by T Gephart
In his eyes I saw the love, I saw his commitment and I hoped he saw the same in mine. There was no mistake on what this was, there was no misunderstanding on what it could be. It was home. Mine. His. Ours.
“Troy.” My arms wrapped around him tightly as my body finally got what it had craved, my nerves tingling as pleasure ripped through me. I clung to him unable to speak anything else. His release came soon after, murmuring my name and I-love-you’s as he filled me, gently raining kisses down on my face as he held me.
I hoped we would still have times where we’d fuck—because no one fucked like Troy Harris— but making love to him was so much better. Lucky for me, I hadn’t had to choose. He was mine, all of him.
****
“Wake-up, sleepy head, your phone is being an asshole.” Troy kissed my neck as his hands looked for another part of me to keep him amused. My breasts ended up the lucky recipients. Well good morning to you too, Troy Harris. “I’ve ignored it the first five times but whoever it is, isn’t giving up.”
“Ugh…” I hadn’t remembered falling asleep, but I obviously had seeing as now I was trying to open my eyes. “It might be the hospital, I should probably get it.”
The mattress moved as he lifted himself off and then compressed again under his weight as he returned. “Here. It’s Ash.” He placed my phone in my hand as he resumed holding me against his warm body. It would be so easy to drift back to sleep.
“Megs, you need to actually answer it. Holding it isn’t going to help you any.” Troy chuckled against my ear.
“Hello.” My voice sounded groggy, thick from sleep. “Hello.” I tried again, slightly less scary sounding the second time around.
“Megan Katharine Winters.” Uh-oh. Three names, it couldn’t be good if she was using all three names. “You are seeing someone and you didn’t bother to tell me?”
Kyla had lasted exactly two days. Better than her usual record, but still I’d secretly hoped for more. “Ash, it’s….”
“Complicated. Yes I’ve already got the down low from Kyla. What’s so complicated about it? Why can’t we meet him? What does he do? It’s not that coffee guy again is it? How long have you been seeing him?” The questions tumbled out of her mouth without even a breath or an opportunity to answer. “Is he good to you? Tell me, he’s good to you. Have you told your folks?”
“Ash, slow down.” If I wasn’t awake before, I surely was now. And here comes the Spanish Inquisition. “He is very good to me and I didn’t tell anyone because I wasn’t ready yet.”
“Well, are you ready now?” She didn’t give me the opportunity to answer. There was a definite theme for this phone call. One where Ash talked and I listened. “You are bringing him over for dinner. Tonight. I promise Dan will be on his best behavior and so will Troy and Jase. Kyla and Brianne, I have no control over.”
“Wait, what? Troy’s coming?” My eyes shot to Troy who could clearly hear the phone conversation beside me. He just shrugged innocently. I didn’t buy it, not for a second. Oh shit, I had shown way too much interest in the Troy part of with that sentence. “I mean Troy and Jase are coming.” I tried to recover. Cringe. It was a bad cover-up if ever I heard one.
“Nice try.” Ash didn’t miss my slip. Damn it. “Does your new guy know you have a secret obsession? And yes, they will both be coming.”
“I’m not obsessed and tonight is kind of short notice. He probably has plans.” The nervous giggle that came from my throat didn’t make me sound any more convincing than I had been.
“So use that magic vagina of yours to get him to change them. Just tell him it’s important because your friends need to make sure he’s not an axe murderer.”
“Oh, ’cause that’s going to make the invitation so much more appealing. Look, I’ll try. My magic vagina can only do so much. No promises.”
What could I say? Flat out refusing would have invited too many questions. At least the promise to try would buy me a few hours to work something out.
“Make it happen and no calling me later today with some mysterious stomach bug or headache.” Ash nixed the other option I had been considering. Foiled! “So unless you are in an emergency room, you are going to come to dinner. And FYI, I have your brother’s number. I’m sure he’d be interested to hear some guy is bedding his sister but refusing to be seen in public with her. Can’t think he would be too pleased.”
