Forever & More: The Friend Zone series

by Thompson, Tabetha

  “Sit down, sweetie. You need to get off of your feet.”

  I look at him curiously. Why would he say that?

  “Your ankles.” He points to my feet. “They’re swelling.”

  I obey him because he’s right, they are swollen, but not to the point of noticing them. I climb on the bed being mindful of my round tummy. When I lean against the pillows, Skye is right behind me, fluffing them for my comfort.

  “That better?” he asks.

  “Yes, thank you.” It feels so good to have him in my space, but I need to know what’s going on. There’s only one way to get that information, so I ask, “Where have you been?” He looks down, then back up to me.

  “I have some things I need to fill you in on. Are you sure you’re ready? It’s pretty intense.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. He throws his hands in the air in defeat.

  “All right, so let me start from the beginning. You remember the day I left the courthouse with Jay?” My teeth clench and he notices the tension in my jaw. “Chloe, it’s not what you think. It’s almost worse; just hear me out, okay?”

  I take a deep breath and prepare for the worst. He goes into vivid detail about leaving with Jay, the attack, and the motive behind it all. The part that really upsets me is the part about her putting her disgusting body against his when he came here to get my stuff, and the need to reclaim him grows. He tells me about reading my journal, then he apologizes.

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you read it. I wonder how it ended up at BAR, though.” I have a hunch, I already know how that happened, but that’s a discussion for another day. The information Skye shares with me about the Cayman Islands account shock me. I didn’t know Tom had that type of money, let alone left it all to me. I’m rich and didn’t know it.

  “So that’s why you stayed away? That’s not a good enough excuse.” I can feel the anger I’ve suppressed coming to the surface.

  “Chloe, calm down, I know. Yes, that’s the main reason I stayed away, but your latest incident had a little bit to do with it. I really thought you did it on purpose.” I jump from the bed and step in front of where he sits on the edge of the bed.

  “Do you really have that little faith in me? Do you honestly feel like I could do something like that? Jesus, why are you even here if you think I’m that kind of person?” I yell at him.

  “Chloe, calm down.” He stands. I push him back on the bed.

  “No! You don’t get to come in here and tell me to calm down after being MIA for three months. I’m seven months now, Skye, SEVEN MONTHS! I’m fat, my feet hurt, my boobs leak, I can’t shave my legs, and you’ve been GONE! I don’t have to calm down!” My stomach starts contracting. Maybe I do need to calm down. I’ve been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about a week now.

  The doctor says it’s normal to start getting them this early, but Skylar’s measurements are bigger than the average baby at the seven-month mark, so they think they may be a few weeks off. I’ve started going to the doctor’s once a week so we can monitor her growth and make sure she doesn’t try to come sooner than she should.

  “I know, I’m sorry. It’s not a fucking excuse, but I’m sorry. I don’t feel that way, that’s why it hurt so bad to think you felt like that. I’m so sorry.” He stands and pulls me close to him and I let him.

  “Never again, baby.” He lifts my chin, and presses his lips to mine. My hands wind around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He grabs my waist with one hand, the other runs up my back.

  Throughout my pregnancy, I’ve been so careful to steer away from anything that will get my hormones excited, but it didn’t always work.

  I’ve spent a lot of nights taking care of myself to images of our times together, but nothing could compare to the feeling of him pressed against me. His tongue twists with mine, sending a jolt straight to my core. The tingling feeling expands the entire length of my body and lights every single one of my senses. I take a step back and pull him with me. He comes willingly. I pull at his shirt, silently begging him to take it off. I need to feel his skin on mine.

  We separate long enough for both of us to rid ourselves of our tops. He takes a step back and looks longingly at my stomach. A soft smile graces his lips at the sight of my stretched skin. He’s so focused on my belly that he misses me unsnapping my bra. When the lacy material falls to the floor and my breasts are free, he gasps.

  I can’t stop the chuckle that bubbles up from my chest. “Like something you see?” I coyly ask.

