by G. Bailey
“So, would you guys ever give up the dancing?” I ask.
“Maybe,” he says looking down at me, he moves his head closer until all I can see are his lips close to my own and his deep green eyes. I take the step to move my lips close enough to brush his and I part mine before kissing him again. Kaiden lets me control the kiss until I run my hands over his tight stomach. He responds by kissing me harder and rolling me on my back with his body.
“Ellie,” he whispers my name.
“Kaiden man, have you seen Ellie?” Andre shouts through the door.
“She’s under me right now, come on in, man,” Kaiden shouts back with a grin. I shove at him and he rolls on his back as I get off the bed. I quickly go to the door and open it.
“Hi,” I say to Andre who is stood with his hands on his hips as he looks me over in my black nightie. Even if nothing happened and I didn’t sleep in here, his reaction is important to me. If Andre loses it now, then this won’t work and I don’t want the father of my baby on bad terms with me. My heart is pounding as I look Andre over. He has a nice white shirt on and black trousers. He’s freshly shaven and looks really good.
“I wondered if you wanted to come with me and meet my aunt Mel. I haven’t told her about you and the baby yet.” He says, looking nervous, which is not something I expect from him. I smile gently at him, thankful he doesn’t say anything about me being in Kaiden’s room and that he seems ok.
“I’d love to but I need to go and get dressed.” I say, and he smirks as he looks down my body.
“You have a bump today,” Andre says and moves closer to put his hands on my stomach.
“I do,” I say, my breath catching as he runs his large hands nearly all over the small bump.
“I’m coming, too,” Kaiden says, coming over and putting his arm around my shoulders. Andre steps back.
“Alright,” Andre nods, walking off and Kaiden follows.
“Meet you at the car, little missy,” Kaiden says, making me laugh. I quickly go up to my room and put on my black jeans, a white top that’s flowy and isn’t too tight. The bump is still visible in it. I check my phone, seeing dozens of messages and calls from Liz. I can’t bring myself to block her number, no matter how much I know I should. I just delete the messages, there’s also one from an unknown number that gives me goose bumps.
Games are fun, aren’t they?
I know it’s Drew but I’m sure he means sleeping with Liz, it would have been a game to him. I know it was his way of getting back at me. I leave my phone on the bed before I walk out of my room.
I pull my jacket and my shoes on by the door, where the guys are waiting for me.
We all wordlessly get our stuff and get into Andre’s car, with me sitting in the front. I slide my hand over my stomach, loving the feeling of the small bump I have now.
“Why is there an ungodly amount of money in my bank account this morning?” I ask them both.
“Consider it your wages, and my money to help with the baby,” Andre replies smoothly.
“I can’t accept that amount,” I say quietly. “It’s too much.”
“Well, think of some of it as the baby’s money, I don’t know what to buy. So, you can buy all the stuff we will need.” Andre says, ending the conversation, as I don’t know how to respond to that. I want to give it back but he has a point, I need to get baby things and they are expensive. I’ll also need to get maternity clothes soon; my clothes are feeling tight. I wish I could call Liz and get her to come baby shopping with me. I sink back in my seat when I realise that she won’t be there when I’ve given birth to this baby like I thought she would and I don’t have any friends that are girls to turn to. It was always just me and Liz. I look out the window, feeling stupidly sad over everything.
“So, I didn’t know you had an aunt,” I say when we’ve been driving for a while and go on the duel-carriageway.
“Yes, and I think she might be a little shocked when I introduce you,” he says with a small smile in my direction. Why do I feel crazy nervous at meeting his family?
We don’t chat much more on the drive, I’ve lost where we are with all the turns Andre has made. Kaiden sings along to the music, making me laugh and somehow, he even gets Andre humming along with the cheesy songs that the radio plays.
“By the way, Mel is a little…” Andre starts to say.
“Bonkers,” Kaiden adds in before he gets out of the car.
