His head slid through the folds and brushed against my clit, sending me into a spasm of sound and sensation. But those hands held me firm, and though I bucked against them, I went nowhere. He entered me forcefully, and I cried out in a guttural moan. It was time for him to mount me, to own me and to come for me, and I for him. My toes curled as the wave of climax began to build and the tension threatened to explode. Suddenly, his hips began to slam into me, his thumbs pressing into the soft tissue of my ass as he pulled me in with each thrust, a roar building in his chest. His balls slapped against my clit with each drive deep into my wet pussy, and finally the tension unraveled and so did I.
I screamed a high-pitched moan as I came, and the roar behind me indicated he came, too. His body pulsed as his cock emptied into me, while I throbbed and roiled over in ecstasy. When his body was finished, we collapsed, sweaty and sticky into the bed, and lay there for some time, enjoying our nakedness and the sanctuary of our bodies together.
When my stomach grumbled, it sent us into fits, and despite our nudity, Tyler kissed me on the back of the head and stood, making his way through the house to the kitchen. We ate our dinner naked in bed, watching trashy TV before he put the dishes away, climbed back in bed, and went for another round before falling asleep curled in each other’s arms.
35
Tyler
Before heading home, Becca and I took some time to discuss when I should tell my family about the baby. The original plan had been to wait for the second trimester for a host of reasons, not the least of which was keeping her family in the dark. Now that her family knew, and there was a chance that the word could spread before we could even address it, we both agreed that it was for the best to tell them sooner rather than later. With the weekly family dinner coming up that Sunday, it just felt right that we should do it then.
I could tell Becca was nervous about telling my family, and I couldn’t blame her. The way Nick and their father reacted was awful, and if I were in her shoes, I would be apprehensive, too. But I knew my brothers were going to be excited rather than upset, and my mother was going to absolutely have a fit, in the best of ways. Her grandbaby dreams were coming true repeatedly, and now I was adding to them.
The drive home was quiet and peaceful, and for being a Sunday afternoon, the traffic wasn’t that bad going up the coast. We arrived in Astoria just after three and headed back to the house to get changed and drop off our stuff. Unpacking would happen later or tomorrow. In spite of everything happening with her family, I felt peaceful and happy, and Becca seemed content as well.
Once we were dressed, we got back in the car and drove to Mom’s place. The brothers were all there already, except for Tom, who usually only made one monthly dinner. I wanted to wait for that one, but if I gave Nick too much time, he would end up blabbing at the bar about it. I was kind of surprised he hadn’t yet.
Mom greeted us with hugs as soon as we walked in, and we headed for the kitchen to help bring out the salads and get everyone situated. Dinner would be another half hour away, so appetizers and drinks were flowing. As we got into the kitchen, Mom turned around with two wineglasses and handed them to us.
“Hand me that wine bottle, Tyler,” she said, pointing behind me to the shelf on the wall. I grabbed the bottle and handed it to her, and she opened it up.
“Do you have any acetaminophen and dark soda?” Becca asked.
“I believe we do in the refrigerator, yes,” Mom said.
“I’ve got it,” Ava said behind her as she opened the door. “Had to get the dressing bottle anyway.”
Ava handed Becca the bottle, and she poured it into the wineglass. Mom eyed her concernedly, but Ava made a face I couldn’t quite decipher and waited to put the bottle back in the fridge.
“Do you have a headache?” Mom asked.
“Yes,” Becca said. “It came on all of a sudden, actually. Acetaminophen and dark bubbly soda with caffeine are what my grandmother swore by, and it works.”
“I’ve heard that, too,” Ava said.
“Oh,” Mom said. “Tyler, do you want wine?”
“Yes, please,” I said, and she poured me a glass.
“I think I’ll skip wine, if that’s okay,” Becca said.
“Of course,” Mom said. “Wine makes my headaches far worse. I understand.”
Becca gave a smile to Mom, and we headed into the kitchen. Ava had a smirk on her face, and I started to put two and two together. She knew. Somehow, Becca gave it away and Ava picked up on it. Or Nick talked to her. One way or the other, I needed to get the news out of the way quickly. As Ava sat down next to Mason, she didn’t make any attempt to whisper to him surreptitiously or anything, which was good. So, I took the opportunity as soon as everyone was in the room to clink my spoon on the glass.
“Here we go,” I said under my breath to Becca, who clasped my hand and squeezed. “I have something I would like to say before we get dinner underway.”
“It better be good. I’m starving,” Jordan said, and Mom elbowed him in the arm.
“It is, I promise,” I said, and Jordan sat back in his chair. He was the only one who might not be excited, and it was only because the poor boy was hungry. Oh well, he could deal.
“Well?” Mason said after a moment of silence while I tried to gather myself.
“I enjoy our Sunday meals, and I am glad you all have seen to it that you have included Becca into them so seamlessly, and from both of us, we appreciate it. It can be difficult for some families to handle change—” Becca squeezed my hand harder. “—but in the Anderson family, we have always been welcoming and happy to add a new person to our little clan. So, it is with great happiness that I want to announce that next year, we will have yet another person at our table. Albeit they won’t need a seat for a little while on account of being a baby.”
