Baby Fever

by Landish, Lauren

  I stopped, stunned by the determination in her voice and the glint in her eyes. I nodded, licking my lips. “You’re right. I haven’t respected you sometimes. But I don’t want you to be working. Like you said, it’s for the baby.”

  “Then we’ll figure something out together,” Bella said, still determined. “Stefan, at the Governor’s party, you called me your future wife. If you really meant that, if you want me to be your wife, then we need to be a team. No athlete, I don’t care how much of a superstar he or she is, wins without a team.”

  Her eyes were filled with fire, her tiny little fists balled by her side, and I stood in momentary awe at the strength of my Bella. She was so determined, and maybe that was what had been missing from all of our efforts. I’d been trying to do it all by myself, and I even worked to stop Bella every time she tried to help or even to offer an idea. But if I was going to make a life with her, to have a baby with her, it was going to have to be a team effort. Finally, I nodded. “Okay.”

  She stopped, stunned. “Okay?”

  I nodded, smirking. “Would you like a poem or something? You’re right. I’ve been fucking up as much as I’ve been doing the right things. I need you, and that means all of you.”

  Silence wrapped around us and my eyes fell to her chest. I could see the swell of her nipple buds pressing against the torn fabric. Blood rushed below, causing my pants to tighten.

  Horny as fuck now, I pulled Bella into a passionate kiss.

  “What are you doing?” Bella gasped breathlessly when I finally allowed her to breathe. “I mean, I’m happy you’re going to listen to me, but—”

  I pushed her back onto the couch and tore off her shorts, my mouth watering as I prepared to go down on her with a vengeance.

  “I’m going to celebrate by finishing what we started before they came in,” I growled. “I’m going to make love with my future wife.”

  Bella’s moan started even before I got to my knees, kissing up her long leg and across the inside of her thigh. I’ve never had a problem going down on a girl, considering the number of times they’ve gone down on me, but with Bella, it was different. I loved licking her sweet pussy. There was a heady aroma, a sweetness to the taste that was different.

  Or maybe I was just nuts, and it was special because it was Bella’s.

  I didn’t care as I let my tongue drift over her lips, relishing the texture. Bella didn’t totally shave. She kept a little ‘landing patch’ up top, but her lips themselves were as smooth as silk, sensitive and tender to my touch.

  The effect was just what I wanted. Bella gasped, reaching up to pinch her nipples herself while her left hand went to my head, urging me on. “Mmm, Stefan . . .”

  “I love you,” I mumbled into her pussy, her thighs and soft skin blurring my words, but her fingers tightened in my hair. She got the message.

  I ran my tongue up and down her tender lips, teasing Bella a little, just the way she liked it, before I slid my tongue between her wet folds, driving it as deep as I could inside her to feast on the dark tanginess that was her essence. Her hips lifted off the mattress and I grabbed her ass cheeks, loving the extra curves that she’d added. Forget the concern about baby weight. Bella had become thick in all the right places. Holding onto her ass, I didn’t let up at all, wiggling my tongue until I couldn’t get any deeper.

  Bella rewarded me with a deep moan that started in the middle of her chest, her fingers tugging on my hair as I pulled my tongue out to nibble and suck on her clit just the way she liked, running my tongue around it before sucking hard on it. “STEFAN!”

  She screamed so loudly that I wondered if our neighbors heard us, but then I realized I didn’t give a shit. Let the whole world know. Hell, let Veronica release our sex tape on the six o’clock news. I loved Bella, and if I could make her this happy, who cared?

  Bella screamed again, no words but just a deep cry of pleasure as she came, soaking my face in her juices and her hand yanking out a few of my hairs before it tore free to beat against the cushions, tossing her head side to side as she rode it out, delirious.

  When it finally passed, Bella collapsed, gasping against the back of the couch. “Holy fuck, you were more amazing than normal.”

  I stayed on my knees, taking her hand. “You deserve the best I can be.”

  Bella chuckled and ran her hand through my hair again. “Well, give me a few minutes, and I’ll show you the best I can be. Have I told you that one of my pregnancy hunger urges is your come?”

  I raise an eyebrow, smirking. “No, but now that I know, I can think of great ways to add to breakfast in the mornings.”

  Stefan

  “Holy shit!” Bella exclaimed from the kitchen, where she’d just gotten off the phone.

  It was several days after the explosive argument with our parents and our coming to a new agreement with each other. Since then, while Bella and I were enjoying every new day as we explored our new level of relationship, our parents hadn’t called or tried to check on us, but I knew they were planning something. I just didn’t know what.

  It made me nervous as fuck.

  Sitting on the couch, I looked up from my laptop and over at Bella. I’d just sent in yet another application to another company for a job. It was hard finding a decent job without a college degree, and I refused to work a minimum wage job. The type of money I would make flipping burgers was just not enough to support Bella and me. Unfortunately, if I didn’t find a steady job soon, that's exactly what I'd be doing.

  Maybe I can try my hand at modeling again, I wondered.

  The last company had accepted me in less than twenty-four hours. They had really wanted me for the job, stating that I had the looks of a Hollywood movie star and the type of face that could sell millions of magazines. Obviously, if I couldn’t use my brains to support Bella, maybe I could use my looks.

