Ever After

by Kat Mizera

  He laughed. “Amber is a teenager now,” he said. “She sneaks into my room at night to talk and play Xbox, but she wouldn’t be caught dead smiling at me in public.”

  They laughed together as Anton sat down at the table. His smile seemed to fade and he stared out at the sunny day.

  “Something on your mind, son?” Toli asked quietly.

  “Where’s Sasha?” Anton asked after a moment.

  “She took Alex and Andy to the park. They were up really early and we’re hoping being outside will get them to take long naps.”

  “Okay.” Anton looked down at his coffee cup.

  “Is everything okay? Did something happen last night?” Tessa finally asked, her eyes searching his.

  “No.” He shook his head. “We just talked. She’s great, like you said.”

  Tessa arched her eyebrows. “I understand this is incredibly awkward, but since you’re both going to be living here, we should probably talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you. I don’t want you to do anything to make her quit.”

  “No!” Anton’s head shot up. “I would never. I mean—” He flushed. “You know what I mean. It’s just…”

  “It’s just?” Toli finally spoke up.

  Anton sighed.

  “Is this a sex thing?” Tessa asked, squinting. “Because I’ve had lots of sex and I can offer advice without embarrassing you if you truly need it.”

  “Not that kind of advice.” Anton glanced at his father, his cheek twitching nervously.

  “You need me to go?” Tessa rose gracefully, only wincing slightly as she got up.

  “Give me the baby,” Toli reached for him. “Go take a hot bath. You’re hurting, yes?”

  “Just sore,” she smiled faintly. “It’s much better.”

  “Go.” He leaned up and brushed his lips across hers.

  “I love you.” She kissed him again, paused to squeeze Anton’s shoulder and then disappeared up the stairs, calling to Raina so she could ensure father and son had some privacy.

  “What’s going on?” Toli looked at his son patiently.

  “Sasha and I—” he frowned. “There’s definitely something there, but she’s really nervous about her job here.”

  “Her job here is not in jeopardy as long as the two of you behave respectfully.”

  “She’s worried, like if we hook up and then something goes wrong, you’ll fire her.”

  Toli shook his head. “No. She’s too valuable to us, but you have to be sure this is something you want to do.”

  “Dad, we talked for hours—she’s amazing. She knows sports and she listens, really cares about what I have to say.”

  “She’s not like other teenage girls you’ve dated,” Toli said quietly. “She comes from a wealthy family. She’s intelligent and well-travelled, cultured, very much like you, so this will be a whole different experience for you. It doesn’t have to be complicated as long as you’re cognizant of the fact that Raina is in the house and you treat her with respect regardless of whether the relationship is nothing more than sex.”

  Anton shook his head. “That’s not the problem. You don’t understand.” He hung his head.

  “Whatever it is, just tell me.”

  “I promised her I’d talk to you about her job, but the other thing is separate. She has no idea…” He grimaced. “This is really hard to talk about.”

  Toli put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Is something wrong sexually? You don’t have to be embarrassed with me—I’m your father. Nothing you tell me will change how I feel so if there’s a problem, just say it.”

  “I’m too big,” Anton blurted out, his ears turning red.

  “What?” Toli blinked. “You mean your dick?”

  “Girls are scared once they see it.”

  “Ah.” Toli nodded solemnly. “And they refuse to have sex with you?”

  Anton nodded miserably.

  Toli chuckled. “Son, you know where you get that, don’t you?”

  “I never looked at your dick with a ruler.” Anton was bright red, looking anywhere but at his father.

  “Okay. This is easy.” Toli paused, taking a deep breath.

  “Easy?” Anton finally looked at his father, his eyes flashing in annoyance. “Do you know how many times I’ve been shot down once I got my pants off?”

  “Yes, actually, I have a good idea.” Toli nodded. “I’ll tell you a secret, and I swear to God if you repeat it, ever, I will beat your ass, no matter how much older or bigger you get.”

  Anton shook his head. “I won’t say anything. Promise.”

  “You know I dated your Aunt Tatiana for a long time.”

  Anton nodded.

  “We could never have sex two days in a row.”

  Anton frowned. “Is that weird?”

  “Well, yeah.” Toli scowled at him. “When you were with Lori, didn’t you have sex every day sometimes?”

  He shook his head. “Usually like once a week. Sometimes every two weeks.”

  Toli opened his mouth but no sound came out. “But, but you were eighteen,” he sputtered. “You should be having sex, like, all the time!”

  Anton squirmed. “I told you—my dick is a problem.”

  “Okay, listen. Tatiana always complained that she needed a day to recover. Know what I mean?” He met his son’s gaze.

  Anton nodded. “’Cause she was, like, sore?”

  “Yes. And you know what else?” His voice dropped and he looked around, making sure Raina was nowhere nearby. “Tessa and I can do it every day, multiple times, when I’m not on the road and she’s not pregnant.”

  “Really?” Anton stared in fascination.

  “I’m not telling you that to be disrespectful to my wife—we certainly don’t do it every day now—but not because she doesn’t want to. She can, she does, and we do. Obviously she’s been recovering from surgery, but that’s different. The sex, though, it tells you a lot. That’s one of the ways you know.”

