Solid

by Jettie Woodruff

  “If you’re crying over this song, I’m seriously going to flip. What is wrong with you?” I asked when Gabriella turned her face to the traffic beside her, away from me. I knew she was crying when she covered her mouth and I watched her shoulders bounce. “Jesus, Gabriella,” I said, so over the drama in my life. Karma was never going to forgive me. Fuck me.

  Gabriella turned to look at me with her hand still covering her mouth, only those weren’t, I’m sad, tears. Those were, laughing my ass off, tears. This chick hurt my head from all the whiplash, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. Not much. I knew that.

  “Are you laughing?”

  Her head bobbed as real tears slid down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said through a laughing yell. What the fuck? I patiently waited for the laughing frenzy to end, staring at her like I should be taking her to the looney bin, not to an appointment where she was going to be allowed to raise a child. Jesus.

  “Are you done? What the fuck?”

  “Okay, in my defense, I’m pregnant and I have a brain injury.”

  Once again, I waited out the laughter, unable to hide my own smile. “Oh my, God. What the hell is so funny?”

  “Okay, okay,” she gasped, taking in a deep breath, struggling for air and control. “Okay, this is exactly how it just played out in my mind. First this stupid song, and then I didn’t care about that when I saw Long John Silvers, and then I thought about craving cole-slaw, and then—”

  More laughing escaped before the punch line, but I had already gotten it. “Squirrel,” I said through my own laugh, my head shaking from side to side, remembering the squirrel I’d braked for just before she busted a gut.

  I had to listen to the story again when Mi came into the tiniest room in the world, only Mi laughed a lot harder than I did. Gabriella did, too, just as hard as the first time. I mean, it was funny, but come on. Mi was half on the floor from laughing so hard.

  “Okay, stop. My ribs hurt,” Mi said, both hands holding her sides. “Can you pee?” she asked with a wink, a peculiar wink.

  My eyes twitched, jerking from one to the other in search of a hidden clue. Of course, Mi was in on it. Mi was always in on it.

  “Yes, I can always Pee,” Gabriella admitted with a smile. We still had an awkward thing between us, but this was better than being angry by a long shot.

  “You know the drill. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  Gabriella picked up her purse, leaving her phone behind. Normally that wouldn’t have sent a green flag, but for some reason it did. I thought about the last time I had gone through her phone and I honestly couldn’t remember. I stopped when I got tired of seeing all the shit from Mi. Her call history was empty there were zero messages from Mi. I pondered that thought, placing her phone back to the paper-covered bed, and leaning against the wall, ankles crossed just like my arms.

  “Did you see that little baby when we came in? Oh my, God. She was so tiny.”

  I didn’t reply to Gabriella, talking about the infant in the waiting room as she entered the room. Not until she spoke first.

  “What?” she questioned, eyes trying to read the demeanor.

  “Nothing, and yes. I saw her. Need some help?”

  Gabriella fumbled with a string tying a diamond in the middle of her back, frowning with a readable look, trying like hell to figure me out. I took it upon myself to help her out of it, seductively, but quickly. Mi would be barging in any second. My lips met the warm skin on her shoulder as I tugged the string on her back, sliding the thin straps off her shoulders with both hands, lighting grazing her skin. She walked out of the dress without a word, letting me have my way with her, melting like putty in my hands.

  My thumbs slid between the elastic in her panties, and she walked out of them, too. This time, shoving me away. “Stop it, you pervert. We’re about to see the sex of our baby.”

  “I thought we weren’t going to find out?”

  Gabriella slid her arms into the gigantic gown and sat on the noisy bed. “We’re not. Mi’s going to wrap it up for Christmas. We’re going to open it on Christmas. I told you this.”

  “Yeah, but you just now said—I like these foot things,” I decided, no longer caring about the confusion. I lifted the metal bar out on her right, and then the left.

  “Stop it, you idiot. Those are called stirrups and they’re for medical purposes, not sexual ones.”

  “Oh, I could use these things for sexual purposes. Why don’t you ask your friend where we can get one of these tables? I love it.”