I sat up in bed in a panic. “You wouldn’t. I thought we were friends?”
“We are, and you would do the exact same thing if I were dating some guy who no one knew about.” She wasn’t wrong, not to mention I had involved myself very much so in her relationship not so long ago. Karma wasn’t just a bitch; she was giggling her ass off too. “See you tonight. Seven o’clock.”
Resignation. I had no other choice. “Fine. I’ll see you then.” I ended the call and tossed the phone onto the bed.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Dinner plans?” Troy asked innocently, like he hadn’t heard ninety-five percent of the conversation.
“Yes, ones you apparently already agreed too?” My finger jabbed him in the chest. Not like it would even make a mark on that solid wall of muscle, but it made me feel better so I did it anyway.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I didn’t know I was going there for dinner. Dan text me this morning and asked me if I could go over later this evening because he needed help with something. He didn’t say anything about dinner.” Troy put his hands up in defense.
“Fuck.” My head fell into my hands. There wasn’t going to be a quick fix.
“We can do that, but I don’t think it’s going to solve your problem.” He smirked before kissing my shoulder—which incidentally was so not helpful. “Tell me, beautiful, how you are going to talk your way out of this one?
My mind ticked wildly with possibilities. “Maybe I can ask Callum…”
“No.” He shot the idea down before I even finished the sentence. “I don’t give a fuck if it’s pretend or otherwise, no other guy gets to date you. That shit was hard enough to take before—now that you’re mine and have my baby inside you—I’d probably rip the guy’s head off.”
The vibe he was throwing off was one dictated by pure testosterone. Let’s forget to mention that I had dated Josh while I was unknowingly pregnant. There were some things best left unsaid.
“Fine, then I’ll go alone.” There was no getting out of it. “I’ll say he had to work or something.” Plausible. Short notice. I was liking my idea already.
“Do you know how bad of a liar you are?” Troy’s voice softened as he kissed my neck. “I mean, like horrendously bad. I love you, sweetheart, but if I’m ever going to hide a body, you are the last person I’m going to call.”
“I’ll have you know I would totally rock body disposal. So that would be your loss.” With my arms folded defiantly across my chest I tried to look insulted.
“We’ll see.” The smirk was back, the laugh added in for good measure. “Should make for an interesting evening.”
“You know, you could enjoy this a little less. It wouldn’t kill you.” I gave him my best death glare. His smile told me, it had been less than convincing.
“Where’s the fun in that?” He laughed, rubbing my arms affectionately. He was going to need to stop that if I wanted to continue to be mad. “I’m assuming you won’t be travelling with me to Dan’s or with your boyfriend.”
“You assumed correctly.” Showing up with Troy would look suspicious. No, I would catch a cab. That would give me more time to create a backstory. “I might make him a fireman. And he got called away, he’s a hero you know.”
“So many pole jokes, and so little time.”
“Please don’t make fun of my fictional boyfriend, it’s not classy.” I rolled my eyes.
“Fine, I’ll leave your fictional boyfriend alone, but your real boyfriend is sending a car to come pick you up.” He held up his hand anticipating my rebuttal. I was more than capable of getting around by myself. “
Don’t get all feisty on me. Dan has probably already organized TJ anyway.”
“Okay. I won’t fight you.” At least the ride would be one thing I wouldn’t have to worry about.
“Good. Now come here and let me give you a proper good morning.” My body was yanked back onto the mattress; an involuntary yelp accompanied me on the way down.
While my concerns for the evening weren’t solved, not yet at least, I lost myself in Troy’s kiss. It was easy to do and it was definitely the best way to wake up. Whatever stress the phone call had caused was washed a way, and as luck would have it, it was a good morning. A very, very good morning.
“Beer?” Jase handed me a longneck while I milled around in Dan’s living room. I was edgy as fuck. “Just a pointer, you checking the time every five minutes is probably not the best way to play it cool.” He took a swallow of the beer in his hand.
