Everything I Have (Everything I Want #3)

by Natalie Barnes

  “Out back is where I wanted to show you, Mama. We’ll be right back,” Sophia smiles over her shoulder, leading her mom out the back. Then it’s just her old man and me.

  “How about a drink, Tristan?” he says, not really asking me. He walks over to the island and sets down the bag, digging inside to get his Kessler’s. “After all, I believe we’re celebrating.”

  He smirks at me as he loosens the cap. His words have my hand reaching into my front pocket of my jeans to make sure I still feel the tiny box. We don’t have glasses here yet, but I did pick up some Solo cups at the store. What the fuck, celebrating with Solo cups? I should’ve had Lux stock the place, at least. I pull out the package of cups and shrug at him.

  “All I have are these.”

  “Oh, I don’t give a shit. We can drink from the bottle for all I care.”

  He laughs loudly. Sophia’s old man is a good guy.

  I grab a handful of ice out of the freezer and drop the cubes into the cups as Joe pours the warm liquid over, causing the ice to crack once it hits it. Setting the bottle back down, he raises his cup in the air before tossing his drink back.

  “Oh, my God. Joe!” Thea walks through the doors, shaking her head.

  “What?” He sets the cup down on the countertop, turning around. “I’m on vacation.”

  Thea points over her shoulder.

  “I’m going to grab the rest of the things out of the trunk.”

  “I’ll get it.”

  I set my cup down without taking a drink from it. I’m sure it would help my fucking nerves, but fuck it.

  Dinner is awesome like Sophia said it would be. Those filled scones kind of remind me of a pizza pocket kind of thing, but not really. Whatever. They’re fucking good and Sophia is actually able to eat half of it. I think she may have felt queasy for a bit there, but she doesn’t care. She’s eating as much of it as she can. Seeing her take as much down as she does helps me relax a little more.

  Now, we’re all letting our stomachs adjust to the fullness from dinner. Sitting in the living room, Sophia has her back facing the fireplace as she perches on the ledge. Thea and Joe are sitting on the stools that they used at the island. Damn, I need to get some fucking furniture in here.

  “What are the plans for tomorrow?” Thea asks Sophia, then looks at me.

  Tomorrow?

  “I was thinking about going and picking up a tree for us to decorate.” Sophia beams at her then looks over at me.

  “Ready for bed, baby?” Sophia asks, standing up and stretching her arms back, pressing those tits of hers out as she yawns.

  What the fuck am I doing, staring at Sophia’s rack with her old man right beside me? Shaking my head to get rid of the picture of her perfect tits bouncing in my face, Sophia walks over to her mom and dad and gives them a dual hug. When she’s done, my girl walks over to me and wraps her arms around my middle and rests her head on my chest.

  “Sophia, if you’re tired, you don’t have to stay up.” Thea stands up and walks over to me now, too. “I didn’t want to say anything earlier, but this tour looks like it’s taking a lot out of you. You should go rest.”

  Sophia’s body tenses against mine when her mom calls her out for looking tired.

  “Yeah, you’re right, Mom.” Sophia lets her arms go from around my middle and reaches for her mom for one last hug. “I hope you guys don’t mind an air mattress,” she winces apologetically.

  Joe brings up a reassuring hand.

  “We’ll be fine, babygirl.”

  “Okay, then. Good night,” Sophia smiles at them.

  “Good night, Sophia,” Thea smiles back at her then brings her eyes up to mine. “Tristan,” she nods shortly.

  What the…?

  Sophia takes my hand in hers and starts heading for the stairs that are off to the left of the front door. She yawns again as we start taking the steps up. Sophia squeals when I stop suddenly, bend over, and pick her up. I cradle her close to me as I continue up the stairs.

  “Tristan!” she whines embarrassedly into my chest.

  “Sophia,” I mimic.

  God, I can’t wait to have her again. She wiggles her way free and I set her down when we get into the room. Keeping my eyes on her, I close the door behind me. Sophia’s eyes widen and she takes a step back with her hands out in front of her as if she were trying to stop me.

  “We can’t, Tristan, ” she shakes her head.

