Page 57 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Sam

Even though almost a week had passed since Sam’s dad basically banished Vaughn and Sam to the master bedroom— it hadn’t been a hardship at all, but God had it been embarrassing for his dad to give him that knowing look when he went upstairs to the extra guestroom where Vaughn and Sam had done things he really didn’t want to remember in the bathroom. Well, he wanted to remember them, but not in context with his dad now using that bathroom and….

Anyway, Sam was still adjusting to the sounds of Vaughn’s house, so when the bedroom door opened, it immediately woke him up. At first, he thought Vaughn was back from the clinic. They’d had an emergency patient show up right after dinner, so he’d had to go down and deal with it.

He started to smile, thinking about all the ridiculous things Vaughn would do to him when he got back, when he realized it probably wasn’t Vaughn or he’d be getting mauled already.

“Sam?”

Sam peeled open an eye and found Ben standing nervously beside the master bed.

“Hey, Ben. What’s wrong?”

“Henry isn’t feeling well.”

Ben looked upset and scared. Sam pushed back the covers and sat up. “I’m coming. Where is he?”

“In the bathroom.”

Sam hurried upstairs to the room Henry and Jack shared and found Henry sitting on the toilet with the trashcan in his hands. He’d obviously been sick, and things were happening from the other end, too.

“Belly hurting?” Sam asked.

It was a stupid question because obviously Henry’s stomach was hurting, but he accompanied the question with a soft pat to Henry’s sweat-dampened hair. He heard a really loud gurgle before Henry made another contribution to the trash can.

Ben whimpered and paced outside the door. Something wasn’t right, and Sam couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Ben looked guilty on top of worried and Sam wasn’t sure why. He pressed his hand to Henry’s forehead and found it as clammy and hot as he’d suspected from the state of Henry’s hair.

“Any idea what made your belly so mad?” Sam asked quietly as he rummaged beneath the sink and grabbed a wash cloth. After getting it wet with cold water, he pressed it to Henry’s face and helped clean him up a little. He didn’t miss the guilty look Henry and Ben shared.

Sam sighed. “I’m only going to be upset if you lie to me, boys. Tell me what happened so I can help.”

“It wasn’t Ben’s fault,” Henry said quickly.

His stomach rumbled again, and he turned green.

“Yes, it was,” Ben said. He sniffed again, tears in his eyes as he sank down onto the floor. “Don’t make us leave, Sam. Please. We won’t be bad again, I promise.”

“Ben, come here.”

Ben crawled over, obviously waiting for Sam to hit him. Sam pulled him into a hug instead. “You’re never leaving. You hear me? Nothing you can do will make us want you to leave. Ever. I promise, Ben. Nothing. Okay? Henry, you hear me too? Absolutely nothing.”

Henry started crying even as his body revolted once more.

“We knew Alpha was still at the clinic and—”

“Ben was hungry. We didn’t want to go to sleep so we stayed up to play,” Henry sobbed.

“We knew there was some ice cream and some blueberries so we went and ate it.”

“Oh, Henry, buddy, you know you’re not supposed to have milk and stuff, right? Ben, you’re the one who told us that.”

Ben sniffed and nodded. “But we never got to have ice cream before and it was so good. Nana said she was going to bring some special ones for Henry but… Nana’s gonna be mad, too. The ice cream was for dessert.”

Both boys broke down into heartbreaking sobs that ripped Sam to shreds. “Nana won’t be mad, guys. We’ll talk about this, but right now we’ve got to get Henry feeling better. Ben, go downstairs and get my phone off the nightstand.”

Ben nodded and hurried away, still sniffling. Sam finished wiping Henry’s face then rinsed the cloth and put it on the back of his neck.

“Still rumbling?”