Us (boyxboy) ✧Book 1✧

✧ Sixteen ✧

Damon

When I came home from work, Jamie was sitting at the dining room table. He looked worn out, and I could tell he'd been crying.

"What's wrong?" I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. He was trying to hold it in, until he burst into tears, hugging me back.

"How could you not tell me?" He demanded, muffled by his face being buried in my shirt.

"What are you talking about?" There was no way he could have known.

"How could you not tell me you had pleuropulmonary blastoma as a kid?"

As a kid. So then he didn't know.

"How did you know that?" I swallowed the dry lump that was quickly forming in my throat.

"I talked to Christian."

Fuck. He knew everything then.

"Why would you talk to Christian?" I demanded. "What did Christian tell you?"

"He told me everything. Including your re-diagnosis." He pushed away from me to stand up. "We tell each other everything. How could you keep this from me?"

I rubbed my hands over my face. "Jameison, please, I was gonna tell you."

"Tell me when? You know this cancer can kill you. And you haven't been treating it! You're putting your entire life on the line! And for what! What is so important that you're not taking care of yourself!"

"I found out just days before the wedding, okay. I didn't want to tell you because we put so much into the wedding, you were so happy, I didn't want you to worry." I stressed. "I didn't want you to cancel the wedding, I didn't want to be blistered and in pain, I just wanted it to be happy and full of love."

"Our wedding was over a month ago. What's stopping you from getting treatment now? Or God forbid, fucking telling me!" His nostrils flared.

"Because you said you wanted a baby. And you wanted me to be the biological dad."

"So now it's my fault?" He demanded.

"No!" I yelled. "I'm not trying to blame anything on you! I just wanted you to be happy! And if giving you a baby is what made you happy, then I wanted to do it!"

"By letting your tumor spread? You thought that would make me happy?"

"I get an x-ray every single week. It's in check, it hasn't grown since they found it." I tugged at my hair, running my hands through it. "It's benign right now, and as soon as it turns malignant, I start treatment. If Jane gets pregnant before then, I start treatment right then and there."

He let out a laugh, but I know it was out of anger and annoyance. "Are you really that stupid? Why the fuck would you let it go on that long? Why wouldn't you take care of it before it becomes a problem?"

"Because I want this baby, too, Jamie."

He rolled his eyes, his shoulders dropping. "And what happens if she doesn't get pregnant right away? Or what if it turns malignant before she gets pregnant?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I went to a sperm bank and I had sperm froze the week before Jane's insemination. I already thought it through."

"I bet you didn't think of this one: what happens if you die? What happens if it turns malignant and you didn't treat it in time, and you die?" He demanded, coldly. He was right. I hadn't thought of that. "That's exactly what I fucking thought."

"If her pregnancy test comes back negative, then that's it." I said. "If its a negative, I'll start treatment right then and there."

"You fucking better, because I don't want to watch you die. I refuse to watch you die."

"You won't watch me die. I won't die, Jamie, I promise."

"Don't make promise you can't keep."

I opened my arms for him. He looked at me, clearly in pain and threw his arms around me, hugging me tightly. I kissed the top of his head, and just held on to him.

I never wanted to let go.