“Okay…” I say and Andre leans across the car to kiss my forehead.
“This means a lot to me, thank you for coming. Mel is all the family I have left, other than you and our baby,” he says, making my heart swell as I go speechless.
Kaiden opens my door as I have to look away from Andre, feeling something stronger than I ever have for him. I don’t want to put a word on it.
I slide out of the car and see we are in front of a building of new- looking flats. Andre links his hand with mine as we walk to the building. He presses the buzzer and we wait.
“Hello?” a female voice says.
“It’s Andre,” he replies and there is a buzz before he opens the door. We walk in and Andre leads us to the flat on the ground floor, the door is slightly open.
There’s a small purple-painted hallway, with wooden floors and at the end is a lounge painted in the same colour. On one of the two sofas in the room is an older woman. I try not to stare at her legs when I see they are both amputated at the knee. Next to the other sofa is another woman who must be in her forties with sandy blonde hair, a rounded body and a big smile. The woman has a long blue shirt and jeans on.
“Mel is having a good day today,” the woman says in a slight accent I can’t put my finger on and Mel interrupts.
“Don’t be talking about me like I ain’t here,”
Andre laughs and pulls me over to stand in front of Mel. I see Kaiden jump onto the other sofa from the corner of my eye and the woman who I’m guessing is someone who looks after Mel, leaves the room.
“Aunt Mel, how are you?” Andre asks her but she looks up at me. Mel has the same warm blue eyes as Andre, with short grey hair and some wrinkles on her face that don’t take away from her beauty.
“Less of the small talk boy, who have you brought to see me?” she asks and it’s hard to understand. Her accent is very old school York.
“This is Ellie, my girlfriend. Ellie this is Mel,” Andre introduces us and Mel looks me over slowly. I don’t know why, but it feels normal him calling me his girlfriend.
“Are you pregnant?” she asks bluntly, her voice crackly and she starts to cough.
“Yes,” I say quietly when she stops coughing and she smiles.
“You are a lucky woman; this boy will look after you.” She tells me, reminding me of the time Liz called me lucky. I ignore the sharp stab of pain I feel at the thought and smile instead.
“I’m lucky to have Andre in my life,” I say, feeling Andre’s hand slip into mine.
“So, when are you getting married?” Mel asks and Kaiden coughs out a laugh, as I cough on thin air.
“I’m only messing with you,” Mel laughs as Andre says.
“One day,” I look sharply at him and he winks at me. I have no idea how that would work while I’m dating them all. I guess it would be a way to choose but being honest with myself, I don’t want to choose between them all. I know it’s a little selfish but my feelings are way too strong for all of them.
“So, are you going to make me a drink, lad?” Mel says, looking around us at Kaiden who is leaning back on the sofa with a large grin.
“Oh, I guess I could for you, Mel,” he says as he stands up and stretches. I watch as his shirt slides up his stomach, showing off his six-pack. I quickly look away and look back at Mel who is watching Kaiden. She looks at me and winks.
I hold back the chuckle at her next words.
“You might as well take that shirt off, boy, I need something sexy to look at.”
Ellie
“Fancy seeing you he
re,” a familiar voice says behind me and I turn to see Todd’s sister, Annie. She looks lovely, in a long white jumper and black leggings with cuts in them. Her hair is up in a ponytail. She pulls me into a big hug and I hug her back before pulling away. I look at her wondering what the hell she’s doing in Mothercare. I finally decide to buy some baby things and Andre lent me his car after telling me he put me on the insurance. I tried to tell him I would pay him back but he wouldn’t have any of it.
“Todd called and told me you were shopping alone because of a leak at the club and Andre couldn’t come with you. I love shopping, so I thought I might help out,” she shrugs.
“You don’t have to,” I say and she laughs.
“You haven’t shopped with me yet, you might want to run away now.” She says.
