Risking Fate

by Jennifer Foor

  One Sunday after church, we came home to a house full of people yelling ‘surprise’. Since Bella was my first child, I really didn’t expect to have a shower, but my family loved to party and they just looked for reasons. Ty had kept the secret and managed to get Amy involved. She’d invited some of my favorite clients and I was so happy they could attend.

  It was great seeing Van and Colt and little Christian was just the cutest little thing. She was already trying to stand herself up and had two front teeth. Noah and Bella immediately went running into her room together. She was so excited to see him that she didn’t even care about all of the presents I needed help opening.

  Ty smiled the whole day and I caught him looking at me with such passion throughout the party. As much as I loved my whole family being there, I kind of wanted to be alone with him more. With me being so huge and all of the stress of the upcoming trial, to say we were becoming distant would have been an understatement.

  I loved Ty for being the faithful man that I needed him to be, but since his failed attempt at obtaining the documents, something had changed in him. He still joked, but it wasn’t the same. I felt like he always had his guard up.

  Our late night conversations became non-existent and some nights he would fall asleep on the couch and not come to bed until I was already asleep. I patched it up to my pregnancy. Maybe I was too hard to sleep with. I did toss and turn all night long, but I missed him. Even though we were together all of the time, I missed him terribly.

  After all of my friends left and my mom and aunt went to Ty’s parents, Colt and Van hung out with us. It was great having them over and I loved spending time with Christian. Her little smile was so contagious. Ty loved being her Godfather. It was so funny watching him talk to her like he was a baby. I had no doubt that he was going to be such a good dad to our twins. He’d already proven that with Bella.

  Colt and Ty went into the living room, while Van and I sat in the kitchen. We could hear them talking about hunting, and both rolled our eyes, knowing they would be bickering shortly. I heard Conner come in and then the voices got even louder as he joined in on the conversation.

  “Nothing ever changes does it?” Van giggled.

  “Nope.” I rubbed my giant tummy to try and settle the boys. They were moving up a storm and I was often very uncomfortable.

  Van took a drink of her tea and looked at my belly. “You look like you’re ready to pop.”

  “I feel like I am too. I tell ya, I can’t wait to deliver so I can try and get some kind of body back. Ty and I still have sex, but I miss feeling attractive.”

  She smiled. “I know for a fact that your husband loves the way you look. He tells me all the time, even more than I would ever want to hear.”

  I laughed. “He tells me too. I don’t know. I feel distant from him. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is, but somethin’ is different about our relationship.”

  “Maybe you’re just getting settled. After a while the newness fades away.” Van picked at her fingernails as she talked.

  “I guess it could be that. I don’t know.”

  Ty came walking into the kitchen, while still yelling something about a goose. He looked from me to Van and shook his head. “Is she talking about my meat again?”

  Van rolled her eyes. “Since I know there isn’t that much to talk about, it would be pointless.”

  She and I both knew that she was lying about that. Ty wasn’t gigantic, but it was big enough to hurt me every single time. She’d once told me Colt was huge, not that I wanted to know at all. I guess it was only fair, but still.

  Ty leaned over and kissed my cheek. “My Baby never complains about my meat.”

  “Aww, she just doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. That’s why we have girl talk.”

  He stood up and put his hands on his hips. After shaking his head, but saying nothing, he turned to grab something out of the cabinet.

  “Van, can you help me? I can’t seem to find my pickles.” I couldn’t see him, but Van winced when she looked in his direction. I turned around to see what was so startling and saw my husband’s entire ass hanging out. He was reaching in the top of the cabinet and had pushed his pants down, revealing his whole ass. Luckily, he kept his front covered, but continued to keep them down until he walked out of the room.

  “You’re sick!” Van yelled.

  “Bite me!”

  She rolled her eyes and turned around. Of course, I was in hysterics. “He is never going to grow up.”

  “I know.” The truth was, I didn’t really want that part of him to ever go away. I loved that every day he made me laugh.

  Chapter 16

  Ty

  Lying to Miranda was hard enough, but keeping up with that lie was worse than I could have ever imagined. I thought as time went by I could get over what had happened, but as Miranda’s pregnancy was coming to an end, I felt more and more guilty.

  It didn’t help that she’d caught me crying several times in the middle of the night. I’d turned into a pussy, unable to deal with my own actions. Every second I looked into my wife’s beautiful blue eyes, I was reminded of waking up naked next to Heather.

  I hated myself.

  The only thing keeping me from just telling Miranda the truth was my kids. Conner had pretty much threatened me to just forget what had happened and be with my family, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could live with myself.

  Savanna and Colt coming to visit, helped distract me. In fact, I felt like myself for the first time in a month. Miranda and I got so many gifts for the boys. It was funny getting two of everything, although I was sure that the people buying them hated that part.

  Of course, my wife was so excited about all of the gifts that she made Conner, Colt and myself spend two nights putting all of the shit together. By the end of the weekend, the girls had made us a shitload of food and the boy’s room was filled up with every kind of toy and gadget they needed.