  “What?” I asked curiously.

  “That was Sara Delany who just called.”

  “Sara?”

  “Yeah, the girl I roomed with back at school. Remember?”

  “Oh yeah,” I said, remembering the girl who had greeted me at Bella’s dorm and eyed me like I was a piece of meat. They’d stayed in touch, although Bella and I had both agreed to wait a little longer before making the general public aware of our relationship. There was a chance to rebuild a relationship with our family, so we weren’t ready to nuke that bridge just yet. “What'd she say?”

  Bella walked out of the kitchen and over into the middle of the living room. She was wearing some of her short shorts that always got me hot under the collar and a light pink top. The shorts hugged her hips and showed off her growing ass. She still wasn’t sure I wasn’t bullshitting her, but I felt pregnancy had done her body good, filling her out in all the right places, and it was hard to keep my eyes off her. “You’re not going to believe it.”

  “Spit it out already.”

  “Well, first, she said the school has finally concluded its investigation. Both institutions will remain open. Kappa Beta was hit with probation, but Alpha Gamma basically got off clean, which is not surprising at all.” She paused dramatically and her expression became darker. “Second . . . it's Veronica.”

  My heart jumped in my chest, but I kept my expression cool as a thousand doomsday thoughts ran through my head, mainly about our sex tape that I knew Veronica still had in her possession.

  Had the bitch spread it to the internet now? I might not have cared if people knew that I loved Bella if they found out, but there’s a big difference between declaring my love and having my dingus on the Internet for everyone to see. But if she was up to something else, there wasn’t shit I could do about it.

  “She quit school.”

  I looked up at Bella with surprise.

  “Quit?”

  Bella nodded, and I could tell she was trying not to crack up laughing. “Yeah, Sara said that someone in Alpha finally cracked and told everyone in Alpha and Kappa that Veronica had planted the camera. Apparently, she
was planning on blackmailing me over the Sacrifice no matter what. Hanna, the Kappa president, found her diary, and Veronica had hated me from first semester, for some damn reason. She wanted to ruin me no matter what and get me to quit school.”

  “Damn,” I muttered. “That’s fucked up. Why?”

  Bella shook her head. “I don’t know for sure, but I think it was even before the stupid damn dildo sucking contest. During one of the Rush Week parties, a guy hit on me. I heard afterward that Veronica had her eyes on him. I didn’t fuck him, but neither did Veronica. I’d blown it off. He was a drunken asshole. I guess the bitch didn’t.” I was taken aback by the hatred burning in Bella’s eyes, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Veronica had done some really fucked up shit to us, and the worst thing about it was, none of it made sense. To try and ruin a girl’s life over a drunken idiot hitting on you? Fuck my life.

  She got exactly what she deserved as far as I’m concerned, I thought to myself. And she’s lucky she didn’t end up with worse. Fucking with people's family is asking for bad shit to happen.

  “She’s lucky,” I finally said. I shook my head. “We don’t like her, but if she had done that to some of the people I know on campus . . . a lot of crazy, messed up dudes have no qualms putting their hands on women. I knew a couple back at Alpha.”

  Bella’s face darkened into a scowl. “Jace being one of them.”

  I grinned at her. “Yeah, but he got his.”

  Bella giggled. “And now Veronica is getting hers.”

  “Yeah. I just hope she learned her lesson, although as long as she stays out of our lives, I don’t give a shit anymore.”

  My phone thrummed inside my pocket, and I quickly snatched it out and answered it without looking at the caller ID, hoping that it was someone calling me back about a job interview.

  “Hello?”

  “Stefan.”

  I held back a groan and contemplated hanging up. “What do you want, Dad?” I asked finally.

  “I just want to have a real talk with you.”

  “Didn’t I tell you that I'm not going to discuss Bella’s and my relationship with you? The answer is still the same.”

  “Just give me a minute, Stefan.”

  “No, Dad.”

  “I'll make it worth your while.”

  I paused. I could read between the lines. My father was offering money. Considering how I hadn't gotten any job offers yet, I could definitely use some. But there was no way I was going to accept a bribe in exchange for discussing Bella terminating the pregnancy. That subject was finished. Over and done with. The same with me staying with Bella.

  “Just hear me out. If you don't like what I have to say, then you can leave and I'll never bother you about the matter again.”

  “I'll think about it,” I said finally, hanging up.

  “What did he want?” Bella asked, placing her hands on her hips, unknowingly enticing me with her sexy curves.

  I shrugged and sat back against the couch, spreading my legs out. With the stress pressing down on my shoulders, I could've really used a quickie right about now, but I didn't want to ask. Maybe we did have sex every day, but I didn't want her to think that was the extent of our relationship.

  “The usual. He wants to talk.”

  Bella pushed a section of her hair away from her face. Since her pregnancy, her hair had gotten really thick. I liked it. “Mom's been calling me too,” she said quietly. “Mostly, when you're asleep or out looking for a job. I ignore her.”

  “Maybe we need to look at changing that,” I said as I stood up.

  Bella stared at me in surprise. “Where are you going?”

  “I'm going to talk to Dad.”