“It’s seven thirty, she was supposed to be here half an hour ago. Where the fuck is she?” My mind got caught up on possibilities I didn’t like as I took a swig from the bottle. I was already over this bullshit game and the night hadn’t even started.
“Maybe she got held up with her boyfriend.” Jase grinned and took another swallow.
“Very funny, asshole. Do you know how much this bullshit is pissing me off?” Jase was one of the few people I could talk to about Megs. At least while I was pacing like a caged dog he could help run interference.
“What’s pissing you off?” Dan joined us, leaving his wife-to-be to fuss in the kitchen. “What are you two ladies gossiping about?”
“Oh nothing important.” I wondered how much he’d heard. “Just that I’m going to have to get into a monkey suit for your big day. It’s like wearing a straight jacket.” The excuse of the suit gave me a save. Not like I could tell him the fucking truth.
“Damn right you are suiting up. You aren’t going to bitch about it either.” His eyeballing told me he meant business. Not that there was any doubt. “Wonder where Megs is? You wanna give the loser a hard time?”
“Probably not one of your better ideas. Maybe give the girl a break, huh?” Jase thankfully took the reins on that one; saving me from telling Dan I’d punch him in the sack if he made her cry. Yep. It was going to be a long ass night.
“Fine.” Dan pouted, pissed his source of entertainment had been taken for the night.
I pulled my phone out from my pocket. No texts, no missed calls and thirty-three minutes later than when Megs said she was going to be here. Another minute and I’d be getting TJ on the horn— someone had some explaining to do.
Since finding out I was going to be a dad, it was insane how fucking protective and territorial I’d become. It was straight up caveman shit, I didn’t understand it but I knew well enough to know there was no fighting it either. And no shit, if I could wrap Megs in cotton wool for the next eight months, I’d do it.
The door buzzer sounded and it looked like I was finally going to be put out of my misery. Thank fucking Christ.
The relief, however, was short lived ’cause when the door swung open it wasn’t Megs. The two chicks whose names I didn’t quite remember were busy squealing over Ash’s newly acquired engagement ring in the entranceway with no sign of my girl.
I’d waited long enough. “Need to make a call, guys. Give me a sec.” Neither Dan nor Jase asked questions as I turned my back and put some distance between us so I could get busy giving JT the where-the-fuck-are-you.
“Oh, hi Troy.” One of the pair, who’d just walked in, popped up in front of me—her smile was more than just a little friendly. My phone that had barely made it out of my pocket was still in my hand as she gave me a wave to go with the smile. I hadn’t even had a chance to dial.
“Hey…” I search my mind for her name. It had to be in there somewhere; both Ashlyn and Megs had introduced us a couple of times. I’d never been interested enough to take notice.
“Brianne.” She let me off the hook, adding another little smile at the end. Well at least I hadn’t pissed her off, not that she was high on my list of priorities but being out and out rude to a friend of Ash and Megs wouldn’t win me any favors either.
“Right. Brianne. How are you doing?” My phone got shoved back into my pocket as I mentally calculated how long I would have to talk to her. One minute? Five? Surely Megs would show in that time. If she didn’t— polite or not— I’d be giving Brianne a friendly shove and making that call.
“I’m good. Really good.” More smiles and I had to wonder if the girl hadn’t taken some happy pills before she’d shown up.
Ash flicked her eyes over to us and gave me a nod. Not sure if she was glad ’cause I wasn’t being an asshole to her friend or Brianne talking to me meant one less chick pawing at the rock on her hand. So guess I was stuck a little while longer. Jase and Dan were no help either; the two of them not even giving us a second look as they stood where I’d left them deep in conversation.
“Great.” I forced my mouth into a smile. Great? Not even close.
Brianne continued to talk, but a bunch of words was all I heard. My limit for waiting had just been reached when another loud buzz came from the door. And if that door opened and Megs wasn’t behind it, there would be some serious hell to pay.
“Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late.” Megs burst through the doorway, her face more pale than when I’d left. My need to be polite put on a back burner as I moved closer to where the action was.
