Now, I was at a point where I had to figure out how to get out of his employ before I started showing. I wanted to figure out everything on my own and then decide when the right time to tell him was. I couldn’t take another bad night, another bad word, and I couldn’t deal with the trauma that went along with telling a man who didn’t want any more children that I was pregnant with his baby. I needed to try to stay calm and keep myself together, I had bigger responsibilities now and this child had to be my first priority.
I wish I could say that it was just an inconvenience, that him not wanting me or the baby didn’t bother me, but that was extremely far from the truth. It hurt my heart more than a lot, and I already felt like he’d kicked me out of his life, just by thinking about the choices I had to make. I had fallen for him, and I hadn’t even seen it coming. I’d told myself over and over again that it was nothing more than two people having really great sex, but that was a bunch of bullshit. I had fallen in love with the man, looked forward to seeing him, loved hearing his voice, and wanted to be around him as much as I could be.
On top of that, from the first moment I’d met Cooper, we’d bonded. I loved that little boy and already couldn’t imagine going a day without having him in my life. I’d started out by investing myself in the job, but it had turned into me investing my heart into both Blake and Cooper. Now, it was breaking very quickly. I hadn’t ever had a heartbreak that felt like this, but there I was, just wanting to get out and get away before it got any worse. I knew, though, with a child that was Blake’s, I was going to continue to feel that heartbreak for a very long time, especially after I told him about the baby.
I still couldn’t believe his child was growing in my belly, making me as sick as I had gotten. I needed to see a doctor, but at this point, it would give me away. I needed to go home, be with my family, and figure it all out from there. I woke up that Saturday morning completely unable to focus, barely able to get around, and feeling miserable about the situation. I was also sicker than I’d ever been before in my life..
Originally, I was going to try to get through the day, make some toast, try to eat that, and coast through. It was Saturday, so I didn’t have to take Cooper anywhere, and there wasn’t really any housework that desperately needed to get done. However, after getting up and barely making it down to the kitchen for some bread and water, I knew there was no way I was going to get it done.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Blake asked, rounding the corner. “You still look like you feel terrible.”
“I do,” I said, shaking my head. “I thought if I got up and around, it would help me feel better, but it didn’t. Do you mind if I take the day off?”
“Of course, you can, and it’s technically your day off anyway, even though you never seem to take them.”
“It doesn’t feel like work when I’m hanging out with you,” I smiled, grabbing onto the back of the chair. “I feel dizzy.”
“I would imagine so,” Blake said, picking me up in his arms. “You are probably dehydrated and need to get some food in your stomach. How about this? I will take you up, get you all tucked in, and Cooper and I will play nurse today.”
“No, you guys should go have fun. It’s a beautiful Saturday,” I protested.
“Nope, it’s already done. You always take such great care of us, today it’s our turn,” he said, carrying me up the stairs. “All I want you to do is sit back, relax, get hydrated, and let me know if there’s anything at all that you need.”
“Ok, but only because I don’t have the energy to fight you on it,” I acquiesced.
“I know,” he said. “That’s what I figured.”
He carried me back up to my room and tucked me in bed. I laid my head on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. I lay like that for quite a while, falling in and out of sleep, waking up, drinking some water, and then doing it all over again. A couple of hours later, I could hear the guys making their way up the stairs. It sounded like Blake was struggling, and Cooper was barking out orders. I pulled my eyebrows together and sat up in the bed, leaning back against the headboard. Around the corner both of them came, Blake balancing a TV on his knee as he tried to carry it without tripping over the cord, and Cooper behind him with a tray of soup and crackers.
I looked at them like they were crazy and then smiled at Cooper as he set the tray over my lap. I ruffled his hair and winked, both of us turning to Blake and watching as he struggled to get the television up on the stand in my room. He plugged it in and tossed me the remote, putting one finger up and disappearing around the corner. When he came back, he had a cable box and universal remote. He hooked it up in my room and smiled, proud of himself for a job well done.
“We thought you should drink some soup.” Cooper smiled.
“And watch really crappy movies while you were shacked up in bed,” Blake said.
“Thanks,” I chuckled, trying to be grateful.
“And this is chicken noodle. It always makes me feel better,” Cooper said. “We got it from this restaurant that my dad really likes.”
“Oh, that sounds so special.” I smiled. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” he said happily. “When I was a little boy—”
“Yeah, because you’re so grown now.” Blake laughed.
“I am,” Cooper grumbled. “Anyway, when I was a little boy, my mom would feed me soup when I was sick, and every time, I would magically get better.”
“Moms have a way of doing that, don’t they?” I smiled.
The fact that Cooper was so excited about making me feel better was actually making me feel even worse about lying to them. I felt so guilty, like such a complete asshole, but what was I supposed to do? Tell them this illness wouldn’t be over for nine months? Cooper wouldn’t get it, and Blake would lose his mind over it, so I was really stuck between a rock and a hard place. They were going to continue to play nursemaid until I either came clean or faked like I was feeling better. I really only had one choice there, but for today, I wasn’t planning on getting out of bed. Blake had totally misread what I was looking for in a day off.
