by Knight, Amie
Ella was looking at the menu, but I knew for a fact they came here often enough she already knew what she was getting. She was my routine girl. So, at first I thought she was ignoring Luk again.
I was surprised when she said, “But you said you and me were taking her on a date.”
Luk full on smiled. “You got me there, kiddo.”
“That’s right,” she sang back with sass and I tried not to laugh again. But completely failed.
We ordered drinks and food and made small talk about what Ella was working on at school and where I was taking the kids on their trip this month. Lukas talked about football and pain in the ass Mason, he called him. But it was said with so much affection I knew that he really liked the guy.
We were on dessert when the inquisition started. I was totally unprepared. Totally caught off guard. It was like I was back in the bed this morning buck ass naked while Luk was in the shower and Ella was standing over me in her workout clothes. It felt exactly the same and I shrunk into my seat when the first question flew from her mouth.
“Are ya’ll having a baby?”
“What? No!” I answered quickly, ducking down like maybe I could disappear if I tried hard enough.
Luk followed me up with a patient, “Not right now. Right now, Scarlett and I are just dating, but one day if we decide to, we might.”
I sucked in too fast and felt it. I was going to choke. He was trying to kill me. Did he say we might have a baby one day? I mean, the whole we were dating thing was shocking enough. Yes, he’d told me outside this was a date but did one singular date constitute “officially dating”? And babies? Why was this happening?
Luk pushed my water across the table at me like he knew I was going to die if I didn’t have a sip. I slung it back, taking a big gulp, wishing I’d ordered an adult beverage instead. How had this happened? How had we gone from a front porch kiss the night before to dating and having babies?
Ella turned to face me. “Are you living with us?”
I shook my head ready to answer, but Luk cut me off. “Not yet. But I’d definitely like her to one day. Would that be okay with you, Ells?”
I wanted to shout what the fuck but I didn’t want to scare the crap out of Ella, so I only smiled at her, but I was positive my face looked panic stricken. He wanted me to move in eventually? I felt like maybe we should have talked about this before, ya know, before talking about it with Ella.
Ella looked at me and then back at Luk and answered, “I don’t mind. But she has to make brownies sometimes.”
And even though I felt myself soften at her sweet words and her love of my brownies, I glared across the table at Luk who only winked back at me with a small smile. Damn him.
It was the final question that really did me in. That really reached into my heart and squeezed.
“Will you still be my teacher?” It was said so quietly, so softly and sweet. I lifted one arm instinctively and placed it around Ella’s shoulders, hugging her to me.
“Of course, I’m going to be your teacher. I love teaching you. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
I looked over at Luk. “I have an appointment with Vice Principal Vega tomorrow to discuss my relationship with y’all.”
I said y’all because in truth, it wasn’t just Luk who was involved in this. It was Ella, too. I’d checked the teacher handbook for The Cottage House and there wasn’t anything in particular there about dating a student’s guardian or parent, but I still felt like running it past Vice Principal Vega would be for the best.
Luk seemed happy with my answer because he leaned across the table and took my hand that wasn’t wrapped around Ella. “My girl,” he said softly.
But not softly enough.
“I thought I was your girl?” Ella asked, looking upset and this was exactly what I hoped to avoid. I never wanted to upset Ella. I prayed that Luk and I didn’t screw this whole thing up, for her more than anything. I didn’t want her caught in the crossfires of a relationship gone bad. Because that seemed like what this was now. A relationship. We had a lot more at stake than just ourselves.
But I should have known Luk would have the whole thing under control. He slid his free palm across the table and grabbed for Ella’s hand this time.
“You’re my girl, too, Ellie Bellie.” He gave her a soft smile. “Always. Is it alright if Scarlett is my girl, too, now?”
Ella looked between the two of us, clearly contemplating things. I held my breath along with Luk’s hand. I hoped she knew how much I loved her. How I’d never take Luk from her. How part of why I loved him was because he loved her so dearly.
