Chapter 27
Much like I did years ago when I heard of Laney’s incident in Wyoming, I’m running through the airport to get to her now. Luckily, the stars aligned when I got to baggage claim. My suitcase is one of the first to come out, and I’m off to my Uber.
Becca offered to pick me up from the various texts that came through on my multiple layovers, but the last flight got in at an ungodly hour into LaGuardia, and I thought it was best that I find a way home without disrupting her sleep.
While I was hopping from plane to plane, I was able to communicate with Laney via text, brief check-ins to ensure she was okay. I don’t know how much of my concerns were warranted, but I also haven’t had a chance to properly talk to anyone aside from updates on my flights and making sure Laney and the baby were okay.
The moment I pull up to Ellie’s brownstone, I make sure to keep my movements quiet. I unlock the front door and move through the house, making sure I don’t drop anything or make too many sounds that might scare everyone who”s sleeping in the house.
The moment I’m upstairs, I can feel my pulse quicken. I’ve needed to have Laney in my arms for days now, feeling like this distance was taking years off my life.
The moment I open her door, I see her lying with her back facing me, her breathing even. I toe off my shoes and remove my clothing, leaving me in only my boxers. I need to get in bed with her and feel her warmth against me.
I pull up the covers, and I see her stir. By the time I slide in next to her in bed, she turns her body toward me, her eyes only slits as she takes me in.
“I missed you.” She says it in a whisper, and the moment I bring her into my embrace, I feel like everything has fallen into place. But while I’m feeling relief, I feel her shoulders shake.
“Laney, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” I feel the panic creep back in when, moments ago, I felt instant relief to be by her side once again.
With her face against my chest, her voice is muffled, “Yes, we’re okay. But things weren’t okay yesterday, and all I wanted was you near me.”
I stiffen with her confession, and I feel the anxiety I felt in that bar start to slither its way up my spine, much like it did when I called my sister with dread in the pit of my stomach.
“Tell me what happened, Lane.” I bring my index finger under her chin, and her gaze connects with mine. Her lashes are wet from her tears, and I know that she’s hurting, and all I can think about is making it right.
“It was Tad.” At the mention of his name, I know whatever she’s going to say to me might leave me seeing red. I rub her back, hoping that movement alone will motivate her to continue, and she does.
“He pretty much held me against my will at the yoga studio because he wanted us to be together. He seemed to be upset with the news of the baby and that I was with you. I was terrified, Grant. I was so scared something was going to happen to our baby. I’m so sorry that happened.”
“You’re sorry? Why are you sorry, babe?” I take in her beautiful face, the moonlight seeping in and giving me just enough light to take in her beauty in this natural setting.
“I just put myself in harm’s way again. Why am I always in the wrong place at the wrong time? I’ve had bad things happen before, and then I lost the baby. I was so scared that it would happen again.”
Now, the tears are flowing down her cheeks, and all I feel is a need to make the pain go away. She’s here, though, looking as if she’s okay from what I’m taking in.
“You’re okay, Laney. It’s okay. I’m home now. I won’t let anything happen to you.” I hold her as she lets her emotions seep out of her, slowly calming down, and her breaths become even.
“Sleep now. The baby’s okay?” She nods, and I feel a part of me relax, even if it’s a very small part. I want to continue this conversation, but I also know Laney needs her rest. I can see her fighting sleep, which I assume comes from a long twenty-four hours of whatever happened.
Laney falls asleep with her head on my chest, but I am wide awake. I know my restlessness comes from all the possibilities going through my head of what Tad may have done to her. Fucking Tad.
The next morning, Laney wakes up as I’m getting out of the shower in her bathroom. She slowly moves around the cramped space not leaving much room for me to maneuver without touching her body here and there. Each time I touch her, I can see desire in her gaze. I know what she wants, but we need to talk about what happened while I was gone. The lack of sleep is a testament that it’s taking over my thoughts. Too bad my dick doesn’t have the same mindset.
I harden as I move around her, and she must feel it because she pushes her ass out to mess with me a little more. I give her a light tap and then kiss her cheek.
“Good morning, beautiful. Want some tea?” I can tell she’s disappointed her advances didn’t work on me right now, but hopefully, we can resume this seductive dance later. She nods at me in response to wanting tea, so I dry myself off and start to get some clothes on to make my way downstairs. She puts some toothpaste on her brush and starts to ready herself.
