by Amy Brent
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 game. 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 h
orny 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.
She blinked, once more pulling herself out of the daydream that she was living. That Lacey was gone, long gone. Life had been so hopeful then and now everything had changed, shifted somehow. Her home was full of strangers, and she was in her home office hiding from them all. She knew she needed to go back out there, if for any other reason than to comfort her mother. Ben had loved her for almost ten years, and he had been a good husband and father, despite the issues with Rafe.
She stood, tossing the pencil down on the desktop and walking over to the window to look out into the street below. She loved her townhome, and loved where she lived. Every detail of it was what she wanted, she knew it was the planner in her that had pulled off every aspect from the light fixtures to the final swipe of paint on the walls. She had worked hard to get here, and she had known very early on that she wanted a home… a good home that no one could take from her, or throw her out of.
When she won her first case she put the down payment on a home, and deep down she rested well knowing it was hers and no one else’s. Her mother had been staying there, it was too difficult for her to go home, and together they stayed up at night and laughed about old times… times before Ben had died bringing them all back together now.
If there had been any warning it may have made the blow a little easier, but as it were Ben went to work one morning and simply died in his office. A heart attack, at least that’s what they were listing it as. She had kissed him goodbye that morning, never thinking it would be the last time she saw him.
Getting the call from her mother about it had been the hardest day of her life. The level of emotion her mother expressed was almost overwhelming, and Lacey had carried some of the pain for her. At some point during the planning process, her mother had reached out to Rafe, and he said he would come… said he would be there. Some part of her hated the excitement she felt about seeing him, and the other part of her hated him for being like everyone else.
She took a step towards the door leading into the great room, and taking a deep breath, she walked back out into the mass of people who had come to pay their respects. She carefully calculated everything else that needed to be done, and found her mother in a corner, smiling at someone as she dabbed the wet tissue at the corner of her eyes. Lacey knew she never wanted to feel that way, to feel that kind of loss the way her mother was now. It was just easier to stay single, leaving all the pain to someone else.
It was then that she saw him.
Rafe
He waited, something he didn’t like to begin with. He leaned the bike to the side, silently taking another drag off of the lit cigarette in his hand. His father was dead, and he hadn’t spoken to him in over a year. He knew the responsibility was on him, and the choices he’d made when he left. He ground the cigarette out with the heel of his boot. It was the first one he’d had in two years and he wasn’t about to let the moment of weakness become anoth
er habit he would have to kick.
He took long strides over to the site of the funeral, the mass of people all facing the opposite direction which he was grateful for. He let his eyes flick over the crowd hoping to see his step mother and little Lacey. He could only imagine how hard all of this was on them. At this distance it was hard, but he found his step-mother quickly enough. She was lost and crying. Rafe felt the guilt creep in once more as he thought about his absence. Everything he had done had been to save face, and he couldn’t handle disappointing anyone else.
Standing with her was a woman, a blonde tall and even from where he stood it was obvious that she was beautiful. She hugged his step mother close and he heard the preacher say the final words necessary before they put his father to rest once and for all.
As he closed, Rafe watched people start to move around, making their way down the hill and away from the cemetery. He was far enough away that he went unnoticed and once everyone was gone, he made his way up the hill to say his goodbye’s. Sometime later, Rafe jumped on his bike, more determined now than ever to make things right and make sure he was there from now on.
He followed the address in the letter his stepmother had sent him. She was a good woman, and he knew this turn of events would be devastating for her to accept. He moved his bike down the long roads in town, only turning to ride up into the Northerton Hills. He frowned as he drove, knowing his bike would raise more than a few eyebrows when he pulled up to the front of the elegant townhouse. Why they were doing this here was beyond him. He wanted to go home, to the house he had been raised in. He jumped off his bike, take the long strides into the house to find the one woman who knew his father better than he did.
She was standing by the kitchen door, her face was sad, but she was doing her best to keep it together. She saw him and her smile seemed to be genuine as she held her arms out to him. He had been 18 when he left home, but for the years that he had been there, she had been good to him. His father had done the best job he knew how to do, but when he met and married Alice, his world had shifted and changed. Suddenly there was the person who made sure he ate dinner every night and made sure he took a bath regularly.