by Toni Aleo
“And I’ve apologized for that,” Dad added, and I laughed out.
“We know, Dad, no need to reiterate,” I teased, and he shot me a grin that mirrored my own.
While he laughed, though, I noticed that Bo and Mom were still staring at each other—a weird look on their faces as Mom went on. “I was officially on my own. Since I felt like I wasn’t enough to have anyone want to help me, I decided to be the best I could be for Gus.”
“And you did,” Bo said softly. “You did it.”
“I did,” she agreed, a grin pulling at her lips.
“I envy you. That strength, that’s amazing.”
“Well, thank you, but I’m pretty damn sure you aren’t lacking in that department. You seem like a firecracker.”
Bo looked away then, reaching for the cup that Davis was trying to get once more. As she tended to him, I glanced over at my mom to see that she was staring at Davis and Bo, this look in her eyes. Confused, I asked, “Mom, you good?”
She snapped her head up and nodded. “Of course. Just so damn proud of you.”
But I felt like her eyes were telling me something completely different. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking. Her eyes had a certain look in them as she ate her food silently while my dad was talking to Davis about hockey. When he paused to take a drink, my mom asked, “So, how old are you, Davis?”
Davis perked up, proudly saying, “Five! I’ll be six in nine months.”
“He isn’t counting down or anything,” Bo said softly, such tenderness in her eyes as she moved his hair out of his eyes.
“Wow, that’s a huge gap between you two,” Mom commented as my dad nodded.
“Yeah, good on your parents. We didn’t have another one because by the time we got back together, Gus was almost eight and we were both lazy.”
Mom laughed as I scoffed. “You mean you were lazy and she wasn’t raising another kid,” I supplied, and he shrugged.
“Or that.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “We just didn’t want such an age gap, and we were good with us.”
I felt Bo move, and then her hand was gone as she reached for her water. When I looked over at her, she looked uncomfortable. Her face was blotchy with color, and she seemed tense.
“So you were what, like seventeen, when he was born?”
She didn’t look up at my mom as she slowly nodded. “Yup. Built-in babysitter.” Reaching for a fry, she shrugged. “It works for them, I guess.”
Mom bit into her lips as she slowly nodded, and a silence fell over the table once more. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but something was up, and when my mom met my gaze, she slowly shook her head.
I had no clue what that meant.
Before I could ask, though, my dad started talking about hockey, and then I was lost in conversation. I didn’t miss that Bo didn’t talk much after that. Davis did, but Bo was pretty much silent as we finished up.
Leaning in close, I whispered, “You good?”
She turned her face so that our cheeks touched. “Just tired.”
“That’s not okay.”
I felt her lips quirk. “Oh no?”
“No. I want you to come to my hotel.”
“Oh really? For what?”
“Endless orgasms.”
She slowly nodded. “I could wake up for that.”
“So I’ll text you the address?”
“I might show up.”
“You better.”
She pulled back, grinning.
I kissed her nose. “Thanks for coming tonight. It means the world to me.”
She beamed, holding my jaw, but that little something that was always in her eyes when she looked at me was missing. She almost had a haunted look in her eyes. Still unsure what that meant, I decided it had to be the same thing that she had been upset about earlier when she showed up. Maybe she got into it with her parents again.
“Boo, I’m tired.” Davis then yawned, and Bo kissed my lips before pushing her seat back.
“Okay, that’s my cue to get this kiddo home. It was so wonderful to meet you two. Thank you for having me.”
“Anytime,” Dad said, hugging her tightly. “We love that you’ve gotten Gus to settle down.”
“Ha, he’s hardly settled,” she joked, flashing me a grin as she hugged my mom tightly. “Thank you again.”
“Of course, hun. I can’t wait to see you again.”
Davis said bye to my parents before giving me a high-five. “Can we play sometime?”
“Place and time, I’ll be there.”