Those flutters were back at full speed and I wanted to place my hand to my chest to keep them from flying right out but I didn’t want to let go of Luk’s hand. God, I loved him so.
“Okay,” Ella said, breaking my train of thought like it wasn’t a big deal. Like Luk and I weren’t over here shaking in our boots waiting on her answer.
“Good, Ells,” Luk breathed, letting our hands go and leaning back in the booth, his eyes darting from me to Ella. “My girls,” he said again softly, his eyes thick and rich like melted chocolate.
“Lulu, Ella, and Lettie,” Ella chimed in, obviously not wanting to leave Lukas out.
His smile widened. “Yep, Lulu, Ella, and Lettie. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”
I couldn’t help but smile, too. Because, God, it did. It sounded so, so good.
“Dibs.” I kissed the spot under her ear she loved. “Dibs.” I kissed her cheek. “Dibs.” And then her lips. “Dibs.” Then her nose.
“You can’t just call dibs on people’s body parts, Lukas.” She giggled beneath me.
I moved down her body until my face was right between her legs. “What were you saying?” I asked, my mouth an inch from her pussy.
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” she sang back. “Who am I to argue? Have me.”
I leaned in, giving her clit a slow lick that immediately set her thighs to trembling. Fuck, but I loved how responsive she was to me. It turned me on. It made me impossibly hard and I’d already had her this morning. It didn’t seem like I’d ever tire of her. And we’d been doing this plenty over the last several weeks.
I slid one finger inside of her, fucking her with it, thinking how tight she still was. Yeah, I didn’t have to call dibs on this pussy. It was all fucking mine. No other man had ever touched it and if I had anything to say about it, no other ever would. I licked and sucked and fucked her with my fingers and tongue until she came all in my mouth.
She lay there languid and worn out while I crawled up her body, stopping at her breasts to give both her nipples a suck before whispering, “Dibs,” right between them with a smile.
“You’re awful,” Scarlett said, laughing.
I lay next to her in the bed. “And by awful you mean an amazing lover.”
She swatted half-heartedly at my chest with her hand. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“I have to go to practice.” I didn’t want to leave her. It was the same every morning.
“Mmm, I’m still sleepy. I think I’m going back to sleep.”
I noticed the dark circles under her eyes and worried maybe she was getting sick. “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, just super tired lately.” She gave me an evil grin. “I think you’re wearing me out.”
She was wearing me out, too, but the last almost two months had been the best of my life.
I faked right and tried to run the ball in. I was almost to the goal line when Mason’s big ass head got me right in the gut.
“Jesus!” I yelled from the ground.
“Get up, Lucy, you big pussy.”
I laughed. It was a hot afternoon at practice and I was getting my ass handed to me, but I was still in a fucking fabulous mood. I was going home to Ella and Scarlett soon.
Mason gave me his hand and I took it. He dragged me from the ground. “You must be getting laid. Scarlett finally give into your ugly ass?”
I raised an eyebrow. “If I�
�m ugly, then what the fuck are you?”
“A sexy, badass motherfucker,” he answered too quickly and laughed. “So? What’s going on with you and Scar?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.” It was cliché as fuck, but I wasn’t telling. I wasn’t telling him that I’d had her in my bed the past several weeks. I wasn’t telling him I’d left her in bed all nice, warm, and sexed up this morning. That every night she was in bed waiting for me.
That I was living the damn dream. I was taking care of my sister. I had an amazing girlfriend. And I was the quarterback of the fucking Alabama Cougars. My momma would have been so proud.
My heart was hammering in my chest like an entire band of drums. My hands shook as I held the test below me and tried not to get pee on my hand because gross.
I hardly noticed the sounds of Ollie moving around our small apartment on the other side of my bedroom door. I had never been more thankful than right at this moment that my bathroom was an en suite.
