Baby Love (Baby Series)

by ANDREA SMITH

"No shit? He probably hates me more than ever now."

  "No I cleared that little detail up with him and in fact told him that you had not seen her do that but had merely commented that she seemed very flirtatious with him but that he didn't reciprocate."

  "Is he going to tell Tristan?"

  "I don't think so. He feels that she would likely deny it and cause a major rift between him and Tristan."

  "I can't believe how many skanks there are out there can you?"

  "Yeah," I agreed. "Most of them don't give it a second thought about wanting to take your man either."

  "You're starting to think a lot like me girlfriend."

  We went back downstairs and finished up at the main bar when we heard someone knocking on the front entrance doors. It was Tristan.

  (Shit! He had the skank with him.)

  Gina let them in and they walked across the dance floor to come and sit where I was on a chair dusting off one of the hanging light fixtures.

  Libby had tight black leather jeans on with a short cropped, black leather jacket and black leather boots. All she needed was a black leather riding crop to accent her outfit to perfection I thought.

  Tristan introduced Libby to Gina.

  "We met Friday night Tristan remember?" she said.

  "I swear girls since he has turned forty his memory seems to be slipping. Thank God nothing else has or I just might have to trade him in for a younger model."

  She was perched on a bar stool and playfully pulled him toward her for a kiss. Gina and I could read each other's minds. Right now we both wanted to puke.

  Tristan asked me to give him the grand tour. Libby said she would stay at the bar and chit-chat with Gina. I saw Gina roll her eyes as she turned back to the bar to answer her phone.

  I showed Tristan around the building. He had no idea that the place had such a well-equipped working kitchen for not having a menu. The only food served there was microwaveable pizzas and the usual bar snacks. I explained that the kind of crowds the Sanctuary got were more of the after 10 p.m. type that weren't interested in eating dinner.

  He checked out the wine lists, drink menus and the Happy Hour menu that was in place on Monday through Friday which did discount beer and mixed drinks and had several food items such as nachos and cheese, deep fried mushrooms, potato skins, fried cheese sticks and pigs in a blanket.

  He asked me if Gina would have any issue with his meeting with the accountant to go over the books. It sounded like Tristan was serious about buying in.

  "Tristan," I asked, "Are you interested in a partial share of this place or controlling interest?"

  "Why do you ask that Tylar?"

  "Trey seemed to think that you wanted to buy me out which in all honesty I would have no problem with. It already is taking me away from Trey and the baby too much. Gina on the other hand has pretty strong convictions about how she wants to run this place. She's already talked about changing the name of it."

  "Really? What does she want to call it?"

  "The Shady Lady," I replied, smiling.

  Tristan laughed appreciatively displaying his dimple.

  "I can see the appeal of that. She's a pretty feisty little thing isn't she?"

  "You have no idea," I said.

  (God he would be so perfect for Gina!)

  "How about this? I will talk one-on-one with Gina and let her know my interest in buying your share out to see if she's even amenable in partnering up with me. If so, I will request her permission to look at the books in advance. If I see some opportunity to increase business profits I will make suggestions to Gina. We will see fairly quickly if we butt heads or not."

  "I can guarantee you Tristan that you and Gina will butt heads. You will never be bored so enjoy it."

  We returned downstairs where Tristan talked briefly to Gina. They arranged to meet at her accountant's office the following day. Tristan delayed his return for another day in order to do this. I figured he was as good as her partner now which would free me back up and make Trey happy as well.

  I noticed that Libby was extremely quiet upon our return. She was sipping water and filing her nails, pretty much ignoring the rest of us. Gina had made a call to her accountant and the meeting was set for 10 a.m. the following morning.

  Gina handed Tristan a piece of paper with the name and the address of her accountant written on it. Tristan and Libby left. Gina locked the doors back up behind them.

  When she returned to the bar she had a shit-eating grin going big time.

  "What did you do?" I asked her.