That made the kid beam as Bo pressed her lips to the side of my mouth. “See you soon,” she whispered against my lips, and then she was walking away. I heard my dad say something about the bathroom, but I was too busy watching Bo walk away. The leggings she wore should be illegal, and her hair was all wild and down. She looked killer but also sweet with her hand in Davis’s.
“Gus.”
At the sound of my mom’s voice, I jumped. “Shit, Mom, you scared me.” But when I turned to her, her eyes were full of concern. “What?”
“That boy is not her brother.”
My brow quirked before my face scrunched up in confusion. “Huh?”
“Davis is not her brother. That’s her son.”
“No way.”
“Yes way. They are identical, and I know a mother when I see one.”
I just stared at her, but then it made sense.
It’s the same old sob story. Girl falls for guy, gives him every single piece of her, shit goes down, he promises her the world and then some. Next day, he’s gone.
Shit went down.
She got pregnant.
Wow.
Well fuck, why did I feel so betrayed?
Chapter Thirty
Bo
I was putting my night bag on my shoulder when a knock came at my door. “Yeah?”
My mom popped her head in. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” I said as I tucked my phone in the side pocket of my bag. “I was about to leave. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to see Gus.”
“Are you staying the night?”
“I am,” I said simply, and when I looked back at her, I could see that she wanted to say so much, but she somehow kept it in as she folded her arms over her chest.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, so Davis is in bed. He knocked out in the car. He had a lot of fun tonight.”
“Okay, thank you. I’m sure he did.”
“No reason to thank me,” I said, waving her off. “So I’ll see you in the morning? Or did you need something?”
She inhaled hard, and I could see the white of her knuckles as she looked around my room. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. I was in the wrong, and I didn’t realize I was pushing you away.”
I shrugged. “Thanks.”
“That’s not my intention. I just want you to be in his life.”
“Mom, I am. As his sister, like you wanted. I asked you, over and over again, if you thought this was a good idea, and you insisted that it was. Not the least bit worried about me or how I felt. How it hurt to see someone else raise my kid. At least if he was with another family, I wouldn’t have seen it, and the guilt wouldn’t eat me alive, but that wasn’t how it was. That’s why I had such a hard time. That’s why I battled depression, and that’s why I left as soon as I turned eighteen.”
She swallowed hard. We hadn’t ever discussed this. I just always held it in. Looking away, she tangled her fingers together. “Then I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone else raising my grandbaby.”
“And now, I feel the same. I’m so thankful he’s here, but Mom, you gotta give me a bit of a break. It’s a done deal. You’re Mom, I’m not.”
“You’re right.”
I slowly nodded. “Okay, then,” I said softly. “I’m gonna go.”
But I didn’t move. Her gaze was holding mine as she whispered
, “I do love you, Bo.”
“I love you too, Mom,” I said as we embraced, but I knew there would always be this wedge between us. I wasn’t naïve; I knew what had happened all those years ago had ruined us. That was fine. If anything, I had grown from it, and I wouldn’t find myself in that situation ever again.
But then…wasn’t I?
I wasn’t pregnant, thank God, but I was involved with someone who had a one-way ticket out of my life. Someone I was falling for, hard, and that alone should have had me running for the hills.
But instead I was going to the hotel to see him.
Maybe my mom had a reason to worry…
Maybe I hadn’t learned a damn thing from my past.
* * *
When the door opened, Gus had no shirt on. His beautiful, defined body stared back at me, and within seconds I was famished. I reached for him and he for me, and he took me in his arms as our mouths crashed together. I ran my fingers along his shoulders as he kicked the door shut. Pressing me into it, he moved his hands along my hips, up to the small of my back, before lifting my shirt up and over my body. Tearing his mouth from mine, he ran it down my neck to my breast, where he took my nipple in his mouth.
“Gus,” I cried out as his hands moved along my body, pulling at my leggings until they were creeping down my hips. Following them with his mouth, he kissed me everywhere until he found my hot center. Moving my fingers through his hair, I arched off the door against his mouth as I cried out. I swear, he had the best mouth I had ever experienced in my life.