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “My parents are downstairs!”

  Her eyes widen even more. She looks so fucking cute right now. I get right into her space. Her breathing hitches.

  “I can be quiet.”

  “That’s nice. Because I. Can’t.” She pokes me hard in my stomach and sidesteps out of my reach.

  Throwing my head back, I laugh at her as she prances her way into the bathroom.

  “I’ll just cover your mouth with my hand. From what I can remember, it seems that you get pretty hot when I do that kind of shit.”

  “Tristan!” Sophia stops and tries to sound offended.

  “Whatever, babe. You like being my whore,” I tease her cockily as I fall back on the mattress.

  My arms spread out at my sides when all of a sudden, Sophia bounces on top of the bed.

  “Whoa.” I grip her waist as she straddles me with a foamy toothbrush in her mouth. “You’re dripping on me.”

  I try to playfully push her back.

  “That’s what she said,” Sophia mumbles through the foam.

  “What the fuck?” I laugh harder at her.

  Sophia swings her leg over me and gets off the bed. I scrub my face with my hands, then lacing my fingers together, I lift up my head so I can rest it on my palms. I stare up at the ceiling, thinking of tomorrow.

  Shit, I know I already asked her a couple times, but now I actually did the whole ʻasking the father’s permission’ shit. I like Joe, though, and I know he wants the best for Sophia. When I called him last week, I couldn’t get the damn words to come out of my mouth, but Joe pretty much fucking said it for me.

  “Tristan, are you trying to ask me for my daughter’s hand?”

  “Uh, yeah...”

  I’m such a bitch. Joe chuckles softly down the line.

  “You know, she’ll probably turn you down,” he laughs a little harder. “Nothing against you, but that one can be a bit… difficult.”

  You’re telling me. She turned me down twice already and I’m just hoping that if I do it the proper way and shit, she won’t this time.

  “She probably will. But I’m in love with her.”

  My hand that’s gripping the phone starts to sweat. Joe’s laughter stops and the line goes silent. Sighing into the line, Joe clears his throat.

  “You have my blessing.”

  ************

  Sophia

  Having my parents here makes me realize how much I missed them. Earlier, Tristan drove my mom and me over to the shopping center to pick up a tree and all the decorations that go with it. My mom tried to play it cool, but even her eyes lit up seeing someone as big as Tristan pushing around a shopping cart for two women.

  I think he got kind of annoyed when I would stop and check out each individual bulb and ask him what he thought. His reply was always, “I don’t care,” and “Yeah, it looks good.” Or my favorite when my mom was away, “Damn it, Sophia. They’re all the same.” Which made me take my time even more.

  Aw, my. I know I was busting his balls a bit there, but messing with Tristan without having him slam his cock into me right afterwards is fun. I mean, his cock slamming into me is freaking amazing, but I feel a little safer right now getting away with more when I have company. And yeah, he’ll probably slam into me when they leave, but with how horny I have been lately, I’ll be ready.

  Pulling back into our driveway, I see my dad outside walking around the lemon trees. Tristan pulls up on the brake.

  “I’ll bring the stuff in,” he says.

  But when my dad n
otices us pulling into the driveway, he immediately heads for the car.

  “I got this,” Tristan raises his hand up as he pulls himself out.

  “No, you took them shopping. Please, let me,” My dad jokes as he walks around the car, laughing.

  “Dad, did the truck come by yet?”

  Tristan got a hold of someone last night to deliver some furnishings for the place. I finally messaged Frankie this morning and sent him some pictures of the house. To say he was excited is an understatement. After Europe, he’s going to be busy. I teased him, though, and told him I was buying all beige things right now.

  “Shut the fuck up. No, you’re not!” he came back at me.

  I invited him over tonight, but he’s flying upstate to be with his mom. I won’t be seeing him until we leave for the next leg of the tour in about five days. I really wanted to give him the grand tour. Each day that passes, the more pumped I am about the place.

  “Sophia, can you help me with dinner tonight?” My mom calls out at the front door.

  I’m still standing in the driveway watching my dad and Tristan haul bag after bag of Christmas decorations.