“I want to talk to you about everything that happened. But I also know you can be a beast in the morning if I don’t feed you and the little one, so I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” I kiss her head, and she smiles around her toothbrush while simultaneously rolling her eyes from my beast comment.
I head downstairs. The house is quiet as everyone else is at school. I reach the kitchen and start a cup of coffee for myself while heating up water in the kettle. I look in the fridge and find some eggs to scramble and some bread to toast to get Laney some energy to start the day.
Soon enough, I hear her footsteps coming down the stairs. The moment I turn, I see her beautiful face brighten with a smile. I can’t help the smile I throw back in return. How I kept myself from expressing my feelings for her sooner will always be a mystery to me. Because right now, all I want to do is stare at her and tell her how much she makes me feel whole.
I hand her the tea and then begin plating the eggs and toast. The moment I’m about to give her a scoop of scrambled eggs, she says, “No, thank you!” scrunching her nose in disgust. When I left, she was all about eggs again, but it seems she’s back to feeling sick at the thought of them.
This is new, and I think the shock on my face urges her to explain. “Since you’ve been gone, some food aversions have returned. I now don’t like eggs… again. The thought alone makes me want to gag.” She makes a disapproving gesture and reaches for the plate with the toast.
Once we both have food, we sit at the table, and I make sure to keep my plate on the other side of me so the eggs don’t bother her too much.
“Grant, you could be sitting across the street, and I could probably smell them. Don’t worry about it. I’ll breathe through my mouth for now.” She winks as if it’s no big deal. “I should have told you before you came downstairs.”
I chuckle and start to eat, still trying to keep the scrambled mess away from her line of sight, even though it’s probably a pointless feat.
“So, do you want to explain to me what happened?” I start because I can’t truly express to her how anxious I am to hear what she has to say about the last twenty-four hours.
“I feel like you have just as much to explain on your end. How did you know something was up? I know you told Becca to rush to the yoga studio,” she fires back, curiosity painting her features.
“It was a total coincidence, I guess. I was sitting at the bar with some of the guys from the crew, and the TV just happened to be on a documentary of sorts talking about violence in our country. Of course, the segment focused on mass shootings, something that’s not as common outside of the U.S. I didn’t make much of it at first once I realized it wasn’t a breaking story. But then something on the screen caught my attention. Had I not really been looking at that time, I would have missed it.” I take a sip of my coffee, still in shock from the timing of it all.
I continue my retelling, “When one of the news segments captured some students from one of the school shootings here a few years back, one of the spectators looked familiar. At first, it didn’t hit me, but then I realized who it was. I thought it was maybe Chad, but then the more I said it, the more it didn’t sound right in my head. It dawned on me that it was Tad, and he was the guy I got the creeps from at the yoga studio.”
I run my hand through my hair, exhaustion forgotten as I recount how I was feeling before calling my sister. “I knew something was off about the guy. But I never thought it was something like this. I honestly just put two-and-two together that you had never mentioned Tad having a commonality with the school shootings, which would have been something you would have told me about as it’s an unusual coincidence. So I literally ran with it, calling you, then proceeding to call my sister for help.”
When I’m done telling Laney everything, the look of shock is evident on her face. She takes a moment, most likely processing everything I just said.
She clears her throat and begins, “Well, to say your timing is impeccable is an understatement. I hadn’t seen Tad since I fainted at the studio. When I got there yesterday to teach my yin class, he was there. He asked how I was feeling, and I told him I was fine and that I was pregnant. I could tell the news agitated him, but I honestly let it go. I barely know the guy. Turns out I should have listened to my instincts because he turned on me at the drop of a dime. The moment the studio cleared, he hid from view until I was most vulnerable. He closed the door of the class I was cleaning up and didn’t let me pass. He went on and on about how he and I were meant to be together. He went as far as to think you weren’t right for me.”
I see a flicker of remorse across her features, and I know there’s more to the story she’s not telling me. I grab her hand, allowing my fingers to rub against her knuckles in hopes she continues speaking.
After a deep exhale, she continues, “I had to say some things in hopes he would let me by. I lied my way out that door, and I feel awful, Grant.”
“It’s okay, babe. I know you were in an unimaginable situation.” I hope my expression is full of compassion because right now, I know whatever she’s feeling guilty over isn’t fair to put on her.
“I had to tell him that you and I weren’t a good match and that he would be a better choice. I lied in the most awful way in order to get him to side with me. I was hoping it would save me and the baby. It got me out of the room, but he still caught on to what I was doing. That’s when a struggle ensued. I fought him off of me. Luckily, nothing more happened, and he didn’t hurt me or the baby.”