Opening me up, he slid his tongue up me, lapping my wetness before dipping the tip of his tongue inside me, causing my legs to shake. Holding them still, he dragged his tongue up my pussy, finding my clit before ruthlessly flicking his tongue against it with nothing holding him back.
Thrashing against the door, I cried out, his name falling from my lips in a lusty way that urged him to go faster. When he sucked my clit into his mouth, I almost came undone. I was right there, but then he stopped abruptly before lapping at my clit. So slow and almost like torture. Barely licking me but licking me just enough to have my toes curling against the hotel carpet as I bit into my lip. Taking ahold of his head, I pressed myself into his mouth, and he chuckled against me.
“Want it, huh?”
“So bad,” I gasped out.
“Say no more.”
Digging his fingers into my ass, he buried his mouth in me, sucking my clit so hard, I came undone like never before in my life. Crying out, I balked against him as my legs went weak.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, and he chuckled against my dripping wet center.
“Man, you came hard.”
“Ugh, yeah,” I gasped while he kissed up my stomach. “It’s been a few days.”
“Which means I’m going to get even more of those lusty little moans,” he said, meeting his mouth to mine, my release all over his sexy mouth. He reached his hands behind my legs and gripped my thighs as though he was going to lift me, but he didn’t. Instead, I felt him cringe against my lips.
Opening my eyes, I shot him a narrow look. “Are you still hurting?”
He shook his head. “Just a bit. I’m fine. Come here,” he said, trying to kiss me once more, but I stopped him.
“Wait. Did you go?”
Tearing his mouth from my neck, he murmured, “Huh?”
“To the doctor. Did you go?”
He paused, his eyes searching mine, and I knew he was about to try to lie to me. “I was going—”
“Gus! You could be really hurt.”
“But on my way, Coach called me in and told me I was being sent up. I couldn’t go then.”
“Why?”
“’Cause what if they would have held me back!”
“It doesn’t matter if you can’t play at all!”
“It’s just a damn bruise. I’m fine.”
I shook my head. “You need to go.”
“I’m fine.”
“Gus, seriously,” I reiterated. “I would hate for you to be out because you hurt yourself more,” I said before moving out of his arms so I could see his ribs. They were black and blue. When I ran my fingers over them, he cringed as he tried to move away. “Does it still hurt when you breathe?”
“Just a little. Really, I’m fine, baby. Come here. Let me take you to bed.”
“No,” I said, pushing him away as I went to touch a little more. I didn’t feel anything poking, so that was good, but still he needed to go. “You told me you’d go.”
“I know, but then they called me up, and I didn’t want to risk not going,” he explained once more.
I could see how much it meant to him. Didn’t he understand that this could go bad?
“You’ll go save a dog with no worries about your career, but when you really hurt yourself, you won’t go to the ER to make sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine!”
“You’re not, Gus, Jesus!” I yelled back, and then I glared at him, reaching for my shirt. “I can’t believe you lied to me.”
“Oh, come on, relax. It’s not like I lied about who I was with last night. I don’t even think I really lied!”
“But you did, when you promised you’d never! See, this is why I don’t do promises!”
“Babe, really? I’ve not lied to you or held anything from you, like you’re doing with me. Yet, I’m not coming at you funky. So relax.”
I paused, my heart picking up in speed. “Huh?”
“I didn’t intentionally lie. I was excited and didn’t want to ruin my good news with the shitty I didn’t go to the doctor news, but you’ve been lying to me since the moment we got started.”
I put my hands on my hips and stood there buck naked and confused. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He held my gaze for a long time. It seemed that he was trying to figure out what to say, which wasn’t like him. He normally just spoke and cared about the ramifications later. When he moved toward me, his eyes dark, I held my breath. “Is Davis your brother or your kid?”
