Chapter 14
Dean
“Hope you’re okay with girl dinner,” Ari says over her shoulder, flashing me an apologetic smile as she leads us toward her kitchen.
“I mean, I’m never one to complain about anything food related, but what exactly does girl dinner entail?”
“Only the best food ever,” she tells me as she pulls out a pot and fills it with water. “Pasta with butter and parmesan cheese, with a side of garlic bread. AKA the only thing that doesn’t make me immediately hurl.”
“Sounds perfect to me. What can I help with?”
She shrugs, bringing the pot to the stove where she adds some oil and simple spices before turning on the burner then preheating the oven. “Nothing. That’s the beautiful thing about girl dinner. It requires very little effort.”
Leaning against the island, I watch her closely and decide to ease into the conversations we need to have.
“Has morning sickness been bad?”
Ari snorts out a laugh and crosses her arms as she turns to me. “Whoever decided to call it morning sickness deserves a smack on the side of the head. The only time I’m not sick is when I’m sleeping.”
I cringe, which only makes Arianna laugh harder.
“It’s fine. I’m getting used to it. Now what I don’t think I’ll get used to are these damn boobs.”
My eyes immediately drop to her chest, and sure enough, it’s obvious what she’s referring to.
Her breasts have always been perfect in my eyes, slightly more than a handful and absolutely mesmerizing when she’s bouncing on my dick.
And right now? They somehow look even fuller. It’s an effort not to drool.
“I mean, you won’t hear me complaining about them.”
She rolls her eyes but still smiles while mumbling something under her breath. She turns to grab a box of pasta from the cupboard behind her and my eyes trail down her backside to admire her round ass.
Fuck, she is perfect.
“Dean?”
Shaking my head, I find Ari staring at me with a knowing smirk. It’s clear she asked me something, but I was too busy admiring her to hear.
“Sorry, what?”
“How many pieces of garlic bread do you want?” She holds up the box of bread.
“Uh, two.”
While she pops a few pieces into the oven, I try to stay focused on the main reason that I stayed for dinner.
The next question that pops in my head makes my stomach swirl with unease.
“When do you want to tell your family?” I leave off the fact that I’m mostly curious about telling Landon. For the life of me, I can’t even begin to imagine how he’ll react.
The fact that he’s the captain of my team aside, he’s also my best friend. He’s the one person I’ve always told almost everything to. Until I started sneaking around with his sister.
Ari squares her shoulders and picks up the spoon to stir the pasta as she answers.
“I was thinking we should wait until I’m at least out of the first trimester. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to tell my brother more than anyone, so maybe I’m procrastinating telling him more than anything. Plus, it is still early…”
She trails off and I cross the kitchen, stepping up behind her, and carefully take the spoon from her hand. Setting it down on the colorful ceramic dish she has, I gather her in my arms.
Ari melts into me immediately, wrapping her arms around me and holding me just as tightly.
“It’s gonna be okay,” I tell her, crossing my fingers that I didn’t just lie to her, and kiss the top of her head. “We can wait as long as you want.”
Her head drops back so she can look up at me.
“What about your family? Are you okay to wait?”
My chest tightens, the familiar ache turning to ice as it spreads through my veins.
The only other time I’ve opened up about my family was years ago.
It was my first Christmas on the team and Landon asked me what my holiday plans were.
Even then I kept it simple. I told him I don’t have anyone and would probably end up at the rink.
He took one look at me, didn’t ask for more information or demand details, and told me I was coming with him to his parents.
But Arianna is different. She deserves to know the family history of the man she’s having a baby with.
Clearing my throat, I back away. The loss of Arianna’s warmth does nothing to help the pain I’ve never gotten used to. She lets me move away without comment, and I focus on finding us dishes for dinner as I answer.
“There’s no one for me to tell. Outside of your family and the team, that is.”
I find the cabinet where she keeps the glasses and start filling two with water for us. The tension in the air is thick and it’s Ari that speaks up first.
“I won’t ask if you don’t want me to,” she whispers and my lips twitch at her kindness.
