by Nikki Mays
Marcs lips twitch. “The big deal, is that she’s an amazing baker but can seem to get these little cookies right to save her damn life. It’s been years and she still screws them up. Damon knows damn well that this is her one and only trigger and yet he still can’t seem to keep his mouth shut. It’s his own fault really.”
“And you get nothing out of this?” Doris asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Only Shell’s happiness.” He huffs when everyone snorts. “Fine, she also agreed to make me a bunch of desserts and to help me hide them from the hellions.”
“Hellions?” Edge questions.
“My kids.” Marc replies.
Edge shakes his head. “Man, that’s no way to talk about your kids.”
Doris clucks her tongue. “Sugar I would agree with you, but you don’t know these children. They look like angels but are anything but. Hellions is an appropriate name for them.”
He looks around in shock at all of us nodding our heads. “They can’t be that bad.”
Marc chuckles darkly. “Ever hear about the “Carrie” incident at the gym?”
Edge nods his head slowly. “Yeah, everyone in town has.”
“Those were my kids.”
“Yeah, never mind. Good luck with that man. From what I’ve heard, you’re going to need it.” Edge says in all seriousness.
“Are you going to take anyone’s statement?” Noah asks.
“Nah, Damon walked in and heard enough. I don’t really feel like having to do too much paperwork today.” Marc casually replies.
“Seriously, how do you not get fired?” Kellie asks.
Marc looks over at Doris and winks. “Smitty loves me.”
“Sugar I hate to break it to you, he’s putting in for early retirement just to get away from you.” Doris tells him with a pat to his cheek. “He’s just trying to figure out which poor fool is going to get stuck with you next.”
Mason and Noah walk over to us wearing matching grins and wrap us up in a big bear hug. They don’t let go until Jessie gives a little squeak.
“I guess we now know why you’ve been so damn happy for the past couple of weeks.” Mason says grinning from ear to ear.
Jessie looks at us and frowns. “What is he talking about?”
I smile down at her. “You let the cat out of the bag babe.”
“No I didn’t.” She says before her eyes go wide. “Dammit! That asshole ruins everything.” She grumbles before face planting into my chest, much to the amusement of everyone around us. She leans back and looks at me with hopeful eyes. “Any chance of your mom not finding out until Christmas Eve?”
“Sure.” I lie.
“Definitely.” Mason nods.
“It could happen.” Noah adds.
Jessie looks at the three of us with a frown. “Considering who your mother is, you guys suck at lying.” She goes back to rubbing her face into my shirt. “I guess you better call her, before someone else does.”
“You want to do it?” I look down hopefully.
Jessie snorts and shakes her head. “Not a chance in hell am I listening to her complain about how other people found out before her. I love you, but not that much.” The smart ass replies.
Chapter 13
Jessie
It’s been a few hours and I still can’t believe what happened today. Not that I can’t believe that my father would pull something like that, because let’s face it, this is right up his alley. Get drunk and beg for money instead of sobering up and getting a job? Yup! If he can take an easy way out, he’s going to. Not that my mother was much better. Those two were two peas in a pod even if they didn’t want to admit it.
Thanks to them though, I’ve learned to work hard for everything that I have and to never be lazy. So, I guess something good did come from my horrible upbringing, if you can even call it that. Ben was right, the only person that I owe anything to is Edge, and he would never ask for anything. Well, except maybe a hot client’s phone number, but he’s gotten better about that.
“You doing okay?” Ben asks as he hands me a cup of tea and takes his seat beside me on the couch.
I give him a small smile as I wrap my hands around the warm mug. “Yeah, just still trying to process what Edge just told me.” I give a humorless laugh. “Actually, I’m just trying to process the whole day.” I lift my legs up and tuck them under me. I lean to my side and rest my head on Ben’s shoulder.
He wraps his arm around me and I finally feel completely at ease, for the first time today. I never thought that someone else would ever be my safe space. I never wanted to let anyone have that kind of power over me. But as I lay here in the cocoon of Ben’s arms, I realize how foolish it was to not want to let anyone in. Although if I’m honest, I didn’t let him in as much as he was like a wrecking ball and just crashed into my life refusing to leave.
“What did Edge find out?” Ben asks before giving a bemused chuckle watching poor Dragon trying to jump up onto the couch.
Most of the furniture in the house was made for people Ben’s size. Dragon is just too little to jump up onto the high couch. After watching a few sad attempts, Ben swings down his arm and lifts my sweet puppy into his lap. Ben pretends not to like him, but I know that he secretly loves my little guy.
“We’re going to need to get him those doggie steps and put them around the house for him. We’re not going to be home all the time to lift him onto things.” Case in point, I smile internally.
