Shadows and Dreams (Dream Series Book 2)

by Braxton Hicks

  “Hey baby,” he said pulling me to him and kissing me passionately. “I wanted to surprise you and have the baby fed and in bed. I’ve got our dinner in the oven.”

  “Well, I can see that, Trey. I can’t tell what it is, though.”

  “Actually, Gina made it before she left to go to the club. She told me how long to let it cook. It's some kind of a casserole that has chicken, broccoli and white cream sauce with various cheeses in it was all she told me. I made our salads, though, and they're in the fridge.”

  “Oh, Trey. That's so romantic of you.”

  “I wanted our night to be special. We move day after tomorrow, so this will probably be our last meal here alone before we move.”

  “Yeah, speaking of which—why did Gina go down to the club?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I think she missed Tristan. Ian called her this afternoon while you were sleeping. They argued on the phone and she told him to go to hell. I heard that much of it. She put the casserole in the oven and told me when to take it out. She said she wanted to go and talk to Tristan. I figured she missed him. Anyway, we have this evening to ourselves.”

  Holy shit—what's up with Ian and her arguing? This can’t be good.

  “How about if I go ahead and bathe Preston?” I said to him. “I’ll get her ready for bed and then we can have our dinner.”

  “Okay, babe, I’ll get the table set and pour some wine for us.”

  I went out to get Preston. I bathed her and put her into her pajamas. I put her to bed with some of her toys. She was fairly good about entertaining herself before falling asleep.

  As promised, Trey had set the table and poured us each a glass of wine. He had a fire going in the fireplace and we sat out in the living room, enjoying our alone time. I leaned in to him as the fire crackled warmly.

  He took my wine glass from me and set it on the coffee table along with his. He pulled me over to him, unfastening the belt on my robe and pulling my robe down my shoulders. He noticed the sexy silk nightgown with the plunging neckline that I'd worn. His beautiful sapphire eyes locked with mine and I saw the warmth and passion in them.

  “I want you now, Tylar. I want you right here and now. Is your diaphragm in?”

  I shook my head ‘no.’ “I haven’t been wearing it lately,” I confessed, looking up at him to see his expression.

  He smiled warmly. “I’m glad, baby,” he breathed drawing me in and kissing me hungrily. He shed his clothing right then and there. He pulled the straps down on my silk nightgown, kissing my shoulders as my breasts sprang free.

  He pushed me back onto the couch; his fingers captured a breast, massaging it gently. He lowered his head and his lips found my nipple; he suckled it gently, his tongue swirling around my nipple.

  “Mmmm,” he said, “you taste so good, baby.”

  He went to my other breast, doing the same thing. My sex was dripping wet. I was feeling saucy by this time.

  “I have other nectar for you to enjoy, Trey,” I purred.

  He was between my legs, placing one on each of his shoulders as he lowered his face to my sex. His lips and tongue made love to me there.

  “You taste so sweet, baby,” he breathed against me. His tongue continued to swirl around my clitoris. His fingers explored inside of me, pressing gently against my swelled sweet spot. My breathing was coming faster and I moaned in anticipation of having him inside of me.

  “What baby? Tell me what you want?”

  “I want you to make love to me, Trey. I want you to give me another baby.”

  “Your wish is my command, Tylar.”

  He rose up off of the couch and pulled me with him. He positioned himself into a sitting position on the couch and placed me on his lap, straddling him. I stroked his erection with my hand. He raised me up and positioned me over his erection.

  “Are you wet enough, baby?” he asked.

  “Umm hum,” I answered.

  He straightened his legs out so he was actually in a half-sitting, half-reclined position with his legs spread out in front of him. He gently lowered me down onto his erection. I heard him catch his breath as he fully penetrated me. I squeezed my legs together tightening him inside of me.

  “Careful baby,” he cautioned, “I don’t want to come too quickly. I want us both to enjoy this.”

  I relaxed my legs a bit.

