Harris smirked. “As long as you get to watch?”
“Sometimes.” Valen grinned. “Better yet, let me join you.”
Sam remembered the times in the past, back when Valen would watch as Sam jerked off, or watch as he showered. Sometimes Valen would join in, and sometimes, he was content to wait with a towel for Sam to be done. Then Valen would pull him in for a kiss, smiling against his mouth.
If they were serious about inviting Sam into their bed, if Sam could have a taste of those days again... His breath caught.
His phone shrieked suddenly in his back pocket. Sam jumped, his heart slamming into his chest. “Wha—I, uh.”
It’s just the phone. Calm down. Sam fumbled, yanking the phone from his pocket. It slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor.
Harris picked it up, glancing at the flashing timer on the screen. “The test?”
Sam nodded, his pulse throbbing in his throat. “Y-yeah.”
Weak of him, scared shitless by a timer like that. Sam trembled. Valen squeezed his hand. “It’ll be fine,” Valen whispered. His face was pale, though.
Sam trailed after Harris and Valen to the side table, looking down at the clear plastic windows of the test kit.
Two blue lines, like he’d expected.
Next to him, Valen sucked in a deep breath. Harris looked away.
Sam couldn’t fault them. He hardly knew what to do with a baby right now—he was renting an apartment, he was losing a job. And completely messing up on another gig.
“You want that baby?” Valen watched him, his hand large and warm around Sam’s fingers.
Sam nodded. Despite his job situation, his heart skipped at the test result. It was Valen’s flesh and blood inside him, part of his alpha. And maybe this time he wouldn’t miscarry.
Sam touched his belly, his throat too tight. I’m really pregnant.
“I’ll add you to my credit card, Sam,” Harris rumbled, his eyes dark. “All expenses paid. Food, doctor visits, anything.”
Sam’s jaw dropped. Helping care for his best friend’s children, he’d had some inkling about the costs. But for Harris to offer so readily... “It isn’t yours,” Sam said. Watched as Harris’ lips thinned. “I mean... you don’t have to be responsible for it. This was my fault.”
“The baby is also Valen’s,” Harris said simply. His eyes shone with sincerity, and not for the first time tonight, Sam admired his generous spirit, the way he was taking Sam so readily under his wing. “I’ll pay.”
Valen jabbed Harris halfheartedly with his elbow. “I’m the one paying,” he said. “Harris just likes to show off.”
Harris cracked a smile. “It’s your baby, V. That’s... that’s almost like it’s mine, isn’t it?”
Valen exchanged a look with Harris, surprise flashing across his eyes. Then awe, and delight. “You mean that?”
“Yeah,” Harris murmured.
Valen’s mouth fell open. He blinked hard, looking down at his hands, then at Sam. And even though Sam didn’t know the intricacies of their relationship, he could sense the admiration Valen held for Harris, the blooming joy Valen felt when Harris squeezed Valen’s hand.
“Oh,” Valen whispered, his cheeks darkening. He held both Sam’s hand and Harris’, his throat working, too stunned for words.
Sam felt the same, when both these alphas seemed to want his baby. He hadn’t had a baby so wanted before. By two alphas, too.
“Is it okay, Sam?” Harris asked. “For me to offer my protection?”
Sam nodded. “I’ll probably need all the help I can get.”
Harris broke into a smile, and so did Valen. Valen tugged Sam’s sweater up past his belly, pressed his palm against Sam’s bare skin.
“That’s my baby in there,” he said, his expression mixed. I’ll lose my inheritance, Valen had said in the truck. He didn’t have faith in marriage, either. But as he leaned into Sam, pressing their foreheads together, Sam’s heart skipped a beat.
Hard to imagine he’d left Valen. To Sam, Valen had always been what an alpha should be—protective, caring, steadfast.
Valen pressed a soft kiss to Sam’s lips. Slipped his hand around Sam’s nape, just holding him.
“I need to suck it up and grow a pair,” Valen whispered. “But I’m gonna do my best for you. Whatever you need.”
Sam’s heart swelled. It was too soon to say I love you. He remembered what he’d felt for Valen in the past, though, the unadulterated adoration, the simple joy. Breathing Valen in like this, Sam remembered what it had been like to feel safe in his arms. He hadn’t had that in a while.
Harris hugged them both, pressing his chest against Sam’s back. “Congrats, Sam,” he murmured. “You too, Valen.”
Sam blushed. Harris kissed his ear.
It was only the second day he’d ever met Harris. What Valen had with Harris, Sam was afraid of tearing apart. But as Harris leaned into him, winding his fingers into Valen’s hair, Sam relaxed. Valen wanted him. Harris had offered to ease Sam’s monetary burden, even when he didn’t have to.
All this was infinitely more than Sam could ask for.
Throat tight, Sam breathed them both in, oak and sandalwood and a hint of sweat. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me,” Harris said quietly. “What’s Valen’s is also mine.”
“You don’t have to thank me, either,” Valen whispered, kissing Sam’s cheek. He dragged his wrists over Sam’s belly and up his sides, leaving sandalwood on his skin. “I’m here. I’m not leaving you again.”
Sam’s throat grew tight. “Really?”
Valen nodded, pressing a kiss to Sam’s lips. Then he reached around Sam, sliding his wrists over Harris’ hips.
Harris leaned away. “There’s consequences to that, V.”
Valen grabbed Harris’ arm, pulled him back against Sam. “Yeah, I know. Screw it.”
Harris snorted. “Then you’d better find a way to explain that to your dad.”
Sam winced. He’d forgotten about Valen’s parents, his austere father, his narrow-eyed mother. You aren’t good enough for my son, Mrs. Tolstoy had said once to Sam. Then she’d slapped Valen for talking back, defending Sam against his mom.
But what if Sam truly wasn’t good enough for Valen? He shoved that thought away.
“Later,” Valen said, kissing Sam’s nape. He tugged up Harris’ shirt, marking