  Gabriella kicked me away with her bare foot. “You’re so immature. Go over there and stand like a normal father of four.”

  “I’d rather stay over here and be a pervert. Put your feet in here.”

  That got a half of a laugh and a flirty smile. Mi, however, interrupted with two taps on the door. “All set?”

  “Hey, Mi. Can I borrow this table?” I questioned without hesitation.

  Gabriella laughed again, her head shaking from side to side with that same smile toward me. I cracked my neck from the whiplash as the anxiety set in, moving to Gabriella’s side.

  “No, but I’m cool with you locking the door for a few when I’m done.”

  Gabriella hit her, too. Open hand right to the side of her head.

  “Ouch, what’d you do that for? I was just trying to help. You think Nick and I haven’t—“

  “Oh, my God, Mi. Shut up. I want another doctor. Your bedside manners are horrible.”

  Mi laughed, moving Gabriella with her hand. “Lay down. Don’t worry, you’re the only person I would ever let get it on in my examining room.”

  Well fuck. I couldn’t think of anything else. Nothing but those stupid stirrups and what was under that sheet. I held Gabriella’s hand from the side, trying like hell to forget the offer to have my way with Gabriella right there. There was a place and time for that, and here and now was not it. Jesus, what the hell was wrong with me?

  It was her, that’s what it was. She had my head so fucked up I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, and she’s always there, never leaving my mind for a second.

  Chapter Eight

  Gabriella

  This was absolutely absurd. I was about to see my baby for the first time, and my mind was thinking about sex. With Paxton. Here. In this medical room for medical stuff.

  The tension settled as soon as we saw the little alien. Paxton’s hand squeezed mine as we witnessed it together for the first time.

  “You see that?” Mi said as she glided the wand around my lower abdomen. “That right there is a healthy heart.”

  Mi talked mostly to herself about measurements or something like that. I was too busy being in awe. This was real. This was our baby. No questions about it. This was our baby. Mine and Paxton’s.

  Mi moved the tool around my belly, showing us different parts of our baby, everything but the sex. “Did you carry Phi full term?”

  I had to look to Paxton for the answer. “Oh, yes. She did. One day over actually,” he replied when I stared up at him like an idiot.

  “What did she weigh? I’d like to see this tiny one just a little bigger.”

  “Is that bad, Mi. It’s too small?”

  “No, and no it’s not bad. Nothing that I’m concerned about. How much did Phi weigh?” she questioned again, this time looking to Paxton for the answer herself.

  “Tiny, four pounds, nine ounces, but she was over five by the time we took her home, and she gained every day.”

  “You breastfed?”

  “No, she couldn’t. I mean she tried, but Ophelia wouldn’t take it.”

  Mi rolled her eyes and turned the screen away from us. She mumbled her disapproval while she discovered the sex to our baby. I suddenly didn’t know whether I could wait until Christmas anymore. “That wasn’t phi’s fault. That was the lazy nurses’ fault who didn’t want to be bothered. You can breastfeed if you want, Gabby. I prefer it.”

  “Yeah, I’ll think about it,” I s
aid, eyes not about to leave hers. I was terrified that she would find something wrong, and I looked for it in her eyes.

  A broad smile crossed her face as she looked up to both of us. “Just as I suspected. I better get a video Christmas morning.”

  “Everything’s good?” I questioned, wide-eyed and full of adrenaline.

  “Everything looks great. I want to check your cervix, though. Are you cool with me doing it, or do you want me to grab my partner.”

  “You can do it as long as you stay and take care of me the entire nine months,” I countered, only half joking.

  “You’re going to love Dr. Bentley. She’s crazier than I am.”

  Paxton breathed an audible breath, in and out. “Great. That’s just what I wanted to hear. What’s wrong with the doctor that delivered Ophelia?”

  I shoved my hand into him in an attempt to punch him. “I hated him, and he had beady eyes that moved around the room when he talked.”

  “You can’t make fun of a guy with a lazy eye.”

  My own eyes squeezed shut when Mi announced her plans, step by step.

