by Amy Brent
“Congratulations!” Tanner told her, giving her a hug as she smiled. He also believed that she’d been dumped and that there was no father in the picture. “He’s missing out.”
“Yeah, he is.” Holly agreed solemnly as she glanced at the clock. They needed to get out to the ice and she slipped the jacket over her arms before they walked out with the team, hooting along with them as they took the ice while Tanner took a protective stance with her.
“You’ll have to be careful, Holly. These guys can do some damage.” She smiled, having already seen that side of them a few times. They stood off to the right while the crowd screamed for their team, her arms by her side and her stomach on full display. She glanced at the bench, seeing Aaron and the coaches talking closely as she watched as the baby moved. He looked out onto the ice and she let her eyes drift away, letting him go in her mind even if her heart held on tight.
They won another game, making things look really good for finals as Tanner and Holly hugged each other. “This is awesome. We’re totally going to get the cup!” Tanner said as she giggled and held on to him for a moment. “We have to go out tonight. There is celebrating to be done.”
“Sure thing.” Holly agreed as she pulled away and called out to the team. The ones that were seeing her for the first time took second looks as they congratulated her and she waved them off with a smile.
Holly knew that they were all good as she walked slowly back to her room to meet Tanner, who went to meet with the doctors for a moment. “Holly!” The voice was sharp and angry, making her cringe as she knew that it was Aaron. “Stop.”
She paused and turned around, seeing the fire in his eyes. “What?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were pregnant?” He walked right up to her and backed her into the wall as she gasped. “This looks pretty far along and I can do the fucking math.”
“It’s not your problem, Mr. Neller. I’ll be taking a few months off when I deliver and that is all that matters to you.” Holly informed him as his face dropped.
“Were you fucking someone else when we were together? There’s no chance this is mine?” Aaron demanded softly, making her look around in panic.
“No. Stop this. Not here. Go find your girlfriend and forget about this.” Holly insisted, seeing the pain in his face as he pulled back.
“I haven’t forgotten about you and I never will.” Aaron told her, turning to walk away as she stared at him. She wanted to scream for him to come back and tell him that it was his baby…that she loved him. Holly just glanced around to see if anyone had noticed the small argument and continued to the room with her head down, assuming they hadn’t.
The dinner was at a pizza place this time, stripped down and casual. Holly sat with Lisa, Walter, Tanner and a few other people as she looked at Aaron across the room. His arm was slung around the black haired woman as he sipped a beer and he looked comfortable. She wondered bitterly what it would be like to have felt that out like this, knowing they would have been really affectionate had they been allowed to be. She forced her eyes away, biting into another gooey slice of pizza as she wallowed in her misery.
He’d walked away so easily. Did he not care that she was pregnant? Did he really do the math because even if she was protected, there was no way she could have ever slept with anyone else. She knew how special it had been with him and it hurt her that he didn’t understand that. “You okay?” Tanner asked her, bringing her back to reality as she blinked and nodded.
“Tired. Exciting night. Pizza.” Holly broke it down easily, feeling his arm around her shoulders. They left first as he walked her to her apartment, still in his arm. “Thanks, Tanner.”
“For what?” He asked as she slipped her arm around his waist.
“You’ve been great to me these past few months. It means a lot.” She paused at the light and rested her head against him.
“I like you, Holly. It’s been hard watching you go through this alone. I don’t know how he just left you.” Tanner’s voice was soft and sincere and she stared up at him.
“Like like?” Holly asked in shock as he nodded.
“I was going to ask you out before, but you told me that you were seeing someone. After that, you seemed to have stopped and you looked so wrecked over it. I wanted to give you time.” Tanner shook his head. “Then you told me about the baby.”
“What did that change?” Holly asked as he led her across the street by taking her hand.
“It made me want to take care of you and the baby. The father has never stepped up to the plate and you need someone, Holly.” Tanner told her and she felt tears in her eyes.
“Tanner, you’re so good.” She sniffled as he held on tight as she started to cry.
“I want to date you. I want to be there for you when the baby is born.” Tanner told her, making her cry harder as she stopped walking. Looking back over the past few months, she realized that he’d liked her for the entire time that she’d known him. It was so obvious but she’d been too obsessed with her affair with Aaron and she fell against him. Had she chosen the wrong guy?
Tanner got her to her apartment and helped her inside, setting her down on the couch before he got her some water. “I wasn’t dumped, Tanner. I ended things when I realized that I was pregnant.” Holly admitted as she stared down at the floor. “I was scared to tell him and I just told him that I wanted to end it.”
“Is he in your life?” Tanner asked, and she shrugged.
“I see him sometimes, yes. He knows about it now…someone told him. I don’t know what will happen.” Holly admitted, falling into silence for a moment. “I kind of wish it had been you now, but this is a big bag of luggage to take on.”
Her phone chimed and she blinked as tears filled her eyes. “Shit.”
“Take the call. I am here for you for whatever you need.” Tanner assured her, kissing her hair with a firm press of his lips before he stood up. She watched him leave painfully, knowing that he could offer her a good, steady life but it wouldn’t be one that she really wanted. The phone sounded again and she bit her lip as she looked to see that Aaron was calling her.