  "A video is worth ten thousand words Ty. Why don't I show you?"

  She grabbed her I-Phone off of the register and pressed some buttons to bring up the video. She placed it on the bar for me to watch.

  The video showed Libby sitting on the bar stool she had just vacated. I could hear Gina's voice behind the bar.

  "You know Libby I was working this end of the bar last Friday night when you, Tristan and Trey were sitting right over at that booth there."

  "Yeah I remember," Libby answered.

  "Take a look over there at the booth you were sitting at and look up at the ceiling. What do you see?"

  "Looks like track lighting to me," she said.

  "You're only partially correct on that," Gina said.

  "I don't understand-"

  "Some of it is lighting for spotlighting the dance floor, but there are also closed-circuit cameras camouflaged in with the lighting as well. We have to do that to minimize theft and for crowd control on busy nights here. The video is streamed in so that it can be watched live from my office in the back and it is also backed up on my computer."

  I could see Libby get nervous as Gina continued.

  "I saw what you did to Trey that night when Tristan went to the restroom. I saw it on the playback video that is backed up on my PC. With some technical enhancement I was even able to pick up the audio portion where you said you wanted to do both him and Tristan. That is what you said after you tried to massage his Johnson and he pushed your hand away."

  "What is it to you Gina?" she asked haughtily.

  "Well first of all Tylar is my best friend and you hit on her husband."

  "So what? He didn't take the bait did he? That was his loss."

  "Secondly hitting on your fiancé's brother is usually not a very smart thing to do. It causes a family rift."

  "What do I care about a family rift? There is no way I'm marrying dude anyhow. He is turning out to be way too white bread for me. I need more spice in my life; mix it up a little, you know?"

  Gina told her that she was pathetic.

  "How so? Because I happened to want to fuck Trey? Hey, I was fully prepared to let Tristan watch while his younger brother fucked me."

  Libby continued on as if she had choreographed the scenario in her mind.

  "Tristan would have been given the opportunity of punishing me for it later. Then we would have had some good make-up sex as a threesome so there would have been no hard feelings amongst the brothers. We all would have been satisfied."

  "You're kind of a twisted bitch aren't you?" Gina asked.

  "Hey don't judge me honey. I just happen to know what I like and I go for it. Maybe your best friend there is happy in her little married world with a snotty nosed kid clinging to her tits all day; maybe she enjoys wiping up her baby's shitty little ass, but that doesn't happen to be the life that I want."

  "What about what Tristan wants?"

  "Like I said, there won't be a marriage. Do you know how many of these things I've collected over the years?"

  Libby held her hand up and splayed her fingers for the video displaying the beautiful diamond engagement ring that Tristan had given her.

  "No," Gina answered, the disgust apparent in her voice, "How many?"

  "Six," she said proudly. "I've kept them all."

  The video stopped at that point as it had reached capacity. It was more than enough to show Tristan what she was about.

  "Gina yo
u are brilliant. Let's go to your office I want to watch that downloaded clip of her trying to grope Trey's crotch last Friday."

  "There isn't any video Ty. I lied about all of that just to make her think I could present it to Tristan if I so desired. You can tell by my phone video she doesn't give a shit whether I do or not."

  (Damn! I had really hoped that Gina had her trying to feel Trey up on a video. Part of me wanted to make sure he had removed her hand quickly.)

  "Gina you need to send that video to my phone so that I can show it to Trey when he gets home. I'll let him decide how he wants to handle it with Tristan."

  "Sure enough. It's on its way now."

  We finished up at the bar and then locked up. Gina said that she would be at the apartment the following day by one o'clock to stay with Preston. Our flight left at 3:30. Gina didn't work again until Wednesday afternoon so Jean would be coming over to stay with Preston until Trey and I got home Wednesday night.

  I told Gina that Maggie was being transferred to the jail in Atlanta sometime today.

