by Kira Graham
“I’m going to make love—”
His words are cut off when I hear a loud crash and then the voice of evil as my bedroom door bursts open, and Sin strides in.
“Where’s my baby?”
I should kill her, I think, when Ares whips his hand out of my panties and leaps up, throwing a blanket over me and narrowly avoiding Sin’s tackle as she flies at the bed like a maniac.
Why did I do this again?
Chapter Fifteen
Ares
I’m sputtering as I stand beside the grill with Paris and listen to the two maniacs behind us hiss and snarl at each other. In the last month, Tee’s stomach has popped out a little more, and Sin is equal parts fascinated and disgusted by it, so much so that I once found her with Tee tied to the bed while she paced and glared at her naked belly. On questioning this development, as I released Tee—who was chuckling so hard that she was crying—I learned that Sin wants to be close to her little alien, but that the whole pregnancy thing sort of grosses her out.
Not me. I don’t think that my cock has stopped being hard ever since I convinced Tee to give me a shot at the boyfriend slot—which I did with sex, so of course I won easily. She’s gorgeous and as sexy as hell, and don’t even get me started on what this pregnancy is doing to her tits.
“I hate this game! You always win,” Sin screeches, sounding so annoyed that Paris turns his back to her and wheezes as he flips the burgers.
It’s late afternoon, and we’re grilling the first of what I think may be many meals at Paris’s and Sin’s new house, a surprise gift he got her that had Tee’s eyes going so wide that I thought they were going to pop out of her head. The place has eight bedrooms, and apparently Sin has plans to fill them all up. Which isn’t happening with my woman as the receptacle, because she’s miserable pregnant.
“Because I’m awesome.”
“Who sits and listens to songs just so that they can make categories like ‘Best Stalker Tracks’?” Sin hisses, her temper flaring because when it comes to music, my girl is the bommmb.
She’s a pro at taking seemingly innocent lyrics and turning them into something so creepy that I can no longer listen to Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Every time I do, I now see some creepy-ass lunatic hiding in the bushes, watching some poor, innocent woman while he plots a kidnapping. Tee cackled about that, too, and practically wet herself when Calum Scott came on the radio and almost made me swerve into oncoming traffic. Only a twisted mind can take “You Are the Reason” and warp it so thoroughly that I can’t listen to it anymore.
Today’s category is, similarly, “Stalker Love,” and I’ve been trying to ignore them and block Tee out, because I like music, dammit. I want to be able to listen to songs without thinking about killers and maniacs and, my least favorite, her Guns N’ Roses slam-fest.
I refuse to accept that “Don’t Cry” can be a theme song for sadistic murderers.
“Me. It takes a rare talent to hear the underlying themes in songs,” Tee says proudly, stroking a hand over her stomach as she lounges beneath an umbrella.
“I really should have invited Cleo. At least she’s easier to talk to.”
I snort at that, because no way in hell am I touching that shit. Adonis is at this moment planning the worst travesty of a wedding that I think I’ve ever seen, and Cleo has taken to attending “Fat” meetings, a support group for local women struggling with weight gain. It’s all in the name of keeping Honey off her scent, but if she thinks for even a minute that her mama doesn’t see her almost six-month-pregnant belly, then that woman has more cracked eggs than a chicken coop after a fox raid.
The women keep muttering and arguing behind us, and I enjoy the sun on my back as Paris grills burgers and tries to keep his eye on where the dog is digging in the dirt. The little shit is a terror, and I have the teeth marks on my ankle to prove it.
“You hear that Brent woke up yesterday?” Paris asks, his own smile matching mine as I nod and take a swallow of my beer.
Tee is beyond ecstatic, and I had to endure an hour of her smooching all up on the cop, my teeth ground down to dust by the time she got done fussing over him. I only calmed down when she barked at him to “stop lying around on your fat ass and get better, ya big ol’ faker.”
Take that, Detective Hottie!
Dammit, now I’m thinking of him that way.
“I did. That’s why Rosetta, Cleo, and Alex aren’t here. Rosetta dragged them to the hospital at ass o’clock this morning, and they’re planning to camp out with him for as long as it takes. Or, as I see it, till the poor bastard loses his mind,” I grunt, chuckling when Paris grins.
