Satisfaction (The Temptation Series #2)

by K. M. Golland

  ***

  We drove back to the house in silence, it was horrible. Nate went straight to his room and packed a bag. It was the weekend the next day so at least he would not have to go to school in the state that he was in.

  “Charli, sweetie, can you go and pack some clothes in your bag?”

  “Mum, can I stay here tonight?” She almost looked scared to ask.

  I glanced at Rick, then back at Charli. “Yes, but don’t you want to come with Nate and me?”

  “I do, but I think I’ll stay here with Dad. He looks sad.”

  Rick bent down in front of Charli. “Princess, I’m fine, you can go.”

  “No, I’ll stay here. We can go shopping tomorrow.” She smiled and walked to her room.

  “If you’re happy for her to stay, she can.” I said. “I’ll take Nate and have some one-on-one with him, then I’ll be back Sunday night.”

  “Yeah that’s fine.”

  I kissed Charli goodbye and told her to look after her Dad. She seemed to be pleased with her new task and was asking if he needed anything as I closed the door.

  ***

  On the way to the apartment I asked if Nate wanted to talk. He had said ‘no’, but I could tell he did. I thought I would give him the option to ask me when he wanted to, but when we pulled into the garage, he was crying.

  “Nate sweetheart. I know it’s a shock, trust me I know.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “But it’s going to be all right, you’ll see.’

  “Why did Dad want another son? Was I not a good son?”

  “Oh darling.” I got out of the car and walked around to his door, opened it and knelt down. “No, not at all. You are the perfect son, the best son in the world, and you absolutely did nothing wrong. Dad just made a mistake. We all make mistakes, sweetheart, it’s just some mistakes are bigger than others, and this one was a pretty big one wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Listen, the thing about mistakes Nate, is that most of them can be fixed. What Dad did was a mistake, and it can be fixed by giving yourself some time to get used to the new changes. But RJ himself, he is not a mistake that can be fixed, because he is not a mistake. He’s a lovely little boy who had no idea his Dad had other kids, he even had no idea who is Dad was until a few days ago. And sweetheart, Dad didn’t even know RJ existed until a few days ago, himself.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the lady who is RJ’s Mum, thought it was best if she didn’t tell anyone.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “I know, and that’s okay. All you need to know is that Dad and I love you so, so much, and that you have a half-brother now, and he is really nice. And you know what? He is probably a lot more scared to meet you than you are of meeting him.”

  “I don’t want to meet him.” He crossed his arms. This was a typical sign that he didn’t mean what he just said, instead, he was too proud to admit it.

  “Well, you don’t have to right away. But you will eventually mate. Now, come on it’s getting late.” I helped him out of the car, and found Bryce leaning up against the concrete pillar.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt.” He walked over and kissed the top of my head. “Hi, Nate. Do you want a game of Mario Kart before bed?” Nate shrugged his shoulders but I could tell he did.

  “You can have one game, then it’s bedtime, okay?”

  ***

  Despite my strict instructions of one game only, Nate and Bryce played Mario Kart for an hour. I called Rick to tell him not to worry about Nate, that he seemed to be calming down. He told me Charli had fussed over him and asked if ‘RJ looked like Nate’, and ‘why did he give a baby to another lady and not to me’. I asked him what his response to that question was and he said, ‘do you want a hot chocolate?’ Typical.

  Nate had reached unconsciousness as soon as his head hit the pillow. I walked down the stairs in search of Bryce when he suddenly grabbed my arm and pinned me up against the entryway wall.

  “I can’t wait another fucking minute, Hunny. I need to be inside of you now.”

  I looked at my watch. “It’s only been five hours and fourteen minutes, Mr. Clark.”

  “Yeah, I know. That’s too long.” He pressed his mouth to mine and lusciously explored my tongue with his own.

  “Hmmm, I have to agree, but we can’t here.” I slurred, with what felt like lustful intoxication.

  “Where, my love? I honestly don’t care where, just pick a place and do it quickly.” He moved his mouth to my neck, and at the same time, slid his hands underneath my top to fill them with my now firm breasts. “Fuck, I love your tits.” Fuck, I love that you love to love my tits.