  "I know what you're going to say before you say it Ty. Preston will be fine. I won't take her outside. I won't open the door for anyone except Jean. Don't worry, okay?"

  "I trust you with her completely Gina but you know that I still worry after what I've been through."

  "I know but first off there is no way she will get bonded out. I mean I just do not see that happening."

  "Trey doesn't think so either," I replied.

  We said our good-byes and I headed home.

  Jean had cleaned the apartment while she was there today and I was glad as I was tired already. She told me that Preston had been napping for a while and should be up before too long.

  I let Jean know that Maggie was returning to Atlanta where she faced multiple criminal charges. She assured me that she would stay on high alert, but like Gina, she didn’t think a bond would be set for her.

  I had put some chicken in the refrigerator to thaw for dinner so I went ahead and preheated the oven and washed my hands to start the preparations. I was making sweet and sour chicken breasts over rice. It was one of Trey's favorites.

  I had just put the chicken in a baking dish in the oven when I heard Preston crying. She usually woke up in a good mood but she definitely was not happy at the moment.

  She had pulled herself into a standing position against the crib rails and quieted down when I went into her room. She raised her arms up for me to take her.

  "What's the matter sweetie?"

  I placed her on the changing table and took off her leggings to change her diaper. Once freshly diapered and dressed I carried her to the rocker and sat down in it to rock her for a few minutes. We hadn't had any of our girl time lately. I missed it and guessed that she had too.

  She fumbled around at my blouse so I unbuttoned it and moved my bra up so that she had access to my breast. I hadn't been wearing my nursing bras lately since I was only breastfeeding her twice a day. She latched on and began to suck gently. After several minutes she started squirming and fussing again.

  I moved her aside noticing that no milk was dribbling down her chin like it usually did when interrupted. I squeezed the nipple between my fingers several times, drawing it down. Nothing happened. I couldn't imagine that my milk would have dried up that quickly.

  I relocated her to the other breast and she latched on and began nursing contentedly. When she didn't start fussing I knew that she was getting milk from that side. I decided I would "Google" the topic later to see if this was common with other breastfeeding mothers.

  I rocked her slowly back and forth enjoying our closeness again. She smiled up at me happy now. When she finished I brought her out to the living room and put her in her playpen with her new activity center.

  She was content to entertain herself which made life a lot easier for us.

  I went to the kitchen and made a tossed salad for our dinner, and checked the chicken in the oven. I wouldn't put the rice on until Trey got home.

  I looked at the calendar. Next week was Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe how quickly the year had passed. Trey and I had decided to stay in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. His parents were going to the Andrews this year. They alternated between the two families as to who hosted each year.

  Trey got in a little after five-thirty which was unusually early for him.

  "Something smells good," he said coming into the kitchen to give me a kiss.

  "You're home early."

  "Yep I couldn't wait to see you baby."

  "Liar," I laughed.

  "No really. I wanted to spend time with my two best girls since I didn't get to see one of them very much over the weekend. I brought some work home with me but that will be for later after you fall into an exhausted sleep."

  "What makes you think I'm going to be exhausted when I go to bed?"

  "Cause I plan to wear you out baby."

  Trey could still make my stomach do flip-flops.

  He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and went out to play with Preston while I finished making dinner.

  I had pureed some boiled chicken for her and carrots. I mixed them together making it more palatable for her.

  After dinner Trey offered to clean up the kitchen while I bathed Preston. He came into the bathroom as I was lifting her out of the tub. He wrapped a towel around her and said he would get her dressed for bed if I wanted to shower.

  I showered and put my silk pajamas on that I had bought at Victoria's Secret. They were a dark maroon with pink piping. I loved wearing pajamas in the winter.

  I combed out my damp hair deciding I was way past due for a trim. I would schedule an appointment before Thanksgiving. I found the slippers that Trey had bought for me in my closet and slipped them on.

  Trey was in the rocker in Preston's room reading her a storybook. She was totally mesmerized by the story or maybe just by him. I know that I was.

