Because I Want To - Grace R. Duncan Page 0,46

that was scarier or more comforting. The single week they’d been apart had just about driven him batshit. Matt hadn’t hidden the fact that it’d been just as hard on him. Adam wasn’t sure what that said, but he could only imagine that if they were that close now, if he needed Matt that much even before the baby was born, how hard would it be for Matt to walk away if he needed to later?

They’d started moving Matt’s things over to Adam’s room the very afternoon they’d made up. Adam had helped him pack most of his clothes, but Matt had flat-out refused to let him carry anything. It’d annoyed Adam to no end, since it was just bags of clothes. He could understand when they’d moved the furniture around to make room for the bigger desk. Even he knew he couldn’t help there.

Matt had even made noise about Adam carrying his backpack, but he’d put his foot down there. He’d done the reading and made sure it wasn’t a problem, then told Matt in no uncertain terms where he could put Adam’s backpack if he pushed the issue. It’d felt a little too much like being treated like a girl—though Adam knew girls could carry stuff too, it just felt… wrong. Being an omega didn’t mean he couldn’t do stuff any more than being a girl meant they couldn’t do stuff. They were all capable and that kind of attitude pissed Adam off. Once he’d made Matt understand, Matt had apparently decided that discretion was the better part of valor and let the argument go.

Adam could admit, though, he really appreciated having Matt there. If the nausea medication wore off, Matt made sure to be holding Adam’s hair, getting water, and more. He’d tucked Adam into bed when he’d gotten too tired just being upright. And Matt still made sure to carry crackers and extra nausea medication in case Adam forgot.

Even so, there were things that bothered him about the changes happening. Matt had taken on more hours at the bookstore, and while Adam saw him at night for bed and at school, Matt’s free time had all but disappeared. Adam felt horribly guilty, especially because his own part-time work was from home and had come from his own dad in the form of typing handwritten reports. He’d argued over it in the beginning—he really did not want charity—but his dad had had made sure Adam had all the paperwork done, going through the full hiring process so Adam could hardly argue about an official job.

Between Matt’s extra hours, his schoolwork, and helping to take care of Adam, he didn’t get to do much else. But Adam didn’t know what he could do about it and didn’t want to start another fight. That was the last thing they needed. Even he could recognize that pushing the issue, causing more fights, was only going to backfire and make Matt miserable anyway.

Matt insisted that he was happy, that he didn’t mind the extra hours or the stuff he was doing for Adam—which he made sure to say before Adam could even voice an opinion on the matter. Adam wasn’t sure how he could be, but Matt certainly looked happy. They did do their homework together. When Matt got home from the bookstore, he immediately found Adam and made a point of hugging and kissing him. And he didn’t let Adam forget they ate most of their meals together.

It wasn’t until Adam’s mom reminded him of the stress he was putting himself—and, thus, the baby—under that Adam realized he needed to let go of some of the fears. At least for now, Matt wasn’t going anywhere and really did seem happy. Adam stressing himself out certainly wasn’t going to do anything good, so Adam did his best to refocus on other things.

Like the second prenatal appointment. Matt had wanted to go, and Adam didn’t even argue a little. This was one of the things he really was happy about—how much Matt wanted to be involved. So they took the time off class and went to the doctor’s office.

When Nurse Sara called them back, Adam was a wee bit nervous. She smiled, patted his shoulder, and seemingly oblivious to Adam’s worry, pointed at the scale. Unable to look at Matt, he stepped up, then closed his eyes anyway so he didn’t see.

“Hmm. Is the morning sickness still a problem?”

Adam opened his eyes and frowned at the number on the scale. “That’s down.”

“Yes.