I was supposed to be at Luk’s tonight like I was most nights now. He was making pork chops on the grill, but I’d called and told him I wasn’t feeling well. I wasn’t feeling well was code for I need to take a pregnancy test. Or ten.
I shook off the test a bit and pulled it from between my legs. It said three minutes. That’s how long it would take to get an answer positive or negative, but as I went to put the cap on it, it was there, the tiny plus sign that made my heart feel like it was somewhere in my throat. No. But it said three minutes. This couldn’t be right. It had to be a defective test.
With my breath coming a mile a minute, I tore into the box of the pregnancy test like a savage. Lucky for me, I’d bought the bonus pack of three tests. I drank what felt like a gallon of water straight from the faucet, once again like a damn crazy person sat back on the toilet, and tore both tests open with my teeth.
Nope. The first test was wrong. That was too fast. It said three minutes. It had only been like two seconds.
I peed on the next two tests in record time, but as soon as I looked at them the little plus signs were there. With shaking hands, I grabbed the box I’d ripped and pieced it back together enough to read the directions, because surely the plus meant I wasn’t pregnant at all but just a little bloated and maybe had a bit of a stomach bug. That was it. This test must give a plus for being sick.
Jesus. Now I was really reaching. The box only proved exactly what I knew already. I was pregnant. I was pregnant with Lukas’s baby. A baby I was positive he wasn’t ready for. Hell, he was still trying to cope with the loss of his mom and he had Ella to worry about. This wasn’t going to be good news for him.
I sat on the bathroom floor in my panties and had a good old-fashion pity party but without the booze because I was pregnant. My ass was cold on the tile, but I didn’t care. I deserved it, even. How did I go from virgin to pregnant in seven weeks flat? Only freaking me.
A tear ran down my cheek and I rubbed my hand over my stomach. Was I ready for a baby? I sure as hell wasn’t married like I was supposed to be. My momma and daddy would definitely have something to say about that. True, things were going amazingly well between Luk and me, but that didn’t mean either of us was ready for a baby.
I looked down at my flat stomach. Ready or not, though, it was happening.
And how it happened, well, who the hell knew. We’d been careful. I wasn’t on birth control because prior to Luk, I wasn’t having sexy times, but we did use condoms every time without fail.
Leaving the pregnancy test on the tiled floor, I left the bathroom and crawled to my bed and then creeped inside and tried not to cry. This was Luk’s baby. And I loved him. This was a good thing, even if I wasn’t ready for it. He was good to Ella. No matter if he loved me or not, Luk took care of his responsibilities. He was a good man. At least I could count on that.
I burrowed under the covers and reached my hand out to search for my phone on my nightstand. Once I found it, I called Hazel. She was the one who’d suspected it. I hadn’t been feeling well for a week. I was convinced I’d had a stomach bug. She had mentioned I might need to go buy a pregnancy test. Now, I was realizing what a bad idea that was. Ignorance was bliss.
She answered practically before it even rang, “Well?”
“You were right.”
She gasped. “What?”
“I said you were right.” My voice was muffled by the bedding over and under me.
“Oh. My. God.”
“Nope. Not God. Not immaculate conception. Just Lukas Callihan’s super sperm.”
The line was dramatically quiet and I felt a tear trek down my face.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“Yep,” I could barely get it out. I was going to lose it.
“Have you told him yet?”
“No.”
“God, what are you going to do?”
I wiped the tears from my face on the sheets below me. “I don’t have a fucking clue. I need to tell him.”
“Yeah,” she breathed, still sounding in awe and slightly terrified. “It’s gonna be okay. You just have to tell him. Luk’s a good guy.”
Looked like we were all giving ourselves the same pep talk. A light knock at the door interrupted our conversation.
“Go away, Ollie!” I couldn’t deal with him right now. I couldn’t even deal with myself.
“Baby, it’s me. Coming in!” Luk called back, followed quickly by the door creaking open.