  “A little pressure,” she said as she shoved one finger half way up my body with another hand pressing down on my pubic bone. A little pressure my ass. That hurt.

  I bit hard on my bottom lip when I opened my eyes to my hand still in Paxton’s, and the reason for the lip biting. Paxton was definitely sporting a half of an erection. Maybe more than half. Of course, I couldn’t let that opportunity pass me up, I conspicuously brushed my thumb over his half-mast stiffness, hiding behind our hands. No wonder he didn’t move.

  “Perfect. You’re all set. I’ll let you get dressed. Just open the door when you’re ready.”

  I nodded, letting her pull me to a seated position with one hand. “You think it’s okay to tell the kids now?”

  “Yup, you’re well into your second trimester. You’re going to have a new baby before you know it. I’m so excited for you.”

  “If you were so excited you would stay here, and be my doctor, and my friend.”

  “I can be your friend anywhere in the world. I’ll be back.”

  Mi darted out of the room and my eyes shot to Paxton’s. “We’re not having sex in here.”

  Paxton gave me that knowing look as he walked to the door, turning the silver latch with one turn. A loud click echoed through the room while he turned to me, a look of a serial-sexer in his eyes.

  “Oh yes, we are. Mi said I could,” he countered with his hand on the snap of—of those damn jeans. I was doomed before I ever had a chance. “Put your feet back in here. I need to examine you a little better,” he suggested, his tongue diving into my mouth with a hot kiss.

  I was toast. I was about to do this, and I knew without a doubt that I was. I couldn’t fight it, him, this thing between us, none of it. I lost every freaking time. Every time. God. I kissed him back while my hands went to his hard stomach, his ribs, and then his strong back.

  Paxton pushed me backwards with his lips, forcing me to my back while his hands circled my ankles, and he placed my feet where he wanted them, back to the medical stirrups. I was probably going to hell after this—with him. Not only did he use the cold devices to hold my legs opened, but he used the rolling stool, too.

  I raised up just as he sat in front of me. “What are you doing? You don’t have time for that.”

  “Yes, I do. The door’s locked. I’ve got permission,” he reminded me again, moving the armed light right between my legs. “I’ve never really inspected it this close before.”

  “You’ve seen me a million times.”

  “But not as a doctor. I love it. You have the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  My breath caught in my throat when I tried to protest. A finger inserted deep inside me stole my words. Knowing this could get dirty real fast, I begged for mercy. “Paxton, please stop. This is a doctor’s office.”

  “Shhh, I have permission,” he said again, spreading me wider with two thumbs.

  “Aahh, fuck, doctors’ don’t do that,” I said through a whimper as his lips cupped my aching nub with one tantalizing, very long suck. A minute of that and I wouldn’t have cared if we were on public display, but it didn’t last. Paxton never said so, but I don’t think he liked the taste of Mi’s lubrication. He stood between my legs, constantly pushing out on my knees while his fingers worked me over, never lingering in one place long enough to bring me to peak. That was done on purpose. Paxton knew when I was ready to come. He knew when to keep me from it, too. Bastard.

  With sexual expressions, quiet moans, and one hell of a job with his fingers, I struggled with the need to be quiet. “Shhh, you have to be quiet.”

  “I can’t. Put it in me,” I begged, almost sure I tasted blood from my own teeth. Quiet wasn’t part of my orgasm ritual. Not since I could remember anyway.

  Paxton slid into me without me realizing that he had it out. It was the perfect standing position for him, and I had no complaints from where I laid either. “I love this thing.”

  “We’re not getting an examining table. Oh, my God, Pax. We’re crazy. Like Fruit-Loop crazy. We’re having sex where we just saw our baby.”

  Paxton held tight to my hips, never missing a beat, smiling while he moved in and out of me. IN THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE! “We’re definitely crazy. You’re so bad.”

  “Oh, man. Hmmm, right there, baby,” I moaned as my hips swerved into his the thumb, praying for him to hurry, but not wanting it to all be for nothing at the same time. He made me do it, might as well get something out of it. That was my way of thinking anyway. Not that I was thinking about anything other than the big O at the time, but still.