There was silence for a moment as everyone worked it out and then a glorious uproar. Mom squealed with delight, and Mason shot up from his chair pumping his fist. There was much laughter and congratulations, and when I looked down at Becca, her smile was from ear to ear, tears flowing down her cheeks. Ava wrapped her up in a big hug, and the family descended on us for one of their own.
“I knew it,” Ava said to much general laughter when things calmed down. “No, I’m serious! I knew it! When she wouldn’t have any wine, I put it together.”
“I was hoping I was slick enough to slide that one by,” Becca said.
“You did get it by me,” Mom said. “I thought you just had a headache.”
“Well, the headache was real. It’s still thumping a little, but it’s manageable. It just also worked as a perfect cover,” Becca said.
“Sneaky, sis,” Matt said, and my heart warmed. Hearing him refer to her as “sis” was enough to make even me misty.
“Alright, that was worth it,” Jordan said. “And I love you both, and I am extremely happy for you, but if I don’t get something to eat in the next few minutes, I am liable to eat the damn table.”
I laughed, and we all dug into the salads and bread, the conversation flowing and Becca becoming the center of attention. A loving attention.
“You know,” Ava said, “I had my own issues with coming to terms with telling Mason about being pregnant.”
“You did?” Becca asked. Ava proceeded to give her the rundown of that whole situation, which was still very familiar to all of us.
“Amanda did the same thing, didn’t she?” Mom said more than asked. It was technically a question, but only in that there was a question mark at the end. Mom clearly knew the situation but wanted Ava to be the one to get into the details of it. As she told the story as she remembered it, Becca curled into my arm, and I felt the warm glow of my family’s love along with the wine, making my evening even more perfect.
After dinner, Mason went outside for a few moments, and I left to join him, kissing Becca on the top of the head and making sure she was okay. She smiled and kissed my hand that rested on her shoulder and looked up at me with
sparkling eyes.
“I’m just fine,” she said. I believed her. As traumatic as her family finding out was, my family learning the news went as well as it possibly could. Ava and Becca were happily chatting away as I walked out onto the porch with Mason, who was just getting off the phone.
“Everything okay?” I asked, handing him his glass of wine that I snagged off the table.
“Oh yeah, everything’s fine. Just wanted a breath of fresh air. It gets stuffy in there with all those people,” he said, laughing.
“It does,” I said. “It’s about to get stuffier, too.”
Mason laughed again and clinked his glass to mine.
“Congratulations again on that, brother,” he said. “You are going to make a fine father. Trust me on that.”
“I hope so,” I said. “I’m terrified.”
“As you should be,” Mason laughed. “All new fathers are. It’s part of the package, I think.”
“It’s just a lot with all the things I was planning. Makes me change course a little,” I said.
“Oh?” he asked. “How so?”
I explained in short how I was going to go to school and work at the bar before possibly heading out to work with Tom. He nodded along and didn’t object to any of it, only occasionally taking a sip of his wine almost like a punctuation to his thoughts.
“Besides all that,” I said, opening myself up to my brother, “there’s the issue with her family.”
“Nick’s not a fan?” Mason asked. He was always the most intuitive one of us.
“That’s putting it lightly,” I said. “He accused me of betrayal again and ruining her life. He and their father went bananas and tried to start a fistfight with me. If it weren’t for her dad’s friends being there for his birthday, it likely would have devolved into one. It’s why we took off for a few days.”
“I was wondering what finally spawned you to take vacation days,” he said, chuckling. Then his expression grew more serious, and he turned to me. “Don’t worry about Nick. He will get over it. Her father, too. They’re going to have a new baby in the family soon. New babies melt angry hearts.”
“I hope so,” I said, putting my hands on the railing of the porch and leaning out over the back yard.
“They will,” he assured me. “Her dad will either come around or he won’t, but either way, you know you have the full support of everyone in this house right now, plus Tom and Amanda. You know that.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Mason. That means a lot.”
“It’s true. One hundred percent,” he said. “You and Becca are family, and your little one is a blessing. Never, ever forget that. Don’t let them make you feel any other way about it, either. If you have any questions, or Becca has anything she wants to talk about with the pregnancy or being a new mother, do not hesitate to call either one of us. We’re there for you.”
I gave my brother a hug, and he grinned before going inside. I felt a million times better just being there, but after that talk with Mason, I was practically on the moon. He was right. Either her folks were going to get it, or they wouldn’t, and even though he seemed to believe they would get there eventually, even if they didn’t, we had a support system. We had family that would love us and care for us and give us advice when we needed it.
I headed back inside myself and wrapped Becca up in my arm. As she chatted with Ava and Matt, Jordan and I got into a heated baseball conversation. It was just like the arguments we had every time Seattle made a move one of us didn’t like, and it raged for a while before I noticed Mom, at the head of the table, wiping a tear away from the corner of her eye. When she saw me looking at her, she reached out a hand and clasped it on mine and shook it.