  His face turns a rose color and he nods. Each hand cups one of my heavy breasts and he gently presses them together and buries his face in my cleavage.

  “Do we get to keep these after the baby’s born?” He yelps from the sting of my palm. “I was just joking, chill.”

  “Quit playing around and make love to me,” I demand.

  “We don’t have to rush, baby.” His tone becomes worried.

  “I’ve been waiting for months now. Don’t make me wait any longer,” I whine. His mouth is on mine, stopping my words and heart.

  I climb onto the bed and Skye follows. His heat blankets me and the feeling is so comforting it feels like home. “I can’t wait any longer, I need to feel you inside of me now.”

  Skye grabs the waist of my yoga pants and pulls them, along with my panties, off my hips. The room temperature is drastically increasing with his nearness. Skye stands back up and pulls his pants off in one swift motion.

  “Jesus, Chloe. You’re beautiful! I’m gonna keep you knocked up so I can look at this view all the time.” The words come out of his mouth before he realizes what he says.

  “Shut up and come here,” I tell him. He kneels between my thighs, his hard length in his hand.

  “You sure this is okay? It won’t hurt the baby, right?” His need for reassurance is adorable. But I need my sexy, confident Skye back, now.

  “It’s okay, I promise.” I let him know how annoyed I am with my tone.

  He leans forward and slides the tips of his fingers through my slit. My back arches at the same time a hiss leaves my lips. If it always feels like this when you’re pregnant, then I may have to agree with Skye on the staying knocked up topic. His finger slices through me again and my body shudders beneath him.

  He slips a finger inside of me and I can feel the walls of my sex clench around him, trying to trap him there forever. My head thrashes from side to side while he gently presses in and then pulls out.

  “Skye,” I whisper his name. He leans over me and takes my left breast in his mouth and begins sucking. I writhe underneath him and lift my hips. Even though he’s working me with his skilled finger, I need more.

  I moan his name this time, trying to tell him with one word what I need. He understands my broken language. Skye grips his hard steel and slowly works his way inside of me. In and out, adding only an inch at a time until he’s completely buried himself inside of me.

  When he’s buried to the hilt, he stills. His chest rises and falls with his labored breath, my heavy pants match his. I move my hips, trying to get him to move with me, but he pulls back, almost completely out of me.

  “Ya gotta stop moving, babe. Be still for a minute.”

  “What’s the matter?” I ask.

  “Oh, nothing’s wrong. I just need a minute.” He blushes.

  After a moment, he starts moving again. With each stroke, I’m pulled closer to the edge. The orgasm building inside of me feels like a tornado of sensations and emotions that are about to tear my insides apart.

  “I’m not gonna last, baby. I’m sorry.”

  It’s okay, because I’m going to be a goner in just a few more strokes myself if he keeps hitting it like that, and I tell him that. My sex clenches so tightly that it draws my toes in.

  “Harder,” I command.

  “Chloe, the baby,” he tries to remind me.

  “I know she’s there. Just do it, please.” He slams into me so hard my back arches. My muscles tighten and I scream his name. The t
wister inside of me explodes into dust and I can see the millions of tiny specks from it floating around the room.

  Skye’s cock swells inside of me, his muscles turn to solid rock beneath my finger tips and I feel him spill inside of me. I greedily milk ever last drop of him until he collapses next to me.

  “Oh shit,” he sighs. A satisfied smile spreads across my face. I know exactly how he feels.

  “So, I have something to show you.” I get up and waddle to my bathroom. Apparently Skylar isn’t as happy about her daddy coming home as I am. She’s using my bladder as a trampoline and back flipping off of that onto a nerve in my back that’s causing a small shooting pain to shoot up my spine.

  I relieve myself and then wash my hands. When I walk back into the room my heart weeps with joy. Skye’s put his pants back on and is lying on his side, staring at me with absolute love. No disgust, no rage, no resentment, none of the emotions I saw at the hospital and the days that followed are in those beautiful pools of green.