  He finished the story and gave her a kiss handing her off to me. I sat down wanting to nurse her a bit before bed. I undid my silk top and nestled her against me. She nursed for about twenty minutes and then fell asleep.

  I placed her in her crib, tucking the blanket up around her. I kissed her soft baby cheek and turned out the light.

  Trey was in the living room preparing for Monday Night Football. It was the pre-game show. I needed to tell him about Tristan.

  "Trey, I need to talk to you about Tristan."

  He muted the television and I took a place next to him on the couch.

  "Oh yeah baby, "I'm sorry. I meant to ask you at dinner how it went with him at the club today."

  "That part went fine. I'm pretty certain he is going to buy my share of the club. He and Gina are meeting with the accountant tomorrow morning to review the books."

  "If anyone has a great sense of business it's Tristan," Trey replied. "I'm glad that it is going well but like I said Tylar, this is your decision. I'm not pressuring you one way or another."

  "Trey this is something else altogether. I want you to watch something that happened today okay?"

  I pulled up the video that Gina had sent to my phone of the conversation she had had with Libby. I had saved it to my videos. I hit the play button and handed it to Trey to watch.

  I watched as Trey's expression went from impassive to disgust and then thoroughly pissed when Libby made the comments about me and the baby.

  "That fucking bitch," he hissed, raking his hand through his hair.

  "Did Gina show you the video from the closed circuit camera so you could see that I pushed her hand away?"

  "No you see Trey, there is no closed circuit camera. Gina made that up to draw the truth out of Libby for this video."

  I didn't tell Trey that I had asked to see it before I knew that Gina had made it all up.

  "Pretty clever of Gina," he replied.

  "So what now?"

  "Now it's time to let Tristan in on the charade. If he gets mad at me for being the messenger then so be it. I can't
know what I know right now and do nothing."

  "I agree Trey, but how are you going to get to talk to him without Libby being around?"

  "A video is worth a thousand words."

  (Damn - that was the same thing Gina had said!)

  Trey took my Blackberry and texted Tristan letting him know that it was him and not me and that a video was coming over that was for his eyes and ears only. He asked that Tristan confirm he was able to watch it in privacy.

  A few minutes later my Blackberry beeped that I had a text message.

  "It's from Tristan," he said.

  "He texted me to let it roll. Here goes."

  Trey forwarded the video to Tristan's phone. He looked sad after he had done it. It was the right thing to do under the circumstances. I believed that and Trey did as well. Neither of us liked the fact that Tristan would be hurt though.

  I scooted over to be closer to Trey on the couch.

  "Will Tristan be alright?"

  "He will be hurt; he'll get over it."

  "What kind of a person is Libby?"

  "I think she's a very kinky girl Tylar. The kind you don't take home to mama."

  "Trey - that's not funny. She has likely broken your brother's heart!"

  "I really don't think so."

  "How can you say that? He got engaged to her."

  "Yeah, after knowing her for what two minutes? That's just not like Tristan at all. I think Tristan had a little bit of a mid-life crisis as his fortieth birthday approached and did one of those stupid things that guys sometimes do when that happens. Luckily it is easily remedied and put behind him. He will be fine."

  "You better never do anything like that when yours hits," I warned him.

  "Not a chance baby. Come on; let's go play."

  CHAPTER 26

  I was packed and ready to go waiting on Gina and Trey to arrive at the apartment. Trey had said that he needed to finish up some things at his office and would be working just until noon. Gina had said that she would be over right after she and Tristan had finished up at the accountant's with their 10 a.m. appointment. It was 1:30 p.m and neither one of them had crossed the threshold yet.

  I checked the refrigerator. I had pumped four bottles for Preston out of my one and only milk-producing boob. I had pureed some more carrots, peas and something new which I hadn't introduced to her yet, green beans. I had pureed bananas and apricots and mixed them together.