The Significant Other (The Relationship Quo Series Book 4)

by Nicole Strycharz

  I took off my shoes and tiptoed to the bedroom. Chance was sitting up in bed with an open box and baby monitors. Wires and batteries everywhere.

  “What is that?” I asked in a whisper.

  “Baby monitor, I picked it up today.” He frowned as he worked to put them together.

  I smiled and unloaded my things, “She sleeps a few feet away in our apartment. These walls are thin; you really think we need it?”

  “She doesn’t need to cry for an eternity before someone hears her,” he debated.

  “She’s usually glued to you so when does she ever cry?”

  He didn’t answer and I saw he was serious. What worries me is his love for the baby. He’s deeply attached and she is to him. When it’s time to move on I’m not sure Chance will succeed.

  I pulled off my clothes and put on bottoms before getting in with him, “Let me see,” I gestured to the monitors and he handed me one. He’s doing the white t-shirt and sweats thing, I don’t know why it’s sexy. That and whenever he’s concentrating.

  “You need a smoke now that I’m here to watch her?”

  He rubbed his beard as he sized up the screw to the battery hatch, “No.”

  I frowned, “Why, did you quit?” I teased.

  He wouldn’t look at me and I felt my mouth drop open, “What? You’re fucking with me?”

  He laughed, “No.”

  “Why?”

  Ah… his silence told me. The baby.

  I was able to get the monitor working as I spoke, “My mom wants us all back for Thanksgiving again.” I told him. “She’s dying to see you, ‘as my boyfriend,’ she says.”

  He smiled, “I like her.”

  “Everyone likes my mom.” I put the monitors on my side table and leaned in to kiss the side of his neck. “I like that you’re going as mine. It will be better this time.”

  He leaned into my touch and I pulled at the front of his shirt.

  “Are you working the club tonight?” I asked.

  “No,” he kissed me on the lips with a hunger I’d missed these last few days. “Zeus has it.”

  He became bolder and pressed me down into the bed. I pulled him to me and raised my hip bones to a bridge so I could rub into his groin. His hand slipped into the top of my bottoms and he found me hard.

  “I’ve been thinking about you,” I managed around our kisses, “All day long.” I pulled the front of his shirt up and felt across his chest. I pinched at his nipples and traced the lines in his abs. He mimicked me and did the same to mine. When his head dipped to suck at the side of my stomach I laid back with my arms up.

  His tongue lined the creases of my muscles and then latched to my nipple. I tried to grab my dick as it throbbed painfully with want but he guided my hands back above my head before going back down and kissing the line of my pubic bone. He licked over my ‘eye of Ra’ tattoo then took a bite of my other hip.

  “You’re making me crazy here,” I said.

  He pressed his chest into my lower stomach then rubbed up my body, forcing me further into the bed and giving my erection the friction it needed to throb harder.

  “I like making you crazy,” he admitted. His body rubbed back down again so he hovered over my lower half. He pulled the drawstrings of my bottoms with his teeth, slowly to torture then pulled them down with his hands.

  He dragged his beard down my shaft and the prickle gave me goosebumps. I tried moving his head to where I wanted it but he repositioned my arms over my head. I gave in and watched. His first lick went from my scrotum to my head. It was hot and wet and he delivered the next along the side. He touched the tip to his lips but didn’t lick it as I needed him to. He prefers to toy with me.

  I pulled my hips up to dictate what I wanted but he cupped my balls to outright ignore me before pulling them into his mouth. I fisted my hands in the pillow above me and used every ounce of control I have.

  His kisses on my shaft weren’t helping but then he sucked me into his mouth and deep throated me without mercy. Any time my hands moved to position him he pinned them back.

  He stopped when he felt me about to cum. His hand took over the work and his mouth came forward to suckle my nipple, my ear, and just under my jaw. He stroked himself at the same time to make my pain worth it. His teeth sank into the peak of my nipple and it brought my release. His name on my lips; that was a clear giveaway. It was intense and it finished me.

