A Christmas Surprise: Bundle of Joy Series

by Grace, Kenna

  “So, what’s up? Are you going to tell me what the hell yesterday was about?”

  “Well, yes and no, I guess… It’s more about something I’ve done that I need to get off my chest.”

  “You know you can tell me,” he said with a faint smile. “I’m here for you.”

  Even though I had barely met Clay a week ago, I believed him. I had my full confidence in this man. There was just something about his warm yet firm stare that comforted me. I took a deep breath. It was probably best that I started from the beginning.

  “In the last few years, I guess you could say I’ve been in a not so healthy string of relationships. I met this guy, an alpha, and he kind of ended up screwing me over.”

  “You know I won’t do that to you, Charlie,” he interrupted, taking my hand from my pocket.

  I winced as he called me Charlie. “No, I know, it’s not that. It’s just that things got super serious with this guy, and before I knew it, we were deeply in love. He ended up proposing to me. At the time, Leon seemed like the perfect guy: he was smart, funny, and it seemed like he genuinely cared about me—more than anyone else had, anyway.” I kept staring at the ground, I couldn’t look at Clay in the eyes. My hand was sweating against his.

  “That was until he left. A few months before the wedding he packed up his bags and took a plane out of the country. When I asked where he was going all he said was something about ‘needing to find himself.’ By the end of it, he had spent three weeks away in Paris and the only thing he had found was some long-haired omega who was half his age.”

  “Oh my, I’m so sorry,” Clay said, a sad look in his eyes. “I had no idea.”

  “No, no, that’s okay.” There was no way in hell that I was going to let Clay feel bad for me after what I did to him.

  “Anyway, I guess you could say it kind of screwed me up. I’m not exactly the most positive person anymore. There were a few months where I was totally depressed, and I barely went outside. It’s been really hard for me to find anyone new since then.”

  This was it. Clay had to know the truth.

  “Look, Clay… I’m not who you think I am.”

  Clay looked at me with a confused look on his face.

  “My name isn’t Charlie, it’s Elliott, and I wasn’t the date you were supposed to meet that night at the subway station.”

  “Wha—”

  I cut him off before he had the chance to say anything. “I was going to tell you, I swear, I just never really knew how. You were just so… stunning. I barely even knew how to speak to you, let alone explain that I wasn’t the guy you were supposed to be meeting. When you asked me to get coffee, I said yes without even thinking it would go anywhere.” I didn’t even dare to glance in Clay’s direction.

  “I knew it was wrong, I did, but I just had such a wonderful night, and I didn’t want to ruin it. It had just been so long since I had met an alpha who didn’t completely repulse me, not since Leon anyway, and we both know how that turned out. I figured it would be one fake date and that would be the end of it. I’d give you my number and you would never call me again, just like every other alpha I was remotely interested in. But you weren’t like that. You were different. You cared about me.” I felt defeated. How could I have managed to ruin the one relationship that meant something to me? How did I end up hurting the only man I had cared about since Leon?

  “I never knew we would grow so close. I kept trying to tell you, especially once we were sleeping together, but I was just never able to find the right words to say. It’s been eating at me, Clay. I never meant to lie to you, especially not for this long. I’ve loved the time we’ve spent with each other. I just never wanted all of this to fall apart. I know it seems totally crazy, but it’s like I thought I was living in some kind of fairy tale world, complete with my dream guy. It never crossed my mind that I could actually end up seriously hurting you. I thought that if I didn’t tell you, I could just get away with it and I could be happy, even if it was just for a little while.”

  I stopped, finally mustering the courage to look into Clay’s deep, demanding eyes. “I promise Clay, no more lies, no more fake dates, no more dishonesty. I may not be Charlie, but I’m still the same person. I’m still that same guy you met at the subway station. The same guy you took out for that amazing night and every time after.”