“I’m as relieved as hell that he finally came out of it. I don’t know what that doctor of yours did, man, but she’s performed a miracle for this family,” he murmurs, his eyes going soft when he looks back at his wife. “She wasn’t doing too well there for a minute. This is just what she needs to get her ass back in gear and start living her life again. If I push hard enough, I bet she’ll be back at Helos before the year’s out.”
“Hopefully,” I mutter, thinking that if she doesn’t get off Tee’s tits about baby this and baby that, my girl’s likely to make that baby an orphan before it arrives.
“So, how are things with you two? Gossip says you’re dating,” he teases, and for some unfathomable reason, I blush.
We are dating, and for the first time in my life, I find myself wanting to do everything with a woman. After we had our little…I won’t call it a heart-to-heart, because we’re far from ready for that, we just settled into an easy pattern. Now that Tee isn’t a paranoid lunatic anymore, I take her to dinner and the movies, and last week she blew me while we were sitting in the theater watching some romcom I chose, thinking that she’d like it. It turns out that my girl is all about the horror, though thank God we weren’t watching one of those when she blew me, or I wouldn’t have the happy memory I do.
“We are. I’m taking it slow. So far, we’ve been to dinner, the movies, and the zoo. It’s been…good,” I sigh, smiling when I think about it.
Tee is actually really easy to be around, and now that I’ve had it pointed out to me, I see the sweeter side of her. Yeah, she’s insulting, and she has a temper that makes the elderly run away at a sprint—because, as she puts it, she doesn’t discriminate based on age, either—but she’s also kind, something that shocks me speechless sometimes, like when she gave a hooker the shoes off her feet and three hundred bucks, with the words, “Take the day off, slut—I’m sure that that wet taco you’re sporting could do with some chill time.”
“Good enough that you feel more for her than friendship?” Paris asks, his eyes twinkling when I curse softly and look back at Tee.
“Dude, she told me that if I start feeling all hearts and flowers, I should just skip town before she rips my nuts off,” I snort, my amusement dying quickly because I think she meant it.
She hasn’t said she loves me again, and I feel like enough of a bastard that I don’t press the issue, even if I want to. What kind of SOB am I that I can’t say the words to her, but I’m dying to hear them again?
“That sounds like Tee. Grange stalked into my office a few days ago and told me that he loves her, but that her pregnant ass is driving him crazy. Apparently, she snuck out with Cleo and Sin, and they broke into the church. I don’t want to know what they were doing there, or even how they slipped past their teams. I just thank God that Grange is as good at his job as he is.”
Me, too. Or I’m pretty sure that Jack would be wailing to the heavens, mourning his wife. Last Monday morning at around two, I woke up to Honey sitting in the chair in the corner, just staring at us. I got caught by such surprise that I’m not ashamed to admit that I screamed like a girl on the inside, luckily keeping them trapped in my lungs until Grange snuck in, somehow wrestled Honey out, and then got rid of her. Tee would have killed her if she’d woken up to find her there. I, on the other hand, almost had a fucking heart attack. To this day, I s
till don’t know how she got past the two men at the door. And I don’t want to.
“Preach, man. Whatever it is they were doing, though, I suspect that it has something to do with Father Jameson, who is still walking around with purple hair.”
At that, Paris grunts and grabs the finished burgers to carry them over to the table, where we have enough food to feed an army—or two Sweet women.
“Food’s up!”
“Oh, thank you, Jesus! This savage inside me is starting to chew on my spine,” Tee grumbles, shoving me out of the way to get to the food.
I watch, more than a little amused as she piles her plate so high that I have to grab it before it topples over. It’s the same thing almost daily. She takes more food than she can eat, and then I end up shoveling the rest in before she makes herself sick. Thank God that I’m still following a backbreaking workout regimen with Heath and Grange.
“So, I have that ultrasound tomorrow,” Tee mentions, while we’re all eating silently, and Sin and Paris are getting so handsy that I’m starting to feel sick just being here.