  Miranda seemed so excited and seeing her happy made my night. She may have been gigantic, but inside of that huge belly was two little boys that we made out of our love for each other. They were planned and loved before we even knew they existed. I watched her holding her belly with her feet propped up on a chair. Her ankles were swelling up something fierce and with the doctors saying that twins delivered early, we were all on high alert.

  After literally putting things together until my fingers bled, us guys retreated to a pool table I had set up in the old barn. All it had in it was a refrigerator full of beer, the pool table and a stereo with an IPOD docking station. Conner used the rec room a lot more than me, considering I liked spending most of my time with Miranda. She and I had joined a billiards league, but we took off for a whole session on account of her being so pregnant. Conner had joined the team and he enjoyed practicing and playing with Harvey on some nights. In addition, it gave him a place to go to get away from us for a little while.

  Colt was leaning over to take a shot when I put my stick in front of his face. “I think we should make a wager.”

  “You waited until I was about to sink this shot to tell me that? Fine, what’s the bet?”

  I got a huge smile on my face and crossed my arms. “If you miss and I win, you have to strip down naked and run in my parents’ house.”

  Colt shook his head and gave me a dirty look. “Fuck that. We ain’t kids anymore.”

  “No shit! That makes it even funnier.”

  Conner tossed his beer into the trash and shook his head. “This is gonna be good.”

  “And if I make the shot?” Colt was still asking, which meant he was considering. He cocked his eyebrow at Conner. “Stay out of it.”

  Conner laughed at him anyway, causing Colt to get pissed.

  I broke their stare. “You pick what I have to do. Nothing life threatening though. I have to be in once piece when Miranda goes into labor.”

  Colt looked from me to Conner and smiled with an evil grin.

  Not going to b
e good…

  “Fine, if I sink this shot, you two assholes have to kiss each other, open mouthed!” He stared at us all straight faced.

  Before I could say anything, Conner started flipping out. “Fuck you both, I ain’t in this shit!”

  “Yes, you are. Get your ass in here.” He looked toward me. “Ty, you good with my terms?”

  I crossed my arms and imagined Colt stripping down to nothing and walking into my house. Laughter overcame me and I bent over to contain myself. “Hell yeah, I’d agree to kiss anyone to have you agree to walk naked in front of my mom.”

  “Your fucking mouth isn’t getting anywhere near my lips, you freak.” Conner walked to the other side of the barn and leaned against the wall. “Keep that shit between you two. Kiss each other. You ain’t touching me.”

  Colt laughed, but leaned over to take his shot. “I’m takin’ pictures.”

  His shot wasn’t easy. He had to bank the ball back to him and the angle was pretty tough, but I knew even if he missed I would be left at the opposite end of the table. The last thing I wanted to do was kiss Conner, so as Colt was shooting, I yelled across the room. “I bet your lips are as soft as your sisters.”

  Colt missed the shot by five good inches. I couldn’t help but laugh while he shook his head. “You have to cheat to win, I see.”

  “Suck my dick, man. I ain’t kissing that prick.” I leaned down and looked at my shot. It wasn’t straight in, but I had a good enough angle on it to be able to make it. I took some deep breaths and looked at the shot again. There was no way I was going to kiss Conner.

  “Take the shot already. I ain’t got all damn day.” Colt joked.

  I purposely took my time, making him more aggravated by the second. I think it helped my ego, which in turn helped with the shot. I was too positive as I drew back and then suddenly made contact with the cue ball, but as the eight ball went into my called pocket, I stood up and pointed to Colt.

  Conner was laughing his ass off.

  “Strip, Dude. Take off all of your shit and get moving.”

  “You have got to be kiddin’ me right now. There ain’t no way I am doin’ that.” Colt put his hands across his chest.

  “A bet is a bet, Cuz.” Conner tapped him on the shoulder as he came to slap me five. We both laughed even harder as Colt rolled his eyes.

  “There ain’t no way my wife is goin’ to be okay with this shit. I ain’t doin’ nothin’ until you clear this with her.”

  The best part of this was that Colt truly believed, without a doubt, that Van was going to side with him. Me and Conner ran to the carriage house, as Colt trailed behind us. We caused quite a commotion as we all three entered the house.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Miranda stood up wondering what the fuss was all about.

  I looked right at Van and waited for Colt to have the balls to explain. When he said nothing, I couldn’t contain myself. “Your hubby lost a bet and now he is using you to get out of it.” I walked toward Van and leaned into her ear. “He is supposed to strip down naked and run into my parent’s house in front of them. Now, I know how much you want to pay my mother back for all those years she treated you like shit. This is your chance. Side with me and we can make it happen.” I pulled away from her ear and caught Colt giving me a dirty look.

  “You can’t sweet talk my wife into agreeing to this. I ain’t doin’ it.”

  Van moved toward Colt and was laughing the whole time. She took his hands into hers and gave him that smile that made him obey her every order. “Please, just do it. It’s five minutes of your life, Babe.”

  “Savanna, you can’t expect me to do this.” Colt looked amazed. He shot me another dirty look. “You’re an asshole.”

  “We’ve already established that years ago. Now, quit stalling. Drop your drawers and get your ass moving. The darker it gets outside the harder it will be to film.”

