by Falon Gold
“Are you folding my clothes?”
‘Who in the hell washed them?’ might be the better question, which no longer mattered when he released the old Chance’s smile. The one where he was a good guy who was accommodating instead of demanding to be accommodated. The sexy uplift of his lips, free of the predatory threat that I had seen more times than I care to count lately, was captivating and creating a longing for the old days when I would’ve started something with his mouth that he would’ve gladly finished then held me afterwards. This wasn’t the old days though, won’t ever be again.
“Yes, Mahogany, they’re yours and I washed them too, even when I told you I wouldn’t. I had nothing else to do since work is on hold until I have you and Majestic straightened out. There’s still another load in the dryer. You can fold them if you want to. This is boring as hell.”
Unable to prevent it, I cracked up, sniggering all over the place. “It is boring but somebody has to do it, so yeah, I’ll get the next load after I come back from the hospital today. Thank you for the loads you did do. I just hope you ruined the granny panties and not the expensive lacey ones you bought for…”
Stop with the damn reminiscing already. That’s in the past and all you got is the present. But something was wrong with this present: Chance seemed content in it.
He placed the shirt down on a pile then fisted the bed. “All of your panties are fine. I sorted by color and washed everything in the appropriate temperature. I believe I spent more time reading the instruction on the tags for washing your clothes than washing them.”
A yawn broke from me. “You did better than me. I’m usually too tired to do more than throw a pile of similar colors in and hope they don’t bleed on each other. Nothing’s new of mine so I don’t need much hope thankfully. But I get real uneasy when Majestic’s stuff is in there. Your kid used to stretch out like there was Miracle-gro in her shoes before she got sick.”
“So, Majestic has new stuff and you don’t? Do you want new clothes?”
And the generous Chance was back along with his smile that I preferred. Seemed too good to be true, and I wasn’t going to get sucked up in his mood swings only to be blindsided when the self-centered Chance reemerged and pushed me away again.
“I’m good with what I have, Chance. Work uniforms, t-shirts, and jeans are perfect for this life.”
“What happens if you get another life?” Dude was asking a lot of questions that pertained to dreams not in reaching distance yet.
“I’ll worry about the clothes that go with a new life when I get a new life.”
“Hmmph. Okay. Well, you got five minutes before we have to ride. I’ve already showered at the resort and eaten. Your breakfast biscuit from Tommy’s is in the microwave. How fast can you get ready?”
I blinked, shocked he was feeding me too, and wondering should I eat the food. He did have it in for me. “I need six minutes instead of five I think. I’m a little sluggish here.”
“That’s because you need more sleep and I shouldn’t have attacked you last night at the door. Sorry not sorry.”
If that was attacking, that crime would never be reported. His half-assed apology drew a grin from me.
“What is wrong with you this morning, Chance? Did you not get enough sleep?”
It was a breath of fresh air to be able to get along with him for a change however. Maybe I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth and should accept him as he comes until he’s gone.
“Nothing is wrong with me. I’ll sleep when Majestic is home. Besides, if I had gone back to sleep after last night with you, I wouldn’t be woke right now, and me shaking the bed to wake you on time wouldn’t have happened.”
At least he was in a better mood this time after sex. What did I do differently? Whatever it was, it was the least I could do for him after all I had done to him and it won’t add anymore black marks that he already has against me. With my ego swelling to the size of a mountain, I threw the covers back, then groaned when tenderness manifested in my center as I got up.
“You okay, Mahogany?”
I stood upright, not minding the aches at all. “Yep. Shaking the bed works every time for Majestic too when she sleeps with me and gets up before I do. If I’d known the damn crib would end up just collecting dust, I’d have used the money I spent on it for diapers and groceries.”
“My family is coming to the hospital around ten.” Did he have any idea that he had just quietly revealed a shit show in the making?
