“It gets worse,” Adrianvolunteered.
As Sterling shot him a look, trying to see what was going on, Clarissa dropped her hand and blinked in surprise. “It getsworse?”
Adrian returned Sterling’s look with quiet joy and mischief, and Sterling knew what he was about to say before he said anything. Sterling nodded to express his consent, and Adrian looked Clarissa in the eyes and dropped the bomb. “I’mpregnant.”
Clarissa paused. She looked between the two of them, then chuckled. “Right. Gorilla Glue makes you do crazy things,right?”
Neither Sterling nor Adrian replied. The laughter faded from Clarissa’s face and was replaced with doubt. “…Right? This is where you laugh, guys. Ha ha, it’sfunny…”
In response, Adrian tightened his t-shirt until it exposed the bump that would soon be impossibletohide.
“…and now you’re going to tell me you just ate monster burritos for lunch, or something.” Clarissa’s confidence was rocked. She met Sterling’s eyes, searching for answers. All Sterling could give her was thetruth.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to wait until I was sure we were going to see the pregnancythrough,and—”
“Sterling!” Clarissa’s voice quivered, it had risen so high. “Ohmygod!”
Sterling barely had time to release Adrian before Clarissa was on him. She locked her arms around his neck and hugged him with such ferocity that he had to take a step back to brace himself. He hugged her in return,grinning.
“I didn’t even know you were dating anyone. You’re going to be thebestfather. That baby is the luckiest baby ever to have you as a dad. Ask me howIknow.”
“How do you know?” Sterlingchuckled.
“Because you raised me, and look how excellent I turned out.” Clarissa pulled back and beamed at him. “You’re not kidding, right? Thisisreal?”
“Veryreal.”
“Then I’m happy for you. I really am. And one of these nights, you’re going to have to sit me down with a beer so you can tell me all about the, uh…” She looked at Adrian nervously, then back to Sterling. “Theabridgedversion of what happened, because I know him, and I know you, and that’s honestlygross.”
Sterling laughed, letting it out from deep inside. No matter what happened in his life, there would always be constants he could count on. If there ever came a day that Clarissa didn’t call him gross, he knew he’d be introuble.
“So what’s going on with you two, then?” Clarissa looked between them, directing the conversation all on her own. “Are you dating? Engaged? Is this some sort of baby pact? I have so manyquestions.”
“And the answers to all of them are complicated.” Sterling glanced in Adrian’s direction, but Adrian didn’t look like he was ready to volunteer any information or clarify how he felt. In Sterling’s mind, they were a couple. He’d fallen for Adrian in the small moments they’d shared. The transition had been so seamless that Sterling hadn’t even noticed until he was head over heels. But Adrian? Sterling didn’t know his side of the story. They’d never talked about it, and he would not put words in Adrian’smouth.
Although they loved to play with power dynamics, he was not Adrian’s Master any more than Adrianwashis.
“What are you doing this Monday night?” Sterling asked. “I’ll take you out for that beer if youaren’tbusy.”
“My schedule’s free.” Clarissa looked between them once more and shook her head. Then she met Adrian’s eyes. “You know, I don’t know the circumstances behind what’s happening, but what I do know is that it takes a hell of a lot to make Sterling not show up at the club. One time he cut off the tip of his finger while making dinner and hestillcame down. So you’re a bigger life-changing event than minor amputation, and that means that I’m happy you’re in his life. Even if this is kind of out of the blue, you obviously mean something to him, so you mean something tome,too.”
“Thank you.” Adrian leaned Sterling’s way, so Sterling wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. Sterling hadn’t realized how much how much those small moments meant to him, but the way Adrian fit so well against him stitched the void in Sterling’s chestclosed.
After his mother’s death, he’d done his best to preserve the integrity of his family, but now family had found him. Sterling vowed to never make the same mistakes his father had—he would be there for his child as he’d been there for Clarissa, and as he hoped to be for Adrian andGabriel.
“I’m going to jet.” Clarissa stepped around them, heading for the street. “I’ll text you later about that beer, okay, Sterling? We’ll set something up. Even if all you have to give me are vague non-answers, we can at least get down to business and talk about other things—like when the baby shower’s going to be, or when the due date is, or if I’m going to be an aunt to a little boy or alittlegirl.”
“It’s actually an octopus.” Adrian smirked. “One night, we were getting reallykinky,and—”
“Aaand I’m out.” Clarissa danced back, her steps wide and hurried. “Have fun, you two. See you soon, Sterling. I’m happyforyou.”
Sterling said his goodbye, but he had no idea if Clarissa heard. After Adrian’s remark, she was in a hurry toleave.
“An octopus?” Sterling asked as they climbed the stairs to thepenthousedoor.
“I figured it wasn’t a stretch, with the tentacles and everything.” Adrian shrugged. “She works at The Shepherd. It wasn’t like I could talk about something vanilla, like caning yourballs.”
“Hmm?” A twinge of arousal twitched Sterling’s cock. “Caning my balls? That’s something we haven’texploredyet.”
