“Just tell me what you want from me, Alicia. What more can I do? Iloveyou, and you're breaking my heart.” He shakes his head, looking tortured.
“Please, can we talk about this when I’ve been to the bathroom?” I hold the bottom of my stomach and squeeze my legs together, letting him see how uncomfortable I’m getting.
“It ain’t nice being denied something you need, is it, darlin’?” He tilts his head at me; that poor, helpless look turning bitter.
“Greaser?” I stare up at him, wondering what the hell has gotten into him. I get he’s hurt that my parents didn’t know about us, but all this feels like a slight overreaction.
“Tell me what you want, baby. You want me to let you scream his name instead of mine?” He roughly grabs hold of my chin and forces me to stay focused on him. “You want me to bone you from behind so you don’t have to look at me?”
“Where is all this coming from? I don’t want any of that. Me and Griller were just a one-time thing. Please, let me pass,” I plead, because holding my bladder is really starting to hurt.
“You could bring yourself to have aone-time thingwith him, but you can’t make love to me?” He laughs cruelly.“You made our child with him, that's gotta count for somethin’. You must be wishin’ it was him standing here, instead of me.”
“Right now, I wish no one was standing there at all. Ireallyneed the bathroom.” I laugh as I try to move forward, then gasp in fear when he uses the hold he has on my face to force me back and slam my shoulders against the wardrobe.
“This ain’t a fuckin’ joke, Alicia.” He presses his forehead so tight against mine I can feel the rage throbbing inside him, and I close my eyes with shame when I lose control, the trickle spilling down my thighs and seeping between my toes.
“I’m just trying to tell you how I feel,” Greaser whispers, his tone much calmer, and the tension in his hands slowly releasing.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, tears streaming down my face as I look at the mess between my legs.
“I just want you to love me, the way I love you.” He strokes my face tenderly and wipes away my tears. “Our baby girl will be here soon. I want her to be raised properly. I want her to have everything me and Griller didn’t have growing up.” He smiles fondly as he looks down at my tummy and strokes it. “She’s going to be the most loved little girl in the world,” he promises, kissing my lips as they tremble.
“Oh no, you’ve had an accident, darlin’.” He grabs my head in both his hands, lowering it so he can kiss my crown. “We'd better get you cleaned up.” Moving away from me, he heads to the bathroom, while I stare at the space in front of me and try to figure out what the hell just happened.
“You want to talk about your folks?” Greaser is back to his cheery self in the morning, when I’ve got out of the shower and made my way into the kitchen.
“Not right now.” I take a seat at the table and stare at the plate of food he’s prepared. He’s made me pancakes for breakfast every morning since he moved in, and I’m starting to struggle to get them down.
“Come on, get stuck in, our little one must be hungry.” He pulls out the chair for me.
“You can tell me all about your parents while you eat.” Picking up my fork, he stabs at one of the strawberries on my plate and holds it to my mouth.
“Greaser, you don’t have to feed me.” I shake my head, already feeling sick.
“I know I don’t, but I want to. You know how much I enjoy taking care of you both.” He presses the fork against my lips, and I dutifully open, sliding the strawberry from the fork with my teeth and chewing.
“That's a good girl,” he tells me, looking satisfied. “Now, why don’t you talk to your mom and dad?” he asks once I’ve swallowed.
“We do talk, we’re just not close,” I explain, not wanting to get into it with him. Talking about what happened will trigger me, and right now, with all that’s going on, I need to be strong.
“It upset me that you hadn’t told them about us. I reacted badly. I’m sorry for that,” he tells me, all his focus is on cutting up my pancake before he feeds me another bite.
“I’m sorry I never told them, I just haven’t spoken to them since we became a thing. Everything happened so fast and?—”
“Family is important, Alicia. I’m sure whatever they did can be forgiven; we want our daughter to have her grandparents in her life.” He strokes his hand over my belly as he continues to feed me. “It’s okay. I’m not mad, I’m just a little hurt.” He lookswounded as he forks more food into my mouth, and I get to the point where I can’t swallow another bite.
“Greaser, I can’t. I’m full.” I smile politely.
“I don't think little Iris is done yet. Pancakes are her favorite; she always gets active for her daddy when she’s had his pancakes.” He rubs my full stomach some more as he laughs. “Come on, you can finish up this plate for her.” He coaxes my lips open with the fork again, and I do as he says, fighting the urge to throw up and somehow managing to clear the plate.
“Well done, Mommy.” He kisses me before getting up from the table and taking the plate to the sink.
“What the fuck are you doing here? I told you I didn't want to see anyone.” I glare at Dev angrily when I open the cabin door and see him standing on the other side.
“It was my idea.” His old lady pushes herself past his huge frame and steps up in front of me, folding her arms and looking unimpressed.
Dev lowers his eyes over his girl's head and just shrugs.