  We were standing in the middle of the sidewalk. People were giving us angry looks as they shoved past us. The hustle and bustle of the city never rested. I didn’t really care. I was too focused on Clay, silently begging him to say something comforting to me.

  “Just say something, please.” My hands were shaking. I felt like I was going to be sick. “Do you think there’s any way you could forgive me?”

  Clay was silent.

  14

  Clay

  It had been a couple days since I learned the truth about who the omega I had been seeing really was. At first, I had no idea of what I wanted. Things were great until I found out he had been lying about his identity.

  I decided to see if we could move past it, but I was still having second thoughts about my decision. I liked Elliott. A lot. But I wasn’t sure who he really was. If he was the one I was developing feelings for, or if it was Charlie, the omega he was pretending to be.

  He said that besides a name, every moment I spent with him was who he truly was. I wanted to believe him, but I had been lied to before and my failed marriage taught me better than to ignore red flags.

  Elliott and I were standing in line at the cafe in an awkward silence. Fortunately, the woman working at the counter cleared the last customer and called us over.

  “Hi, can I just get two grande dirty chai lattes, please,” I asked.

  The barista punched down the order on her till. “And is that for here or to go?”

  “To go, please.”

  She punched a few more buttons. “Perfect, and could I just get your names?”

  My tongue ran across my lips. “Clay, and…” I turned to face Elliott, who was standing next to me. “What is it going to be today?” I asked. “You want to go with Elliott? Charlie? Heck, maybe try something new altogether and see how it feels?”

  He arched his brows. “Funny.” He looked over to the barista. “Elliott,” he announced.

  I looked back over to the woman behind the counter.

  Her mouth was slightly parted open with an expression of confusion on her face. “Alright then, perfect, thank you. Your total comes to thirteen dollars even.”

  Reaching into my back pocket, I snaked out my wallet and handed a twenty-dollar bill to her. When she gave me back my change, I shuffled a few coins into the tip jar next to the register. Elliott and I waited off to the side while our lattes were prepared.

  “So, how long are you going to play this up?” Elliott asked.

  My phone started to vibrate in my pocket. “Well, I haven’t quite decided that yet,” I replied. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and swiped open the notification. It was a text message from an unknown number. Curious, I started to read through it.

  Hey Clay, I got your number from Nick, I hope you don’t mind. I’m not quite sure what happened, but obviously there was some sort of mix-up. Anyways, if you’re up for it, I’d still love to meet up sometime. Oh, and by the way, this is Charlie.

  I glowed from the inside out as I read it over again and a smile cracked my face. Just as I was thinking of what to reply, Elliott’s voice snapped me back to the present moment.

  “Earth to Clay, do you read me? I repeat, earth to Clay.”

  My eyes shifted up to him with arched brows. I was still shocked that Charlie was actually reaching out to me. “Sorry?”

  Both lattes were in his hand. He held one out to me. “Did you not hear them call out our names?”

  I slid my phone back into my pocket and decided it was unfair to be so distracted while hanging out with Elliott. “No, I guess I got distracted.” I grabbed the latte he was handing me and took a sip. “Well, wh
ere to now?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied, glancing outside the window. “It’s supposed to be nice out all day, why don’t we go for a walk? Who knows, maybe we’ll find something to do while out and about.”

  I motioned to the door with a hand. “Works for me,” I replied. My phone vibrated from within my pocket again, but I decided to ignore it for now.

  Elliott and I made our way out and began to head east, towards a touristy district. Again, my phone vibrated. And again, after a couple more blocks. When we finally reached the Upper East Side, I had counted at least three notifications waiting for me.

  Elliott came to a halt outside one of the shop display windows and peered inside. “Oh!” he exclaimed. “I have an idea of what we can do tonight.”

  I took a step next to him and gazed through the window he was peeking into.

  Nostalgic memories came rushing back. Inside the store were hundreds of board games stacked ceiling high around the perimeter of each wall. Growing up, board games were always a big part of my family’s bonding time. At least once a week my fathers and I set aside a few hours to play a few rounds of Scrabble or Clue. “Monopoly night?”

