Then he was gone through the garage and into the house, the metal door rolling down to the concrete.
My heart squeezed tight, and my knees shook. Man, I’d hurt this family and was beginning to wonder if I’d ever get through to them. A sharp pain shot through my heart, and I doubled over. I took a few breaths and rubbed at my chest. A tinkling sound reminded me of what was in my hands. The keys. And dangling right next to the car key was the key that would give me my in.
The key to the front door.
Later that night, around midnight, I walked around the house, checking it out. Everything was dark and quiet. Circling back to the front, I used the key and opened the door. The alarm beeped once. I typed in the death date of the Harper parents. It beeped once more and turned off.
I couldn’t believe I’d resorted to breaking and entering. Well, technically I didn’t break in since I had the key, but still… If they wanted to press charges, I could get into some serious trouble. Worth it. The woman upstairs held my heart and my unborn child.
I had to react. Risk it all. That’s what my mother told me when I explained the shit storm that had happened at the bar. At first, she reamed me to kingdom come. Then she ran around the house, planning out her future grandchild’s life and how she’d be a prominent player in it.
Slowly, I made my way up the staircase. Music flowed from Rowan’s room, but that was not unusual. The kid slept with it on.
Holding my breath, I walked up the small flight of stairs and listened at Genevieve’s door. Nothing but silence. I took one small breath and turned the knob. I looked at the bed, but she wasn’t there. The bathroom light was on. On quiet feet, I walked over, and there, lying on the floor, was my worst nightmare. Genevieve’s lifeless body was sprawled on her pink fringe bathroom mats.
I ran over, hit the tile on my knees, and yanked her into my arms. “Babe, oh my God, Genevieve!” I smacked at her face. Her eyelids fluttered. I pulled her head into my chest and thanked the good Lord she hadn’t left me. “Genevieve, what happened?”
Her eyes rolled back as she blinked, her gaze unfocused. “So sick.” She started to heave again.
I rolled her over, and she vomited nothing but thick green bile.
“Rowan!” I roared at the top of my lungs.
His door slammed against the wall. Then I heard the pounding of his feet on the stairs, up the landing, and into the room. He skidded across the wood floor in his socks.
“What did you do?” he yelled.
“Nothing! I found her passed out. She’s really sick.”
“Yeah, I know, dumbass. She’s been throwing up nonstop for two weeks.” He stepped over us, got a washcloth, wet it, and laid it over her forehead. “She’s burning up. What do we do?” He winced, and his face paled.
I made a quick decision and lifted her body into a cradle hold. “Watch your sister. I’m taking Genevieve to the emergency room.”
“She’s not dressed!” Rowan said, pulling on his hair.
I looked down. Genevieve was in a tiny tank and a pair of panties and nothing else.
“Give me that throw blanket. Hurry!”
Rowan tossed it over Genevieve’s unconscious form.
“Gumdrop, you’re gonna be fine. Just fine. Row, call my mom. Get her to come here to watch Mary. I’ll meet you at Summit Medical.”
“Okay. Okay.” He stopped, took in a deep breath, lifted his shoulders, and pushed them back. A man stood in Rowan’s place. Somehow, he’d gotten older in the span of the ten seconds it took him to pull himself together.
* * *
GENEIEVE
I woke to the sound of angry whispering but kept my eyes shut, not certain I wanted anyone to know I was awake. One of them sounded like Trent and the other my friend Amber.
“I’ll say it one more time. I. Did. Not. Cheat. On. Genevieve. That broad is a groupie. Screws anything that moves. I was drunk, and she was all over me.” Trent ground out the whispered words staccato style.
“Oh, sure. Convenient excuse.” Even whispering, Amber’s voice was tight, strained. She was in full mama bear mode.
“Amber, I swear to you. I swear on all things holy, on my mother’s life, my job, I would never cheat on Genevieve. I love her. More than anything in this world.”
She scoffed. “You say that now, but what happens when she gets all big with her pregnancy? Hmm?”
“More of her to love,” he said instantly.
