Love and Conflict (Mpreg)✔️

Chapter 15

He couldn't tell Zayn. Not yet.

Liam held his hair back with one hand and clutched at the rim of the toilet with the other, retching once more, throwing up nothing but bile and spit, most of his breakfast having been thrown out already.

Shaking and slightly dizzy, Liam quickly pulled the flush and sat back, wiping the sweat off his face and getting unsteadily to his feet, holding on to the wall for support and stumbling over to the crystal wash basin, leaning into the marble counter. He stared at his reflection for a few seconds; he was white as a sheet and shiny with sweat.

He heard the bedroom door opening outside and quickly scrabbled for the bottle of mouthwash, almost swallowing some of it as he poured a huge mouthful into his mouth, swirling it around in a quick rinse.

"Precious?"

Zayn's voice was muffled and the soft thud of his boots on their plush, gold carpet outside got louder as he approached the bathroom. Liam quickly spat, washed his mouth out with a few mouthfuls of water and splashed his face quickly. He had his face buried in a towel when Zayn came in.

"There you are," he said softly, and Liam quickly hitched on a smile as he looked up.

"Here I am," he let Liam kiss him lingeringly.

"You left breakfast all of a sudden, I got worried," Zayn said anxiously, holding Liam pressed into him. "What is it?"

"Oh, I just wanted to get in the shower," Liam quickly lied. "It's rather warm, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and summer's only just begun," Zayn pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Liam sighed, leaning into his husband's hard, warm sturdiness and suddenly wished he could find the courage to just blurt out what he suspected. Four heats since the miscarriage and he's finally showing signs again.

But no, Liam couldn't tell him yet - quite simply because he had no idea how Zayn would actually take the news.

Louis – he needed to see him.

"Speaking of showers..." Zayn was quickly undressing Liam. The Omega chuckled softly, returning his Alpha's soft, hungry kisses and letting himself be carried into the enormous glass walled shower cubicle, sighing as the warm spray engulfed them both, moaning helplessly as Zayn's gigantic length throbbed its way into him.

And for the time being, he was distracted.

***

Zayn and Liam were shown into the parlour by a newly recruited staff member, Karen and Geoff rising to meet them as they entered the beautifully decorated room. The first time they had visited the Paynes, Zayn had been rather impressed with his mother-in-laws skills at interior decoration – for a woman who had lived in rather modest conditions for the past twenty years of her life, Karen proved beyond doubt that she retained her fine upbringing and background. Liam had been delighted upon their first visit to find his parents living in dignified elegance.

Zayn listened more than he talked – it never would fail to bring him a deep, calming joy to watch the way Liam bubbled with happiness while around his parents, especially his mother. Not that he wasn't happy while he was around Zayn, but the way his eyes lit up, his face shone with his smile – he looked like a little boy on Christmas and Zayn wanted nothing more than to gather him up in his arms and spoil him.

Today however, he kept one eye on Geoff. The older man sat with his usual poise, one knee crossed over the other, tumbler of whiskey in one hand, small, stiff smile in place as he listened in on the conversation between his wife and son.

When he felt Zayn's sharp gaze on him, Goeff turned to meet it. He blinked twice, a strain of well-concealed confusion flitting through his face, and then turned back to listen to what Liam was saying. When, several minutes later, Zayn was still watching him over the rim of his glass, Geoff shifted uncomfortably in his chair for a second before getting up and walking over to freshen up his drink.