  “Know what?”

  Toli grinned. “That’s she’s the right woman. I’m not saying you’re going to know who you’re going to spend the rest of your life with at twenty, but you’ll know if she’s the right woman for you right now. When I met Tessa I was ready for forever and once I realized how compatible we were in bed, that was it.”

  “But what if you didn’t get along the rest of the time?”

  “That’s separate,” Toli said impatiently. “I already knew we got along. It wasn’t a one-night stand, so I had an idea that I wanted her. But when the sex is good, really good, you have to take the time to figure out the rest.”

  “The sex with Lori was really bad,” Anton admitted with a scowl.

  Toli chuckled. “You were eighteen—of course it was bad! Neither of you had any idea what you were doing.”

  “I made her cry the first time,” he whispered.

  “On purpose?”

  “Of course not.”

  “It was her first time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s normal, Anton. Lots of girls cry the first time—it hurts. Tatiana cried.” He paused. “That’s how I got good at oral sex—to make it up to her.”

  Anton groaned. “Dad!”

  “Hey—this is stuff you need to know. You want girls to cry after you’re done or you want them crying out your name and begging for more?”

  Anton was still bright red, but he met his father’s eyes. “Definitely the latter.”

  “Then listen to me.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Look, Sasha’s not a kid—she’s a grown woman and I’m sure she’s enjoyed a healthy sex life in the past. This is good for you for two reasons: One, if it’s just sex, I’d be willing to bet she’s not going to whine that you’re too big. Second, if the sex is good, and you already like each other, you have all summer to be together. Assuming you behave around the kids.”

  Anton rolled his eyes. “Duh, Dad. I would never do anything in front of the kids.”

&
nbsp; “I know, but I’m making sure you’re thinking about it because although I don’t have a problem with you and Sasha hooking up, I don’t want Raina seeing the two of you having sex.”

  Anton glared at him. “Geez, I would never do that!”

  “Especially if I give you money to go to a hotel,” Toli smiled. “Because I promise you, in the beginning, you’re not going to be able to keep it quiet.”

  Anton groaned.

  “Now, as far as the sex itself…” Toli grinned lazily. “You’re going to have to step up your game with a girl like Sasha.”

  “I know.” Anton made a face. “What if I suck?”

  “Not a chance in hell,” Toli chuckled. “You’re a Petrov.”

  “Dad.”

  “Let’s go for a walk,” Toli said. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

  4

  Sasha got home from the park and put the boys down for their naps. Tessa had put AJ down too and she and Toli were in their room with the door closed. Wondering where Anton was, she was just about to text him when strong arms closed around her from behind.

  “Hi.” she smiled up at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Waiting for you.” He tugged her hand. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

  She let him pull her down the stairs and settle on the couch.

  “I talked to my dad,” he said. “Everything is cool. We can date, not date, whatever—he said that’s between us and has nothing to do with your job as long as we behave in front of the little ones.”

  She laughed. “I think we can manage that.”

  “So will you go to dinner with me tonight?”

  “I have to check with Tessa.”

  He shook his head. “Dad’s home tonight so I got you the night off.”

  “Anton!” She shook her head. “I have a job here—you can’t just ask your dad if I can take time off.”

  “It was his idea. He said you’ve been working crazy hours and haven’t had hardly any time off at all. He’ll be going out of town tomorrow so this is our chance. Come on, let’s go out. I was thinking about a long, lazy dinner where we could talk again, like we did last night.”

  She smiled, gazing into his blue eyes and finding herself unable to refuse. “Okay, but we can’t do this every night.”

  “Of course not.” He winked.

  Anton was waiting when Sasha came downstairs. He did a double take when she walked into the kitchen, getting up slowly as he watched her walk across the floor. Wearing high-heeled strappy white sandals and a sexy turquoise dress that showed off her amazing cleavage and long legs, he had to remind himself that Raina and his parents were in the room.

  “Wow, you look beautiful,” Tessa said, hoping to distract Raina.

  “I love your dress!” Raina announced, gazing at Sasha. “Where are you going?”

  “Anton and I are going out to dinner,” Sasha said.

  “Like a date?” Raina wrinkled her nose.

  “What’s wrong with me taking Sasha out on a date, brat?” Anton demanded with a grin. “She’s been working really hard taking care of you and the boys, and I think she deserves a night of a little grown-up fun.”

  “But you’re not a grown-up,” Raina said. “You’re just a college student.”

  Sasha bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh.

  “Thanks a lot, kid.” Anton just laughed. “We’ll see you guys later.”

  “Have fun,” Toli called after them.

  “You look fucking amazing,” he whispered once they were outside. “That dress is incredible.”

  “Wait till you see what’s under the dress,” she said softly, moving away from him and getting into his truck, leaving him gazing after her hungrily.

  Anton had never been out with a girl he clicked with so well. Though he was physically attracted to her, he also liked her as a person. They’d traveled to a lot of the same places, enjoyed many of the same activities, and she made him laugh. The stories she told about growing up touring with her rock star parents were amazing and she seemed to love hearing him talk about hockey.