I almost laughed because that was such a Trent reply.
“And when you go on the road? You won’t have the comforts of home keeping you warm at night. What happens then?”
He sighed, and it sounded heavy, as though the weight of his future teetered on the edge of this question.
“I don’t know, Amber. Tons of guys are married and have girlfriends. Hopefully, Genevieve will be able to come to some, Rowan to others. I’ll hang out with the guys who have WAGs. Whatever it takes.”
“WAGs?”
“Wives and girlfriends. And I’ll swear to Genevieve if she’ll have me back, I’ll stay far away from any groupies. Especially DawnMarie. She feels really bad, by the way. She had been drinking too, and usually, when a player tells her he’s committed to a woman, she backs right off.”
“Now you’re defending your hookup?”
Amber’s words were scathing, and I wanted to reach out and defend Trent, because I knew what he meant, even though it still hurt to hear it.
“No. Not at all. I just want it clear that I did not hit on her. She took advantage of me. I’ve got three people, including Clay, who will tell you exactly how it went down.”
“Well, good for you. A bunch of liars are willing to back you up.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, woman! You’d cut off your nose to spite your own face,” Trent growled.
A throaty scoff rang louder in the room than before. “Don’t you dare take the Lord’s name in vain.”
“Christ on a cross!” Trent hummed.
This was the time I needed to make my presence known and break it up before it got even uglier. “Anyone want to hear what I’ve got to say?” My voice came out as barely a whisper.
Amber and Trent both rushed to opposite sides of the hospital bed.
Trent leaned forward, kissed my hand, palm, and wrist before holding my hand to his cheek. “Thank God, you’re okay. You had me so scared.” His eyes filled with unshed tears.
Amber held out a pink cup with a straw, and I sipped the water. It felt like straight razor blades going down my throat. I coughed a few times but was surprised when I didn’t vomit the water back up.
“What happened?” I glanced up at the IV bag pumping fluids into my body.
“You’re severely dehydrated. You’ve lost a significant amount of weight in the past couple weeks due to being so ill. They did a vaginal ultrasound while you were out, and the baby is fine. Heartbeat still going strong.” Trent smiled. “They’ve got you on some pretty strong anti-nausea meds.” He rubbed his face into my hand. “Gumdrop…”
I closed my eyes and turned my head to my friend. “Amber, thank you for being here.”
“There’s is no place I’d rather be,” she said.
“I need a few minutes with Trent. Okay?”
She nodded, glared at Trent, and then walked to the door. “I’ll just be right outside if you need me to kick out some cocky baseball player who breaks hearts.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Amber. I’ll be fine.”
When the door closed, Trent leaned forward and pressed his forehead to my belly. That’s when the tears started. The man I’d come to love—the flawed, beautiful, kind, cocky, overconfident male—clutched at my body and cried. Each word was a balm to my aching soul.
“I didn’t cheat,” he choked out. “I wouldn’t. You have to believe me. Please, Genevieve. I need you. I need us. I’ll do anything to make it right.”
He lifted his face. Deep purple smudges were halos around his hazel eyes. “I love you. I love this baby. I wan
t to be with you. Always. Genevieve, I want to marry you. Build our life together. Me, you”—he put his hand over my belly—“our baby, Rowan, and Mary. One big happy family. Please don’t take that away over a misunderstanding. It will never happen again. I swear it.”
Trent placed kisses over my belly and gripped my hand. I’d been miserable, unfeeling for two weeks. Completely and utterly lost without him. I didn’t know how to be just me anymore. And since I was carrying his child, I didn’t want to be just me. I wanted to be part of an us—him, me, and our baby. Of course, Rowan and Mary would be there too, but this was the start of my own family.
“I believe you and…”
“And?” More tears were pooled in his eyes.
“I love you. I’ll always love you, Trent, and I don’t want to live another day without you.”
“Oh, thank God.” His shoulders slumped, and the tightness he held seemed to seep right out of his pores as he closed his eyes and allowed the tears to slip down his cheeks.
