“More than friends,” Sorcha answered without hesitation, his suggestive tone unmistakable.
Jax shook his head wryly. Sorcha was so different from the shy omega he’d met at the barbeque.
“I gave notice today.” Jax changed the subject. “And you were part of the reason.”
“Me?” Sorcha grinned.
“You inspired me. Reminded me of my true artistic passions. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Sorcha turned back to his project. “Then since you’re not working, I’m going to take you up on your offer to help me get a business started. An online platform for selling my work. I hope we can be creative together very soon.”
***
Jax visited Teal’s bedroomagain just before dinner. He sat there for a while, but Teal remained asleep.
Everyone was exhausted after the past few weeks. Sorcha nearly fell asleep at the table, and the rest of the men insisted he turn in early. The boys had been overtired and cranky for days. It took all of Ronan’s strength to get them down. Teal’s fever spiked and Niall assumed sickbed duty, sponging him with cool water.
While the others were upstairs, Jax paced in the living room. He wished he’d been nearby for one of Teal’s lucid periods. Hemissed the omega’s voice. Felt the loss of Teal’s warm gaze on him.
It still angered Jax that anyone could do something so cruel to Teal, to potentially take a father away from three innocent little boys. The world was an evil place sometimes. He hoped Teal realized he’d been victorious, that he’d done something significant to fight against that evil. Mostly, he just wanted Teal to be okay.
Around ten o’clock, Jax insisted Ronan and Niall go to sleep. His boyfriend went to the office downstairs, to the sofa bed they’d slept on before moving to the other unit. Ronan looked relieved to see that neither beta was leaving the house.
Jax volunteered to pull the night shift with Teal, since someone still needed to monitor the patient constantly. They’d installed Teal in the guest bedroom for the time being so it would be easier to attend to him, and so the home health aides wouldn’t catch on that Ronan and Sorcha both slept in the main bedroom.
Teal mumbled incoherently into his pillow. His sweat soaked the sheets. Jax thought about changing them, then decided it was at least a two-person job and therefore needed to wait until morning. It felt important to let everyone else rest. He wiped a cool cloth across Teal’s brow.
Even though Teal was sweating, he shivered. Was he cold? Jax wondered if he should put Teal’s T-shirt and sweats back on him, although earlier Teal had been irritated by having those fabrics next to his body. That was why they’d stripped him to his boxers. He barely tolerated the bedsheets now.
Teal’s hands trembled. There were angry red marks where he’d scratched himself and dry, flaky patches of skin all over his torso, a side effect of the poison.
The clacking noise of Teal’s teeth chattering had Jax leaning over from the bedside, running the cloth along the omega’s quivering jaw.
“Shh,” he hushed. “I’ve got you.”
“Jax?” Teal rasped. His eyes opened before he squeezed them shut again.
Jax choked up at the sound of his name on the omega’s parched lips. “I’m here, Teal.”
“So…cold.” Teal’s voice was barely a whisper. As if to prove his point, he began trembling against the mattress.
Jax didn’t know what to do. Should he switch to a warm compress? It was promising that Teal seemed lucid, at least for the moment, but the omega clearly needed something.
“Do you want me to wake up Ronan?” Jax asked.
“No…you…bed…with me.”
Jax pinched his forehead. Teal wanted Jax in bed with him? The beta decided he didn’t have time to question it. Asking Jax to get in the bed was the first thing Teal had said in days that made sense. And he knew that Ronan, Sorcha, and Niall would absolutely want him to offer Teal this comfort.
Knowing how fabrics had been irritating Teal’s skin, Jax stripped off his pajama top and pants, leaving on only his boxer briefs, and crawled into the bed. Teal rolled onto his side, facing away from him.
Jax pulled the omega against his chest. He felt the evidence of Teal’s illness, the ashy skin that covered his sides, his furnacelike temperature, the way his sweaty hair stuck to his skull, and the brittleness of his fingernails.
But Jax felt other things too. The silky trail of hair running along Teal’s belly. The way their similar heights brought them perfectly flush with one another. The round globes of Teal’s ass, covered only by the thin material of his underwear, pushing instinctually into Jax’s groin.
Jax wasn’t hard. The fear surrounding Teal’s illness was enough to dampen any errant arousal. But holding Teal in his arms took away some of the terror Jax had been feeling over thepast week. He nestled Teal firmly into his embrace, placing a chaste kiss on the omega’s neck.
Teal relaxed, and after a minute, his shivering ceased. “Jax,” he whispered into the darkened room.