  I caught my breath then stood. I jerked my head to the bathroom adjoined to our bedroom. “Hurry up,” I went in and started the shower up. He was at my back in the same minute, kissing down my shoulder and back.

  “She’ll be up soon,” he warned.

  I turned and pulled his shirt up and off, “Then I’ll be fast.” I bent my head to lick up his chest and taste him. I love how his ink spans across his nipples too. I took his sweats down and got in the shower, letting the water run down my body.

  He followed me inside and kissed me under the shower head; his lips, the water, and the heat all seducing me into a trance.

  He faced the water and I put my chest to his back before reaching around to stroke his cock. It was standing strong and straining with a built up need.

  He pressed his hands into the wall and bowed his head so the water encased his powerful shoulders and I jerked him off with slow and tantalizing pets.

  Then I knelt and kissed his ass cheek, biting the fullness then soothing the sting with my tongue.

  He turned to face me and I took his length into my mouth. His thighs trembled with tension as I parted them further and took all of him. His sounds were making me hard again and I stopped to lick up the inside of his leg.

  “Fuck, Adam,” he cupped the back of my head and started to pull me back. I looked up long enough for him to bend at the waist to kiss me. His tongue collected the taste of himself on mine then straightened so I could fist his shaft and suck him in harder. I tightened myself around him and pulled back to suckle just the head before driving forward again.

  “I’m cumming,” he alerted me.

  I pressed his balls then inserted my middle finger to find the place I knew would throw him out of control. His body rippled and went taut with pleasure. His cumming was explosive and it urged my boner into a problem. I jerked off to the sounds he made and the feel of him gripping my scalp. I swallowed most of it but some still ran down my chest and even the feel of that made my second cumming wild.

  When we were done I stood up and just embraced him a long moment. Then we scrubbed down and rinsed. He fell into bed and I followed but not five minutes later arose the sound of the baby’s cry.

  I shouldn’t say cry.

  Chance never lets her cry.

  She breaths with intent.

  Then he’s up and the baby is in his arms and they both sit up in bed.

  I think she has my boyfriend pretty whipped.

  I came home from a set downstairs nights later to find Trixie and Chance on the floor together watching the baby. They were both on their stomachs watching her do pretty much nothing in a baby gym Trixie insisted we get.

  Baby was on the floor just staring at the dangling toys or the adults with a passive look on her face and no desire to reach for anything.

  “Hi,” I said as I closed the door.

  “Hey!” Trixie only looked back at me for a hot minute before Chance hit her shoulder. Apparently, the baby looked like it was thinking about, considering reaching and he didn’t want her missing it. She zoomed in and whispered encouragement while Chance took pictures.

  I laughed.

  “How was the set?” Chance asked without looking.

  I opened a banana and winked at Trixie. “Ask Trix.”

  Chance looked her way.

  She blushed, “I might have done lead vocals all night.”

  He kissed her cheek, “Congrats.”

  “Thanks.” Trixie brightened, “Guess what?” she told me.

  “What?”

  “Baby found her hands today. Chance said
she was looking at them.”

  I smiled, “Well, that’s good. Meanwhile, we still call her, Baby.”

  Chance’s brow furrowed, “Yeah, I really hate that. Kid is almost four-weeks-old and has no name.”

  Trixie nodded, “You know, I sort of hated that you guys took her. I really wanted to be the aunt that does it all. However, Jolee isn’t any help and…well… maybe we should all name her. Would that be wrong?”

  I went and sat behind them, “You are the Aunt that does it all. Who is paying the hospital bill? Who pays rent so her mother has a place to stay? Who bought pretty much everything the baby has or at least half. Chance bought the other half.”

  She set her chin in the heel of her hand. “Yeah, but she’s better here. She’s getting what she needs and I don’t think she could be happier.”

  “That’s because Chance turned Kuala and carries her everywhere.” I joked.

  He shrugged, not caring what others thought of his devotion to the baby.