“Shit, gotta go,” I whispered into the phone to Hazel and hung up as fast as lightning. I lay there as still as possible, a lump under my thick covers, hoping he wouldn’t see me there. Praying he left because he thought I wasn’t in the room even though I’d just called him Ollie and told him to go away.
It was hot as hell under the covers all of a sudden and my breath sounded so very inconveniently loud.
I heard footsteps and then silence. And I wondered if maybe he looked around the room and realized I wasn’t there and then checked the bathroom. Oh, God. Not the bathroom. And in the same day that I thanked God for the en suite in my room I was cursing it. I’d left the damn pregnancy tests on the floor. All five million of them.
I wasn’t just hot anymore. I was sweating bullets. If he found those, the gig was up. He was too quiet. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Where was he?
And still I lay there like a damn wuss.
I felt one side of the bed dip and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. But he didn’t make a move other than to just sit there.
“You’re pregnant.”
Two words that would change our lives forever. My breath caught. My eyelids snapped closed hard, but still tears leaked from them. I didn’t say anything. What was there to say? It was the truth. Whether he liked it or not.
“Scarlett.”
My breath was still caught somewhere in my throat as a torrential downpour of tears bombarded my face. I couldn’t have said anything if I’d wanted to. And I damn sure didn’t. I wasn’t ready. I’d just found out. I wasn’t ready to talk about it with him.
“Red, I know you’re under there.”
I finally breathed out and sucked another bit of air in before sobbing out, “No one’s home.”
He must have heard the distress and tears in my voice because the covers were ripped back and almost immediately I was in his warm, jean-clad lap and my face was buried in his white T-shirt that smelled like cotton and trees during the winter. I breathed and let out another deep sob while he rubbed small circles on my back and kissed the top of my head.
“Don’t cry, baby. It’s going to be okay.”
I looked up at his face. “Are you mad?”
His face was full of confusion. “Why would I be mad?”
I just stared at him. I didn’t know why I expected him to be mad. Maybe because it was too soon. Maybe because it wasn’t planned.
“Because I’m pregnant with your baby!” I yelled.
Two seconds later, my bedroom door flew open and Ollie was there. “You’re p
regnant?” he thundered.
Picking up a pillow off my bed, I chucked it at his head. “Get out, Ollie. Now!” I screamed like a madwoman because I was. I was freaking crazy.
Ollie closed the door quietly because I think he could sense I was completely insane.
Luk grabbed my chin to hold my eyes steady to his. He used his other hand to wipe the tears from my eyes. “How could I possibly be mad that the love of my life is going to have my baby?” His eyes blazed down at me. Full of something more than passion. Love.
I blinked, stunned, my heart feeling like it stopped. My lungs felt like they’d seized up. “The love of your life?”
He rested his forehead to mine. “You have to know I’m head over heels in love with you, Red. How could you not?”
I brought my hands up and cradled each side of his face. “But you never said.”
“I was giving you time. But in the meantime I was trying to show it. Every day. Scarlett, I could never be mad about you having my baby. It’s what I dream of. You living with me and Ella. Us getting married and having a shit-ton of kids. This may be a little out of order and a little sooner than we expected, but we’re gonna be fine. Because I love you and hopefully you love me?”
I pressed a soft closed mouth kiss to his lips. “I’ve loved you since I was fourteen years old, Mister Quarterback.”
“Then I’d say it was high time you had my baby,” he joked.
“But what if I suck at being a parent?”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes at me. “It’s not possible.”
“How do you know?” I cried.
“Because you’ve had lots of practice. Because children are your life. Because we’re in this thing together.”
More tears poured down my face as I realized there wasn’t anyone in the world I’d rather be in this together with than Lukas. He was right. It was going to be okay. Even if we had done things all kinds of backward.
My hands fell from his face and I backed away so I could really see him when I said this. “Thank you, Luk.”
“For what, baby?”
“For not letting me down. For being a damn rock. I freaked the hell out.”