  “That’s my girl,” he said softly, clasping the back of my head with his hand and lowering it to his face. His tongue thoroughly probed my mouth; our tongues playfully danced and explored each other. I felt butterflies each and every place he touched me. His hands massaged my breasts tenderly. His hips gently started a slow and rhythmic thrusting. I could feel myself squeezing him gently.

  His hands lifted my ass up and down as I swiveled my hips in a circular motion, feeling the head of his shaft hitting my special place.

  “Ahh God, baby, what are you doing to me?”

  “I'm loving you, Trey,” I answered him. “I'm loving you with every inch of my body.”

  We both quickened at the same time; his thrusting increased in rhythm, my core contracted tighter in response. We felt our orgasms mounting toward sweet release. Trey stopped his thrusting. I felt his throbbing as I contracted, squeezing his shaft tighter.”

  “Oh, God,” he rasped, as he emptied his love inside of me.

  I whimpered in pleasure as my orgasm pulsated around his. I felt my liquid release join his. I collapsed on top of him, my breathing fast and shallow. I so loved him in every way possible that a woman can love a man. He wrapped his arms around me protectively; his breathing was ragged and shallow. We were both spent.

  “I love you so much, Tylar.”

  “I love you, Trey with all of my heart.”

  We ate our dinner over candlelight at our dining room table. We were affectionate all through the evening. As I climbed into bed that night, thoroughly exhausted and satiated, I knew that life on earth didn’t get much better than this.

  I had so much to be thankful for. I had my Trey and Preston; I'd found my father who I adored and who adored me; I had my best friend, Gina; I had Trey’s wonderful family that I loved dearly.

  God had blessed me in so many ways. Trey and I drifted off into a peaceful slumber in each other’s arms.

  It was much later when we were both awakened by a ruckus coming from Gina and Tristan’s room. I awoke first, hearing the loud voices. I rose up, looking at the clock on the nightstand. It was nearly 1:00 a.m. Trey awakened right after I did.

  “What the hell's going on?” he asked, groggily.

  “I think maybe Tristan and Gina are arguing.”

  “Jesus Christ, what now?”

  We lay there listening to what was taking place.

  “I love you Tristan, can’t you see that?” Gina was crying; her tone was pleading.

  “How can I fucking believe anything you say, Gina?”

  Tristan was enraged. I'd never thought that he had it in him to sound so angry.

  “Because it's the truth, Tristan! Why are you letting Ian come between us?”

  “Me?” he asked, his tone sounding incredulous. “How can you possibly say it’s me? My God, Gina—Ian didn’t come between you and me. No, by God, he came between your fucking legs!”

  “What the hell?” Trey said, starting to get up out of bed.

  “No, stay out of this. It's between Gina and Tristan.”

  “What? What are you saying, Tylar?”

  “I’m just saying that whatever their issue is, it needs to stay between Tristan and Gina. We don’t need to be involved.”

  “I’m thinking that you know exactly what the issue is. You're protecting Gina at the expense of my goddamn brother?”

  Trey was shouting at me; he hadn’t done that in a very long time.

  “Trey it’s not like that at all. I’m not protecting anyone. I don’t want you or me to be involved in this.”

  “It’s too fucking late, Tylar,” he spat. “If you or your fucking BFF, or wh
atever it is you two call each other, have somehow conspired to hurt my brother, then it damn well is my business.”

  “I'd never conspire to hurt anyone, Trey,” I sobbed. “How could you possibly think that?”

  “Then, for the love of God tell me what you know. Tell me now.”

  I was sobbing by this time. I'd completely shut out the argument that was still going on between Gina and Tristan. This had been a perfect night for me and Trey and it had turned into a nightmare in minutes. I relented and told Trey the details of Gina’s pregnancy. He was horrified that I hadn’t told him sooner.

  “You mean to tell me you were going to sit by silently and let that bitch make a fool out of my brother?”

  “Trey, for God sakes, in all likelihood that baby is Tristan’s. I encouraged Gina to be upfront with Tristan because I felt he'd understand. My God, her last time with Ian was before she was ever with Tristan.”