“Aw, shit! Why didn’t you tell us? I have that meeting tomorrow with the bank,” Sin growls, her lip pouting out as Paris sighs and gives Tee an apologetic look.
“We have to discuss the new contracts for Helos, and seeing as how it took me months to get this asshole to confirm a meeting, I really can’t cancel it.”
“Well, you go, then, while Sin goes with Tee,” I say, a little annoyed.
Tee is carrying their baby; the least they can do is be there for her.
“I can’t! Ever since this meathead added my name to the restaurant, I have to sign off on all the big stuff as well. If I don’t do this, then we’re going to lose our appointment, and that will put us back another few months on the expansion. We need to do this, or that new place that opened down the block will overtake us,” Sin says softly, sounding more than a little involved in the restaurant.
Exchanging a look with Paris, who gives me a pleading stare fraught with panic, I sigh and glance over at Tee. I don’t want to go with her, and not because I’m some heartless dickbag, but because I’ve been trying to keep this part of things out of our relationship. Is she pregnant? Yes. Do I like the way she looks right now? Without a fucking doubt. But I can’t overlook her sadness when she found out that this wasn’t our baby, and I don’t want to make it worse by showing up at an ultrasound and digging that knife in more deeply.
“Well, cancel! I’m not turning my body into a fucking incubator just so that you two can blow me off when it suits you,” Tee explodes, her hand squeezing mine when I take it.
That’s my girl. Give ’em what for.
“I can’t. Please try to understand, Tee—I just…ever since I found out about that baby, I’ve been…getting involved more and more with the restaurant. It’s like my life is starting again, and I have so much to be happy about. This expansion is what I’ve been wanting since before Paris and Adonis bought Helos, and if I lose the chance now, I’ll be right back to where I started,” she pleads, her eyes begging for understanding.
“Are you trying to use emotional blackmail and the fact that you’re finally back on your feet to make me back down?” Tee asks, looking almost bewildered before Sin grins.
“Is it working?”
“Yes, you stupid bitch. Of course I want you to have your dreams back again. Shit. You see? This alien baby is turning my brain to mush. I don’t want to care. Tomorrow, I have to have an ultrasound and see what’s growing in me. It’s not fair that I have to watch that horror show all by myself!” she mutters, killing the moment when she shoves half a roll in her mouth and moans, her head thrown back in ecstasy. “God, these rolls are so awesome. I almost forgot what a great cook you are.”
“Chef,” Sin reminds her, giggling happily. “I’ll cook for you and Ares for two months and have it delivered. Come on. Forgive me? Let me get my way?” she wheedles.
Look, I was sold at “I’ll cook,” because the truth is, Tee is shit in the kitchen, and unfortunately, just like her Aunt Honey, she refuses to accept it. If I have to eat something that she’s cooked just one more time, I may die. For real.
“Dammit. You’ve hooked him. Just look at him,” Tee huffs, her lips twitching. “He’s ready to sell me to the highest bidder.”
“Not the highest,” I say with a grin, chuckling when she scowls. “Just one who can cook. No offense, baby, but my intestines are ready to crawl outta my ass if we don’t do something soon. Scrambled eggs are not supposed to crunch when you chew them. Or taste like drain cleaner.”
“That happened one time. It wasn’t my fault. I forgot that I put those eggs under the sink,” she whines, her scowl growing pouty. “I gave you some Alka-Seltzer after you stopped puking.”
I shudder. I’m not going to survive Tee if she doesn’t take this deal, so I lean over and whisper into her ear, as seductively as I can.
“Take the deal. I’ll go with you, and in return, I’ll wake you up with my mouth every morning,” I purr, liking the way that she flushes and preens, because she knows that that’s as much a reward for me as it is for her.
What can I say? I love her sex when she’s still soft, sleepy, and clean, and I adore the loose way that she writhes as she tries to wake up with my tongue in her core.
“Deal!”
That’s my girl.
Tee
I’m sweating bullets as the doctor presses the wand thingy harder into my belly, her frown and hums making me squeeze Ares harder where I have my fist attached to his shirt.