  They shine a bright azure green and radiate everything good. I approach the foot of the bed and hold out my hand. He sits up and takes it. I lead him out of my room and stop in front of the door across the hall.

  “Close your eyes,” I tell him. “No peeking.” He does as I say so I turn the knob. We enter the nursery. I spin to tell him to uncover his eyes, but before I can tell him, Sara and Harley file in behind us.

  She nods letting me know to go ahead.

  “Okay, open them.” When he opens, those emerald eyes I love so much cloud over with tears. I can only imagine what he’s thinking right now.

  The room is a very soft, pastel purple, the ceiling has streams of white twinkling lights and small cutouts of fairies falling from the lights. To the left is a giant hollow tree painted in the corner that extends to each side of the wall. The painted leaves and moss extend from the middle of the trunk to the ceiling. Small winged people are painted sporadically on the limbs and in the hollow of the tree.

  On the wall next to the tree sits a bookshelf that holds my daughter’s name in wooden blocks. Skylar’s lettered blocks are painted in different colors, each piece of wood has a different theme—some are covered in flowers, some with fairies, and some stripes. Her circle canopy crib sits on the other side of the room awaiting her arrival.

  Skye walks to it and runs a shaky hand over the dark cherrywood. He looks at me with an is this real expression. I offer him a soft smile and cross the room. I settle into the glider next to her crib. Beside me is a bookshelf that holds ever nursery rhyme you could ever imagine. Skye walks silently to the shelf and touches every spine of every book in fascination.

  He then moves to her closet and pulls out outfit after outfit, taking it all in. His face is covered with damn trails. He spins in a half circle and stops, I know he missed it earlier but it’s right there in front of his face now. It’s become real for him now, he’s going to be a dad and I’m going to be a mom.

  He hits the floor and covers his face. His shoulders shake and I start to become alarmed. The chair squeaks when I attempt to get up, but he’s at my feet before I can get onto them.

  “You named her after me?” I laugh and start crying with him, nodding my head.

  “I don’t deserve that, Chloe. I don’t deserve her or you. I’m so sorry,” he cries into my lap.

  “Don’t you dare say that!” I scold him. “You can’t possibly feel that way.” I grab his face and make him look at me. “You have been there for me time and time again. You have stood by my side and never gave up on me. You were there when I needed you and even when I didn’t. You took care of every single want or need I had. You saved me, Skye; don’t you see that? You saved me by giving me Skylar. If it weren’t for you or her, I would probably be dead by now. I was dead on the inside already. I was rotting on the inside and waiting for it to bleed out and takeover on the outside.” I take a breath. “If anyone deserves to have someone that can love them unconditionally, then it’s you, Skye. I can’t think of anyone more deserving than you.”

  He kisses me, hard.

  This kiss is different than the last, this one is meant to speak without words. It’s telling me everything I already knew. He loves me. He loves our child and he will do whatever, whenever, to make sure that we have everything we’d ever want or need. He’s promising to be a good dad, to always put me and Skylar first. And I repeat every single word back to him.

  I pull from our kiss and notice that Sara and Harley have given us some privacy.

  “Skye?” I say and he looks into my eyes. “Welcome home, baby.”

  He smiles and kisses me again.

  “So do I get to give her a middle name?” he asks.

  “Actually, I already have one, but we can change it I guess.” I don’t really want to, but for him I’d do anything.

  “What is it?” He cocks his eyebrow.

  “Cheyenne.” He looks confused, so I clarify. “Do you remember the little girl in the hospital? Her mom came to visit me.” I still get nothing so I go on. “Her father had beaten the little girl and that’s what put her in a coma. She never recovered. She was so little, Skye. She didn’t get a chance to live. This was my way of giving her life. She deserved to live and be happy. To dance in her room like a ballerina, to get her first kiss, and to fall in love. She deserved to have what we have, but she didn’t. I want her to have that and this was the only way I knew how to give it to her.” I start to cry.