  “Is there a lot of pressure having a dad that’s a professional hockey player?” she asked as they ate dinner at a quaint little restaurant.

  “Kinda.” He shrugged. “I went through a phase in high school where I wasn’t sure I wanted to go pro because I was under a lot of pressure. My dad convinced me not to give up, to play in college and then reassess, and he was right. I love hockey, and this is what I want to do.”

  “Are you in your junior year?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “I won’t be twenty-one until November, but I started Kindergarten at four because it was private school so I’ll graduate at twenty-one too. What about you?”

  “Sophomore. I’m turning twenty this summer.”

  “Are you going on tour with your parents?”

  “Probably not. I’ve done it so many times already, I’d rather stay here and work for your parents… do my own thing for once.”

  He nodded. “I get it. I have to go on vacation with my mom, stepdad and their kids in July, and while I love my mom, I don’t want to go on vacation. I want to hang out at the house, eat my mom’s cooking and stuff. The last thing I want to do is wander around Disney, or god forbid, a beach in Hawaii or something.”

  “Do you have to go?”

  “Probably. She doesn’t understand that I just want to be at home, not on vacation, but my mom’s awesome, so I’ll suck it up and then bring the kids here.”

  “Here?” Sasha looked confused.

  “Yeah, so my dad and mom feel really strongly about blending the families so the kids don’t feel weird about half-brothers and sisters all that. Tessa’s daughter was only five, but last summer she went to Dallas with me for a few days and had a blast. Amber and Mikey came here over Thanksgiving, and also had a blast. So this year, Mom and Mike are sending them for a week. I’ll bring them back with me and then they’ll fly home alone after our vacation. Obviously, the babies are too little to do that, but they want them to grow up knowing each other. I don’t completely understand it—my mom and dad were never even a couple, I was the result of a one-night stand—but they’re all about blended families and friendship and all that.”

  Sasha nodded. “That sounds awesome. It’s way better than them hating each other and fighting all the time, right?”

  “Oh, for sure. It just seems weird to me that my mom and dad talk all the time and my mom talks to Tessa and stuff.”

  “My mom is best friends with her ex,” Sasha said. “She dated Nick for a few years and now they’re married to other people and still besties. She hangs out with his wife, too. I don’t even think about it anymore.”

  Anton laughed. “We have equally weird families.”

  “Agreed.”

  Their eyes met over the table and they smiled. He reached out and took one of her hands. “Tell me something about you,” he suggested. “Something different.”

  “Well, my mom died when I was seven. She was my mom’s—my current mom—best friend. Casey had just had Nicholas and had just married his dad, so they adopted me.”

  “What about your biological dad?” Anton asked quietly.

  “Mom said my biological mom never told him she was pregnant and she never told anyone who it was. According to her, he was a bad man.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Mom and I are super close—she wouldn’t lie to me. Especially not now.”

  “Why not now?”

  “She and Dad—” She stopped abruptly and wrinkled her nose. “I have a weird blended family too. So Mom was married to Nick Kingsley when she took custody of me because it was in my mom’s will. He was going to adopt me but they got divorced. Then she married Jayson and he adopted me. I call both of them Dad but when I’m talking about them to other people, I usually say Nick or Jay, so no one is confused.”

  Anton blinked. “Holy shit, I’m totally confused, but not really.
”

  They laughed together.

  “Anyway, Mom and Jay are having problems. She thinks he’s having an affair.”

  “Oh, shit. That sucks. They’re married, they work together, they have kids together, and he’s cheating?”

  “She’s not sure, but she thinks so. Mom says everything’s going to be okay, but she’s really sad all the time, so I don’t know.”

  “What happens to the Pretty Harts if they divorce?” he asked, referring to Casey and Jayson’s platinum-selling rock band.

  “They owe the record company two more albums, so breaking up would cost everyone in the band hundreds of thousands of dollars. She told me not to worry, to focus on my own life, but like I said, we’re really tight so I worry about her.”

  “She’s the one that got you the job with my parents, though, right?”

  Sasha smiled. “Yeah. She really doesn’t want me to worry, so I think she figured this would get me out of the house, doing my own thing.”

  “That was nice.”

  Their food arrived and they were quiet for a few minutes as they dug in.

  “You know my story, but how come a good-looking guy like you who plays college hockey is single?” she asked after a while.

  Anton’s face turned bright red.

  5

  Anton hadn’t been expecting the question and wasn’t sure how to answer. How was he supposed to tell her girls were intimidated by the size of his dick and he’d gotten tired of being turned down?

  “It’s not a trick question,” she said after a moment, watching him.

  “No, it’s just…” He took a sip of water and met her gaze. “Girls confuse me.”

  “Well, yeah. That’s what happens at our age. At least that’s what my mom says. And guys confuse me too. Like my ex. I totally get using me to get to my parents. It’s not right, but I understand it. The blackmail part doesn’t make sense, though. Did he really think embarrassing me like that was the way to get them to help him? What motivates someone to do that?”

  Anton made a face. “Yeah, I don’t get that either. It’s really stupid and I kinda want to kick his ass.”