The lightness of the atmosphere around us shifted to pensive and strained. I grunted my displeasure with his statement, then impounded myself in the bathroom. His family was a variety of more intense and weaker forms of Chance—his mother the more intense version who didn’t acknowledge me when I came to family functions. I made excuses to not attend after I realized the only invitations I got for the Middleton events came from Chance through word of mouth, when everyone else got their invites in the mail. I didn’t have to be told by Dania Middleton that she didn’t think I wasn’t good enough for her son or that she didn’t want me around. That certainly wouldn’t have changed after the bomb I had dropped on her son. She may be even more upset to have learned that her bloodline was now attached to mine.
While brushing my teeth under the hot cascade of water I hoped would eased my soreness, I decided to make it my business to blend into the woodwork while his family was there and to wear more than jeans and t-shirts in their presence, so I didn’t feel sloppy and underdressed while I tried to press myself into the wall. They wouldn’t be here for long if all went well.
Chapter Eleven
~Chance~
Mahogany used exactly six minutes to get ready, and now, she fidgeted in the passenger seat in a white sundress and sandals, nibbling at her food that the buzzards flocking at the roadside ate more of than she did. All signs that she was anxious and expected to be greeted by my mother’s cold shoulders. However, Mahogany had no idea what all she had done when she given birth to Majestic. If she hadn’t cut me off in the hospital yesterday just before Tommy and Kat arrived, I would’ve explained exactly what she brought on herself… and that she was going to regret wearing a dress on this day in that color.
Where my mother wouldn’t give Mahogany the time of day when they first met, Dania along with my sister, Cena, were going to try their damndest to propel Mahogany down an aisle with me at the end of it. The only thing unpleasant to me about that image was the propelling. I rather Mahogany be on an aisle of her own free will, but I wouldn’t dare give her a hint of the booby trap that she was about to walk into—she would run right now in the opposite direction for sure, literally, especially after the way I had treated her.
Past time to make that up to her.
“Mahogany.”
“Yes?” She picked at a piece of bacon on top of the biscuit, then stuck it in her mouth and dogged the windshield with her eyes.
“You ever going to get married?”
“One day. Gotta get over you first though, or I probably won’t ever have sex again after you go home.”
How could she be honest with me so easily after all I had put her through? Just another testament to this woman’s character that overcame, her backbone that withstood, her inability to hold grudges even in the harshest of environments. Losing my way after finding out Majestic was mine, then using Mahogany to find myself again was pretty damn rough for us both. I could learn a lot from her, would never be good enough for her, but I would try my hardest to measure up.
“You do like sex,” I coincided, one of the best damn things about her.
“Very much. Just can’t seem to be attracted to anyone else but your ass.” Her dry lilt indicated she was resenting me for that, so she had one grudge with me. Then, she rotated in her seat to face me, knee resting against the gearshift. “You ruined me for other men, you know that?”
She was doing what Tommy had advised me to do: clearing her chest.
I shouldn’t have been glad to hear she w
as ruined or eager to admit that I was ruined too, but I did anyway with, “Ditto, baby.”
“Oh, you are not ruined, Chance.”
“Says who, Mahogany?”
“Says me! At least you tried to date. I didn’t.”
“Really? And it was a waste of time for me. There was no getting over you, and if I didn’t used my hands, there was no getting off, if you know what I mean.”
“Really?” she mimicked in disbelief, as we drove into the hospital’s back lot.
“Really. Why didn’t you date?”
“Waste of time. I grew frigid after you. Didn’t even need my hands.” She splayed them in the air in front of her, after balancing the remains of the biscuit on her purse laying in her lap.
“Okay, you can put them down now, you’ve proved they’re masturbation-free. We’ll do something about some of the ‘getting off’ you didn’t get to do when the family is gone and Majestic is napping today.” The janitor’s closet came to mind thanks to Tommy.