“What? I knew it. Sin’s eggs were probably all gross,” I rumble, hissing when she moves it lower, and goose bumps pop up all over my body.
“Hush, babe. Let the doc do her thing, and stop being a baby. Everything is fine,” Ares says softly, his hand stroking my sweaty brow so that the tension drains from me in increments.
I don’t mean to be a baby about this, but I’ve been tense ever since Ares volunteered to come with me today. I’m good with the deal, though, because truth be told, my queasy stomach can’t handle another one of my culinary delights, either. I was just really enjoying watching Ares choke them down without complaining.
“It is not. Didn’t I tell you that I was getting huge too fast? And before you open your mouth again, no, I am not eating too much. This kid is draining the life out of me with the way it begs for table scraps. If I didn’t know any better—”
“Don’t say it,” he cuts in, smiling when I huff and scowl.
“Whatever. I’m too big. Way too big, and I feel like someone injected lava under my skin. Why do I have to be pregnant in the middle of the hottest summer on record?” I whine.
I sleep naked, which is okay if you forget the fact that my tits are huge now, and having them flop down as I lie on my side is painful. I feel gross, too, and while that doesn’t stop me from having sex with Ares, I don't exactly feel great afterwards when he wants to cuddle and touch my body.
“Babe, chill out. You’re okay. We’ll skip work after this and go skinny-dipping at Ma and Dad’s place,” Ares suggests, grinning when I smile wickedly.
“You think that she can handle seeing your ass again?”
“Please, that woman has zero boundaries. It’s me who’s gonna be scared for my life, but for you, I’ll take it. Now, let’s calm down and let the doc talk. What’s up?” he asks, his mouth drooping when he looks over at the doctor.
I look, too, and I feel my stomach flutter with dread when I take in her pale skin and the shell-shocked expression.
“No, you know what? I don’t wanna know. Get me dressed and let’s split, Hart,” I say, huffing as I try to sit up and scramble off the table.
Whatever that expression is, I am not sticking around to find out. Nope.
“Tee—”
“No thanks, doc, I’m good. I’m just gonna get dressed and mosey on outta here before I have a heart attack. I’m also going to go visit Alex, because if anyone can lie to themselves,
it’s that woman, and I’m going to let her teach me the great hows and whys of denial,” I say loudly, struggling against Ares, who is looking behind me, his eyes so wide that they’re obscene-looking.
Don’t turn around. Just keep going. Go!
I turn around, and while I may not be a doctor with some fancy degree, and while these things usually look like blobs to me—that’s all I saw on Alex’s pictures, anyway—this is inescapable.
“Nuh-uh,” I whisper, my hand tightening on Ares’ shirt as I pull, pull, and then pull some more, until his face is close to mine. “Nuh-uh.”
“Tee, baby.”
“No,” I say stubbornly, my eyes going a little wet.
This isn’t right. It can’t be. I refuse.
“Baby,” he gulps, his eyes finally dropping from the screen to meet mine.
He looks…horrified. Spellbound. Awestruck.
And I feel…horrified. Horrified. Horrified.
“No!”
“But Neffie,” he starts in that sweet voice that makes my insides go soft.
Ares only uses that nickname for two reasons. He’s either trying to piss me off, or worse, calm me down because he’s pissing himself, too.
“No,” I say again, though I realize that the denial is a wasted effort and a moot point, really.
“It’s going to be okay, Tee. Just relax, and when you're calm, we can discuss things,” Doc Payne says gently, her hand stroking mine where I’m clutching at my chest.
“What things? Like the fact that there are…oh my God, four heartbeats?” I wheeze.
I did not sign up for this shit. No. Nuh-uh. No! One baby was going to change my body, and two would make my shit unpleasant, but four? Four is going to take my skin, my tits, and my ass, and turn them into a night at the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“Honey, you can’t just refuse.”
“Sure I can. In fact, I’m doing just that. I want a refund!” I yell, my emotions going a little crazy because I’m scared out of my mind, but I also can’t take my eyes off the monitor, where those four tiny heartbeats are pulsing with beautiful life. Shit. I will not snivel like a loser, I tell myself, even as the burn in my eyes turns to a wet rush of awe.