  “Are you really going to put all this up tonight?” My dad asks as he walks back down the walkway.

  I nod my head yes at him. He just shakes his head back at me.

  A few hours later, the tree is up and decorated with twinkling white lights that reflect off the assortment of silver and gold decorations that hang off each branch. I like the silver and gold theme; it reminds me of Rudolph. The memory of Christmas when I was a kid warms me.

  “Dinner’s ready,” my mom calls from the kitchen.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I step back and admire my tree. Tristan’s warm presence comes up from behind me as he wraps his arms around my middle, pulling me into him.

  “Looks good, my girl,” he whispers in my ear before laying a gentle kiss below my earlobe.

  Fuck. One more day... one more day. I might not be able to make it back home after we drop my parents off at the airport the day after tomorrow. I’m so turned on that I’ll probably start sucking Tristan’s dick before we even leave the terminal.

  Why am I thinking like this on Christmas? I just can’t help myself with him.

  We still don’t have a table, but we each take a stool and sit around the island. After grace, I stab into a small piece of ham. I slide it off my fork with my finger and give the tip of my finger a quick taste.

  Tristan’s eyes focus on my lips as I pull my finger away. The look he’s giving me right now tells me he is clearly counting down the hours ‘til my parents leave. Licking my lips, I hurry up and scoop some black olives onto my plate.

  My dad praises my mom’s cooking as he digs in.

  “Everything looks great, hun.”

  Tristan enjoys it, too, because after he takes a mouthful, his eyes dart to my mom’s.

  “Good?” she asks.

  “Very,” Tristan mumbles through the food, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth.

  The rest of dinner is pretty much ʻembarrass the shit out of Sophia’.

  “Oh, this is a good one,” says my dad, waving his hands in front of him.

  He’s clearly had a little too much eggnog. Doesn’t look like he’ll make it to midnight mass now.

  “She was sixteen or maybe seventeen,” he continues, smiling at me as my mom watches him. “Anyways, what a pain in the ass she was.”

  “Hey, Dad.”

  I rip a piece off of my roll and toss it at him. He swats it away, laughing at me.

  “She wanted to head down to the DTE to check out some group. Ah… I can’t remember. A vegetable, anyways.”

  “Korn, Dad,” I correct him, my eyes on Tristan as the corner of his mouth pulls up to the side.

  “Yeah, a vegetable. Any who, there was no way in hell I was going to let my babygirl head down to Clarkston with a couple other friends to see Korn and... what was the other one? Doesn’t matter. The answer was fuck, no.”

  “Joe…”

  My mom giggles at my dad. He reaches over the island and squeezes her hand and looks back at me before looking over at Tristan.

  “So, the sneaky little thing tried to tell me she would be camping with one of her friends at some cabin they owned upstate. This was back before anyone and everyone had a cell phone.” My dad pauses for a moment and takes a sip of his eggnog. “I just had a feeling. It’s funny; once you become a father, you get these certain intuitions sometimes.”

  My heart stills as I watch Tristan’s eyes go from my dad’s to mine. We exchange our own silent look.

  “I got off work early that day. She had to come home from school first to grab her bag. Since she told us she was going camping, her mother packed it for her. You know- aloe leaves, hoodie, sleeping bag… all that shit.”

  My own laugh comes out now. I remember that day. I was so pissed and embarrassed at the time, but now looking back, I would have done the same exact fucking thing.

  “I left my car at work and had my buddy Chris drop me off. I waited until I saw her little blue Oldsmobile come barreling into the driveway. So, I hopped right in the coat closet in the hallway and waited.”

  “You waited?” Tristan asks with a smirk on his face.

  “You bet your ass, I did. I wasn’t born yesterday. I was born in 1962.”

  Dad reaches across the table and picks up one of the sugar cookies that I bought at the bakery today. Taking a bite off the snowman, he goes on.

  “Sophia comes rushing in, probably trying to hurry the hell up before she knew I’d be home from work. She had her girlfriend with her, and they were both rushing around, giggling like teenage girls do, really thinking that they were getting away with something. I held off in there until the latch of the front door clicked, and that’s when I busted out. Sophia nearly had a heart attack when she saw me.”