I had a lot more to make up to her than I thought. It seemed she’d left something behind in Utah: her sex-drive that was high for a woman. I guessed I brought it with me because she blazed up every time I kissed her. For the first time, I alleged that she might have gotten pregnant eventually anyway. The powerful urge to get her that way again manifested in the middle of my chest and sat there like a rock. The woman beside me had proven I had the ability to not only curse my babies but to un-curse them. If I can’t, my family would be glad to step up to the plate and give more blessings like Majestic a chance at a full life. In a complete turnaround, I craved to witness parts of Mahogany and me merge inside her and develop then be delivered. I didn’t experience that with my firstborn and felt cheated. Turned out it was me who cheated me. Mahogany just did what she thought was best for Majestic, which perpetuated the cycle I had already started by demanding no children.
She swiveled to the correct position in her seat as I parked, then she muttered, “Sure. Why not get off? That’s what I signed up for.”
Someone thought she was still being used. Although I tried like hell to do that, it didn’t work out so well. Had the opposite effect actually: I wanted her more than ever, and it was time she learned that. Putting the car in gear, I twisted at the waist toward her, slipped my fingers under the strap of her dress after sweeping her hair from her shoulders, then pulled her around to face me.
“Chance, what are…” My lips were on hers before she could finish, tongue tangling with hers before she knew what the hell hit her.
The slow grind of her mouth on mine reassured me she was receiving the affections I had cruelly denied her outside of sex. Heartbreaking to think I could be that way with her, but I had because my love for her was all-consuming, mind-altering, devastating when she wasn’t returning it. She had the power to turn me into the bastard who usually dealt with only my enemies. She pulled me out of my character effortlessly, but most importantly, turned me around with a single word she wasn’t aware she had said. Now, I owed her for making her choose between me and my child, then letting me just take from her to build myself back up until I was in my right mind again. None of that was fair to her. God, I hoped she forgave me.
When out of breath, I released her, sitting back in my seat to ogle the fine bones in her face under her dark oval-shaped eyes that fluttered opened. “I need you to know that you are beautiful and irreplaceable, and any man would be lucky to get you off, Mahogany.”
Somehow, she had gotten more stunning after giving birth. I perused the perfect assembly of her facial features as she panted and pressed her thighs together, needing me between them right now like I knew she would before I even kissed her.
“You’ve got to stop doing that, Chance.”
I did have ulterior motives when I kissed her, and it was so low down to set her up now so she’d let me satisfy her later, but what can I say besides I’m a bastard when it came to her?
“Why would I stop doing that, Mahogany? Kissing you is one of my favorite pastimes, remember?”
Her eyebrows shot up and crinkled up her forehead. “I’m surprised you remember.”
“If I could forget, we wouldn’t be dating again, now would we? Stay there.”
I got out to open her door. When I reached inside for her, Mahogany gave me a leery lift of her eyebrows before climbing out with the aid of my hand. She let go of my fingers immediately. I placed them in the middle of her back, then smiled to myself when she threw me one of the cutest scowls that Majestic had inherited. I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that Mahogany was suspicious of me. She was in for a lot more surprises. More kisses too, which won’t all land on her face.
The second we walked into Majestic’s eyesight, she squealed with two pink bows clasped around her sandy-brown curls in two bushy ponytails, then crawled at warp speed to the edge of the bed.
Kat and Tommy stood up from the chairs they’d pushed together and chanted, “Hey, guys.”
“Hey, guys right back.” Mahogany freed the biggest grin before scooping up our daughter. “Hey, munchkin.”
Majestic pecked Mahogany on the lips before swinging her feet happily. “Hey, mommy! Fries!”
Mahogany shook her head while smiling. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Majestic. It’s six thirty in the morning. Can I get a little more love before you tell me you’re ready to eat?”
Majestic went in for a sloppy kiss and a hug.
Kat swung her purse up on her shoulders, then stretched, the chairs comfortable but no substitute for a real bed. “She politely declined breakfast an hour ago but ate some of Tommy’s granola bar, so she should definitely be hungry enough to eat whatever by now.”