“I promise, Laney. Nothing you said to him is being held against you. Where is Tad now?” I am trying to keep my anger at bay, but the fact he laid a hand on someone I love, in this case, the mother of my child, is something that is making me see red.
“He’s out on bail. I’m not sure what comes next. The officer told us he’d keep us updated. That’s all I know.”
I nod, knowing we are all in a bit of limbo as we wait to see what comes of Tad’s future. The fact that his PTSD was uncared for and unmonitored makes me think that he began to live in a fantasy versus the reality of his life after the shooting. It makes sense, as everyone copes differently.
“I feel for him too. That’s what’s so strange about this whole thing, Grant.” She’s fiddling with her fingers, a habit I’ve seen her sister do a lot of the time when she’s anxious. Laney has only done it a few times when she’s under extreme stress.
I engulf her hands within mine, squeezing them so that her gaze meets mine again.
“You care because you are compassionate. Something I love about you. I see why you’d feel a part of you leaning toward that side, but you have to remember that you had the same devastation as him, and you didn’t go off and do such things to others. You may have had a hard time coping, but you never put someone in harm’s way. That’s what I need you to focus on. What he did could have impacted you and the baby.”
She’s nodding along while I speak to her, and I know she’s aware of all this, but a part of her really is feeling bad that his life mimicked hers in a huge way, and then his mental health deteriorated.
“No one is ever the same after trauma. We are forever altered. It can shift our lives in a way that is unexplainable, so that’s the part of me that hurts for him. I know that what he did was wrong. I just know that this whole thing will only make things harder for him, especially if he doesn’t get the help he needs. It will only worsen everything for him.”
“I think we’ve both had endless talks about how the mental health system here is subpar at best. I think with all that has deviated in the safety of places we once considered the best ones to go to in a crisis has really had lasting effects on all of us. And it keeps worsening. So, I will agree that he may not get the help he needs. I think what we need to do is make sure we stay on top of the investigation. We need to ensure that he doesn’t fall through the cracks, no matter what way this all goes.”
I know for me, I will not sit still until I know this man is no longer a threat to Laney or our family. I see this as a wake-up call that we need to be mindful of our surroundings, and Tad is an added factor that we must keep vigilant about.
We finish up our breakfast and decide to head back to bed. I don’t argue, as I barely slept. We have a few more hours before we are meeting at my sister’s house to have an early dinner with my niece and nephew. Ellie’s kids will be with us as she’s got plans tonight. It seems this casual fling is growing into something more, although Laney said Ellie is fighting it. It must run in the family, I think silently to myself.
As we are walking up the stairs, Laney says, “I got to see the baby after we left the police station.” She has the biggest smile on her face, and I realize that it’s moments like these I live for. Of course, I’m going to have to bug her about this because I missed out on seeing our baby.
“Oh really.” I tickle her around her ribs when we get to the top of the staircase, and she starts to squirm. “You kept that little factoid to yourself for quite some time. That’s pretty sneaky, Bean.”
Her laughter carries down the hall, and I pull her into my arms and kiss her. Once we get to her room, things turn fairly quickly from a simple kiss to something more urgent, my exhaustion from lack of sleep long forgotten.
She’s clawing at me, vibrating with need as we move closer to her bed. I melt into her touch, longing for her hands to touch me all over.
I finally pull myself out of this haze she has me in and realize we might not be in a position to do this yet. “Baby, can we do this? Did you get the all-clear?”
A small smile takes over her features. “It may have been something I asked about when I got that ultrasound yesterday. You should have seen Becca’s face twist at the thought. It was hilarious.”
I can’t help it, and my head goes back as a thunderous laugh comes out. It feels good to let go a bit and enjoy these little moments together.
“Well then, on that note, less talking about my sister and more of us getting these clothes off.”
We have been apart too long at this point, and we both need this right now. I start to bring her sleep pants down, and that’s when I realize she has nothing else underneath.
My gaze shoots up to hers, and I can’t help the appreciation when I say, “Looks like you came prepared.”
“I’m prepared, but I haven’t come yet.” This woman and her sass. Let’s see how my next move gets her going.
I fall to my knees and bring my lips to her center, and she immediately puts her hands in my hair and tugs hard. It only spurs me on to lick her sensitive center. She throws her head back on a moan, and I can tell she’s going to come apart quickly.
I break away, and she protests, trying to bring my face back toward her.
