Page 32 of Convincing the Heartbroken Beta

Chapter Ten

Sascha lifted up the tee he’d borrowed from Cam then tugged the waistband of the sweatpants he wore so he could expose his rather large baby bump. Or baby basketball. He examined his profile in the mirror and was startled by how much bigger he seemed in just the past few days. It had gotten to the point where the only clothes he was able to wear were ones that belonged to his larger mates.

His bottom lip trembled. Those are stretch marks! His mates would be disgusted by him. The last thing they’d want to do is ever get near him again, and who could blame them? Both Brandon and Cam were hot, built and fit. By contrast, he was a lump. With stretch marks.

Unable to stop himself, he broke into tears. Uncontrollable, wracking sobs that wouldn’t stop. Part of him knew he was overreacting, that Brandon and Cam wanted him—desired him—but lately his emotions had been all over the place. Sometimes he thought he was losing his mind.

Sascha grabbed a handful of tissues from the bathroom, then plopped on the bed. He tried to slow his tears, to pull himself together before Brandon and Cam got home. They were almost packed up to head to Wolf Creek. Brandon had winterized the house, but he’d headed into town to drop off the key with his second, so he could check on the house while they were gone. Cam had gone with him so they could swing by the Denali Junction drop box. Cam’s family members had sent baby gifts for them and he wanted to bring them along.

The crunch of gravel caught his attention and he pushed his ponderous bulk up from the mattress so he could wash his face before his mates came inside. After patting his skin dry and blowing his nose one more time, he figured he’d done the best he could do.

“Sascha! Oh my gods, you’ll never guess who we ran into.” Cam came bounding into the bedroom. “Where are you? I thought you were in here resting.”

Sascha angled his body in a way he hoped would hide his red cheeks and swollen eyes. “I’m in the bathroom.”

“Oh.” He appeared around the threshold. “Anyway, you remember that lady from when Brandon came out at the town hall meeting?”

Sascha frowned. He wasn’t in the mood. “You mean the one who made the big scene and ran from the room?”

“Yeah, that one. Anyway, we ran into her in town and she was having a fit! She was in the market and when she spotted us, she started yelling at Brandon, accusing him of leading her on all these years.”

“What?” Sascha shook his head. “I don’t understand. Isn’t she like twenty years older than him or something?” He snorted. “Not that age matters, I mean, look at the three of us—but he said he doesn’t even know her all that well.”

“Right? But it gets better. She’s married! And she was doing all this in front of her husband!” Cam held his stomach while he guffawed. “The best part was the expression on Brandon’s face. I’ve never seen him look so confused. He just stood there with his jaw hanging open, didn’t say a word while her husband dragged her out of the store. Oh hey, we got some cherry pie like you wanted. Should I cut you a piece and bring it up here? We got more milk too.”

Sascha put a hand to his forehead. “Sure. Why not. Maybe I’ll get so huge, I won’t be able to wear anyone’s clothes anymore.”

“Hey…” Cam rubbed Sascha’s back. “Are you okay? You know I think you’re hot and sexy, right? I’m sorry if I said the wrong thing.”

Before he could start bawling again, Sascha turned around and stepped into Cam’s embrace. He rested his head against Cam’s solid shoulder and tried to shove down the insecurities that’d been plaguing him lately.

“No, Cam. It’s me who’s sorry. I can’t seem to control my emotions lately.”

Cam continued to stroke Sascha’s back. “Aw, you don’t need to act a certain way around us. We love you no matter what.”

Sasha tensed. Many, many words of affection had been shared between them in the past couple weeks, but none had been the L word.

“Oh boy. There goes my blabby mouth again.”

Sascha took a step back and looked up at Cam. “What do you mean?”

Cam chewed on his bottom lip. “Um… I need to go get Brandon. This falls under the heading of our ‘important things that need to be shared between all three partners’ promise.” He laced his fingers with Sascha’s and led him back into the bedroom. “Here.” He helped Sascha onto the mattress. “I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks, Cam.”

Sascha wanted to scoot to the top of the bed and lean against the pillows, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Brandon appeared in the doorway sans Cam, and Sascha wondered where he’d disappeared to. They weren’t making much progress when it came to getting all three of them in the same room.

Brandon padded over to the bed then sat next to him on the edge. He wrapped an arm around his waist then tugged him closer.

“Cam said something about his big mouth, and you were upset, then told me to come up here because we all need to talk. Does that make sense to you?”

“Yeah, but now Cam’s not here, so it’s still not all three of us.”

Brandon chuckled. “He’s getting you some pie and milk.”

Sascha groaned. “Oh gods, why? We’re all supposed to be talking.”

“I’m here!” Cam appeared as if from nowhere. “I cut you a nice big piece.” Cam set the plate and glass on one of the nightstands. “Do you want me to feed you? Or I could hold the dish so you can lean back against the pillows and not have to fuss with it.”