry weighing on his mind.

Yosef babbles at me, studying my face with intent, or as much intent a few-month-old infant can have.

“Hi,” I say softly, putting my finger up toward his puffy cheek. He lets me poke it before he grabs it, his entire hand barely wrapping around it.

So small. Sam’s baby will be smaller than this when she’s born. I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle that. She’s definitely going to be even cuter than Yosef is.

“Ghaa!” he yells, startling me.

Kailee and the others burst out laughing.

“Would you look at that? He’s smitten with you.”

“Nothing new there.” The lighthearted comment comes from the back of the group.

They all hum knowingly, almost in unison. I try to ignore my warming cheeks and focus on gently rocking Yosef at the hip. I don’t want Sam to get the idea that I was the kind of person who went around with everyone, even though…I was pretty ‘busy’ back then.

I’m grateful when the talk turns toward other topics.

We update each other on how things are going—our jobs, big life events since graduating, and all that.

Sam stays quiet in the back as the ladies prattle on, so I twist my waist to him with the baby while also trying to pay attention to the conversation.

He meets the baby’s curious gaze, smiling. “Hey, little guy.”

Yosef stretches out his hand to him, and Sam takes it, motioning up and down as if he’s greeting him with a handshake. “You’re a cutie, aren’t you?” he asks and looks up at me, something brewing behind his eyes.

The baby of the woman I didn’t recognize starts fussing. “I think she’s tired. It’s past her nap time.”

“Ah, we should probably go then,” Kailee blurts.

I give Yosef back with a smile. He might be warm and cuddly, but we’ve wasted enough time. “Same here. Sam’s been on his feet for too long. Need to make sure he gets his rest.”

Kailee holds our gaze, briefly smiling in the flirtatious way she used to when she’d stand in the classroom door, signaling for me to go out with her and make out by the toilets.

“Of course. A good alpha takes care of his omega. I always knew you had it in you. Still as sweet, only in a more mature way now.” She puts Yosef in the pram, clicking her tongue at him when he groans in disagreement.

“It was nice seeing you, Theo. Sam. Good luck to you two.”

“You too.”

She holds her hand over her small bump. “Thank you.”

We say our goodbyes to the rest and are finally free to continue to the car. “I’m so sorry I made you stand there like that,” I say while I put the shopping in the trunk.

Sam chuckles. “It’s not a big deal. You make it up to me by cooking the food, alright?”

The car journey is quiet. Not awkwardly so, but I can’t help glancing at Sam, trying to detect any doubts or regrets. After a few minutes, he loses his patience with me and speaks.

“You never wanted kids, huh?”

I tap my foot. “Not really. Well, not that I didn’t want to, it just…never appealed to me. I never had that drive or that image for my future.”

“Me neither,” Sam says while watching the road. “And yet you keep talking about baby stuff every time we’re together. Honestly, you seem to care more than me sometimes,” he adds with an amused expression.

“Do I?”

“You do.”

“Well, it’s just—”

“Always telling me how big she is. Asking me if I bought this, that, and the other. Warning me about the safety concerns of various toys and bassinets. Making sure I eat the right things. You’ve probably read more pregnancy and baby books than I have.”

When his eyes land on me, I feel a surge of weird embarrassment.

Like when Pop noticed me teasing my first crush and gave me a wink.

“I just want to be ready,” I want to say.

But the implication of that is way too presumptuous.

It makes it seem as if I’m expecting to be around when the baby arrives.

As if I’m presuming Sam would allow me. It’s all I want, even knowing he doesn’t owe me that.

“I read a few,” I say softly, suppressing a smile.

Sam seems fine with it. With me being a lot. With us.