“Move back and lay on the bed. Get comfortable. I’m starving for you, Lane.”
She wastes no time moving her body toward the bed, and I pull her hips to the edge. I bring one of her legs over my shoulder, and my lips are back to her center, her folds ready for me to lavish them. I flick her clit, and she moans again, bringing her hands back to my hair. Feeling her lose herself with my touch does something to me, and I push forward, knowing that I can’t do anything further before feeling her come on my tongue.
I slowly bring a finger, then two, into her, pumping at a rhythm with my tongue flicking on her clit. She’s riding my face, and it’s the hottest thing I’ve seen. Fuck, I’ve missed her.
Her thighs start constricting my face, and she’s moaning and panting, yelling out that she’s coming while she moves her hands in my hair, trying to control the way my face moves against her pussy.
Her orgasm hits hard, and then she slows her movements while I lick her up. I’m so fucking hard for her now, and I feel my cock straining against my basketball shorts.
While she’s catching her breath, I stand up and pull my shorts down. My cock is at attention for her, and I can’t wait to feel her walls squeezing me.
I pull the shirt over my head and then begin to trail kisses up her body, pushing her sleep shirt over her head. The moment I expose her chest, I suck her left nipple into my mouth. She arches her back, and I’m happy to see the sensitivity to this spot hasn”t diminished since I”ve been with her last. I’m kneading her opposite breast, loving the way she’s writhing underneath my touch.
“You’re so fucking perfect,” I say as I lift my gaze toward hers. She’s smiling at me, her eyes like slits, her cheeks pink from her arousal. “I need to be inside you, Laney. Are you sure it’s okay?” I can’t help but make sure we can go further. I don’t want to put my needs ahead of what’s best for her and the pregnancy.
“If you don’t fuck me right now, Grant, I am going to really lose it on you.” She tries to sound all-powerful with her tone, but it’s lost on me. It’s hard to take her seriously while I’m pinching her nipples and nipping at them, and she’s reacting to every one of my touches.
“Your wish is my command, love.” I suck on her nipple again, this time pulling my lips off and slowly blowing some air onto them, causing her to moan again. While distracted, I line my cock up and begin to slowly push myself into her. The moment my crown is lost inside her, I close my eyes and drop my forehead to her chest. She feels fucking fantastic.
I keep inching in while I feel her attempt to move things along a little faster by digging her heels into my ass in hopes it will spear me forward. Too bad I’m enjoying this a little too much, and moving fast is the last thing I want to do. I’m savoring this moment because I’ve been waiting too damn long to feel her strangle my dick.
I bring my lips to the crook of her neck and begin to kiss her along her neck and up along her jaw. “Laney, I’m taking my sweet time with you. My cock has ached to be inside you, and I’m not going to rush this moment right now. Let me savor you. Let me love you.”
“Mmmhmm.” She succumbs to my slow rhythm and allows me to slowly pump in and out of her. I move her up on the bed so I can bring my legs onto the mattress. I sit up on my knees while she brings her knees toward her chest, and her back flat on the bed. I grab a pillow and lift her hips for me to hit her at a different, deeper angle inside.
The moment the position change is made, I moan, and the feeling of my cock moving inside her feels like heaven. With each stroke, I see myself bury further into her folds, and I just about come on the spot. I can’t help myself from moving just a touch faster now, loving the sounds she’s making as I fuck her this way.
She brings her fingers to her clit, and it spears me on to keep moving, my pace increasing each time I piston into her. Soon, I feel her walls strangle me, and she falls apart in front of me. The moment she falls off that cliff, I’m moving my hips in and out, my cock chasing its own release.
The moment I let go, I detonate, and I feel my release empty into her. I feel her spasming around my dick while I see stars, and my hips keep moving, slowing their pace as I come down from my climax.
I trail lazy kisses along her chest and up her neck. I start kissing her again, my lips feeling like they were made for hers.
We lay in bed, my fingers moving along her abdomen, already imagining her belly becoming larger as the weeks move forward. The thought of our lives coming together with this little being causes my heart to soar.
“I love you beyond myself, Laney. You make me whole,” I say to her, my hand continuing to move along her stomach.
She brings her hand to the top of mine and squeezes it.
“Grant, my love for you is the purest part of me fusing with you. I begin and end with you.”
I come up onto my right elbow and lean over to kiss her. My left palm cups her cheek, and I continue to kiss her until I feel the tingling of my lips.
“Always and forever, Laney. You’re it for me.”