“Hi.” Her voice was breaking as she tried to answer calmly, crying harder.
“I need to see you. I couldn’t even focus at dinner tonight.” Aaron told her huskily, making her heart beat and her hormones kick in.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I…I want to see you too.” Her willpower was faltering, and she didn’t think she could lie about the baby anymore. It wasn’t in her and Tanner’s confession had only made Holly realize how much she loved Aaron. “I know that you’ve moved on, I do. I just want to talk.”
“Where are you?” His voice was demanding and she sat up straighter.
“My apartment. Lisa is staying with Walt tonight so I’m alone.” She told him the address and he ended the call abruptly after telling her that he’d be there soon. Holly went to wash her face with some cold water and freshen up, changing into a cotton dress that draped around her curves and dragged on the floor. She heard the knock at the door as she stared at herself helplessly in the mirror, not knowing what to do as she ran her hands through her hair.
Holly walked out barefoot to answer the door, watching him stride past her into the living room. “Hi.” She closed the door and walked over to the couch to sit down, absently stroking her stomach. “There’s so much I want to know, Holly. I’m so angry that you never told me.”
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, feeling every bit of his pain as she pinched her eyes closed. “I was scared that you’d quit your job and leave the sport. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” Aaron asked, making her jump as he sat next to her. “How could this hurt me? I think I’m more pissed off that you hid it. Why? Isn’t it mine?”
“You know I was never with anyone else. You know how special you were to me.” She told him, looking over with flashing eyes. “I was protecting you. We both have good jobs, and I don’t want you to give up the ga
me. You love it.”
“I love you more than any fucking game.” Aaron told her, making her choke for a moment. “I don’t have to leave the job. I can take care of you and…what is the baby?”
“A girl.” Holly admitted, feeling everything that she wanted to in that room with the monitor as tears filled his eyes. “I found out today. I didn’t want…I don’t know what I wanted.”
“I can’t believe that I’m having a daughter. Holly, I’ll be here for her as a dad but I want to be here for you too.” Aaron promised her, as she started to cry again.
“I love my job.” Holly told him, her shoulders shaking. “I love the team and I love caring for them. I was going to tell you that this was another man’s baby and just forget about you.” She tilted her head up to look at him. “You have someone now.”
“I ended it tonight. It never felt right but after seeing you, I just couldn’t be with her anymore.” Aaron told her, making her heart stop for a moment. “Marcy was a nice woman and my family really liked her but I didn’t feel it. I have always wanted to be with you.”
“You ended it for me?” Holly asked him and she felt him tuck her hair behind her ear.
“No, I needed it for me and I ended it for her. She deserves someone that really cares about her.” Aaron told her as she nodded. “I thought that you were with Walt. I was so pissed off and jealous and then I hear he’s with Lisa. You really know how to fuck with a man’s head, Holly.”
“I didn’t mean to.” She looked at him with a long stare, revealing her current state of desire. “I was trying to do what I thought was the right thing. I was jealous too when I saw the pictures of you with her. I tormented myself most of the night thinking about it and feeling fat and insecure.”
“Hardly.” Aaron looked down her body with a hungry gaze. “I knew that you looked different and even more beautiful than ever, but I didn’t suspect this. You were on the pill, weren’t you?”
“There was a bad batch prescribed. There are probably a lot of pregnant women out there right now.” Holly smiled and shook her head.
“Tell me how the pregnancy has been for you. I want to know everything.” Aaron told her, sitting back as she described all of the odd feelings that came along with it, showing him pictures on her phone that Lisa had taken along the way. She also went into the kitchen to get the sonogram pictures from the kitchen to show him, cutting one off for him. “Look at that.” His voice was filled with wonder and she smiled with tears in her eyes.
“I wanted you here for all of this.” Aaron looked up at her and met her eyes. “I have an appointment every month until the due date is closer. Then it will be more often.”
“When is she due?” Aaron asked, resting his hand on her stomach as the other one clutched the picture.
“April. They keep changing the date with every sonogram so I am just leaving it up to her.” Holly replied, shrugging as she sat down beside him. “Want to see her room?”
She took him into the small den and he looked around with a half-smile. “It’s nice but small. Are you planning on moving?”
Holly blushed as she heard the words and he closed his eyes. “Shit. I think I know the only place that you’ll be moving.”
“Do you want me to someday?” Holly whispered, staring into his face as he nodded slowly.
Aaron stepped closer to her, lifting his hands to cup her face. “More than anything.” Holly sucked in her breath as he kissed her softly, closing her eyes as she memorized the feeling. She’d missed him so much though she was scared to hold on too tight, frightened that he would disappear. “I love you so much.”
“I love you.” Holly told him, finally slipping her arms around his neck. “I never want to live without you again.”
“You won’t have to.” Aaron told her, kissing her between sentences. “Will you be my girlfriend, Holly? I always fought it before but now I know what it’s like to be without you.” He kissed her again. “I’ll talk to the league. I’ll figure this out.”
