and sitting with Parker and Matt. He ended up splitting his time between them.
“Sort of,” Matt finally answered. “I don’t know if you’d call it a fight, exactly. I got pissed off at something Adam said about the baby. I sort of went off on him, then walked out—we were at the pizza place.”
Parker frowned. “About the baby?”
Matt nodded. “Yeah. He’s decided all by himself that he’s going to take care of the baby on his own with just his parents’ help.”
“What?”
“Yeah. He’s getting a job, he says, and with his parents help, taking care of the baby because he says it’s not my problem.” Matt shrugged. It came out whinier than he wanted it to, but he couldn’t really help it. That’d hurt, and he had no idea where Adam was coming from.
“Dude. I don’t even know what to say to that. Aside from it being bullshit. But why aren’t you guys talking about it?”
“I was too pissed. I told him he knew where to find me when he was ready to get his head out of his ass.”
Parker winced. “He wouldn’t like that.”
Matt shook his head. “No, but I’m still kind of angry and I’m not sure right now if I care.”
Neither spoke for a while as Matt picked at his turkey sandwich. He was so lost in thought, he’d almost forgot Parker was there until he spoke.
“Is that good for the baby?” Parker asked quietly.
“I have no doubt the stress isn’t good for it. But I can’t force Adam to let me help.” Matt took a sip of his Coke, then sighed. “And I don’t know if it would be better or worse to just keep trying to talk to him about it. Hell, I don’t know what I can do or say anyway. I just… it never occurred to me that he’d think this way. I knew he had hang-ups about being bitten, but….”
“But that’s not the same as this. Yeah.”
“I can’t wrap my head around the idea that he wouldn’t let me help. And… I can’t help but wonder if he does mean to keep the kid to himself.”
“Hey, no. I don’t think for one minute that’s what he meant,” Parker said, holding a hand out at Matt.
“But… why all the ‘I will’ and ‘I’m going to,’ then?”
Parker frowned. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. I mean, wouldn’t you want to help provide for your kid?”
“Exactly.” Matt sighed and shook his head. “I just don’t get it.” He gave up on the sandwich and wrapped it back up. “Eventually he’ll talk to me. In all our years, he’s never gone very long without bitching me out when he’s had enough. Of course, this isn’t like anything we’ve dealt with before.” He rubbed his face hard.
“He’ll talk to you. He loves you. He’ll come around.” Parker put a hand on Matt’s shoulder.
“I sure as hell hope so.”
Chapter 16
Adam was going crazy. In all the years he’d been friends—then lovers—with Matt, they’d never gone this long without talking or being together. Even when Matt’s family had gone on vacation, Adam had gone along. Likewise, when Adam’s family had gone on trips, Matt had been with them. Every school holiday, including the holidays themselves, at least for a while, they’d been together.
He missed Matt.
Even without their confessions, he would have missed Matt. Having started sleeping together made it so much worse. He’d been in heaven sleeping in Matt’s arms every night. It’d been everything he’d imagined, and then some.
It was his own fault, but he couldn’t seem to get himself to make the move to go talk to Matt like he should.
His morning sickness had gotten better with the antinausea medication the doctor had given him. Still, when it did flare up, he found himself wishing for Matt to be holding his hair, rubbing his back, getting him some water.
Which all just went to show how much he’d already started to depend on Matt and which only fed into his fears. How much would it fuck them up if Matt did start to feel trapped after Adam got so used to having Matt there? After just being friends, he was so damned lost. How much worse would it feel if they started falling apart later on, after having built a life together?
Adam tried not to think about it, but the problem was, it was all he could think about lately. He’d had trouble even focusing in class and doing his homework. One week. They’d been apart a