All the air rushed from my body as my gaze stayed locked with his.
Oh. Shit.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gus
Bo had such a blank look on her face.
Her jaw was hanging open, and she looked as if I had hit her. Instantly I felt like shit. I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t care that he was her kid. It didn’t matter, but at the same time, it would have been nice if she had shared that information with me. I didn’t want my mom telling me shit I didn’t know. Bo should trust me enough to tell me that. I wasn’t just some guy off the street.
I was the guy in love with her.
“Listen—”
She cut me off, though, throwing her shirt on as she yelled, “What? Why would you ask that?”
Why was she getting pissy with me? “My mom suspected it, and then I put two and two together,” I answered softly as she slid on her pants. “Is it true?”
She looked up at me, her eyes wild as she shrugged, and she didn’t have to answer. It was true. I could see it in her eyes, and I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t tell me. “Why does it matter?”
“Because it does.”
“Why? We’re just fucking around, aren’t we?”
My gaze narrowed. “So instead of answering me and being honest, you’re going to start a fight with me?”
“You started the fight with me. You accused me of lying, when really, you’re the liar.”
I shook my head. “That’s not how it happened. I didn’t lie, I held back informa—”
“Fine, I held back information that doesn’t matter! Nothing about Davis has anything to do with us.”
“But it does, because if we’re going to be something, shouldn’t I know something like that? That’s a big part of your life that I assume goes with the shit with that guy you used to date.”
She was still gawking at me, her eyes wide. “Gus, we aren’t going to be anything, don’t you see tha
t? You’re on the fast track to the top, and I’m just trying to get through college. Stop making this something it’s not.”
Her words were like knives. Holding her gaze, I shook my head. “That’s not true, and you know it.”
“So, you aren’t going into the NHL here in the Twin Cities while I’m in Malibu?” She held her hand up. “Given you don’t get held back because of your injury.”
I shot her a narrow look. “We can work that out, but if we can’t be honest with each other, then why are we trying?”
“I never asked you to be honest with me.”
“You didn’t have to, Bo. I want to be. Because I want to be yours like you are mine.”
Her lips parted, her eyes flooding with tears. Her lip started to wobble as she threw her hands up. “I didn’t sign up for that.”
“Do you think I did? I wanted to fuck you, and now I’m fucking in love with you!”
Her tears spilled over as she gazed at me, her chest rising and falling in a dramatic fashion. Clearing her throat, she looked away.
“Everything that is happening with my career can’t hold us back if we don’t allow it. Tell me what happened!”
She threw her hands up as she shook her head. “But, Gus, you know what happened. It’s your mom’s story without the damn happy ending.” Tears spilled over her eyes as she looked up at the wall, inhaling hard.
“So Davis is yours?”
She slowly shook her head. “No. I mean…yes. I had him. I was pregnant with him, but my mom and dad adopted him.” She wouldn’t look at me as she sat down on the bed, moving her fingers together as she inhaled hard and let it out in a whoosh. “I loved him, Gus. God, I loved him. Jesse, like you wouldn’t believe. We grew up together, our families were friends, and I had always had a thing for him. When I hit high school, we started dating. He was older than me by two years, and my parents were okay with it because we knew his family.”
For some reason, dread filled my gut. Even knowing the end of this story, I hurt for the girl she used to be. “We dated for three years, and it was fun, hot, and silly. We were young, we were crazy, and he promised me the world. He was projected to go right into the draft, and he did. The day we found out he drafted third was the day I found out I was pregnant.” She swallowed hard as she wiped her face, hard, pulling her features as she sobbed. “I told him, and he told me we were good, that he was going to make tons of money. I went to sleep with all the confidence in the world.” She paused, inhaling hard before looking up at me. “He got in his car and left that following morning. When I realized it, I texted him asking what happened, and he texted me that the baby wasn’t his. That I wouldn’t ruin his career. He left me. He picked his career over me and his child, and that devastated me.”