“I want to. I’ve just never talked about it with anyone before.”
The timer on the oven beeps, signaling that the garlic bread is done.
Ari moves with ease, plucking the bread onto a plate before grabbing the pot to drain the water from the pasta.
We go through the motions of filling bowls and moving to her kitchen table, the weight of the conversation hanging between us.
Only once we’re both seated with our food in front of us do I start to unload everything.
“I never knew who my dad was. Anytime I asked about him, Mom would roll her eyes and joke that it was probably the cashier at the local grocery store.” I take a sip of water, giving myself a second before continuing.
“My mom was an addict. Alcohol. Pills. Anything that gave her a high, she would take without a second thought. The only time I ever saw her sober was the nine months she was pregnant with my brother. His dad didn’t stick around once he found out he was gonna be a dad, but those nine months were…
probably the only happy memories I have from my childhood.
Which is saying something since I was ten when he was born. ”
“I didn’t know you have a brother,” Ari whispers.
Smiling sadly, I nod but don’t look up from my plate as I continue.
“Yeah. Tristan. He was the happiest kid ever. Never cried, very rarely fussed about anything. Kid could sleep through just about everything too.” Mindlessly, I push some of the pasta around in the bowl.
“After he was born, my mom slipped right back into old habits. She couldn’t keep a job and any money she did make mostly went to whatever drugs she could get her hands on.
We were barely scraping by. I started doing work around the neighborhood to help.
I mowed lawns, picked up dog poop, and even offered to help neighbors with spring cleaning.
You name it and I was doing it just to help keep the electricity on or get food for my brother. ”
I pause long enough to take a bite to eat, even though my stomach revolts at the idea of food. Still, I need a moment to myself before going on.
“By my senior year of high school, Tristan was six and his elementary school offered a couple different after-school programs. But at least he was being taken care of while I was juggling two jobs and the hockey team after school.”
Ari gasps, interrupting me, and I offer her a forced smile.
“My coach was also really cool about letting my brother hang out during practice if there wasn’t childcare.”
“You were basically raising your brother,” she states and I shrug.
“Yeah. I would have done anything for him. One day, my mom swore she’d get him from school.
Literally snapped at me for questioning if she’d actually do it or not, and for some stupid reason, I chose to believe her.
I picked up two extra hours of work that day, then went straight to practice.
It ran a little later than normal. We were having fun, but when I got home…
” Swallowing thickly, I force myself to get out the rest. “There was a police car in front of my house, along with a couple other vehicles I didn’t recognize.
Turns out, Mom got so high she ended up passing out and missed pickup time for Tristan.
One of his teachers called the police for a wellness check and everything went downhill from there.
Tristan and I were taken to child protective services.
Somehow, the agent on our case was able to get ahold of my mom’s sister.
I didn’t even know we had an aunt. But she showed up a couple days later. ”
This time, I set my fork down and rest my elbows on the table.
“My aunt, Marie, was…a lot. She claimed to not even know my mom was alive, let alone that she had two kids. She was immediately captivated by my brother. Somehow, he remained completely unfazed. He was happily entertained by the toys they had available and was thrilled that he could make everyone at the agency laugh. When it came time for paperwork, though, my aunt finally admitted that she didn’t have room for both of us.
She lived in California with her husband in a smaller house, so her concern was space and making sure that we were both taken care of.
Since I was already seventeen, she told me I was close enough to being an adult anyway. ”
“But you were a kid too.” The venom in Arianna’s voice makes my head snap up toward her. Anger radiates off her in waves and for some messed-up reason, seeing her defensiveness actually soothes something inside me.
“I was. But I only had half a year left in my senior year. Marie gave me her phone number and address, so as long as Tristan was safe and taken care of, I was okay with foster home hopping until I graduated.”
“But she split you and your brother up.” She shakes her head. I reach over to take her hand in mine. Tears line her shining eyes, and I hate that they’re there because of me. “Is that why you’re not close to him?”
I nod and cling to her hand in mind like a lifeline. “I don’t even know where he is anymore.”