I smile into his chest. “I’m sure that those are easy to order.” I half cough, half chuckle. “Anyway, Edge called his mother, Casey. Apparently, my mother had been sick for a while now. Casey told him that it was something to do with her liver, which isn’t very surprising. Between the drinking and smoking, something was bound to go wrong. Instead of taking care of herself and getting treatment, her and Dad just kept on how they were living. I guess that they thought that they could just pretend that nothing was wrong.” I sigh and take a sip of my tea. “I don’t know. But Casey told him, that my mother died around two weeks ago. My father just had her cremated because he didn’t want to have to “waste any money on her since she was dead” and chose the cheapest option available. Casey isn’t even sure what he did with her ashes.” I rub my head. I can feel the beginnings of a major headache coming along.
Ben starts rubbing my neck like he can hear my thoughts. “What was his plan today?” I moan a little when he hits a knot in between my shoulder blades.
“His plan,” I snort, “was to tell me that he paid for a whole funeral so that I could give him money for all of it.”
“And he didn’t think that you would ask about the whole funeral itself?”
“Oh no, he thought about that too. He was going to tell me that my mother hated me so much for not sending them enough money over the years, that her dying wish was to make sure that I wasn’t there.” I still don’t even know whether that makes me want to laugh or cry.
Ben holds me tighter. “Jesus babe.” His voice is muffled by the top of my head.
“I don’t really expect anything different from him. He has been like this for as long as I can remember.” Which is true. I don’t have one single memory of him being a decent father… or human being.
Ben lifts my head up so that I’m looking into his bright blue eyes. “That doesn’t matter. No child should ever have to deal with such a shitty ass parent.”
I keep a firm grip on the mug in one hand and lift my other to his face. I rub the side of his cheek, enjoying the feel of the bristles of his beard against my skin. “At least I know exactly what not to do as a parent.” I shrug a little. “Our little nugget will never have to experience that.”
“You’re damn right that he won’t.” He growls fiercely, making me roll my eyes.
I lower my hand and go back to warming my hands with my mug. “How many times do we have to discuss this. We don’t know what we’re having yet. It could be a girl.”
“No way.” He shakes his head vehemently, ev
en getting Dragon to join in. “I have been a good person. There is no way that God would stick me with a daughter.”
“And what is so wrong with having a girl?” I ask offended for my entire gender.
“Are you kidding me right now?” He asks but doesn’t wait for an answer. “If we have a girl, she’ll end up looking like you, I just know it. I can’t handle that. I don’t own any guns and if she looks like you all of these little fuckers will come sniffing around. The only thing that I’ll be able to do is push them in front of a car and hope that Marc and Damon help me make it look like an accident. But I could only get away with that once, maybe twice if we get witnesses to say that the little shit head jumped in front of the car all by himself. But then I’m back to where I started originally with them sniffing around and me having to figure out a way to get rid of them.” By the time he finishes his little psychotic rant, his entire face is red and he’s panting.
“Do you hear yourself right now? You’re talking like a crazy person.” I say slowly to the obviously deranged man beside me.
“Which just proves my point that we can’t have a girl. I’ll have to start figuring out how to drop them into a hole and fill it in with cement.” He pauses looking terrifyingly thoughtful. “Although, I mean I am a part owner of a construction company. I probably could do that with ease.”
“That’s definitely not the right answer.” I stare at the man that I’ll probably be visiting in prison. “You should tone it down a bit.”
He gives me a look and then, thankfully, nods his head in agreement. “You’re right.”
“Thank you.” I sigh in relief.
“I would probably be the first person that they would look at. I should probably talk to Edge and Marc. They’ll be able to steer me in the right direction.” He says while sliding off the couch in search of his phone.
“Ben,” I holler, “that’s not what I meant.”
“I love you too.” Is distractedly muttered from the kitchen.
“That’s not what I said! And Edge isn’t a criminal.” I say only half truthful. I mean, yes he owns his own business, but I’m not entirely sure what he does with The Rebel Chasers. I always figured that it would be best not to ask. His patch says Sgt. At Arms and I’m thinking that doesn’t mean that he arm wrestles all of them. But I could be wrong, I’m doubtful that I am, but weirder things have happened. Plus, he’s the brother that I never had. Hell, he’s probably one of the only reasons why I’ve done so well in life. So, yeah, I just overlook the shadier areas of his life.
I can hear Ben talking animatedly in the kitchen and all I can do is sigh. I look down at my stomach that’s still pretty flatish. It just kind of looks like I’ve been eating a lot of cookies during the holidays so far. But considering the size of Ben, Noah and Mason, I have a feeling that this baby isn’t going to be a tiny little nugget. I have a feeling that I’m going to be as big as a house soon.
Hmmm, I wonder if Kellie kept any of her maternity outfits? Because I seriously have no interest in going into a store to try on any of that crap. If not, I guess there’s always Amazon.
I hear “need a plan” and look at the sound. I lean over just enough to see Ben pacing back and forth with the phone up to his ear. Dragon is following right behind him like he’s trying to get in on the conversation too. They look so cute, that I reach over to the coffee table and grab my phone. I open the camera app and snap a few quick pictures for myself.
