I opened the door and let her in first, and she rushed to the restroom, turning on the sink and grabbing washcloths out of the linen closet. It dawned on me that I never kept washcloths in the linen closet before she came to live with me. I might have had two, and they rotated being either in the shower or in the washing machine at all times. Now there were several of them, and they lived in a neat little stack in the closet that until her was barren, except for some toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Now it housed various sizes of towels I still didn’t know the difference between, candles, a basket full of various bathroom things, and then a matching basket with hers.
I didn’t remember buying any of it. It just appeared one day.
Not for the first time I thought about how much my life had changed, and how much it was going to continue to in the future. The very soon future. I was going to be a father, and that meant I needed to, in many ways, get my shit together. Simple things like keeping a cadre of washcloths in a closet was something I was supposed to do now. I had to be able to take care of a tiny human who couldn’t take care of themselves, and that meant I had to actually act like an adult.
That thought pushed me to thinking of school again. It was more imperative than ever for me to get my classes going and get to a point where I thought I could handle working at Tom’s company. I needed to be able to not only provide the safe foundation for my little family that a job in the tech sector could provide, but it filtered down to little things like the times I’d be at work there versus the working hours at the bar. As much as I loved my brothers, working until two or three in the morning would be difficult with a newborn.
As Becca washed the makeup off her face and spent a few minutes decompressing alone in the bathroom, I made my way to the kitchen and poured myself a large glass of water. Mom had always touted the calming effect of a big gulp of water when we were young and fought. She was right. Just forcing yourself to take a moment to polish off an entire glass of water tended to remove the zip right out of a person. Many a scuffle between me and my brothers as children ended rather quickly when we were put in time-out and given a large glass of water to drink.
I put the glass in the dishwasher and walked back to the bedroom. The anger was starting to wear off, but I didn’t really want to let it go. I almost wanted to stomp around and keep myself angry, just to work through how I felt about it. But I couldn’t. I could be frustrated, even upset, but anger was just lost. I was beyond anger. I was done.
Becca came out in pajamas, and though it was still pretty early, I opened the sheets to the bed and tucked her in. Throwing on pajamas of my own, I curled up beside her and turned the television in the bedroom on. I put on episodes of one of our mutually favorite sitcoms from years before that was streaming and turned the volume really low. As my eyes drifted shut to the sounds of her cute, light snore, I felt the anger disappear but the resolution to do something for her strengthen. By the time I woke up the next morning, I knew what I needed to do.
When we got up, Becca went to go make breakfast while I took a shower. When I got out, instead of going to the kitchen, I went back to the bedroom. The idea had formed in my head before I fell asleep the night before, but there were still details to be worked out. Namely calling my brothers and explaining as much of the situation as I could to them without blasting them with the entirety of it. I wanted to have that discussion with the entire family rather than just whoever picked up at the bar.
Grabbing the suitcases from under the bed, where they had come to live rather than my closet, I put them on the bed and opened them up. For a moment I blanked on what should go in there. A lot depended on where exactly we were going and for how long. When I finally decided that a long trip was out of the question, I began filling my suitcase with a smattering of T-shirts, socks, underwear, and pajama pants. When Becca came in and saw what I was doing, she stopped in the doorway and curved her eyebrow up comically.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I think we should get out town for a few days,” I said. “I’m packing our stuff.”
Becca leaned against the doorframe, sipping what I assumed was tea. “Well, that sounds like a wonderful idea, but it won’t solve anything.”
“It might,” I said, tossing a pair of jeans into the suitcase and heading for the bathroom. “Maybe not permanently but getting out of town for just a little bit will help us separate from all this and focus on what’s important.”
I went into the bathroom, expecting her to follow me and continue the conversation, but she suddenly went quiet. Assuming she was packing her own bag, I gathered our bathroom stuff, sticking our toothbrushes in a zip bag and putting the deodorants and toothpaste and razor in a little bag of its own. I usually had a little bug-out bag for occasions where I felt like I needed to get out of town for some reason, but this was different. I wasn’t just packing the essentials that I could use if I ended up anywhere from a five-star hotel to a tent; I was packing enough that Becca could not only survive the time away, but even relax and enjoy it.
I was gathering my things and carrying them out when I saw Becca sitting on the bed. The cup was on the nightstand beside her, but she was curled up against the headboard, her knees in her arms and her head down. She looked like she was crying. I went to her, touching her back, and she looked up, her eyes red and the corners wet.
“I am so sorry about my father and Nick,” she said. “What they did was unforgivable. I can’t believe they would act that way. If you didn’t want to be around me and my drama, I would understand.”
Her words hit me like a rock in the bottom of my stomach. I sat down in front of her, putting my hands on her shoulders and nudging her to look at me.
“You have to stop saying stuff like that,” I said. “Stop even thinking that way. I am in this.” I pointed to her belly. “Our little family. Ours. I’m not going anywhere. Despite the sore jaw.”
I laughed, but Becca didn’t.
