I grab her head, pulling her closer until our lips mesh. “Let’s see how romantic you think I am when I make you scream my fucking name as you come.”
Anita
The weeks since Dec and I admitted our feelings passed by smoothly and there have been zero interactions with Christian, who I now know without doubt was not and had never been called Tristan. That had just been another layer of his deception.
I pace the floor, waiting for Dec to finish getting ready for our night out. We are meeting with my family to break the news of us. I am clueless about how my family will react. Liv will be there and undoubtedly soften any blows that come my way and will intervene to lighten things up if our dad gets a little terse about things. Of course, with Liv and her now obvious pregnant belly, comes Mase who will certainly have Dec’s back if things become unpleasant. I am overthinking things with thoughts of unpleasantness.
“You all set, Cupcake,” Dec says, coming up behind me to pull me in for a warm embrace.
I spin and smile at the sight of him in well fitted black suit trousers and a white shirt that has the top couple of buttons undone. God, he looks amazing and so effortlessly stylish too.
“You look like you should be on the cover of a magazine.”
He rolls his eyes. “And this dress.” He tugs at the tie of the dark denim wrap dress I am wearing. “Looks like it should be on the bedroom floor.”
“Cheesy.”
My accusation is greeted with a shrug.
“Okay, let me try again. You would look better on the end of my dick.”
I smack his chest this time.
“Fuck me! I will never understand women. I give you cheesy, you don’t like it. I give you romance and that’s wrong!”
I roar with laughter. “That was many things, but none of them were romance.”
“We need to go, or we’ll be the last to arrive and Mase will be getting all tetchy at trying to keep a secret.”
I laugh, knowing he is right, especially when I consider how he outed Liv’s pregnancy in the middle of dad making a birthday toast for my mum.
~~~
I feel nervous for us both as we stand at the entrance to the restaurant. My breathing is heavy, and I am trying not to hyperventilate. I have no idea why I am this nervous, apart from the fact that my dad openly disapproves of Dec and what he perceives as his poor man’s Hugh Hefner lifestyle, oh, and because I have never brought a boyfriend home. Not unless you count Matthew Mitchell when I was fourteen-years-old. That might be a good reason for my nervousness because my brothers were dickheads to him and my dad was embarrassingly threatening, ridiculously so considering he was the same age as me.
“Let’s do this.” Dec is already leading me through the door and across the restaurant to where my family are.
The raised eyebrows and knowing glances confirm that everyone except for my dad has got the message that us arriving together, my hand in Dec’s, means he is the boyfriend I am introducing them all to. My dad seems to be holding court, gesturing and laughing as he tells some story.
We come to stand alongside my mum who smiles up at us while Mase gets to his feet to greet us, unlike my brothers who grin at us. My stepbrother, Scott, looks uncomfortable as he nods in our direction. Liv springs to her feet and rushes to hug me before kissing Dec, and that seems to be when Dad notices who I am with.
He scowls silently, then, a little reluctantly, accepts the hand Dec offers him.
“Sit down, everyone. Lovely to see you again, Declan,” my mum says, setting about easing the obvious tension.
The vacant seats for us are situated next to Liv and Scott. Dec takes the seat next to my sister and just one place away from his brother while I settle between Dec and Scott.
The whole experience is a little surreal and although everyone makes conversation, my dad’s relatively quiet and when I look up, I find his attention is on me or Dec.
My mum is aware of it too, and she keeps trying to distract my dad with conversation, but her attempts aren’t what you could call successful.
“Are you going to find out the gender of the baby?” Is one of her attempts to deflect attention from us.
Mase looks at Liv, who shrugs. “We haven’t really decided. Neither of us mind if it’s a boy or a girl so there’s no real need to know.”
Mum nods.
“What about a baby shower?” Dad asks. “They’re all the rage.”