“So where is he?” Ashlyn asked, her head poking out the doorway looking to see if someone else was with her. Not fucking likely.
“Ash, I’m sorry. It was late notice and he had to work.” Well what do you know, she sounded genuinely sincere, she must’ve been working on the act in the car ride over. Maybe that’s why she’d been late.
Megs shot me a look but didn’t hold it for long, instead giving Ash her attention as the questioning continued.
“It’s Sunday, what does he do?” Ash wasn’t letting it go that easy, not that I’d expected anything less.
“He’s a fireman.” Megs smiled like she’d just been given a puppy. I wasn’t sure if I should be proud she was really trying to pull it off or pissed that she was pretending she was with someone else.
“He let you slide down his pole?” The expected Dan response didn’t take too long to show up. I had tried to warn her about pole jokes— she hadn’t listened.
“Dan, really.” Ash planted her hands on her hips and gave her head a shake but no one seemed surprised. Megs relaxed a little seeing the heat was off her, at least short term.
“Sorry babe, it kind of needed to be said.” Dan shrugged, the shit-eating grin showing how not sorry he was.
“So, your fireman.” Ash turned back to Megs, the twenty questions far from done. “Does he have a name?”
The more I watched, the more juiced up I was getting. Fuck it. She was clearly not herself, I could tell just by looking at her, and I wasn’t sure if it was the fucking stress of sprouting bullshit or if she was genuinely not well.
“So Troy, are you done with the new album? You will be touring soon I’m assuming?” Brianne shoved herself in front of me again, stopping me from hearing Megs’s answer.
“Huh?” The words she had said not fully registering in my head because I’d been worried about my girl.
“Touring? The band will be going on the road, right?” she repeated, her body so close to me I had to take a step back.
“Rory’s so busy and sort of shy. Maybe some other time….” Bits of Megs’s conversation floated over to me as Brianne waited for a response. Hinting that her interest in the Megs show was done and dusted.
“Yeah, next year sometime,” I answered, not bothering to look at her, my eyes focused on Megs who was looking paler by the second.
“Would love to see a show. You guys are fantastic live,” Brianne continued. Stepping in front of me when I tried to get closer to where Megs was standing. This dance was getting old.
“I’m sure we can ma
nage to float you some tickets. No big deal.” I threw it out there hoping that the promise of free tickets would get her off my ass. I had been done with this conversation five minutes ago.
“Rory sounds like a douche if you ask me. What kind of guy can’t get his shit together for his girl.” Dan weighed in, adding to my already short fuse.
“Really? You would give me tickets?” Brianne smiled and side stepped in front of me again.
“Yeah, like I said, it’s no big deal.” I moved again finally getting past her.
“Oh, thank you, Troy, you’re the best.” She threw her arms around me stopping me from moving forward, her hands getting familiar with my chest.
“Heyyyyyyy. Wow. Easy there.” I got to work quickly trying to peel her arms off my body, but she was persistent, tightening her grip as I tried to move her fingers.
My eyes shot to Megs, who because of my edging to get closer, now had a front row seat to Brianne’s little show. The seething eyes and the tight mouth enough of a hint she wasn’t happy.
“You smell nice, is that some special cologne you’re wearing?” She moved her head closer, sniffing my neck as I tried to maneuver out.
“Brianne, hey.” I was done being nice. “How about you let go. I don’t want to hurt you.” I was completely ready to rip her hands off me if she didn’t fucking remove them herself.
“I like it, you smell manly.” She completely ignored me, like I hadn’t just asked her to get her fucking mitts off me.
“Get your hands off him!” Megs seethed as she stormed over to us, yanking on Brianne’s arm.
“Megs? Oh hey, sweetie, I was just chatting to Troy.” She patted my chest like I was her fucking pet as I freed myself from her.
“Yeah, I saw how you were chatting to him. Any closer and you would be giving him a lap dance.” She planted her hands on her hips, her voice full of venom.