I needed a break, and not only a break from work, but a break from him, from Cooper, even though he made me smile, and a complete break from life. I needed to be able to lie there in silence, trying to reach the point where I could make sense of everything going on. I needed to think about where I wanted to go from there and how I wanted to break the news to Blake. I didn’t want two people rushing around me, trying to make me feel better with no clue as to what was going on in the first place.
Irritation startled to settle in when they both took a seat in the chairs in the room. I just wanted to be alone, dammit. Why couldn’t Blake see that? I really wanted to tell them to get out and leave me the hell alone, but I couldn’t do that. Especially not to the sweet little boy who just wanted to make me feel better. Instead, I would have to deal with it and hope I drifted off to sleep instead of being subjected to another round of Indiana Jones marathons.
I lay in the bed not saying much, dozing off and waking back up to find Cooper asleep in the chair and Blake completely enthralled in whatever movie was on the television. Finally, when the sun had gone down, and we had all eaten dinner in my room, Cooper and Blake decided it was time for bed. Cooper walked over to me and laid his head on my chest.
“I hope you feel better, Aly,” he said. “I hope my magic nurse skills cured you.”
“Aw, you did make me feel better, thank you,” I said, hugging him back and trying to force down the lump in my throat.
“Come on, bud,” Blake said, standing at the door.
As they walked out, he winked at me and shut the door behind him. I sighed and laid back in the bed, grabbing the remote and turning off the television. It had been the most stressful day of rest I’d ever been subjected to. I turned over on my side and thought about Blake and how much I cared about him. In any other situation, what they’d done for me that day would have been one of the sweetest th
ings ever, but under the circumstances, it was confusing and even more heartbreaking. Every time my hormones would flare up, I felt like either crying or screaming, and that was definitely not a symptom of the stomach flu.
What needed to happen to push me into telling Blake was I needed to make a pact with myself. I would not sleep with him again until I told him I was pregnant. I had to be honest after all these lies and continuing to sleep with him would only make my heartbreak that much worse.
29
Blake
Normally, I hated Mondays like I hated peas, but for some reason, this particular Monday wasn’t bad at all. I went in with a positive attitude, went straight to work, and plowed through it. I had clients calling, partners calling, and a really important conference call with the head of the NFL that day. All of which went off without a hitch, and we were again an official sponsor of the league. The company was coming right back to where it was before I had fallen completely apart. We were on an upswing, and I was amazed at how much being back at the helm really helped. People wanted to hear my voice. They wanted to know I was in control of the company and in control of myself.
When Inez came in with a message, she no longer talked and looked at me with a sense of pity. Instead, she looked at me like she used to, with respect and admiration. It was something that really warmed my heart and reminded me how lucky I had found myself in life. Near the end of the day, I remembered that I wanted to do something big for Inez to thank her for everything she’d done for the company while I was incapable. So, I wrote her a check for a hundred thousand dollars, roughly the amount she should have gotten paid on top of her current salary and dropped it on her desk in an envelope on my way out of the office.
It would be a huge surprise, and I wasn’t much of one to accept thanks for something that I should be thanking her for. I left the office and hopped in my Mercedes, pulling my phone from my hip as it buzzed. It was a text from Inez.
This better not be payment to dispose of a body, she texted.
Nope, it’s a thank-you gift for keeping us from going under while I went under for the last year, I texted back, laughing.
Well, I know you don’t like thank-yous so I’ll just say it’s about damn time you recognized, she texted back with a smiley face.
I threw my head back and laughed loudly, tossing my phone into the passenger seat and heading for home. When I got there, I whistled as I made my way up to the porch. As soon as I opened the front door, the smell food cooking in the kitchen wrapped around me. It smelled delicious and created a warm feeling in the house. I walked back to find Aly and Cooper at the counter. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen and smiled, watching Cooper standing on a chair, stirring a large pot of stew, while Aly cut up vegetables.
“Whatever that is, it smells amazing,” I said.
“It’s stew,” Cooper chirped. “Because it’s cold outside.”
“Well, that’s perfect,” I said, walking in. “It’s supposed to snow tonight for the first time this season.”
“Really?” Cooper said with excitement. “Yay!”
I sat down at the table and grabbed an apple, biting into it and smiling as I watched them cook. Everything was the picture of perfection. There was hot food on the stove, the house smelled amazing, everyone was laughing and talking, and the mood was light. In the past, this would have totally freaked me out like it did the time we all watched Harry Potter together, but right then, it didn’t scare me at all. It was a good feeling to be normal again, to do normal things, to feel like a family. I didn’t know how Aly felt about it, but I was content, and I hadn’t been content in a very long time. With her, there was no race to the finish, no forcefulness to be together. We all kind of pulled toward each other, and everything else came naturally.
