Trooper
“Trooper, I’m fine. Will you stop hovering, please?” Sophie frowned at me as I stood over where she sat on the sofa with her laptop propped on her knees. She had been searching for a new place all morning and it pissed me off.
I understood she didn’t want to be in her old apartment after what had gone down with Oscar, but she could stay with me. I had plenty of room and had even suggested clearing one room out so she could decorate it for the baby.
“I know you’re fine, but I still don’t understand why you feel like you need to rush to get another place. I don’t mind you being here. You already know that.”
I was trying my best not to let my true feelings show, but it was hard because I felt that anger radiating from my body, so it had to show in my expression.
“Because it makes sense. This baby will be here soon and the last thing I need is to be stuck trying to get settled into a new place with a baby and?—”
“Then it don’t make sense to do all that right now. Just stay here. Damn, you act like I’m putting you out.” My words came out strong, even though that wasn’t my intention.
“This is your place, Trooper. I’m not trying to force myself into your life like that. We’re already figuring things out with this baby. Moving in together is a big deal. It’s one thing if we spend a few nights together, but living together is completely different.”
“You meant what you said, I see,” I muttered, then walked off.
“Meant what?”
I heard her behind me, and sure enough, she was right there when I entered the kitchen.
“That you only wanted to co-parent. I see we’re still on that shit.”
Her expression dropped and she looked upset, but I really didn’t care. “No, it’s not about that, but things are moving so fast I don’t want you to feel obligated. That’s the fastest way for things to go wrong. We’re in a good place, Trooper, and I don’t want to mess that up by making a spur of the moment decision like that.”
“Obligated?” I laughed. “Sophie, I’m with you because I want to be. If I’m telling you to stop looking for gotdamn apartments, it’s because I want you here. Does that sound like I feel obligated?”
She looked at me with a blank stare before a smile stretched across her face.
“I’m not a mind reader, Trooper. You have to tell me what you want.”
“I told you, the fuck you mean?”
“No, you really didn’t. You just kept telling me I didn’t have to leave right now. That’s not ‘Sophie I want you to stay’ or ‘I want you to move in with me’. I know this is all new for you, but you have to tell me what you want. If I assume and get it wrong, that complicates things, but if you just tell me, there’s no question about what you want.”
I couldn't really say shit. She was right. Before now, I had never actually said I wanted her to live with me. I just kept trying to shut down her finding her own place.
“So you think you know shit, huh?”
“A little bit.”
She smirked and I lifted her onto the counter and separated her legs with my body. It had only been a few days since she had been home from the hospital, so the bruises were fading but still noticeable. I got pissed every time I laid eyes on them.
Leaning in to kiss her, I enjoyed the feel of her lips on mine, then pulled back.
“I want you to live here. You and the baby.”
“And what about all the women who feel they have the right to show up here?”
I chuckled. “Man, you damn near live here now. Have you seen any women at my door?”
“No, but it could happen, and if it does, I’m fucking them up and you too for not making it clear that you’re taken.”
“It’s cute as hell when you talk like that, but ain't nobody gon’ believe it, Sophie. You ain't scaring nobody.”
“It’s not cute. I mean it.”
“So you knocking bitches out just for showing up at my door?”