  His eyes darted to me judgingly. “Do you want to fight tonight?” he asked. “Because if you want to have a fight, Monopoly is definitely the right choice.”

  I let out a chuckle and rolled my eyes. “I mean, only if you don’t follow the rules.”

  He gave me a playful jab on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s check it out and see what they have.”

  Elliott started to rush inside and I followed closely behind. We made our way to one of the far walls and began scanning through the impossibly large selection.

  My mouth hung open as I read title after title. Some I knew, but I hadn’t even heard of the majority of them. Suddenly, my phone received another notification. Unable to stand ignoring them anymore, I snaked my phone out of my pocket and read through them.

  “What about this one,” Elliott asked.

  I kept my eyes glued to the screen but nodded. “Yeah, looks good.”

  “Says here that it’s a minimum three-person game. If you’re down, I can ask Adam if he wants in?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I mumbled, only half paying attention.

  “Everything alright?”

  Every notification that I had received was from Charlie. He’d proposed a couple different date ideas and was telling me how much Nick had told him about me and how he was really looking forward to finally meeting.

  Totally engrossed by the messages and shut off to everything else going on, I nodded again. “Yeah, sounds like fun.”

  “Clay!” he said, raising his voice and speaking with an annoyed tone.

  My eyes went wide and quickly jolted up to meet his. A cloud of guilt hovered above me. “Sorry,” I apologized. “What was it you were saying?”

  He looked back at me blankly and then shrugged while throwing his hands out in front of him. “What’s going on? You’ve been acting weird since the café.”

  “I have not,” I protested.

  His eyes glared at me like those of a parent when a child tries using an outlandish excuse for why they aren’t hungry for supper, but starving for dessert.

  I let out a sigh and tried to explain myself. “I just keep getting texts from Charlie. I guess he apparently got my number from Nick.”

  He arched his brows. “Blind date Charlie?”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Wanted to know if I can meet up for drinks sometime. Crazy, right?”

  Elliott turned back around to face the wall of board games and began scanning them again. “Yeah, totally crazy,” he agreed. He pulled another box from the shelf and looked at the pictures on the back. “Can’t believe he would still even be interested after you stood him up.”

  A chuckle escaped the back of my throat and I shrugged. “I mean, technically, you’re the one who stood him up?”

  He glared back at me from over his shoulder. “Me?”

  I hooked my thumb into one of the belt loops of my jeans and kicked at the floor. I had every intention of meeting with Charlie. Elliott couldn’t really think it was my fault that he got stood up, could he? Hell, up until a couple days ago, I still thought Elliott was Charlie. “Well, you were the one who pretended to be him.”

  His face started to grow red and I could see his chest start to rise and fall with each heavy breath. “Yeah, but how many times did I try to tell you I wasn’t? It wasn’t my fault that every time I tried to explain everything, you would cut me off and turn the conversation into some sort of joke.”

  My teeth clenched and I could feel my muscles begin to tense. I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves before the situation escalated. “You know what? Let’s just forget about it. What happened, happened. It’s over with now.”

  He drew a deep breath and let out a slow exhale while nodding his head. “You’re right, I guess I’m just being a little defensive.”

  My brows arched in surprise from his remark. Elliott started browsing through the games again and I worked my way along with him, looking for anything that caught my eye. I tried my best to give it some thought, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Charlie and his texts.

  Technically, Elliott and I weren’t even dating. Would it be so wrong if I went out with Charlie? I felt guilty thinking about it, but really, I thought I had been going out with Charlie this entire time. It wasn’t like there was a rulebook for this sort of thing.

  I glanced back down at the screen of my phone. I wasn’t sure what to even reply. Honestly, I didn’t think I was ever going to hear from him, let alone so quickly and with such enthusiasm. From the way Nick talked about him, it sounded like we would be a match made in heaven. “What do you think I should do?”