“I’m just so happy for you,” she said. “For both of you.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said.
“Now, finish your dinner,” she said. “You too, Becca. You’re eating for two now.”
36
Becca
“Right this way, ladies,” the host said as he walked away from us, and we followed him.
It was so weird to be in such a nice restaurant, especially during the day, and especially since it was just a lunch date with Melissa. But she insisted that since we never actually celebrated the news of the baby, that she needed, as my best friend, to take me out to lunch. Somewhere fancy, as she put it. County Seat was the fanciest place within city limits, and thus, County Seat it was.
“I love this place,” Melissa said as we swept into a booth that was less of a booth and more just a gorgeous wooden table with hanging white wicker seats that looked like pears. It felt weird to sit at a table, ostensibly to eat, in a chair that didn’t have legs. I swung a little and bumped the table, getting a wide-eyed glare from the host.
“Sorry,” I muttered as he walked away. “Why did you bring me here?” I whisper-shouted at Melissa.
“Because it’s amazing,” she whisper-shouted back, enunciating every syllable.
“Why? Why is this so amazing?”
“First off, it used to be the actual county seat, and second, they make this homemade pecan pie that I swear to God is the greatest thing I have ever eaten in my entire life,” she said.
“Well, then you owe me a pecan pie slice,” I said.
“Why do you think we’re here?” she asked, and we both broke into laughter.
The waiter arrived and was much more personable, lively, and exuberant than the host. He laughed with us as I stumbled through the menu wanting just about every other item and helped narrow down the choices. After I settled on what to eat and we made our order, Melissa leaned forward on the table and smiled wide.
“So,” she said, twirling her straw in the tall glass of iced tea she had in front of her, “how did it go telling everyone. You wouldn’t tell me anything other than it was insane, and then you ran away to a beach house with your hunk.”
“Well, insane was an accurate descriptor,” I said. “Mom guessed what was going on when I didn’t drink anything and blurted it out to Nick. Nick then ran into the dining room and punched Tyler right in the face.”
“Oh no!” Melissa said, nearly spilling her drink. “Did Tyler murder him right then and there?”
“No,” I said, the voice fading away as the waiter returned with our appetizers. He laid them down and went off without a word, seeming to understand we were deep in a private conversation. “No, he jumped up and went to me immediately. I don’t doubt if I weren’t there, he would have torn him limb from limb.”
“That is insane. How did your dad take it?”
“He was confused at first, but then he jumped up like he wanted to fight Tyler, too. All of his buddies held both of them back, and Tyler and I got out of there,” I said. “We went home, and when we got up the next morning, Tyler had already booked the house and we left.”
“Oh, honey, I am so sorry they acted that way,” Melissa said, reaching out and patting my hand.
“What makes it worse,” I said, “is how his family reacted.”
“Did they go crazy, too?” Melissa said, shock rippling through her voice.
“No, no, they were great. Absolutely fantastic. It just made me feel worse,” I said. “My family, my own flesh and blood, treated me like I was property that Tyler somehow ruined. Then his family just added me in, like I was always part of them, and everyone was hugging on me and giving me advice and offering to babysit. The difference between the two reactions couldn’t have been starker, and it hurt so bad.”
“I can see how terrible that would be,” Melissa said. “I am so sorry, Bec.”
“I just feel so lonely and unsupported by them, you know?” I said. “And I am terrified they will get worse. They will just keep getting in the way of my relationship with Tyler, and I will either have this awful relationship between them and my child, or my baby will have to grow up without her grandparents.”
“You can’t let them do that to you,” Melissa said. “If I could, I would go tell them what for myself, but t
his is your fight. You have to do it. But you can’t let them walk all over you like that and take you for granted. You are an adult. A grown-ass adult, and if they don’t recognize that, then they don’t need to be in your or the baby’s life. Shoot. You know what? Why don’t you just let me tell them that and you stand behind me and nod.”
I laughed through the tears that were forming on the edges of my vision. “Thank you, that would be wonderful,” I said.
“You think I’m kidding, but I will put them in their place. No one treats you that way if I can help it,” she said. “To think they would do that after everything that happened to you. All that crap they said about wanting to help you, wanting to take care of you, and then they treat you like that? I have a whole damn dictionary of four-letter words I can use the next time I talk to Nick, I can tell you that right now.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I might just have you do it. But for right now, I would like to go back to the celebration portion of our lunch.”
“And the pecan pie,” Melissa said, straightening up in her seat and shaking off the anger. “It’s a celebration. We can have it first if we want.”
“Screw it,” I said. “Grab the waiter.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Melissa quipped.
“Melissa!”
As I headed home from lunch, I decided that Melissa was right. I needed to confront them and tell them exactly what she said. Or at least close to it. If I said it just like Melissa did, I wouldn’t have the same brashness or power behind it and would get eaten alive. But her points were all right, and I drove straight to Nick’s house and knocked on the door.
His Best Friend's Sister: A Secret Baby Romance Page 19