I tugged his hand and brought him close. He kissed my forehead, each cheek, the tears I didn’t realize I’d cried, and finally my lips. A life-changing, simple press of lips to lips said everything we needed to say and more.
Epilogue
“Gumdrop, wake up!” Trent nuzzled my neck and grated his chin along the column.
A sensation of a thousand butterfly wings tingled down my neck and throughout my body as he laid kisses on every available surface.
“Mmm, that’s nice.”
He nudged his scratchy chin down between my breasts. In seconds, he had my camisole top pushed below my breasts, and the cool air kissed the tips of my erect nipples. They weren’t cold for long. Trent laved each tip and sucked one into the heat of his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the tip, mesmerizing me before biting down gently on the sensitive peak. A lightning bolt of desire rippled down my chest to land right between my thighs. My clit ached and throbbed, needing him somewhere else.
I opened my legs wide so he could wrangle his bigger body between them and I could shamelessly rub my center against his thick erection. God, I loved his big body. Everything about him screamed male, sex, and ecstasy all rolled into one fine package that was all mine for the taking.
“Babe, I got it.”
He pulled at the tight peak, and I arched.
“Yeah, you did.” I sighed, allowing him to work me up good.
He chuckled against my breast, kissed it, and then ground his lower half into my sex.
“No, gumdrop. I got the contract. They renewed.” He slipped his hand down between our bodies where he tunneled under the slip of panties I wore to bed. In seconds, he pushed two fingers deep inside. I gasped and lifted up, wanting him deeper. Always deeper so I lost where he ended and I began.
He fingered me, pressing deep, tickling that spot inside that I loved, and pulled out. He repeated the process until my lower half was so wet he could have drunk from me. That’s the way he liked it. Trent always made me insane with lust before he put me out of my misery and doled out the orgasms like he was serving up a platter of decadent desserts.
“Baby…” I tilted my hips, reaching for that inner tickle that would send me over the edge.
“If I let you come, will you listen to me?” He pushed his fingers in and held them there, high and deep.
I moaned and arched, almost there. “Yeah, please…”
I was not past begging. Ever since hitting the second trimester in my pregnancy I wanted him all the time. Day and night, and sometimes in between. He obliged willingly. Considered it his manly duty to take care of his pregnant girlfriend.
“All right, gumdrop, you ready for it?”
I nodded, incapable of speech when he was rubbing that inner heaven. With a wicked glint in his eyes and a targeted thumb, he pressed hard against my clit. My entire body jolted, pleasure rippling through every limb, sparking a sensation so intense I lost my breath. He swirled his thumb around my hot button, pressed those deliciously thick fingers high and deep once more, and then sucked my erect nipple into his mouth. When he bit down, I lost my mind, my body, and my heart to the only man who could bring me such extreme bliss.
For several moments, he fingered me slow and shallow before removing his hand, pulling off my panties, and tonguing my center.
“Pure honey. Just like candy,” he growled, stuck his tongue in as far as it would go, swirled it around as my insides quivered against his mouth.
Once I’d calmed down, he kissed his way back up my body, rose to a kneeling position, and pulled my legs up, placing my ankles on each muscular shoulder so my feet were boxed around his ears. Then he entered me nice and slow, careful not to bend me in half where his child rested. When he was planted deep, he ground in, swirled his hips in a circle, and stopped.
I opened my eyes and pouted. “Why did you stop? I was just getting into it.”
He laughed and kissed my ankle. “Because you weren’t listening before. I was trying to tell you that I just got off the phone. My contract has been renewed for five years. You’ll never believe for how much, either.” He grinned and thrust into me.
I gasped. “A lot?”
He bit down on my ankle. “Pay attention.”
I lifted my hips so he’d get the hint that I needed movement. “I am paying attention.”
“Not to my dick. To my words. Gumdrop, they renewed my contract for seventy-five million for the next five years. That’s fifteen mil a year!” He pulled out and thrust back in hard. He gripped my hips, lifted me, and started thrusting in and out.