  Elliott looked up at me and arched a brow. “What do you mean?”

  A nervous chuckle escaped the back of my throat. I liked Elliott. A lot. I liked how he was just as cynical as I was, and how I felt like I could be myself around him without being judged. I liked the way he made me feel, and how everything seemed brighter when we were together. But I also really liked Charlie. At least, the way Nick talked about him.

  Elliott scoffed and looked away. He took a few deep breaths before making eye contact again.

  “Are you asking my permission to go on a date?”

  I threw my hands in the air and my lips tugged up into a nervous smile. It wasn’t his permission I was after, I just wanted to know what he thought. “What? No!” I cleared my throat and rocked on the balls of my feet. “Just forget I said anything. I’m just going to tell him now is not a good time.”

  My eyes shifted back to the shelves of games and I pulled one out that caught my eye. “This one looks interesting,” I said, changing the subject. I turned it around and held it out so he could see the front of the box. “What do you think?”

  His eyes stayed glued to mine. “You know what, I think you should.”

  “Should what?”

  “Go out with Charlie. If that’s what you really want, you should just do it.”

  A rush of adrenaline shot through my veins. My eyes opened wide and I slid the game back onto the shelf. “I don’t know what I want,” I admitted. “I really like you… But I also really like Charlie.”

  “Whom you’ve never met.”

  I buried my face in my hands. “From what Nick has told me about him.” I dropped my hands back to my side and drew a few deep breaths. “I just don’t know what I want to do.”

  He stood and pressed his lips together. His head lowered as he looked down at the floor. “Then I think you already made your decision.” He looked back up and found my eyes. “I hope he’s as amazing as you built him up to be.” His lips tugged up into a forced smile before brushing past me towards the door.

  “So that’s it?” I called out.

  When he got to the door he pressed it open and looked back at me from over his shoulder. “Take care, Clay.” He stepped out and the door beg
an to slowly swing back shut behind him.

  My heart throbbed in my chest and my stomach churned as I watched him walk down the sidewalk through the window until he blended into the crowd of people and disappeared.

  15

  Elliott

  “Let’s go, Elliott, it’s time to wake up,” Adam said, shaking my shoulder.

  My eyelids fluttered as I started to wake. Almost as though weights were attached to them, they drifted back shut.

  Adam gripped my blanket and pulled it down. “Come on, you’re not staying in bed all day again.”

  My body shuddered in the absence of its warm cocoon. I glanced over at the alarm clock on my nightstand. The bright illuminating figures burned my eyes. Reaching for the blanket at the bottom of the bed, I tugged it back over me. I rolled over to my side and pointed my back towards him, hoping he would take the hint. “It’s only eight. Too early. Need sleep.”

  Adam exhaled and his footsteps trailed away from the bed.

  I nestled back into the warmth of my pillow and started drifting back to sleep.

  Suddenly, a glaring light pierced through the shadow of my eyelids. Adam’s voice spoke again. “First of all, it’s almost eleven, and secondly, you were supposed to meet me at seven for coffee. You know, for breakfast? Do you remember what breakfast is?”

  A surge of guilt rushed through me and my eyes darted open. I turned back around and checked the alarm clock again, this time wiping the sleep from my eyes. Shit, he was right, it was already eleven. “My bad, dude.” I apologized. “I must have shut off my alarm when it went off this morning.”

  “You know, it’s all right to feel like shit after a breakup, but it’s not an excuse to push away everyone else in your life.”

  Annoyed that he thought I was just making up an excuse, I rolled my eyes and sat up in my bed. It had been a couple weeks since Clay and I had split up, and while it did hurt, I certainly wasn’t allowing it to consume me. “I’m not pushing anyone away,” I fired back. “Look, it’s no big deal. Just let me wash up and get changed and we can go for coffee now.”