I smile down at the pictures of my two guys. The only thing that would make the pictures better is if Dragon was in one of his cute sweaters that I can’t seem to find. I know damn well that I packed them up during the move. Ben swears up and down that the box is just misplaced but I have a feeling that he’s somehow gotten rid of that box when I wasn’t paying attention. The big dummy acts like I can’t just order more.
I open my browser and do just that.
Christmas Day Evening:
It has been an insane day to say the least. I woke up to Ben doing a few very creative things with his tongue and I have to say, I now have a favorite way to get woken up. After our morning activities, we went into the living room and opened up presents. To say that I feel spoiled is a complete understatement. I’ve never had a Christmas where there were a ton of gifts for me under the tree. Hell, I was lucky if there was one under the tree when I was a kid. So, to walk into our living room and see tons of brightly wrapped presents addressed to me was a little overwhelming, in a good way.
The bad part was that I can’t seem to control my hormones any longer and blubbered all over Ben for a good twenty minutes. The poor man looked like he wanted to make a run for it several times. Luckily I finally got my shit together and started opening them up. I think that Ben bought out Ulta and a few clothing stores for me. I don’t think that I’ll need anything for years to come. He even bought me bath bombs. The man literally thinks of everything. He even bought Dragon a bunch of toys and a few outfits that look really boring but are apparently more “manly” than what I get for him.
The only little snag this morning was during breakfast. Ben decided that we should really continue with cooking lessons for me. I told him that it was probably a bad idea but he was confident that he could easily teach me how to make breakfast at least. Did you know that you can start a fire by cooking bacon? Because I sure as hell didn’t, but I do now. After he put the fire out, Ben pointed at a chair and that’s where I spent the rest of the morning. What does he expect? I’m a goddess when it comes to hair, everything else is kind of meh.
Dee has finally stopped giving us dirty looks. You would’ve thought that we kicked her damn dog the way that she looked at us when we first walked in. Ben called her after the fiasco with my father and told her about the baby. The woman was beyond upset that so many other people found out first. Like we purposely made sure to blurt it out in front of everyone but her. The woman is a fucking nut. I love her but Lord give me strength. At least she didn’t smack me upside my head like she did Ben, so silver lining.
Now I’m sitting here smiling like a whacko watching my best friend get engaged. I’m so happy for the two of them. They truly deserve the best in life.
My head swivels when I hear Dee and Jean talking about how excited they are about having a wedding to plan. I look back at Kellie and see her eyes widen and Mason mumble something against her lips before they both just shrug. That is a disaster in the making letting both of their mothers loose on a wedding.
I get that feeling of being watched and turn to see Ben looking at me. He has a look in his eyes that doesn’t bode well for me.
“Don’t even think about it.” I hiss before he can say anything stupid.
He blinks at me a few times. “Don’t think about what?” He asks like he has no clue what I’m talking about.
“We are not getting married just because I’m pregnant Ben. If it happens, it can happen many… many years from now.”
“What if I want to marry you just to marry you?” He counters.
“Then wait until our kid is eighteen.” I say seriously. My parents got married because they were pregnant. I refuse to be like them in any sort of way.
He gives me a secretive grin that makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “We’ll see.”
I tug on his arm to bring him closer to me. “I mean it Ben. I am not getting married anytime soon. And I sure as hell am not getting married while your mom is in full wedding planning mode. That is like a huge disaster waiting to happen.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “It won’t be that bad. Mom and Jean will have fun doing it and it will take all the stress off of Kellie and Mason. Truthfully, it’s kind of genius really. People pay thousands of dollars to have what Ma and Jean are willing to do for free.”
“Stop looking at them like that. It has bad idea written all over it.”
“How can you say that?” He looks down at me.
“Because the only florist in town is owned and run by that woman who crosses t
he street every time that she sees your mom or Jean. I don’t know what Dee did, but there is major bad blood there. Things can only end badly.”
He wraps his arms around me before laughing at the look of disgust on Ella’s face as she watches her parents make out. “You’re being ridiculous. It’ll be fine.”
I sigh and lean my head against his chest. I look around at everyone and smile from the bottom of my soul. Never in a million years did I think that I would have this. Who knew getting hammered with the sexiest guy that you’ve ever seen could lead to this? “You really think that it’ll be okay?” I look up at him dubiously.
He looks down at me with a small smile and shrugs. “Sure. I mean really, what’s the worst that can happen?”
“With those two involved?” I shoot a look towards both women.
He shakes his head. “Don’t worry, everything will go smoothly, just wait and see. That wedding will go off without a hitch.”
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About The Author
Nikki Mays is a pen name that was created from her maiden name. She is a wife and mother, who lives in a small town in New Jersey.
She has been with her husband for a decade and is surprised that he's still alive.
She began writing as a creative outlet after becoming a stay at home mom. She decided that she needed something exclusively for herself, not just being mommy.
She has two crazy boxers that love to keep that "Evil" mailman out of the yard. Besides writing and spending time with her little hellions, she enjoys cooking & baking.