“It was a joke,” I said, but Becca broke into tears, sobbing openly, and I pulled her into my arms. She cried softly there into my shoulder while I rubbed her back. “It’s okay,” I kept repeating, “it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” she said into my shirt as the tears made my shoulder damp. “There’s just been so much shit from them already, and we just barely told them about the baby. What are they going to be like in a few months? How bad will they get?” Becca raised her head, and her teary, almond-shaped eyes stared into mine. “I’m just so sorry.”
She made a move to bury her head into my arm again, but I caught her by the chin and raised her up to look at me again.
“We can get through this,” I said softly. “We can get through anything together. Together.”
She reached up and pressed her lips to mine, and we stayed there for a moment before I pulled us back down to lie on the bed. She curled into my arm, and I stroked her hair as her tears dried up. When she finally seemed like she had control of herself, I kissed her forehead.
“I am not making you move right now, or anytime soon, but when you are ready, will you come with me on a getaway for a few days?” I asked.
“What about your work?” she asked.
“I have a ton of vacation time I literally never, ever take. All I have to do is tell them I need a couple days of it, and they will figure everything out for me,” I said. “Mason threatened to force me to take a vacation just a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t have anywhere to go.” I kissed her head and stared into her eyes. “Now I do.”
“Okay,” she said. “Maybe it would be best to get away for a few days. Not too far, though. I don’t want to be too far away from my doctor or anything.”
“Of course,” I said. “I think I know just the place anyway. Whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m ready,” she said. I smiled at her, and she returned the smile, squinting her eyes and making fresh teardrops slide out onto her cheeks. I brushed them away with my thumb.
“Sounds good,” I
said, sitting up. She sat up with me and then stood to go over to the dresser. A few minutes later and we were all packed and ready, and I took the bags out to the car.
“Mason?” I asked when I made the call to the bar.
“Yeah, what’s up, Tyler?” he said by way of a greeting.
“Hey, remember how you were begging me to take a few days off the other day?” I asked.
“Oh, thank God, you are finally going to take some vacation time,” he said. “Tom will finally get off my back about having a ‘healthy work-life ratio’ for you guys.”
I laughed. “Yeah, just a couple days, though,” I said. “I’m going to take Becca and head out of town for a little getaway.”
“Sounds pretty serious,” Mason said. “Is it pretty serious?”
I sighed. My brothers were the best men I knew, but they were a nosy bunch.
“You have no idea,” I said.
“Alright,” Mason said. “You take off the rest of the week, then. I’ll see you Monday. No arguments.”
“Thanks, Mason,” I said.
“No, thank you,” Mason said. “Now go get some rest and give that girl some company.”
“Will do,” I said and hung up.
34
Becca
“So where are we going?” I asked as we got into the car and pulled on our seat belts. Tyler had only packed one suitcase for each of us, but they included clothes for a couple different weather types, and I packed two dresses and he packed a suit. As much as I knew this was a getaway to remove ourselves from the situation with my family, I was also excited at whatever it was he was planning.
“I know a place about an hour and a half away,” he said, grinning. “I stayed there once with my folks. Rockaway Beach. Dad’s family was from out there, and there’s a vacation house we stayed in that I called about. It’s open for the next week, and I reserved us a couple days of it.”
“Rockaway Beach?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ve been there.”
“You’re going to love it. Besides, we don’t have to leave the house if we don’t want to. I grabbed the big cooler and already threw ice in it. If we want to stop for supplies, we can get what we need and won’t need to go out again.”
I smiled. “That sounds nice.”
“It is. Plus, the place we’re going has a little town area with a few mom-and-pop shops within walking distance. If we need something, we can get it there,” he said.
“I only have one condition,” I said. “I get to choose the music.”
Tyler grinned and put the car into gear. “Deal.”
The drive was smooth, straight down the interstate along the coastline. I forgot how gorgeous that part of the state could be, and as we drove, I took in its beauty while I bobbed my head and tapped my toes to the eighties music I chose. Tyler’s fingers occasionally drummed on the steering wheel as we made our way south, and the further we got away from Astoria, the less stress and weight I felt on my shoulders.
We arrived faster than I thought we would, and Tyler gave me his phone to check the app and get the gate key for the house. It was absolutely amazing. Sitting just off the beach, it looked like a sprawling beach house from the outside but was modern and breezy inside. Lush carpet in the bedrooms felt soft and comforting on my bare feet, and deep mahogany flooring in the living areas felt warm and inviting. We brought our things in, and I unpacked the cooler into the refrigerator and counter space before starting up a lunch.
I had been craving pasta for days and felt like this was an opportunity to make what I wanted. Having grabbed fresh onions, tomato sauce, spices, and garlic from the pantry before leaving, I was only missing olive oil to make the sauce. Tyler had just changed into shorts and sandals but offered to walk down to one of the local grocers we passed on the way in to get some. The way he offered, without hesitation, to help me filled my heart with warmth, and when he returned, a bottle in one hand and a rose in the other, I kissed him deeply.
My stomach gurgled as I began to cook the onions and the meat together, telling me that I had waited far too long to eat. The smell began to fill the house, and I settled into cooking as Tyler pulled out a book and sat at a chaise longue chair next to the kitchen. He offered to switch with me repeatedly, but I denied him. I wanted to cook for him, to provide for him the way he was providing for me. Eventually, I must have looked tired because he came up behind me, wrapped his arms around my chest, and kissed my neck.
