I didn’t want to say he was wrong, but I couldn’t say he was right, and the wordmistakendidn’t seem to sit well with him. So, what was I supposed to do? I shrugged weakly.
“Ben,” Angus said harshly.
I raised my eyes to meet his.
“I don’t make the kind of mistake you’re talking about. I know people. I know your heart.” He placed his hand over mine, which was beating wildly. He must have felt it because his voice softened. “You are a special person. I’m not just talking about what Colt was saying, I’m talking aboutyou. You are a very special human being.”
Struggling to keep my chin from wobbling, I said, “They were my parents, Angus. They threw me into a dumpster like a used tissue. Maybe what you think you see in me isn’t really there.”
With a frustrated growl, Angus made a grab for me, but I scooted away to the other side of the bed.
“I didn’t say it again! I’m telling you that you could be wrong about me, that’s all.”
“Well, you can damn well stop thinking that way,” Angus snapped. “Putting aside the fact that you are my and Colt’sperfectomega mate, the fact is, you helped little Ollie tonight. I held him right before you did, and I could feel him slipping away, but then you held him, and he rallied. So, wipe the snot from your face and stop feeling sorry for yourself.” He stood up and strode out of the room,passing Colt in the doorway.
“He’s angry with me,” I said in a small voice when Colt sat beside me on the bed.
“What about?”
I gave him a sidelong glance. “Because I said I was trash.”
“Ben,” Colt said, tugging me onto his lap and turning usso his back was against the headboard. His next words ruffled the hair above my right ear. “Angus loves you very much. So do I. It hurts us when you say something so terrible about the person we love. I’m sorry that you were treated poorly by the people who were supposed to take care of you and cherish you. But everything happens for a reason, and, selfishly, I feel like if doing what they did brought you to me and Angus, I can’t say I wish it hadn’t happened.” He kissed the side of my head. “I guess I’m just selfish. Now you know what a bad person I am.”
Upset, I turned to look at him. “You’re not bad! You’re a good man, Colt. One of the best.”
Cold smiled. “Thank you for saying that. Did it upset you to hear me call myself bad?”
“Of course!”
“Triple it, and you’ll have what Angus, David, Maddox, Jackson, Carter, and I feel when you say you’re trash.”
I guessed I understood that. It didn’t change my mind about how I felt about myself, but I at least got why I shouldn’t say it in front of them. I didn’t want to hurt my alphas or my friends.
“As for helping Ollie, why don’t we just see what happens? You can at least be there to support David. He actually slept while you were holding Ollie.”
An uncomfortable feeling crept into my chest. “But he’ll think I can do something magical when I can’t,” I whispered.
“When you’re scared, you’ll grab onto any hope you can. But giving a person hope isn’t a bad thing. What do you say?”
I nodded, and he kissed me. “I do love you, you know. Very, very much. It shocks me how much, to tell you the truth, because everything’s happened so fast.”
“I love you, too, Colt,” I said, wiping the tears from my face. On impulse, I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He returned the hug just as tightly.
“Why don’t you go spend some time in the room with the baby? If nothing else, it will help David to have you there.”
“Okay,” I said, willing to do anything to help David and the baby if I possibly could. They were family.
***
“Ben,” David whispered.
Turning my head, I met his eyes. He’d been asleep for the past two hours, and I had been lying on the bed, on the other side of the baby, listening to them both breathe. Every so often, Oliver would make a little cry and wave his arms and legs in the air, and, although asleep,David would instinctively put his hand on the baby’s chest and gently pat it until Oliver settled again. Every so often, Angus or Jackson would poke their head in the room to check on us.
“Hey,” I said quietly.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Keeping you company.”