  “When Jolee gets on her feet, she may decide to name her,” I suggested.

  Chance and Trix looked at me like I suggested we jump from the roof. “She’s never raising this baby,” Trixie told me.

  “Well, she can’t stay here forever.” I reminded.

  Something in Chance’s eyes went very dim and very dark before I felt a true distance set in between us.

  Trixie saw it too and tried to recover, “Maybe once Jolee moves out, I could take the baby. It’s a little daunting but I could find a nanny. Jolee is even being lazy about finding a family.”

  Chance was silent, watching the baby with nothing to say and I knew the dreaded truth I’d been avoiding. He wanted to keep the baby.

  After an uncomfortable silence, Trixie stood up and said her goodbyes.

  “Chance,” I tried after she was gone.

  “Come here,” he told the baby before scooting her his way and lifting her up.

  “Chance,” I tried again.

  “Not now.”

  TRIXIE

  I sat alone in my living room by the window watching people bustle about. Soon we would be flying to Colorado, short one member from before. Liam.

  Bianca was coming, though. Yay.

  I’m starting to see some things I’d rather not. As the fill-in girl, I’m seeing a lot of things have loose ends in my world.

  I’m clinging to the loss of Adam a little. I’ve only been with one man and maybe my ‘like’ for Liam was motivated more by curiosity and let’s face it… a rebound.

  Then there is Bianca. Knox announced Via text that he was thinking of proposing and what did I do? I bitterly told him it was a mistake. So just now to right that wrong I told him I was being short sighted and to do it.

  The next loose end is my sister and my beautiful niece. So I went upstairs and snuck into bed with her. I wiggled around so she would wake up then threw the covers over our heads.

  “What are you doing?” she said groggily.

  “We need to talk.”

  She wiped her eyes, “Can it wait?”

  I shook my head, “No.”

  She sank deeper under the covers and smiled at me, “Are you re-creating our girlhood?”

  “We could always talk under the covers,” I whispered.

  She laughed and raised her brows, waiting.

  I reached out and took her hand in mine. “Jolee, I love you. Do you know that?”

  She frowned but nodded.

  “Good,” I continued, “because… I need you to know that before I tell you this.”

  She started to look nervous.

  I wet my lips, “Your baby belongs to someone else.” I opened my mouth again, “You might have carried her but I think she was meant to belong to someone who would love her, someone willing to sacrifice. You have potential to be a good person but you don’t have the motivation. I need to know that that little girl, my family is safe. So I want…” I took a breath, “I want you to do what’s best for her.”

  She didn’t cry like I thought, she just listened.

  “I tried,” she said in a whisper. “I wanted to love her. I would touch her and watch her sleep.” She went quiet. “But I don’t feel anything.”

  “That’s why you have to do right by her. It’s okay not to want this, it’s not okay to not address it.”

  She nodded.

  I waited until she was asleep to sneak out. I texted Adam right away.

  “She said yes. What do you want to do?”

  It’s 2 am. I waited in the kitchen and finally, my phone bleeped.

  “Can I see you tomorrow? The Park? Alone?”

  I smiled,

  “Of course.”

  Around noon the next day, I found him waiting on the bow bridge in Central Park. I went up and leaned into him.

  Adam opened his arm and tried to look happy.

  “Did you tell Chance?” I asked.

  “No,” he told me, “I just wanted to know she would actually agree to it first.”

  I looked out at the water, “It’s up to you then.”

  “We just started this, Trix. We aren’t even a year in,” he ranted and I let him. I know he needs to work this out. “The band is getting more popular. We live above a fucking night club. He’s got a bad record, this is impossible. You see that right? We aren’t parents. We’re just… He’s got this attachment. I see it in his eyes- he’s never going to accept this. He wants a family, but Christ! We aren’t ready! It’s that simple! And what? I’m the bad guy if I say no? I’ll lose him, right? I’ll be the one that took his dream away.”