“Go sit down,” he said. “I can handle babysitting simmering meat sauce.”
“I have garlic bread in the broiler, and the broiler is no joke,” I said.
“I can handle it,” he said again, kissing me on the neck. “Go sit down. Let me make you some tea.”
I smiled and leaned into him, moving my head and pressing a kiss to his lips.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Thank you,” he said. “This smells amazing.”
I sat down heavily and realized for the first time just how tired I was. My feet were sore from standing, and the stress melting away had a tiring effect on me. I picked up the book Tyler had grabbed and read a few pages of it. It was a science-fiction comedy, not exactly my genre, but it was funny, and I got a chapter or so in before something occurred to me that I wanted to talk about.
“What if my family is never okay with us?” I asked. Tyler was standing at the stove, pulling the first round of bread out of the oven, a kitchen towel draped over his shoulder. He looked at me quizzically as he placed the hot pan on the counter and plucked two pieces off and put them on a plate. He brought them to me, and I accepted them graciously, my eyes devouring them before my mouth could.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Tyler said. “They will come around. Eventually. Nick can be a dick sometimes.”
“Tell me about it,” I said. “Story of my entire childhood.”
“I’m sure,” Tyler chuckled. “The real question is how will you be if it takes them a long time?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I want them to be part of our lives, and our baby’s life, but I can’t bring them in if they’re going to be like that.”
Tyler nodded. “Well, I think they will come around before that time comes. But until then, we will have my family, and I can assure you they will be thrilled. Not one of them will be upset in the slightest.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I don’t think I could take it if your family was mad at you, too.”
“I’m sure,” he said, taking my hand in his and kissing my knuckles.
“What about Tom? He was offering you a chance to move to San Francisco and work with him,” I said.
“Well,” Tyler asked, standing again. “That depends on how you feel about San Francisco.”
“I think I would like San Francisco very much,” I said. “It’s not like there’s much of anything holding me here in Astoria with my family acting the way they are.”
“You might have to pack Melissa in a suitcase and bring her with us, though,” Tyler joked. I laughed, and he went back to the stove, getting the pasta out of the boiling water and draining it before tossing it into the sauce.
“Maybe I should hold off on interning until after the baby is born, and then look for something in San Francisco,” I said. “That way I might be able to pick up a job where I intern at. Plus, there would be a lot more opportunities there.”
“Very true,” Tyler said. “I was thinking about all that earlier. I think I want to do some freelance tech work around town and keep working at the bar for a bit. Since it’s a family business and now I have a little family of my own.”
I smiled and stood up, the bread doing wonders for my energy. “That is very sweet,” I said and pressed my lips to his. It was a simple peck at first, but the way his arms wrapped around me, it got hot very quickly. Suddenly, I found myself pressed against the counter, his body grinding into mine and soft moaning rising between us. “How much longer on the food?” I asked, my lips just behind his ear.
“As long as we want,” he said. “It’s simmering. It only gets better the longer it cooks.”
I pressed into his chest, and he went willingly, walking backward to the bedroom. It wasn’t like we needed privacy—the entire place was ours—but I wanted to break in the mattress the old-fashioned way. The door didn’t need to be closed, though, and I didn’t bother to reach back and shut it as we made our way, lips reaching and finding whatever skin it could into the room.
I ripped at his shirt, pulling it from where it had been tucked in his shorts and pulled it up over his head. As if flung away behind me, he worked on getting his shorts undone, and then I heard them drop to the floor. His cock sprang out and pressed into my core as I pulled my own shirt off. My heavy, sensitive breasts tumbled out, and he gathered them in his hands. My skirt was easy access, so I lay down on the bed, and Tyler joined me, climbing between my legs and reaching in to remove my white cotton panties.
My pussy was wet and throbbing, and the cool air of the room sent a chill up my spine when it touched it. It wasn’t cold for long. Tyler’s body smothered me, and his lips ran up my neck to my mouth as he positioned himself at my opening. He ran his hands down my own until they clasped with mine, and he pulled them up over my head. I pressed my hips up into him, and he slid his massive, throbbing cock into me. I let out a cry of pleasure as he drove deeply into my pussy, and he rocked back to do it again.
Tyler held my hands above my head, our fingers intertwined as his hips rocked back and forth in slow, powerful strokes. His cock drove deeper into me with each thrust, and I lost myself in the moment and the heat of passion. Time passed as we reveled in each other’s bodies, taking our time, using every single second to worship the sweat that beaded down our bodies. He never hurried or got impatient as he exalted me with his eyes and his touch.
I found myself draped over a pillow, my ass in the air and my face pressed into the mattress as he instructed. I watched his delicious cock bounce as he walked from one side of the bed to the other to mount me. My body tingled with anticipation as his skin touched mine, and he ran his hands over my plump backside. His fingers dug in, squeezing me and pulling my cheeks apart to get a better view as his thick staff stroked the inside of my leg as it made its way up to the entrance.
His Best Friend's Sister: A Secret Baby Romance Page 18