  “I need a shower. Do you want to join me?”

  “Jump up,” he said. So, I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He took to me to the elevator where we continued to hungrily consume each other. We almost didn’t make it to the shower, but I’m glad we did. It had to be one of my favourite spots to make love to him. I adored the feel of his wet mouth as it pressed into mine while water cascaded all over our bodies. He lifted me up, securing me to him with one hand pressed firmly on my arse, and the other pressed against the tiles just to the side of my head. He slid in and out of me with ease as he groaned harshly into my ear, sending shivers of raw pleasure right through me. I don’t think he realised what his groans actually did to me.

  “Bryce, are you happy?” I searched his eyes.

  “Yes, my love, but I could be happier.” He kissed my chin as he said it. My heart skipped a beat, wondering why? “I would be happier if you married me.” Phew. He pumped me harder, making me bounce against the wall, and jerking my voice as I responded.

  “I will marry you, but not yet. Anyway, we still haven’t gone on a date. I’m not marrying you or even properly saying yes to a proposal without a ring and a date.”

  He laughed. “We really did do the whole date thing backwards, didn’t we.”

  “Yep.” My voice climbed as did my breathing as he rolled into me many more times until I sunk my teeth into his shoulder blade, and buried my outburst of pleasure into his skin. We slowed out breathing and relaxed, then he let me go. He leaned up against the wall, and watched me as I proceeded to wash my hair.

  “How was Nate when you were playing the Wii with him?” I asked.

  “He was alright. He did ask me if I was going to be his ‘new Dad’ though.”

  I turned my neck so quickly in his direction I pulled a muscle.

  “Ow, fuck.”

  Bryce chuckled, “You all right?” He pushed off the wall, and placed his hand on the sore spot, then rubbed.

  “What did you say to him?” I said now feeling a slight twinge of discomfort.

  “I said ‘no’, that he ‘already has a Dad that loves him’. But I did say, ‘that one day I would be his second Dad if he ever wanted me to be’.”

  A smile crept across my face. “And what did he say to that?”

  “He said, and I quote, ‘Sick’.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Bryce and I fell asleep together in his bed, but in the early hours of the morning, he carried me back to my room and told me he would see me in a couple of hours. When I sat up, I felt horrible and only just made it to the toilet before hurling the contents of my stomach. I’m never eating fish ‘n’ chips ever again, unless Bryce makes it with his special sauce. I groaned on my way back to the bed then flopped face down.

  “Mum, Bryce wants to know how you want your eggs, poached, boiled, fried or scrambled?” Eggs, white, and yellow, soft, slimy, oh fuck not again. I ran back to the toilet and projected another fountain of stomach interior decoration. When that was down, out, and flushed, I washed my hands and face, and brushed my teeth. Bryce burst into the bathroom with Nate following closely behind.

  “What’s wrong, Hunny? Are you okay?”

  “I think it was dodgy fish ‘n’ chips. How do you feel Nate?”

  “Fine.”

  “Well, I had the calama
ri and you didn’t...So maybe it was that? I need to ring Rick and see if he and Charlotte are okay.”

  “I’ll get your phone, Mum.”

  Nate handed me the phone and I dialled Rick. “Hey, how did you and Charli go last night?”

  “Yeah fine, she is still asleep. How’s Nate?”

  “Yeah he’s fine, don’t worry. Listen, have you or Charli been sick at all?”

  “No, we are fine. Why?”

  “I must’ve had a dodgy calamari ring, I feel awful.”

  “Shit, that’s no good, make sure you rest.”

  “Yeah, I will, thanks. Oh, by the way, when Charli takes you shopping today, she does not need another pair of pink, purple or silver sparkly shoes, nor does she need another hair brush. Don’t be fooled by her blue, twinkly eyes.”

  “Got it. No shoes or hairbrushes.”

  “And avoid the eye contact, trust me. Okay, got to go, bye.” I threw the phone on the bed and ran back into the bathroom. Bryce was there rubbing my back as another, but smaller version of my fountain, spilled into the toilet bowl again.