  “Oh, so that makes it alright? She had a fucking obligation to let Tristan know what had happened with her and Ian once she found out she was pregnant.”

  “Trey, I agree with you. Had I been in Gina’s situation, that's exactly what I would've done, but it wasn't my decision to make.”

  “I get that, Tylar,” he replied, “but let’s face it. If anyone has any influence over Gina, it's you. You could have persuaded or convinced her to talk to him.”

  “It wasn't my place to do that and you know it! I’m sorry, but Gina was making her own decisions long before she met me. I don’t come into someone’s life and suddenly take the wheel like that.”

  “Oh, so now what are you saying? You think I’m a ‘Nazi’ just like Gina says?”

  I was totally getting pissed with the whole conversation. It had somehow morphed into a major fight between Trey and me on our magical night together. I suddenly felt like going into the bathroom and giving myself a high-pressured douche, just in case we'd conceived. I didn't deserve to be at the receiving end of his anger.

  “Well, I guess if the swastika fits, counselor…”

  Trey immediately threw the covers off of us and exited the bed with his pillow and a blanket.

  “Where the hell are you going?”

  “I’m going to sleep on the couch, Tylar. I guess I don’t know who you are anymore!”

  He barreled out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I buried my face into the pillow. From somewhere out in the apartment I heard another door slam. I was still sobbing when I felt someone climb up on the bed.

  “Trey,” I said, turning my tear-stained face from the pillow.

  “No, girlfriend, it’s me,” Gina said, whimpering.

  She was all cried out, I could tell.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked her, wiping my eyes.

  “Oh shit, Ty. It was awful. I got a call from Ian late this afternoon. Apparently, someone at the club called him and told him that Tristan had told several of the workers that I was expecting and how thrilled he was by it. He gave them my tentative due date and, of course, one of them, obviously still loyal to Ian, decided to phone him and tell him the good news.”

  Holy shit!

  “So, Ian makes a mad dash to the club and decides to share with Tristan the details of our last interlude including date and time. I told you that it was just several days apart from when Tristan and I first made love.”

  I was horrified at the chain of events that had occurred this evening as a result.

  “So, anyway Tristan, being the sweetie that he is, gave me the benefit of the doubt. You know—he figures Ian's still jealous and just trying to make trouble for us since that last scene at the club a few weeks back, so he blew it off."

  I nodded, waiting for Gina to continue.

  “Then Ian presents Tristan with a piece of mail that he'd picked up from the condo that day he came by to collect his mail from me. It was postmarked the day before I'd received it at the condo. It hadn't been opened and had Ian’s name on it with our condo address. He told Tristan to open it. He said he had no clue about the contents of what was inside, but guaranteed Tristan it would answer the question as to whether Tristan could be 100% positive the baby I carried was his or not. You'll never guess what was inside that envelope.”

  “What?” I asked, practically screeching.

  “It was a letter from the Fulton County Urologists Group where Ian had gone a couple of weeks prior to get his sperm tested for fertility.”

  “A couple of weeks prior?”

  “Oh yeah,” Gina said, “The bastard wouldn’t do it for me when I nagged him to. Seems Shelly wanted to know for sure whether he was sterile or not, so she insisted he get tested and the son of a bitch did!”

  “So, what were the results?”

  “The results were that Ian has a normal sperm count.”

  “Oh my God,” I replied.

  “Yep,” she said. “Naturally, Tristan's all freaked out at me thinking that I purposely withheld this information about Ian, hoping to trap him.”

  “Damn it, Gina,” I hissed, “I told you that you should've told Tristan from the get go!”

  “Please Ty, no lectures.”

  “So, what happened at the end of your argument?” I asked. “By that time, Trey and I were in the middle of our own because he accused me of covering for you.”

  “No shit?”

  “Yeah, Gina, no shit.”

  “Well, Tristan told me I've lied to him by omission and he can’t be with someone he can’t trust, no matter how much he loves her. Then he left.”

  Gina started crying again.

