He finally pulls back, lips swollen. “So you’re going to stop trying to pretend this isn’t a thing?”
“I can’t walk away from a good butt plug,” I say, trying to keep it light so my head and my heart don’t freak out again. I nip his chin. “You’re gonna come so hard when I put it in you.”
He shivers. I can literally feel it. My sweet, ridiculously eager but oblivious… boyfriend. Fuck. How the hell has this happened? I push that question from my head and follow Landon as he walks to his bedroom.
Maybe this isn’t a big deal. Maybe, like everything else about us, it will just miraculously work out against all the odds. Maybe, I’ll get to be in love…
Chapter 30
Landon
When I wake up, my ass is sore, and it makes me smile. Grady fingered me for the first time last night while giving me the most mind-bending blow job. I keep my eyes closed as I float back to consciousness. The air is cool against my face, but my body is warm because of the duvet and the big, thick leg thrown over mine, and the arm possessively lying across my chest.
I’m on my back, and Grady is curled into my side. I inhale slowly and exhale a sigh of contentment. He must be waking up, too, because his lips move against my shoulder.
“Rise and shine, boys. We need to talk.”
It takes a second to register the voice because it can’t be real. Angela isn’t here. In Maine. In this house. But when my eyes fly open, there she is, beside the bed. Her hair’s longer, a slightly different color. She’s pale. She looks different, but it’s her.
Grady wakes and immediately sits up, pushing himself to the corner of the bed, away from me. He takes the sheets with him, so I’m naked and exposed. I grab his pillow and cover myself. Angela doesn’t look shocked or heartbroken at what she’s seeing, which I’m sure included my morning boner. She just sighs.
“Get dressed. I’ll be in the living room.” She pauses, puts a hand on her stomach, which is… holy shit. “Correction. We’ll be in the living room.”
She closes the door behind her, and I just stare at it. This has got to be a nightmare. I’m still sleeping. This isn’t real. It can’t be. Grady stands first, his hands dive into his hair, and he curses. I blink over and over and debate pinching myself. Because this can’t be real.
Grady is pulling on his underwear and then track pants. As he reaches for the hoodie, he looks at me. The panic in his eyes is palpable. “Get up!” he demands in a voice that can barely be called a whisper.
I start to move, but my brain is frozen in that bed, looking at Angela’s small, round stomach. A pair of pajama bottoms hits me in the chest. I catch them before they fall to the floor. “She’s… she’s… that’s…”
I pull on the bottoms, and Grady hands me a shirt as he blows by me. He’s got the bedroom door open and his suitcase handle in one hand as he steps into the living room. “I’ll leave you two to?—”
“There’s a slight possibility it’s yours, Garrison, so I suggest you stick around.”
I step into the living room, and my knees feel like they’ve been replaced with Play-Doh. Angela is standing by the couch. Her arms crossed over her chest. “It’s colder than a witch’s tit in here. Why?”
“The power was out. I… think maybe the generator turned off overnight…” Grady looks around like he’s lost. I think he is, in every way possible.
I walk to the door that leads to the back porch, step out onto the icy wooden deck, and double-check the connection. It was loose. I fix it, and the generator hums back to life. I head back into the house. Yep. My ex-girlfriend is there and still looks pregnant.
“So, I see I was right about you two.”
“What? No.” It’s a really stupid reflex to argue after she found us naked in bed together, but for some reason, my mouth does it anyway.
“I don’t mind. Honestly,” Angela says, and she looks… tired. Exhausted actually. There are dark circles under her light eyes and a paleness to her skin I haven’t seen in… ever. “I’m not here to win you back or force you back because of this.”
She points to her stomach again. Both Grady and I stare at it like it’s an atomic bomb. She clears her throat when it’s obvious we’re riveted. I glance up at her. “It’s likely yours, Landon. I mean, the odds are in your favor, but there was… fluid from both of you, so I’ll take a paternity test if you guys want it.”
“I don’t think… I mean, I’m sure it’s Landon’s,” Grady says in a voice that is shaking with lack of confidence.
“I don’t know if I can even have kids, remember?” I say.
“This is probably proof you don’t need to take that sperm count test.” She walks over to the couch. “Can I sit?”
I nod, and she basically collapses onto it. She really looks beyond tired. “Can I get you a drink? Water? Juice?”
“Do you have any of that mint ginger tea you used to drink after the chemo? The stuff that helped with nausea?” she asks.
“I think there’s some…”