“I was looking at these,” I say as I turn around. There’s a row of four cot beds, and I really like the wooden one in front of me. It’s simple and not too expensive. It has a matching changing unit and wardrobe for a good deal.
“It’s nice, you should get it. Let’s go and look at the baby clothes and a car seat.” She says and hooks her arm in mine.
“I forgot about the car seat,” I say.
“Well, they usually have one that comes with a pram, and attaches to it.” She tells me.
“I didn’t know that, how do you?” I ask her as we walk to the other side of the massive store.
“I helped a lot with my sister’s kids.” She says and it makes sense. We look through the clothes and Annie is a big help when she suggests Babygro’s as they are easy to change. She even knew which baby vests to get and how many she thinks I’ll need. We get everything in neutral colours and I can come back to get more things after the twenty-week scan.
“So, which one are you dating?” she asks me as I put a baby sleepsuit in the trolley.
“What?” I ask, trying to avoid this question. Holy ducks, she’s going to run away from me if I tell her the real answer.
“You’re living in a big house with four sexy strippers, you must be at least interested in one. I mean I know you and Andre,” she stops when a woman walks past with her little one.
“I’m dating all of them,” I blurt out and she looks at me with wide eyes. I don’t know why I told her, I full well know she’s going to say that’s wrong and run out the door.
“That’s,” she says and stops.
“It’s cool if you want to go. I’m used to it,” I say and look back at the clothes. I’ve always been used to doing things alone in my marriage and even in my friendship with Liz. I try to hold in how upset I feel. It’s just too soon after Liz, to lose a friend before I’ve even made one. I wonder if Todd will be mad at me for telling his sister about us all. I wonder if they want me to stay a secret.
“What? No,” Annie says putting her hand on my shoulder and I turn to look at her.
“Look, it was just a shock to hear that, but I’ve never seen my brother this happy before. In fact, all of them look so happy when I see them. If being with them all is what you want,” she shrugs and I nod.
“Anyway, I read this one book, where the girl was with five guys and they made it work. It’s called reverse harem, I think,” she tells me. I didn’t even know there were books written about girls falling for more than one man. I’ll have to get some for my kindle app later. I wonder if there are any about strippers.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just found my only friend in the world in bed with my ex-husband.” I tell her, trying to explain.
“What a bitch!” Annie says loudly and a few people look over, unfortunately, they stay glaring at her.
“Sorry about my language!” Annie shouts back and a few people give us dirty looks as we laugh.
“Anyway,” she says pushing the trolley as we walk over to the row of pushchairs and car seats.
“Have you spoken to her?” she asks me and I shake my head.
“Holy ducks, I wish I could, but no. Whatever friendship we had is lost.” I say sadly as I run my hand over the blue pushchair in front of me.
“Holy ducks?” Annie chuckles out and I blush. I explain why I say that, and thankfully she understands and doesn’t think I’m crazy. We get the rest of the things we need and the shop offers to deliver it next week to the house.
I exchange numbers with Annie and I know I’ve found a friend with her. It takes away a little of the sting of losing Liz.
Ellie
“So, where are you taking me?” I ask Dominic as he drives us into York’s main city. We get stuck in traffic for a while and the rain is pouring down outside the car. This is my first alone time with Dominic, our first date. I expected it to be awkward when we said goodbye to the guys in the lounge but it wasn’t. In fact, it was normal.
“Well, we all learnt how to dance first, before removing our clothes, too. I thought you might like to see where we learnt and maybe learn some dance moves.” He says.
“I would like that but I’m not that good at dancing, nothing on you guys.” I say, blushing when I remember the dance they did last night. I finished my work just in time to watch the last dance. Dominic and Todd were dressed up like sexy policeman, something that I thought would be cheesy and it turned out it wasn’t. Holy ducks, I couldn’t take my eyes off them as they danced out of every bit of clothing, other than the tight black boxers which I’m glad stayed on. That would not be something I would be okay with. The girls threw cash, underwear and other questionable things on the stage as they danced. I thought it would make me jealous to see them dance like that but it didn’t. Well, only a little bit.