I moaned and tightened the muscles inside to give him that extra squeeze I knew made him nutso. He groaned and clenched his teeth, his jaw hard and stoic as he took his pleasure from my body.
“Why on earth would someone pay that much money for anything?” I arched, wrapping my legs around his waist. The new position put his length directly in line for my G-spot. Every jab of his cock was a press of sheer bliss.
He pressed his thumb down on the crux of my sex and swirled it in mind-numbing circles. “Because…I’m damn good at my job.”
“Oh, God…” I cried out, my legs tightening around his waist.
He held my hips and pounded into me.
“I’m gonna…”
“Yeah, you are. Come all over my dick. Fuck, I love it when your muscles squeeze me like that. Nothing better than being in you, Genevieve. Nothing in this world.”
My entire body went ramrod straight, every muscle tightening, toes curling. I gripped the sheets, held on for dear life, and exploded around the man I loved. He was not far behind. Trent dug his fingers into my hips where he thrust once, twice, three times, and finally, rooted deep, letting it all go.
* * *
“Are you having fun?” Genevieve asked over the speakerphone in my laptop. Her blond hair was back in a tight bun, and she rocked the red lips today. Jesus Christ, I missed those red lips.
“Vivvie, you have no idea what Trent showed me today. I got to hang out in the locker room. Naked dudes were roaming around, others were getting their uniform on, and they joked around like brothers. Trent even got me my own jersey to wear that matches the team’s for each game we do in a different city.”
I grinned as the most beautiful smile spread across my girl’s face. “That’s so great, Row. Did you thank Trent for bringing you along?”
“He did!” I hollered, finishing up in the bathroom. “More times that I can count. He’s more excited about the trips later in the summer, though.”
It was June, and Rowan was out for the summer. Instead of hooking him up with summer ball, I got the coach to agree to let him come along to my away games with me. Take the summer off. He’d practice with the majors on the sidelines, catch some balls, get water, towels, play ball runner during the games, and make a little money. And I got peace of mind that my girl wasn’t worried about me playing another kind of field.
“Row, why don’t you go down and hit the pool for a bit? I’ll meet you t
here. Want to talk with your sister alone. Yeah?”
“Sure. There are some serious hotties here in Vegas.”
I laughed and whacked the kid on the back of the head only hard enough for him to know I was playing around. “Behave.”
He rubbed at his dome and pretended to be offended. “Always.” He grinned. “Love you, Vivvie!” Rowan got up and headed to the hotel room door.
“Love you more, Row!”
“Hey, you.” I sat down in front of the laptop, looking at the most beautiful woman alive. “Do it. You know I want to see.” I smiled and licked my lips, waiting for her to move.
She frowned. “Do I have to?” Her red lip puffed out.
“Come on, gumdrop. It’s just me.”
“But I feel fat.” She pouted more deeply than before.
“You are not fat. You are pregnant with my baby, and I want to see. It’s been a whole day.” This time, I pouted. The woman I loved couldn’t resist a Trent Fox original pout. I’d perfected the damn thing the second I knew it affected her so deeply.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine!” Then in all her yoga gear glory, she stood, backed away from the camera, turned sideways, pulled up her tank to below her ginormous breasts, and showed me her bump.
My baby. Her pregnant belly was getting bigger every day. Since she was due at the end of August, I repeatedly checked my schedule to make sure I could fly out at a moment’s notice. I had the travel agent on speed dial just in case. Now, in June, she was perfectly rounded. The entire world definitely knew she was pregnant, and I loved it.
“God, you’re stunning, gumdrop.”
She huffed and tugged down her tank. The yellow cotton fabric stretched across her bump. Pretty soon, she’d need another size up, but I wouldn’t be the one to recommend it. That was one of those things a man never tells a woman. Anything involving size or clothing was off limits, especially when she was worried about her body image. Truly, I had no idea why she worried. I loved seeing her rounded with my child growing inside her. It gave me an incredible sense of male pride. My child was changing her, turning her into a mother. Now if I could just get her to marry me, we’d be set.
Resisting Roots (Lotus House Book 1) Page 24