  “Hunny, I’ll call Janette and see if she can come and take a look at you.”

  “I’m fine, Bryce, it’s probably food poisoning. I just need some water.”

  “Okay, I’ll get you some water.”

  I cleaned up again and got back into bed.

  “Mum, it smells like spew in here. Can I go?” The amount of times I’ve had to smell your spew young man, let alone other bodily excretions you have blessed upon me throughout your nine years, and yet you can’t handle this? Lucky you.

  “Yeah, go mate, I’m fine.” I watched him deliberate whether or not to give me a kiss, so I made his decision easy by blowing him one. “Go, sweetheart.” He walked out the door as Bryce walked in with a glass of water and some dry toast.

  “Here, Janette is on her way up.”

  “Bryce, I’m fine. You’re just wasting her time.”

  “Time I pay her for, so shush.” He handed me the water, which I guzzled, then I took small nibbles of the toast. He was smirking at me as I made my tiny baby bites.

  “What?”

  “You’re even beautiful when you vomit, you know that?”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re funny, Mr. Clark.”

  “No, I’m not. You are all kinds of green right now, yet you are still the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

  “I’d kiss you right now if I didn’t have vomit-breath.”

  “I’d kiss you right now too, if you didn’t have vomit-breath. You might be breath takingly beautiful, but I don’t do vomit-breath.” He kissed his fingers and pressed them to my head as I laughed.

  The buzzer to his office door rang. “That will be Janette. I’ll be back in a minute.” He rushed out of the room, and minutes later he was back with the City Towers Precinct Nurse.

  “Alexis, dear, I’m not going to ask how you are because obviously you are not too well.”

  “Hi Janette, I’ve definitely seen better days.”

  “Okay, so what’s been happening?” She sat down on the edge of the bed. I looked at Bryce who was leaning up against the wall.

  “Well, I had fish ‘n’ chips last night, and I think the calamari rings might have been a bit suspect.”

  “Right, have you had diarrhoea at all?”

  “No.”

  “Stomach pain?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Okay, I’ll just take your temperature and blood pressure.” She pulled a thermometer out from within her bag and placed it in my ear until it beeped.

  “37.8, that’s slightly higher than normal, but not high enough to indicate a fever.” She took out the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around my arm, then placed the stethoscope across the crook of my arm and pumped away.

  “125/90, you’re blood pressure is also slightly higher than normal. Do you normally experience high blood pressure?

  “No, not that I am aware of.”

  “Have you been stressed lately, or over exerting yourself?” Ha, stressed? Well you could say that.

  “Just a little a bit,” I admitted as I smiled studiously at Bryce. She removed the cuff and placed it on the bed. “Are you on birth control, Alexis?”

  “Yes.” I blushed, and quickly looked at Bryce, because he had never asked me this question. “Yes I’m on the pill.” As I said it, a wave of heat resonated at my toes and slowly rolled through my body until it hit my face. My period, Shit. I haven’t surfed the crimson wave in...in a while. Fuck, Fuckity, Fuck, when was I due?

  “Bryce, can you show me how to do that trick on Mario Kart?” Nate was at that the door.

  “Sure, that’s my cue to leave.” He said as he followed Nate out. Thank you my little angel boy.

  “Alexis, when did you last get your period?”

  “I don’t know. My pill is in my bag, but I missed some a few weeks ago when I went away for a couple of days. Shit.”

  “How many did you miss?”

  “Um.” I remembered back to the day before I first came here. I had taken my pill away on the girl’s weekend, but when I came home that night I put it on my dresser. After Rick confessed, I had grabbed my bag and forgot all about it until I went to the house on my way back from the airport. So that would be 1,2,3,4 days. “Four days.”

  “Okay, I think we should do a urine test.” Shit. Crap. Balls. She handed me a cup, so I went into the bathroom and very awkwardly placed it between my legs, closing my eyes and hoping I wouldn’t pee on my fingers. I was about to catch the amber liquid that would determine the use of my uterus for the next nine months. I clenched my pelvic floor and removed the cup, then stared into it. There is no baby in there Alexis, what are you doing? Get off the toilet. I washed my hands and handed over my cup of possible gestation.