  “Shh, don’t cry, it’s okay. That’s perfect. Skylar Cheyenne.” He repeats her name a couple of times as if he were scared he’d forget it.

  “You really like it?” I ask.

  “Uh, yes, ma’am. First off, you gave our kid my kickass name, and then naming her after that little girl is… well, I don’t know what it is, but I’m proud of you and the reasons you’re doing it. You’re amazing.” He kisses me again. The moment my lips meet his, my stomach growls.

  Skye and I both start laughing.

  “I guess baby thinks that’s enough mushy stuff for the night,” Skye kids. At least he better be kidding because I have so much more mushy stuff planned for him tonight I don’t think either of us will be sleeping.

  “Skylar’s not growling at you, dummy. I’m starving.” He helps me get up from the glider. Before we exit the room, he looks around one more time. Skye’s face is still lit up in awe like he can’t believe he’s here.

  I grab his hand and pull him into the hall. We enter the living room and find Sara sitting on the couch with Harley. Her legs rest in his lap and her back is flat on the couch. Two weeks ago, Sara went through a procedure to reverse the damage in her back that caused her to be paralyzed. The impact from the accident fractured her spine, which in turn, pinched a nerve that resulted in her being immobile. She’s done physical therapy since she was released from the hospital but still hasn’t gotten better. A month ago, I went to the doctor with Sara and she finally agreed to the procedure.

  The doctor told us that he wasn’t sure if it would be a success since she waited so long but that we could give it a shot. The past two weeks have been painful for her. The surgeon made a small incision and removed the dead nerve and then fused the ends together. He has her on some pretty intense medications that Harley guards with his life. I think he’s scared I’ll relapse or that Sara will become the person I was.

  Harley takes Sara home to her apartment every night since I decided to do the nursery. But every morning, they come bouncing in the door and don’t leave until I go to sleep. I know they’re scared to leave me by myself and I love them for it. Their fierce need to protect and look after me warms my heart, but it’s no longer needed. They need to focus on getting Sara back on her feet. I know that Harley’s planning on proposing to her, but I’m not sure when he’ll do it.

  She’s stated many times that she wasn’t going to get married if she couldn’t walk down the aisle. I told her that was the dumbest shit I’d ever heard, but she doesn’t care what I think. That girl is one pighea
ded woman. Luckily for her though, she started feeling a tingling sensation in her foot last Thursday. She described it like when your foot goes to sleep. I’m glad she’s starting to get feelings in her legs, but I don’t envy her, I hate it when my foot falls asleep.

  The doctor doesn’t want her trying to get up and walk much, to Sara’s dismay.

  “So what? I’m still rolling, just now with a tingly foot? I thought this was supposed make it better!” Was what she yelled at her doctor the next morning when I took her to her follow-up. One day at a time is how he told us to take this process.

  “Babe? You okay?” Skye calls to me.

  “Yeah. Sorry. I guess I zoned out.” I walked into the kitchen and noticed a new stack of envelopes on the counter.

  I grab the first one and notice it was from my bank. I haven’t worked in a long time, but days before Tom died, $500,000.00 was deposited into my account. I thought it was weird at first and wouldn’t touch it, but as time passed, I started to realize that he knew what was going to happen. I think he knew he was living dangerously and that it was going to catch up to him eventually. I open the envelope and pull out the statement. It looks the same as it always does. I scan the months ending balance and it’s the same as it was last month.

  “What the hell?” I ask aloud.

  “What’s wrong?” Skye walks to me. He sits next to me and studies the papers. A defeated sigh escapes his mouth.

  “Remember when I told you about Jay? How I was being bribed to get her that money back?” I nod. “Well, remember when I told you we found a bank in the Caymans with a shit ton of money in it and how your name’s on it?” I wish he’d just get to the point so that I can stop holding my breath. “Somehow he’s set up a draft from that account to your personal one. If you look at your statement, it shows a direct draft to your account for three thousand dollars a month.” How the hell did I miss all of this? “We need to get you down to the bank. See if they can give you any more information about when all of this was set up.”