Maybe before, I was afraid to be happy, not afraid of commitment. Maybe I felt like wallowing in my own self-pity was what I was supposed to do when I became a widower. Either way, I knew immediately as I sat there watching them goof around, that wallowing wasn’t what I wanted at all. I wanted to be happy, smiling, and loved, not depressed, angry, and bitter. In fact, I didn’t feel like I was involved enough in the happiness going on. I set my apple on the table and stood up, rolling up my sleeves. I was going to join in on this one.
“You mind if I cut up some of those potatoes and help out?” I asked Aly, smiling at her.
“Please,” she said, handing me the knife. “By all means, chop away.”
“Thank you,” I said, grabbing a potato and beginning to cut.
“I didn’t even think you knew how to use a knife,” Cooper said, making us all laugh. “I thought pizza and Chinese were your limits.”
“I see how you are.” I laughed. “Calling me out like that. Okay, I got your number.”
We all continued to laugh and joke until dinner was ready. Cooper and I set the table and then I walked over, helping Aly carry the big pot of stew over. We set it on the towel, and I stayed standing, serving our bowls and passing the home baked rolls Aly and Cooper had made. We sat and ate, and I couldn’t believe how amazing the stew was.
“Cooper made the whole thing on his own.” Aly smiled. “I just helped cut the veggies because it took less time that way, and we knew you would be home soon.”
“That’s perfect,” I said.
After dinner, I let Cooper go off to play video games, and Aly and I cleared the table. In a way, I did it on purpose, wanting to have a moment of alone time with her. I cleared the plates in the trash and then wrapped up the leftovers as she started to rinse the dishes. She looked so happy standing there in her yoga pants and a T-shirt, and her skin was almost glowing. Instantly, I wanted to put my hands on her. I wanted to pull her close and not let her go. I knew it couldn’t be something that happened right then with Cooper in the other room, but I wanted to let her know what I was thinking about.
I put the leftover stew in the fridge and wiped off my hands, walking up behind her. I leaned down and nipped at her ear, breathing heavily. She groaned softly and closed her eyes, leaning her head back and pushing her ass into my erection. I growled into her ear, wanting to take her right then and there, wanting to wrap her up and bend her over the dishes like I wanted to do before. I couldn’t, though, not with Cooper sitting right in the other room. I had to try to behave myself as much as possible. It was really hard to do with the sound of her whispered moans in my ears. No matter how much I had of her, I always wanted more, and something as simple as her helping me clean up turned me on to the point to where I was ready to call it a day.
“Later on, when the house is quiet, I’m going to make you moan like you never have before,” I whispered.”
“Oh, yeah?” she whispered back. “And how are you going to do that?”
“I’m going to take you upstairs, lay you down, and lick your pussy from top to bottom,” I whispered, grinding my cock into her ass. “Then when you come, I’m going to turn you over and fuck you from behind.”
“Mmmm,” she groaned.
My cock was so hard, it was throbbing in my pants and almost to the point of being painful. I breathed a heavy sigh and backed up, knowing I couldn’t go any further. I hopped around the kitchen, trying to talk my erection down as Aly watched me, laughing hysterically. I walked over and gave her a big kiss and smiled before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room where Cooper was.
“Hey, bud,” I said, sitting down next to him. “Whatcha playing?”
“Halo,” he said, his eyes glued to the screen.
“I like that game,” I said.
“You want to play with me?” he asked. “It’ll do split screen.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Hook me up.”
From there on out for the next few hours, Cooper and I were glued to the television screen. I didn’t really care for video games at all, but I loved doing things with Cooper that made him happy. He was in heaven having me there playing his Xbox with him, and that made it all worthwhile to me. Aly came in and out of
the room, bringing us sodas, snacks, and anything else we might need. She looked at me and winked when she walked back out of the room, obviously ecstatic that Cooper and I were getting along so well. It was amazing to me how much she cared about my and Cooper’s relationship. It was completely selfless, yet she made it the center of her world. She was an amazing woman. I’d known that from the beginning, but I was just starting to appreciate it.
“All right, bud,” I said after about two hours. “Let’s go up to your room and read some together. Then it’s time for bed.”
“Okay,” he sighed, turning off the console and putting up the controllers. “I’m starting the new Fantastic Beasts series. It’s the next adventure in the Wizarding World.”
“Awesome, let’s do this, tell Aly good night,” I said, smiling over at her.
“Night,” he said, running over and giving her a hug.
“Night, buddy, I’ll see you in the morning,” she replied.
We went upstairs, and he changed into his pajamas before climbing into bed and handing me the book. He loved it when I read to him. He said it made him feel like he was part of the story instead of reading it from the outside. I missed feeling the magic of being a child like that, but I was glad that even after everything that had happened, he still hadn’t lost it.
I read two chapters to him and then carefully closed the book, finding him falling asleep during the last page. I smiled and pulled the blanket up as he snored, turning over and cuddling into his pillow. I chuckled as I turned off the light and quietly shut the door. I walked back downstairs and found Aly lounging on the couch in the living room reading a book. She looked up and marked her page before smiling and closing it. I stood for a minute just staring at her and smiling.
“What?” she asked, blushing.
Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set Page 15