  “This will only take a minute, Alexis.” She dipped the test strip into my pee. Longest freaking minute of my life, I’m sure it’s been like 10 or 50 even. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry uuuuuup. She pulled the strip out, took the cup to the bathroom and tipped the sentencing fluid away. “Alexis, you are pregnant.” She said it like she was in slow motion. A l e x i s y o u a r e p r e g n a n t. Oh Holy Shit, Fucking, Crap, Crappity Balls. “When did you say you were due for your last period?” She asked.

  “What? Oh, I think maybe two weeks ago thereabouts.” Shit, how did I not realise this? Alexis you’ve been slightly preoccupied, remember?

  “I’d say you are approximately 4-6 weeks along then. You’ll need to book in to see your doctor as soon as possible.” She packed up her stuff. “Make sure you start taking folic acid, as of today, and good luck.” I followed her out of the room, and escorted her to the door.

  “Thank you, Janette.”

  “All the best, Alexis.” I closed the door behind her and fell against it. No, no, no. My womb is in retirement. She cashed in her superannuation and has been holidaying in Alexis Island.

  “Hunny, what are you doing?” Shit. Bryce walked over to me. His face was laced with concern. “What did Janette say?” Oh, nothing really, just that I’m brewing a human in my uterus and you are going to father it.

  “Probably food poisoning.”

  “Probably?”

  “Yeah, my tests were all good. She said to drink plenty of water to help wash it out of my system, and I have to get some folic acid.”

  “Folic acid? What’s that for?” Oh shit, Alexis you’re an idiot.

  “It’s just a vitamin to help boost my immune levels.” Please fall for it, please fall for it.

  “Okay, go back up to bed and I’ll bring you some more water.”

  “Actually, I’m going to have a shower.” I went to kiss him, but we both stopped and leaned back simultaneously. I pulled a sad face and turned. “I hate being sick.” And pregnant right now. As I walked off he came up behind me and moved the hair away from neck, then trailed kisses all over it, stopping to whisper in my ear.

  “I might not do vomit breath, Hunny, but I
definitely do every other part of your body.” I let my head fall back on his shoulder. No, God dammit, this is why you have baby Clark in your belly, Alexis. Baby Clark! Hmmm. I’m going to have a shower. I walked back upstairs and gave him delicate smile.

  ***

  I turned on the water, put my hands against the wall and watched the water go down the drain. Baby Clark is not going to wash down the drain, Alexis. I automatically placed my hand on my stomach. Oh my god! I’m pregnant. I’m having another baby. I’m having Bryce’s baby. It is Bryce’s baby? I quickly racked my brain again. Did I sleep with Rick after my girl’s weekend away? No, definitely not. So yes, it’s positively Baby Clark. I had no idea how I was going to tell him. Would he be happy? I hoped so. He’d told me before he loved kids, and he was fantastic with Nate and Charli, and he absolutely adored Alexander. I couldn’t tell him yet though, we would need to be alone. I was going to have to wait till Nate went back to stay with Rick which would be tomorrow night. Fuck, how do I keep it from him? I’m not very good at that shit. I should ask Rick for pointers! No, definitely not.

  “How’s it going beautiful?” Bryce was standing in the bathroom holding another glass of water. I reached my hand around the shower glass and took it from him, then guzzled some more. “You make food poisoning look sexy as hell.”

  “Stop it, I do not.”

  “Yes, you do. Are you feeling any better?”

  “Yeah, I think the vomit express has moved along.”

  “Good. That I means I can kiss you in a day or so.” He screwed up his nose.

  “What? A day or so?” I can’t wait that long. I need his tongue in my mouth, like minutes ago. “Pass me my toothbrush.” I scowled. He put toothpaste on it for me then handed it over, together with a smirk. I scrubbed and scrubbed as much as I could then spat the minty foam down the drain. I basically threw the toothbrush back at him, and poked out my tongue.

  “I’m kidding, my love.”

  “I hate you.”

  “No you don’t.” No, I don’t.