Page 28 of Unsuitable Omega

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Jai

Jai was seated at the table in Aunt Betty’s kitchen, nursing a glass of water, after being sick for the third morning in a row, since he’d arrived. He tried to suppress all the unhappy and self-pitying thoughts.

His brooding was interrupted by Betty, “You look, peaked honey, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine Betty, just a stomach thing. It must be all the stress.” He reassured her.

“Or you’re pregnant,” Betty said bluntly.

Jai laughed at the suggestion, but he looked at Betty and saw she wasn’t joking, “I can’t be.” He said shaking his head. It would be too cruel.

“Sweetie, I’ve kept my mouth shut about you showing up here and looking like a kicked puppy. I haven’t asked any questions, but I’m not too old to hear you retching every morning in the bathroom. I know that’s not proof enough, but can you say for certain you’renotpregnant?”

“I had my heat. At least I think I did. I felt it coming and took the suppressants, but I only had to take it once.” Jai said out loud, “I couldn’t be pregnant. Could I?”

“Well hun, if you had sex with an alpha, it’s always a possibility,” Betty said, in her usual forthright manner.

Jai’s skin flushed and he suddenly studied the water in his glass more closely, before saying in a low tone, although he knew Betty would hear him, “I have been feeling dizzy, and I did puke a couple of times last week, but I figured I had eaten something funny. Plus it wasn’t even in the morning.”

“I hate to break it to you sweetie, but morning sickness isn’t relegated to mornings. It can come on anytime.” Betty said.

“Oh. Well…” Jai said, at a loss.

“Why don’t we stop the speculating, you could pick up a test and find out.” Betty suggested wisely.

“What if I am… what then? I don’t have a job, or an alpha now. My savings won’t go very far,” Jai said, panic setting in, his heart was racing and it felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He felt a gentle touch, rubbing his back and words he couldn’t quite make out, but seemed to soothe him.

“I’m fine,” Jai said, finally able to get air into his lungs.

“I know you are, hun. Plus, you’ve got me. But you know, if you’re pregnant you have to inform your alpha.”

Jai flinched, and moved away from Betty’s hand on his back, “No, that’s not an option.”

Jai couldn’t face Nickolas yet. It had only been three days since he’d fled his apartment like he was being chased, but he just couldn’t deal with the alpha who had only used him to fill a vacancy in his bed and satisfy his selfish sexual needs. He hated himself for being so gullible and falling into bed so easily. What had seemed so special now seemed cheap and shameful. Nickolas had lied. He could call it an omission all he wanted, but to Jai, it was all lies. Then again, maybe it was all on him. It wasn’t like Nickolas had promised him love, or any kind of a future together. He was the one who assumed and look where that had left him.

He would give the alpha points for persistence though. Nickolas had repeatedly attempted to contact Jai. His voicemail was probably full at this point. He had left half a dozen messages on Jai’s phone. Messages that had sounded genuinely anxious about his vanishing act. But after the first day, Jai had turned off his phone. He wasn’t ready to talk and for once something would be onhisterms.

Betty interrupted his thoughts, “I won’t push, but I just want to say, unless the alpha is a murderer or an abuser, he deserves to know about his child.”

Jai gasped, “No. God no, Nickolas would never hurt me. And he hasn’t killed anyone to my knowledge,” – just his heart – “he’s just not who I thought he was.” Jai finished on a sigh. “Can we not talk about him right now, please?”

“Okay honey. I’ll follow your lead, but you’ve still got to get a pregnancy test. If you are, you’ll want to know as soon as possible. Especially if you don’t want to keep it.”

Jai’s hand instinctively covered his belly, like he was protecting the child he wasn’t even sure was there or not, even though a part of him knew. “I would never get rid of Ni… I mean… my child.” Jai insisted.

“Well, at least you know that’s how you feel,” Betty said, trying to hide her smirk.

“You knew I would react like that, didn’t you?” Jai accused Betty with a smile.

“Well, I hoped. A child is a blessing.” Betty said.

“We don’t know for sure I’m pregnant, yet.” Jai pointed out.

“Oh, sweetie. I’m pretty sure we do. But we can go on pretending if you want. And wait till the test tells us what we already know. You could go to the doctor and get the test done there, it’s more accurate. And I’m sure Leonard will fit you in if I give him a call.” Betty said and looked at him for an answer.