  Shock spread across Bella's delicate features. “What’s brought on this change of attitude? A few days ago, you didn’t want to say shit to them.”

  I scratched the back of my neck. “I did, but Dad said he had an offer for me. I want to at least see what it is before I ignore him altogether.” I walked forward and pulled Bella into my arms, delivering a soft kiss to her lips. “But mainly, I'm going because I want to drive the point home to him that we are going to be a couple for a very long time, and he needs to get used to it. Otherwise, he doesn't have to be in our lives.”

  Bella drew back, suspicious. “Stefan, you know he’s going to try and talk you into breaking up with me. Or talk about terminating our baby.”

  “Which is exactly why I want to talk to him,” I reassure her. “Bella, he said he’d make it worth my while. Now, if he’s got his head out of his ass, then maybe there’s a way for me to get good work. Health insurance, a decent paycheck—think about it. And it’s just to talk. If he’s an asshole, I’m out of there.”

  Bella smiled, though I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. "Good." She returned my kiss, albeit hesitantly, and I resisted the urge to grab and squeeze her ass. I didn't want to get hard before going to see my dad.

  “I'll be back as soon as possible,” I told her as I broke away and made my way to the door. “Keep those clothes on until I get home.” I let the hunger I felt for her sexy body drip into my voice.

  “I will,” Bella promised, sounding breathless at the promise of what was to come. “And if my mom calls?”

  I stop for a second, then turn back, giving her a grin. “I trust you. Tell her I said hi.”

  * * *

  “I'm offering you a job as my right hand man at the company,” my dad offered, sitting back in his office chair with an audible creak.

  I was sitting across from him inside a mobile trailer that he often used for a make-shift office whenever he moved between construction sites. Considering the problems that he got up to with his laptop in this office, I wondered why the hell he kept it. But now wasn’t the time to focus on that.

  His teams of employees were hard at work outside, building some sort of mom and pop motel that was a quarter of the way done. Some of them had greeted me with enthusiasm when I arrived on site, wondering where I’d been. They missed my presence since I’d been such a hard worker and easy to get along with.

  I didn’t really say why I’d stopped showing up at work, just that I had some things I had to take care of. They got the point that it was something I didn’t want to share, and they pointed me to Dad’s trailer.

  Things hadn’t started well. No sooner had I gotten inside than my dad began immediately making offers to me, hoping that I would be desperate enough to accept.

  “Or, I can totally forgive the money I wasted on your last semester and pay for you to go back to school, where you can still pursue your sports career.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t need money to go back to school. I already have a scholarship offer from Coach Carter back at South State.”

  My dad gaped at me incredulously. “You have an offer like that and you haven’t taken it?”

  “No.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you, boy?” my father demanded. “Being a professional athlete has always been your dream. Why would you turn down a second chance?”

  I clenched my jaw. “You know why. I might, just maybe, be able to juggle being a father and a college student. There’s no way in hell that I can be a good father, a student, and a sports player.”

  “And? Though I’ve never seen a future in sports for myself, I knew you were different. I’ve seen you play. You are absolutely amazing. You could be the next big thing, Stefan.”

  My dad was totally stroking my ego. On one hand, I dismissed what he was saying outright, but a part of me, my egomaniac side, was sucking up his lavish praise.

  Coach Carter’s words replayed in my head.

  We need you, Stefan. I’ve never seen a kid play as well as you.

  I shifted in my seat and glanced at my dad’s cell that he had sitting in front of him. I wondered if it was the same cellphone he used to text Veronica dirty messages. “I just don’t see how you can expect me to do what you want. We're talking about your grandchild, for crying out loud
.”

  “I'm looking at the bigger picture, Stefan. You're my primary concern. You guys still have a chance to set things right. I think you should forget about Bella, forget about having a baby. I mean, why is it so hard for you to understand? You two can’t be together. I think you are both just young and confused. Give it some time, and you'll see. You’ll grow out of it.” My dad leaned forward in his chair. “Come work for me or go do the sports thing. I don’t care. Just don’t have that baby.”

  My dad had some nerve. What did he expect me to do? Just abandon Bella after I promised her that I would be there for her? If I accepted my dad’s offer to work with him, or Coach Carter’s, I would be abandoning Bella.

  “Stefan, most guys your age would jump at the chance to get out of a situation such as this.”

  “Most guys my age don’t love the girl they have sex with either.”

  My dad’s face twisted with disgust. “You can’t really believe what you’re saying.” My dad paused to take a deep breath. “Look, we’re just going in circles here. I’m giving you a way out of this situation. Take it. Convince Bella. Her mother will help her through the entire process.”

  Anger coursed through me. I was mad because I felt like I was finally standing up and becoming the man they’ve always said they wanted me to be, and my parents wanted to kill the life Bella and I had created. To kill the man I was becoming.

  “Sorry, Dad,” I said finally. “I can’t—I won’t—do it. And this will be the last time we talk about the issue, so don’t bother calling me anymore unless it’s to give me and Bella your blessing.”

  My father balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the table, his face red with rage. “You stubborn little shit!” he yelled. “You’re ruining everything that I have worked so hard for!”