“Aaron…I don’t care about my job. I’ll quit if I have to. I can work somewhere else. It doesn’t matter…I just want to be with you.”
He kissed her harder this time as she clung to him, giving back all of the passion that he feeding to her as he slipped his arms down her body and tugged her closer. “I want you, Holly. I want to see you.”
“Bed.” Holly told him, feeling him grab her ass and tell her to wrap her legs around him. Aaron carried all of them as she protested, telling him that she was too heavy.
“I’ll never put you down again.” Aaron promised her as he kissed her and pressed her back onto the bed. Holly shuddered as he lifted the dress from her body, taking her in with a lascivious gaze and tossing it to the floor. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He ran his hands over her stomach gently, leaning down to kiss her skin as she felt another tear slide down her cheek.
Pregnancy made her cry too much.
Aaron looked up, asking her if she was okay. Holly nodded and he parted her legs, moving down to kiss her thighs as she cried out. “Does pregnancy make you as horny as I’ve heard in the past?”
“Worse.” Holly admitted, biting her lip as his mouth found her and sucked her between his teeth. “Ohhhhhhh.”
“So sweet. So wet.” Aaron panted as he sucked and licked her in alternating moves, making her come fast and hard. “Oh, baby.” He drank it in as she closed her eyes, sobbing happily as she whispered his name.
Aaron made love to her after making sure it wouldn’t hurt her, making her laugh as she told him they could do that until the baby was born unless anything arose. He pressed her back, looking down as he entered her slowly where their bodies joined. “Oh, Aaron. I’ve missed this. I’ve obsessed about this.” Holly told him between moans. He took her harder, unable to hold back as he pushed her legs back and drove his cock inside of her until she was screaming his name. Aaron followed soon after with a guttural cry of his own, dropping down to kiss her forehead as she trembled beneath him.
“I think there’s going to be a lot more babies in our future.” He promised her, kissing her lips.
“Let’s see how this one goes first. Let’s do everything we can to catch up on each other before we’re parents.”
EPILOGUE
Eight months later, Aaron looked back from seat of his box seats to see his Holly snuggling their daughter. Lola Rose Neller was born three months after they got back together in March with a scary time spent in the hospital growing into her premature body. They’d gone out every night once he spoke to the league about their relationship, with Holly taking their recommendation to work for a prominent doctor’s office where she wouldn’t be working so hard or traveling so much. Both Aaron and Holly agreed that this was the best choice, leaving him as the owner of his favorite hockey team.
Looking at his fiancée with their daughter, he knew that he had the best of everything.
THE END
RAFE’S BABY
Lacey
Lacey Kincaid tapped her pencil on the desktop in her office. He was coming home today… that’s what her mother told her anyway. It had been eight years since she had laughed with him, and made funny jokes about the neighborhood kids. Eight years since he had come for a holiday meal, or made it to anything. It wasn’t like he didn’t keep in touch, he did. In fact, writing him back and forth was part of her routine each week that she had come to count on, until a year ago when he simply stopped writing to her at all. It had started slowly at first a missed email or a week between responses, and then it had ended altogether. Deep down, some part of her hated him for disappearing on her the way he did.
Structure was an important factor in her life, so much so that it always played a part in messing up every situation she found herself in. Everything had a place and level of priority, it was the only thing that kept her going strong. She leaned back in her chair, once more thinking about him. Tonight he would be home for dinner, though the circumstances were sad, it would be good to see him.
They had both grown and come so far it was hard to remember how it had all began so many years ago now. She had been lost and lonely, and he had been a strong force for her. Always there to lend an ear, or make all of her wrongs seem more manageable. She closed her eyes, remembering a very different time….
The moment Rafe left town Lacey knew she would miss him. She stood, brushing her long blonde locks, staring intently at the reflection of her face in the mirror. At 11 she was already a pretty girl, though her hurdles were there, still very much a part of her. She moved her hands down her hips, hating the way they felt, and stuck out. She wasn’t like the other girls at school, which was nothing new really.
Ever since her mother had scooped her up as a child and they had escaped the hell they were living in with her father, her life had been one change after another. Everything had been a struggle until her mother met, and married Ben Ramsey. He had been a good man, one that she looked up to and for the first time in her life she saw her mother smile, and be happy.
Part of her new world changed when she first came face to face with her step-brother Rafe. He was older by 6 years, and he was magnetic. Tall and dark, he was there to lend a hand, and to make her feel safe. There was an air of mystery about him, he would come and go as he pleased, always walking with the sort of swagger you would expect out of a rough house kind of guy. More than once she watched him walk out of the house, casually light a cigarette and hop on his motorcycle, to lead him somewhere.
Where he was going was always her focus. Who was he going to see and what was he doing during the night? At her young age, she would often daydream about riding with him, hopping on the back of his bike and letting the air flow freely through her long hair. She would escape with him in the night where everyone was understood and loved, despite their physical make up.
He never made her feel too big, though it was clearly an issue she was battling. Her weight was always an area of concern, though she did her best to make up for it in personality. Rafe was there, in spirit at least as she faced one new school year after another and dealt with the bullying. He had pushed her to keep going and now she was exactly where she wanted to be.