  Paxton pulled my hands, and covered my mouth with his just as I hummed, feeling the explosion all around me. “Fuck, baby. Aahh, fuck,” he said with hot words close to my lips.

  As soon as I felt the last wave I shoved him away, feeling him quickly slide out. “I hate you so much,” I promised while wiping away his remnants with the paper sheet. “This is the doctor’s office. What’s wrong with you?” I scolded like it was all his fault.

  “It smells like sex in here.”

  That stopped my tantrum for a second. “It does?”

  “A little. Let’s go get the kids. We’ll go do something fun with them and tell them about the baby.”

  I glanced at my phone, seeing that it was close to time to get them anyway. “Go where?”

  “I don’t know. I just saw a new skate park over on Ramshire. Rowan and Vander would love that. We’ll swing by and get their boards and a change of clothes.”

  Paxton unlocked the door once I was fully dressed, and just in time. Gah. I couldn’t even look at, Mi. I really did hate him.

  “What about Rowan. She’s not going to get on a skateboard. She might break a nail.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “But the truth.”

  “Sort of.”

  “Keep taking your vitamins, and don’t overdo it. It’s okay to relax once in a while, and it’s okay for you to help out,” she assured Paxton, shoving a prescription for prenatal supplements in his chest.

  “I help,” Paxton complained, sounding an awful lot like one of his minions.

  I couldn’t help but smile at him. Of course, I did just get laid, and I had a healthy baby, that surely added to my happiness.

  Paxton and I walked out to the car, hand in hand, laughing. “I can’t believe you just did that,” he accused with a shove from his shoulder, sending me to the passenger side of my car. Our fingers lingered briefly, and I held tight to the solid foundation below our feet, knowing with everything in me it wouldn’t last. It was fake, as the photo on his desk. Our foundation would crack and crumble around us, like it always did, I just didn’t know when. Until then, my plan was to keep moving forward, forget everything else and focus on now. On us.

  We flirted, held hands in the car, and kissed when we got the chance, all the way to the school. I’d hoped we beat the ch
aos, but I was wrong. More than twenty or so cars tried to get to their kids first.

  “Jesus, why is this so hard?” I questioned, seeing once again, Mr. Jandt. Rowan’s teacher fucked it up no matter what end they put him on. By the time we finally made it up to the other second-grade teacher, Paxton wasn’t very playful anymore.

  “I’m pulling them out of here. This is ridiculous.”

  I ignored him, knowing that wasn’t going to happen, hoping like hell it got better sometime. It couldn’t be this way the whole year, could it? I rolled down my window just as the other second-grade teacher opened the back door, calling to my troops with a quick whistle to grab their attention and then a straight finger.

  “Pierce, kids, here. Now, let’s roll,” she called. “How you doing, Gabby?”

  “I’m well, you think he’ll ever get the hang of this?”

  “No, I doubt it. I think he did too many drugs when he was in Nashville, trying to be a Grand Olé Opry person, or whatever you call those people. Van, backpack, buddy,” she called just before I did.

  I laughed, but Paxton didn’t find it very comical. “I’ll see you in the morning,” I said with a smile as our children excitedly piled in. Daddy was the excitement. I hurdled through this mess every single day. Twice a day, and they were more excited to see him than me. Traitors. None of them acknowledge that I was even there. They rambled on about their day to Paxton, not me.

  “Thanks for your help again the other day,” Miss. Brinkley said with a smile and a tap on my opened window.

  “No problem.”

  “Help with what. You never tell me anything,” Paxton accused.

  “Sometimes, mommy directs the traffic and Mr. J drives her car,” Rowan announced like it was her six-year-old duty.

  “Shut up, Rowan. You’re not supposed to tell daddy that,” Ophelia worried.

  My neck snapped to hers with a frown, and I didn’t even have to look over to see Paxton’s, knowing damn well, he thought I put her up to it. I didn’t and I was going to knock that one out before it got started. Right in front of Paxton. “Buckle up, Row. Why did you say that, Phi? I never told you not to tell your daddy that.”