  “Well, fuck. That was scary.”

  “Sophia…” my mom gently scolds me.

  “I almost had the fucking heart attack at the sight of her.”

  Tristan’s eyebrows raise.

  “How was she dressed?”

  “Pretty much like a streetwalker.”

  “Dad!”

  “Well, you were. Holy shit, I was madder than hell. Tiny jean shorts that went down to here,” he slides the side of his hand across his thigh to give Tristan a visual of how short they were. Which, by the way, he is exaggerating. They weren’t that short. “And a bra.”

  “Dad, it wasn’t a bra. It was a tube top.”

  “Whatever you call it, it’s not made for teenage girls,” he says right at me.

  Going back to his story, he stands up and acts out the rest.

  “I said to her, ʻget your ass back in this house,’ before taking her by the elbow and swinging her around. She wouldn’t talk to me for weeks.”

  “I really wanted to go!”

  “Not to Clarkston dressed that way, at that age. You could’ve been hurt.”

  Whatever. Everyone did it. At the time though, I was so bummed.

  It’s getting late and I think my dad has finally run out of stories for right now. My mom sips her coffee as my dad pops another cookie in his mouth. Tristan has become a lot quieter than he was earlier. At least he put in a few words here and there, but now he looks... nervous?

  I arch my eyebrow at him and he looks away from me, down at the table. His jaw is working under his skin. Weird.

  “Well, I think I’m going to bed.” I say, standing.

  “Wait!”

  Tristan’s voice stops me. He’s still not looking at me, but he shoves his stool back and stands. Both my parents stare at him. His Adam’s apple works vigorously in his throat. Turning to face me, Tristan runs his tongue over his bottom lip.

  “Sophia…”

  His voice rough, he then kneels before me. Holy shit. Tristan takes my hand in his once his knee hits the floor. My eyes don’t leave his.

  “Will you marry me?”

  Aga
in?

  Gawd, part of me wants to, but I can’t, knowing he’s probably doing it just because I’m pregnant. Who needs a piece of paper, anyways?

  With my head still bent, my eyes move up to find my parents holding hands, fucking smiling at us. They probably fucking knew! Tristan squeezes my hand. Bringing my eyes back down, I softly shake my head at him.

  “I can’t.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Tristan

  Fucking burned. This woman... What will it fucking take for her to say yes?

  Joe coughs into his fist.

  “Ah, hun? I think it’s time for bed, don’t you?”

  His eyes are twinkling. Difficult, my ass! More like fucking impossible.

  He and Thea quietly leave the room as I stare up at Sophia. Her eyes watering, her lip quivering, she closes her eyes and a tear spills down her cheek.

  “Fuck this.” I drop her hand and stand.

  “Tristan,” she chokes out, but right now I’m too pissed to hear it. “Tristan, stop!” She calls out after me as I stomp my way out of the kitchen.

  “Whatever,” I wave her off. I just need to take a little drive and cool the fuck down.

  “Tristan!” she runs up behind me. Grabbing a hold of my hand, she tugs my arm behind me.

  “Damn it, Sophia!” I spin around and glare down at her, clenching my jaw so I don’t lose it.

  My chest burns with my heavy breaths. Her soft hand reaches up and cups my face.

  “I’m sorry, Tristan, but can’t we just stay this way?” Her voice is soft, apologetic.

  “We can be whatever you want, Sophia,” I breathe out deeply.

  I give up. Right now, staring down at Sophia, it doesn’t matter if she said yes or no. Just by the way she’s looking up at me, I know she loves me. Placing my hand on top of hers, I close my eyes and sink my cheek into her hand. Just like that, again. Just like fucking that, Sophia has the power to erase all my rage.

  Lying in bed, I can hardly sleep. I don’t know exactly when Sophia plans to tell her parents about the baby, but tomorrow is their last day here. Fuck, that will be nice. Their daughter rejects a marriage proposal, then turns around and tells them she’s knocked up.