  I let him chill out then I put my back to the bridge and faced him, “We were together for ten years, what if I had gotten pregnant?”

  “I would have dealt with it. I don’t know. We never had that. We were careful.”

  “But if it did when we first dated… what then?”

  “I would have been there. We would have a kid.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  He widened his eyes, “It’s a big difference!”

  “Why? Because it’s two guys? Come on Adam, if Chance was a girl and you knocked him up nine months ago there would be no difference.” I thought of Liam and Giada. What he said made me smile, “I guess, life is like New York. We have to keep moving forward. When we slow down, someone pushes us. There’s no room for people standing still. You can be in perfect tune with total strangers on these streets but eventually, they take a different avenue or stumble into your back. I think this is like that. You and Chance, have something so special. You’ve been staying in stride for months, now it’s time to walk left.”

  I pinched his nose. “Do you really want Chance any other way than how he is? Do you want to miss this? Yeah, it will be hard but God,” I laughed, “If I had a partner and the ability, I would jump this opportunity. That baby is amazing and… I really wish I was in your place.” I focused on my gloves. “Don’t let your fears fuck this up, Adam.”

  He put his back to the bridge as well, “I know…”

  We stood there thinking for a long while. “Will you marry him?” I asked.

  He flipped on me, “Really? Really? Why would you ask me that? What the fuck, Trix? I don’t even know what I’m having for dinner! I sure as hell don’t know that! No! I don’t know that! Don’t ask that!”

  I laughed. “You’re cute when you panic.”

  “It’s too soon.”

  Mmhm, he’s already thought about it. I can tell. Maybe he’s even done more than thought about it but he’s afraid to look irrational and he wants my approval.

  I took his hand, “Love doesn’t know time, Adam. It’s either there or it isn’t. We had ten years and we were never going to be ready. You and Chance have ten months and you just might be.”

  Chapter Thirty

  ADAM

  The night before going to Colorado, Chance was at the club getting Zeus straight with all of it. That’s when she cried. I was in bed writing music with my guitar but I swore. I don’t calm
her like Chance does. I’m also always worried I might bond. Besides, she always wants Chance anyway.

  I got up and pushed my glasses up my nose before looking into her crib, “Hey, ease up girly,” I whispered.

  She fussed and turned bright pink.

  “Okay,” I bent and picked her up carefully. She slowed up a little but she was still unhappy. “See, no biggie,” I said swaying on my feet. She looked up at me and stretched. I smiled and fought the things her scent did to my brain. She’s an enchanting little thing. “Your mother hen isn’t here, he’s working,” I told her.

  I walked us into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, “You got the rotten end of the stick in parents you know.” She yawned at me, “Your mom is a selfish whack and your dad is a drug lord. We think. We don’t really know. Your mother is what’s often called a skank.”

  She stopped crying but her lips were quivering and she kept whimpering with a hiccup.

  “I wasn’t trying to insult you. It’s just facts. Don’t worry, though your Aunt is a class act. A little rebellious, and a freak in the sack but classy.”

  She started to cry again, “Okay, this isn’t working,” I stood up and walked the room, “What does Chance do to chill you out? Hmm?” I wiped her tears with my thumb, “We’re going to Colorado tomorrow. Prepare to be spoiled rotten by my mother. She’s addicted to babies.” Her cries turned to wails. Maybe I should call Chance? I looked at the time. It’s 10:30 pm and he said he’d be back by eleven. I can survive this.

  I sighed and went to make a bottle. After about four tries I had it. “You know,” I said as I settled with her on the sofa, “Yelling at someone while they try to do something is a bitchy move, little lady.”

  She sucked down her milk but kept her eyes on me like she was trying to take note of all my features.

  “You really are a pretty little thing,” I observed. Her hair was turning more auburn, her eyes were blue but her skin was this glorious bronze. Probably a good sign she was Jax’s. Her warmth seeped through the sleeper she had on and with every wiggle of her body, I became aware how small she is. I haven’t fed her before.