  “You ain’t filmin’ shit.” He turned to Miranda. “Don’t you dare let him video record me.”

  She giggled and I threw her a wink. I was totally going to record it. This shit needed to be watched by everyone in the family.

  Colt walked out the door shaking his head. He slammed the storm door shut and we all followed him anyway. The kids came running out behind us, but we had to send them back in. There was no way I wanted my daughter seeing Colt’s alleged elephant penis.

  Colt stood in between my house and my parents. He wouldn’t look at us, but had already removed his shirt. His big ass Mitchell tattoo was going to be the last image my mother saw as he was running away from her house.

  “Drop the jeans. Let it all hang out, Dude.” Conner whistled in between laughs.

  Colt shook his head and dropped his jeans to the ground. The best part was that he never turned around.

  Savanna and Miranda were in front of us. Both hunched over laughing so hard they were crying. As Colt began to walk toward my parent’s house, Savanna started whistling. He turned around and lifted up his arms, displaying the full front of his body. I cringed my face up from that first second his junk hit my eyes, they began to burn with the image.

  I turned around and waited until I heard my parent’s porch door slamming shut. Like little kids, the four of us went running toward the house. I went further, running up to the living room window, just to verify he was doing what he agreed. A naked Colt went running in front of the television that my parents were watching. He was holding his junk in one hand and he got their attention with his other. My poor mother threw her hands over her face and moved her face toward the wall.

  A humiliated Colt came running out of the house seconds later, followed by my father, cussing the whole way.

  We all ran away from the angry old man and huddled in my kitchen, just waiting for him to hunt us down. I looked out the window and saw him heading back in the house. We all just started bursting into laughter again. “I think he went back inside.”

  “Probably to get his gun.” Colt joked.

  “Most likely.” I stated before laughing again.

  Colt and Savanna left the following day. We missed them as soon as they pulled out of the driveway. Even Izzy had a hard time saying goodbye to Noah. We spent the first day cleaning up the house from all of our company, and the next week getting back to our normal routine.

  The first hearing with Tucker’s mother got reschedule for another two months away. The lawyer had called and I gave him the run around about the test, claiming I just hadn’t sent it to his office yet. I knew there was no test to send, but keeping his hopes alive that I was Izzy’s father, made me feel better.

  That following Tuesday, I had gone to work like every other weekday, but couldn’t stop thinking about that old witch hugging and getting to know my child. It got so bad throughout the day that I clocked out and found myself driving to Heather’s house.

  Of course once I got there, I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. She’d ruined my life and taken the only way I could keep my daughter safe. What turned into giving her a piece of my mind ended up being the complete opposite. She flung open the door and her eyes lit up. “Look what the cat drug in.”

  “Spare me the jokes Heather. We need to talk.”

  “I have nothing to say to you, Ty. I pretty much figured out how you felt when you ran out of my house that night.” She walked in front of me up the steps, shaking her ass like it would somehow turn me on.

  “I know you drugged me, Heather. How could you fucking do that to me?”

  She put her hands on her hips and got up in my face. “How could I do that to you? How dare you ask me that. You made me think you came here for me, but it was all a ploy. You got what you deserved.”

  “So you drugged me?”

  “Fuck you, Ty. Why are you even here? Why now? It’s been weeks. What do you want now?” She wasn’t backing down and it was pissing me off every second I was near her.

  “I want the papers. Just give them to me, Heather. They are of no use to you. Do something descent. Save
a little girl from having her heart broken.”

  “Screw you Tyler Mitchell. I’m not giving you shit! Get off my property before I really make your life miserable.”

  I got up in her face and started pointing my finger. “Don’t you dare threaten me, you fucking cunt. I never would have touched your slutty ass that night. You make me fucking sick. You’re a pathetic excuse for a human being. I never wanted you that way because all you were was a fuck. There is nothing about you that ever turned my head. All you were was a decent blowjob and someone to bide my time when I got bored. You never meant anything to me. Rot in Hell you pathetic little bitch.”

  She stood there speechless for just a second before I turned around to walk out the door. I felt objects hitting me and my Jeep as I climbed in and peeled wheels off of her street.

  Fuck!

  That wasn’t how I wanted things to go, but at least she knew I fucking hated her. She ruined my promises that I’d made to my wife and I would never forget that. I hated the bitch and if she got hit by a fucking car, I wouldn’t care.

  Instead of going home, I stopped at the bar. Conner ended up meeting me and I filled him in on my fucked up afternoon. As much as I expected him to say something smart, he sat there and listened.

  “This is all fucked to Hell, Man. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this secret from her. It’s ripping me apart inside.”

  Conner had told Miranda he was meeting me, but it didn’t stop her from texting me.

  Is everything okay? – M

  Just a bad day at work, Baby. Will be home soon. I love you. – Ty

  “Ty, I don’t know what to tell you. That bitch took advantage of you and whatever happened wasn’t because you wanted it to. You need to remember that. You didn’t willingly cheat on Randa. I don’t believe that for a second.”

  I appreciated his trust, but it still killed me knowing what did happen.