“Andre told me the first time he saw you, you were dancing and it was sexy.” Dominic says and winks at me as I chuckle.
“He had beer goggles on,” I say.
“No, he didn’t. You’re very beautiful and I bet you can dance,” Dominic says.
“You’ll see,” I chuckle out, ignoring him calling me beautiful because I don’t know how to reply to compliments. After years of never hearing nice things said about me, it’s weird to hear them now.
Dominic drives us slightly out of the other side of the city and stops to park in front of a row of studios. There are three different ones, and a large gym on the other side. All the front of the shops are glass, so you can see inside. I haven’t been to this area before but there are a lot of parked cars and people walking into the building. I wait as Dominic gets a parking ticket for the car and then we walk into the studio in the middle. The studio is basically one large room. The floors are shiny white and the walls are all mirrors. A woman is standing in the middle of the room and smiles when she sees us. She’s dark skinned, with bouncy black hair up in a bun and big brown eyes. I’m not sure how old she is but I would guess she is in her late thirties.
“Dominic,” she says and walks over. Dominic holds out a hand and she shakes it before looking at me.
“Ellie, this is madam Solaice,” he introduces and I should have guessed she was the dance instructor by the tabard she is wearing.
“How many times have I told you to call me Amy?” she tuts, her accent sounding foreign but I’m not sure where from.
“Lovely to meet you, have you come for the beginner dance tonight?” Amy offers me a hand and I shake it.
“Yes, I’ll be doing it with her.” Dominic answers for me.
“A treat for the ladies then,” Amy chuckles and walks off to the front of the class. For the next hour, she shows us little dance moves and then pairs us up. Everyone in the room stares at Dominic as he leads our dance to the romantic music. I don’t have to be any good at dancing when he’s leading, moving my body and I can’t look away from his eyes.
“That’s all for today,” Amy says, turning off the music and we stop moving, still in each other’s arms as we look at each other.
Dominic gently kisses me, a kiss that’s more full of emotion, than passion. It surprises me.
“Let’s go home and I can cook, if you want.” He says and I nod, a little sp
eechless. My phone rings from my bag when I pick it up and I pull my phone out to see it’s Liz calling. I miss her and hate her at the same time.
“She’s still calling you?” Dom looks down at my phone as I reject the call.
“Yes, part of me wants to answer because she was my best friend but most of me knows I can’t forgive her. So, what’s the point?” I tell him.
“I once read a saying in a book, that it’s easier to forgive an enemy than a friend. In many ways, I think that’s true.” He says gently.
“You like to read books?” I ask, moving away from the touchy subject.
“You haven’t seen my bedroom yet, have you?” he chuckles for an answer and I give him a questioning look. I really don’t think he’s joking or trying to hit on me.
“Come on, I’ll show you.” He says. We don’t talk much on the way home but it’s a comfortable silence. When we get to the house, Dominic takes my hand as we walk in and leads me straight up the stairs. The doors to the bedrooms are all closed and Dominic opens the one on the far left. He switches the light on for me and I look around the room in awe. There’s five massive bookcases around the room, filled with books. There is little room for anything else other than the large bed, a leather chair in the one corner and a wardrobe. The bookcases are all made out of dark wood and match the furniture in the room. The bed sheets are white, matching the white carpet.
“Wow, that’s a lot of books, Dom,” I say as he shuts the door behind me and I walk up to the closest bookcase near the door.
“I like to read,” he shrugs.
“Why not get a kindle?” I ask him, I like to read sometimes too but nowhere near this level.
“I like real books, but I do have a kindle. I just don’t use it often.” He says. I skim over the titles, surprised to see everything from the classics to romance.
“I’ve read this,” I say, pulling out a book that’s about a school of Dragons. It’s a heart-wrenching romance and I have to admit I cried reading it.