Tommy smirked. “That means I’m starving too, and should get out of here to find me something to eat that I don’t have to share, then catch a few hours of sleep before going to work. Do not expect me to volunteer to babysit in a hospital again. Or ask me. It ain’t happening. Besides, Kat was not interested in the janitor’s closet.”
Kat swiped up the back side of his skull with her opened palm. “You should’ve never expected me to be interested in the first place, Tommy. It’s in a damn hospital!”
He rubbed his head. “I thought you were adventurous, Kat. My bad.”
“That’s not adventurous, Tommy, that’s just plain disturbing,” Mahogany piped in.
He shrugged. “Well, I had to try, or I’d never know if she was into it. Now, give me Majestic so I can say goodbye.”
Mahogany handed our daughter over. Tommy’s idea of farewell was asking Majestic when was she coming to get her playpen out of his office. Majestic informed him that she didn’t want the playpen but fries. They went back and forth until Tommy gave up and left a peck on her cheek. “You’re just like your mama, Majestic, a mule. Go back to her and I’ll send you something good to eat by here this afternoon.”
Majestic showed her appreciation by leaving a kiss on his chin before Tommy gave her back to Mahogany.
Leaning over her shoulder, I placed a quick smooch on Majestic’s forehead. “I’m gonna make a trip to Tommy’s for fries, baby girl. You tell me what you want too, Mahogany, and I’ll come right back.”
“I’m not hungry.” And she won’t be until my family had come and gone.
I promised to come right back with her something anyway.
She gently jostled Majestic around. “Munchkin, say ‘no problem’ to your daddy.”
“Munchkin, say ‘no problem’ to your daddy,” Majestic repeated her mother word for word with a big smile, very aware of what she was doing.
“You were supposed to just say ‘no problem, munchkin.” For her troubles, Mahogany received a smug toothy-grin from the toddler.
I followed Tommy and Kat out, had halfway closed the door behind me before I realized I forgot something, then retraced my steps to kiss Mahogany goodbye. It took half a minute until I was satisfied. Majestic looked on, spellbound, as if she’d never seen adults kiss before. There really h
ad been no men in Mahogany’s life up to this point, but I knew she was being truthful about it when she told me that. Looked like I had gone right back to trusting her completely without even knowing it.
I tipped my nose to Mahogany’s and whispered, “I’ll be back.”
“Oh, you better be back after that.” Her tone was filled with enough heat to set a dry forest ablaze.
Thirty minutes passed before I returned to find both of my girls on the bed, chattering away. They looked up at me and smiled. At that moment, my world felt almost complete. The circle we were meant to make wouldn’t close until we all were Middleton’s. No one had to convince Majestic to eat, but I worked on Mahogany until she ate a few fries from my hand and there was pressure in my jeans that could only be offloaded inside her. It was her who brought up the time a few hours later as Majestic was napping again, just before my phone rang. I answered, then was notified by Cena that everyone was a few miles away. I needed to find the sheriff pronto, so I got up, stuffing the phone in my pocket.
“Mahogany, I’ll be right back.”
Overhearing the call, Mahogany sat up straighter than an arrow beside our daughter. “Where are you going this time?”
I touched her shoulder. “I’m not leaving you to fend for yourself with them, Mahogany, just checking on someone that should be here by now.”
“Who?”
“Let me find them first, then I’ll tell you why they’re here.”
If Astrid was on time, she was already in the building looking for me. I had no idea who I was looking for, just someone in a sheriff’s uniform, which sauntered into the room as I took a step toward the door.
Mahogany leapt to her feet. “Astrid!”
Astrid paused in the center of the space between the door and entrance. “Hey, Mahogany, I’m here.” She peered at the bed. “Ahhhh, Majestic’s sleeping, so I won’t bother her, and this is a weird call I’m on by the way.”