  “Don’t cry, Gina. Let’s get Trey in here and explain everything to him. I know he'll understand once he hears your side of it.”

  “Trey’s not here,” she sobbed.

  “What?”

  “No…after he heard Tristan’s side of the story, the Hot Nazi ducked into the laundry room and got some street clothes on. They both left. I don’t know where they went or if I'll ever see my Tristan again,” she sobbed.

  I was reeling with disbelief. After the wonderful and magical evening Trey and I had spent together, how could he possibly have just walked out like that without telling me? I was devastated and disappointed. I could understand if he wanted to console his brother, but why not let me know he was going out? Why had he put me into the middle of this?

  Gina was still sobbing, which I knew wasn't good for her condition. I needed to make her my first priority.

  “Gina, I'm going to make you some herbal tea and then we're going to get you into bed to rest, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whimpered, still sobbing.

  She was so vulnerable, which wasn't Gina. I knew now she was truly in love with Tristan and a mess over all of this.

  I made her some herbal tea, which seemed to relax her. I helped her change into her jammies and tucked her into bed, convincing her Trey and Tristan would talk and everything would be put into perspective. I bet her that Tristan would be back in her bed by the time she awoke the next morning. I think I succeeded in putting her mind at ease.

  I crawled back into my bed. The bed where just a couple of hours earlier, Trey and I had made love like we never had before, where we'd declared our love and commitment to each other over and over again. I buried my face into Trey’s pillow, smelling his scent and feeling my own tears as they burned a path down my cheeks.

  Epilogue

  North Bay Hospital, July 31st.

  I was pacing back and forth in front of Gina’s hospital bed. I had my cell phone up to my ear, talking to Gina’s Aunt Becky. Gina’s mother was supposed to be here, but since Gina was two weeks early, her mother had to make last minute arrangements at her job in New Jersey in order to get away.

  “She's still at four centimeters, Becky,” I said. “When's her mom planning on getting in here?”

  Just then Gina screamed out in pain.

  “I gotta go, Becky. She's having another contraction.”

  I hurried over to Gina’s side and began coaching her
, just like she'd coached me over a year ago.

  “That’s it Gina,” I said soothingly, “He-he-he, again, he-he-he, that’s right. You're doing great.”

  “Fuck this shit, Ty! I need some meds!”

  “Gina, you've had all of the meds they can give you at the moment. You'll get your epidural once you reach five centimeters, which hopefully will be really, really soon.”

  “I know I’ve been a pain in the ass today to you, Ty,” she said. “It’s just we weren’t expecting little junior this soon, you know?”

  "I know Gina. It's all good. Don't worry."

  Yeah, I know. Could I please have some more ice chips? They really seem to help.”

  “Of course, Gina,” I replied, grabbing the cup. “I'll be right back with your ice chips.”

  I left her room and went out to the hallway, heading down to where the ice machine was located. I decided to phone Jean to check up on Preston. She answered the phone quickly.

  “Hi Jean, it’s me. How's my baby girl doing?”

  “Well, she's perfect, as always. Do you want to talk to her?”

  “Yes, please. Put her on the phone.”

  “Mama,” I heard Preston’s sweet voice over the phone.

  “Hi Preston,” I said. “Aunt Gina's getting ready to have her baby. Isn’t that exciting?”

  “Baabyy!” she squealed, laughing.

  “Are you being good for Jean?” I asked her. She said something I wasn't able to make out, but she finished with a giggle, so it must all be good, I thought. Preston was delighted with feeling my blossoming tummy that held her baby brother or sister. She was constantly laying her head across my belly, trying to hear the baby, as she called it.

  “Mommy loves you, now please give the phone to Jean,” I instructed.

  “Bye, Mama.”

  “Bye, sweet girl.”

  Jean got back on the phone. “Don’t worry about anything here, Tylar,” Jean assured me. “We're doing just fine. You stay with Gina and help her through this. I’ve got everything under control here. Just take care of yourself okay?”

  “I will. Thanks, Jean.”